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You'll find practical classroom strategies and tips from real educators, as well as lesson ideas, personal stories, and innovative approaches to improving your teaching practice. If you have any thoughts or comments about these blogs, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Mariko NoboriFebruary 27, 2013

MC2 STEM High School is an unusual year-round public school of about 270 students, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The school emphasizes integrated project-based learning, partnerships with business professionals, and real-world internship experiences to help students understand the crucial link between academic achievement and their future economic success. We visited their school and spent time with the dedicated adults and enthusiastic students who have helped create the school’s success. Take a look at this video for a glimpse into three students’ experiences there.

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Ben JohnsonFebruary 27, 2013

I am so fed up with testing. In the state of Texas, out of 180 days of instruction, there are over 35 days of testing of one form or another. That is nearly 20 percent of the instructional year spent on state standardized testing. That does not include the district benchmarks, SAT, PSAT, ACT, AP course testing and even a few more!

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Matt DavisFebruary 26, 2013

For many educators, spring conferences are coming up soon -- if they haven’t already -- and it can be a stressful time of the school year. With summer on the horizon, spring conferences sometimes get squeezed into the end-of-year schedule. To help parents and educators prepare for parent-teacher conferences, we've rounded up a variety of Web resources.

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Suzie BossFebruary 26, 2013

In high-poverty neighborhoods of Los Angeles, students attending Alliance College-Ready Public Schools have good reason to be hopeful about life after high school. This network of 21 public charters has sent more than 95 percent of its graduates on to college since it was founded in 2004. But we all know that getting into college isn't the finish line. "What does it take to stay in college? What does a student really need to know to be college-and-career ready?" asks Toria Williams, director of innovation and technology for the Alliance. "That's an ongoing conversation here."

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Andrew MarcinekFebruary 26, 2013

Ever since I was a kid, I loathed back to school commercials. They always showed parents gleefully skipping through aisles of pencils and notebooks as the kids, sullen and dejected, sluggishly followed along. It's a scene we are all too familiar with, and one that creates a negative stigma around school. But what if that scene were flipped? What if the kids were happy and eager to get to school? Is that possible after roughly 90 days of sun and fun? It is, and at Burlington Public Schools, we have seen it over the past two years during our iPad launches at the high school and middle school.

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Matt DavisFebruary 25, 2013

Dr. Seuss's 109th birthday is March 2, and since 1998, Read Across America has shared the same date. Each year, teachers, students, and parents are encouraged to read their favorite books together to honor the author who once said, "You’re never too old, too wacky, or too wild to pick up a book and read to a child."

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Maddie WitterFebruary 25, 2013

Do you have students who rarely raise their hand when you ask a question? When I think back about kids in my classroom who didn't participate at first, I remember Jared and Maya (whose names I changed). Jared was polite, listened to his classmates, and did his homework. But when I asked questions or set up class discussions, Jared remained silent. Maya was really creative and an avid reader. She also didn't participate, frequently had her head down in class, and was reluctant to start work. Some of our students might sit quietly through each lesson or be visibly disengaged. Maybe they don't understand the lesson, are embarrassed, or hesitantly wait for another peer to share. Jared and Maya certainly aren't unique.

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Bill BassFebruary 22, 2013

In honor of the Oscars, here is the first of two excerpts from From Inspiration to Red Carpet: Host Your Own Student Film Festival by William L. Bass, Christian Goodrich and Kim Lindskog. The project below is for a video book trailer.

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Bob LenzFebruary 22, 2013

Each January, I have the opportunity to facilitate a course in Leading and Managing Technology for the Educational Leadership Program at St. Mary's College of California. We organize our learning by exploring the question, "Is educational technology worth the hype?" Together we read Michael Fullens' book Stratosphere, interview school leaders, explore educational technology tools, and follow and comment on education blogs.

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José VilsonFebruary 21, 2013

Every year around this time, my students come together and collect all the monies donated within our school for Penny Harvest, a program by Common Cents, Inc. that serves to help schools create service learning projects for children. It starts with young leaders prompting others in the school to make donations to a cause of their choice, but it often evolves into community service projects.

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