WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation

Log In

We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

Featured:

Social and Emotional Techniques That Help Students Focus on Academic Progress at Mount Desert Elementary

Featured:

John Seely Brown on Motivating Learners (Big Thinkers Series)

Featured:

How to Thank a Teacher

Blogs on Mentoring

More Blogs on MentoringRSS

STEMposium Winners: Five Outstanding STEM Projects

Amy WhittakerMay 9, 2011

Tags Community Partnerships, Mentoring, Project-Based Learning, Student Work Examples, High (9-12), California, Math, Science

Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Amy Whittaker, one of the co-producers of the STEMposium event.

On April 1st, a sold-out crowd of 250 students, teachers and civic, business, philanthropic, nonprofit, education and technology leaders flocked to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco for STEMposium^TM - a celebration of excellence in K-12 STEM education innovation presented by the nonprofit EnCorps Teachers Program with co-host Citizen Schools.

Classroom Management Strategies for Elementary Teachers

Gaetan PappalardoJanuary 28, 2011

Tags Classroom Management, Mentoring, New Teachers, Primary (K-2), Professional Development, Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5)

"With what are you struggling?" I ask.

"I think I need some more direction on the little decisions like what do you do when a student complains about a stomach ache right before a lesson," replies student teacher.

Financing an edcamp

Mary Beth HertzOctober 28, 2010

Tags Funding, Mentoring, Professional Learning Network (PLN), Teacher Development, All Grades

This is the third post of a four-part series about planning and running an edcamp unconference. You can read the first post, Introduction to edcamp and Taking Care of the "Big Stuff" first if you missed them.

A Primer on Citizen Science

Eric BrunsellOctober 13, 2010

Tags Mentoring, Primary (K-2), Project-Based Learning, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Math, Science

In August, I wrote about the importance of providing children with role models in science, technology, engineering (STEM). In that post, I encouraged teachers to participate in the #scichat Challenge by inviting an expert into your classroom, either in-person or by using technology (You still have time to participate!).

News Flash: How Tiny Boosts to Personal Identity Improve Minority Students' Grades

EdutopiaAugust 18, 2010

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Mental Health, Mentoring, , Student Engagement, Teacher Development, All Grades, English Language Arts

A few years ago I wrote a story about a new piece of research that blew my mind. A group of Yale University researchers led by Geoffrey Cohen gave a bunch of Connecticut seventh-graders a 15-minute writing assignment. Half the children in this racially-diverse, working-class school were prompted to write about their personal values - a task designed to validate their identity and self-worth -- and half were assigned a more neutral subject.

National Lab Day: Connecting Teachers, Students, Scientists and Engineers

Eric BrunsellAugust 10, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Business Partnerships, Curriculum, Funding, Leadership, Mentoring, Project-Based Learning, All Grades, Science

Connecting your students with scientists and engineers is one way to enage them in science. It also provides students with mentors and positive role models. National Lab Day is a national inititive and classroom "matchmaker" launched last year to help facilitate these connections. A National Lab Day project can serve as a cornerstone to project-based learning in your classroom.

Learning Inside an Out-of-School Newsroom

Betty RayJuly 19, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Career and Technical Education, Integrated Studies, Mentoring, Student Engagement, Technology Integration, High (9-12), California

Editor's Note: Our guest blogger this week is Elisabeth (Lissa) Soep, PhD, research director and senior producer at Youth Radio, a Peabody Award-winning, youth-driven production company in Oakland, California, with bureaus across the country and partners around the world.

Report from EduBloggerCon at ISTE10: Trends and Tools

Betty RayJune 27, 2010

Tags Mentoring, Parental Involvement, Professional Learning Network (PLN), , Technology Integration

I arrived at ISTE for the second half of EduBloggerCon, and already the room was buzzing with creativity and innovation. Presenters were showing some useful (and fun!) new tech tools. I've added a summary of those at the end of this post.

But once the afternoon sessions got underway, three main themes started to emerge:

Guest Blog: Igniting Student Passion

Betty RayFebruary 25, 2010

Tags Mentoring, Professional Development, Student Engagement, Technology Integration

Nicholas Provenzano (@TheNerdyTeacher on Twitter) has been an active participant in the regular Tuesday morning #edchat, where forward-thinking educators from around the world connect and discuss different issues of the day. His passion for teaching (and learning!) positively emanates from his tweets and blog The Nerdy Teacher. Here's his redux of this week's edchat.

--Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Social Media Marketing Coordinator (@elanaleoni)

Guest Blog: Building Communities in the Classrooms

Betty RayFebruary 18, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Mentoring, Professional Learning Network (PLN),

Cheska Lorena (@MissCheska) is a self-described "twenty-something New Jersey native, certified HS biology teacher, and a huge ed-tech enthusiast." A native of digital communities, she was the natural choice for this week's #edchat. Feel free to share your thoughts in the space below this blog.

--Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Social Media Marketing Coordinator (@elanaleoni)

What is community?

Twitter's afternoon #edchat session on February 16th was a flurry of great thoughts and conversation. Many tweeters gathered together to discuss how to build communities in classrooms in both online and offline settings. The conversation kicked off with an attempt at defining community: