I wish I could register every moment of confusion in my student’s eyes, peek over their shoulder at the passage they’re struggling with, and simply pull up a chair next to a student that needs help. Instead, I’m scanning 25 miniature faces while squinting at tiny boxes of screens and frantically giving feedback as quickly
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend and present at the SIOP National Conference at the end of June. Although I gained a lot of ideas & strategies I can bring to my class, here are 3 things I hope to apply to my classroom this year: 1) Prepare students for a broader
One simple way to teach students to critically examine texts from various lenses is to utilize targeted annotation techniques. There are numerous guides for how to increase students’ comprehension by previewing texts, actively reading, summarizing, etc. One especially useful guide is from Susan Gilroy, Librarian for Undergraduate Writing Programs at Harvard University. Guides like this
Offering students productive diversity creates memorable learning experiences because they are tailored to students interests & needs. Productive diversity encourages learning activities in which students: are designers of knowledge work collaboratively to offer feedback differentiate the process & pace of learning reach similar but high goals I recently tried to offer English Language Learners productive
The textbook is a peculiar knowledge artifact according to Dr. Cope at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: For efficiency’s sake, it summarizes the world; it is synoptic. There is no need for learners to discern what is more or less relevant knowledge, because this has been decided for them. One author or group of
As we near the beginning of the school year, I thought it would be helpful for me to brush up on some strategies and develop a few more tools for the teaching toolbox this year. Below are some guides that I found helpful, see links below. ELLs and Social Studies (NYU) Analyzes difficulties with multiple
Want students to write better? Have more clear organization and forceful arguments? Want them to proofread more carefully? Have them write for an audience: “When students were asked to write for a real audience in another country, their essays had better organization and content than when they were writing for their teacher. When asked to