I couldn’t help but watch this video a few times wearing my “teacher lens.” As I listened to Mr. Zimmer, I was awed not only by his path to musicianship, but also by his resilience. Angela Lee Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania asserts that even though different people define “resilience” differently, all of the […]
Close Reading As educators across the country continue to implement the Common Core State Standards, they have undoubtedly searched for and encountered a myriad of resources that promise “silver bullet” solutions for close reading. As we teachers are wont to do, we have a knack for compartmentalizing or converting glamour-free processes into “Make and Take” […]
[google-translator] In the not too distant past, the buzz phrases “academic vocabulary” and “academic language” began tickling the tongues of classroom practitioners, and the two were often used interchangeably. Fast-forward to the era of CCSS, and we now hear conversations about academic language with teachers acknowledging the fact that academic vocabulary is but a feature […]
[google-translator] As the CCSS has been crafted with principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support inclusive access for all students with identified learning needs and/or disabilities, English Learners, linguistic minority students, as well as students from fragile families, many educators respond with concern that without technological resources, they feel challenged to design instruction […]
The oft-used instructional strategy of pairing students to interact, has no shortage of monikers…Think-Pair-Share, Discussion Partners, Structured Student Interactions, Productive Partners (Access Kate Kinsella’s article here), and there are many more. Regardless of the nomenclature, many teachers acknowledge the power of structuring opportunities for students to not only talk and share their perspectives, but to […]