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Family Engagement
Connecting With Preschoolers’ Families
Online learning can be particularly tough for pre-K students, but by connecting with their parents, teachers can make it easier.
Kristin Faiella

Literacy
Can You Actually Teach Kids to Read Online?
When remote learning muddies the already complicated process of learning to read, teachers get creative and find solutions.
Meghan Laslocky
Social and Emotional Learning
How to Strengthen Relationships With Older Students Online
During remote instruction, finding authentic moments of connection can be challenging, especially with middle and high school students. Here are five ways to strengthen relationships in virtual settings.
Classroom Management
Building Community Virtually With Friendly Fridays
Ideas on how to bring a teacher-tested activity for promoting empathy and other social skills to hybrid and remote classrooms.
Elizabeth Peterson

Literacy
Early Literacy Instruction Should Go Beyond the Basics
Preparing kids to be critical thinkers and problem solvers requires teaching a mix of foundational skills and higher-level abstract skills.
Sarah Gonser
Critical Thinking
How Mentor Texts Provide Valuable Lessons Beyond Writing Instruction
The knowledge middle and high school students gain through reading mentor texts can strengthen their critical thinking skills.
Kara Douma
Curriculum Planning
Providing Deeper Context in Lessons on Indigenous Peoples
Teachers planning lessons on Native Americans can paint a fuller and more accurate picture with carefully curated resources.
Hedreich Nichols
Assessment
Better Ways to Measure Student Progress
Distance learning has forced many educators to take a closer look at traditional grading and contemplate better methods of assessment.
Matthew Campbell

Student Wellness
3 Trauma-Informed Practices Backed by Science
California surgeon general, pediatrician, and author Dr. Nadine Burke Harris on the science behind relationships, school discipline, and mindfulness.
Resilience and Grit
Taking a Quick Walk to De-escalate
When the situation feels out of control, a short stroll can soothe jangled nerves and gently bring the thinking brain back online.
Resilience and Grit
Getting in Tune to Soothe the Nervous System
Singing or humming can be a simple way to get the whole classroom recentered when things are out of hand.
Family Engagement
Engaging Families With Social and Emotional Learning Strategies
When teachers bring parents in to see what their children are learning, they strengthen the home-school connection and help the adults build skills, too.

Popular

Student Engagement
Strategies to Encourage Students to Turn Their Cameras On
Incorporating SEL approaches, playing games, and giving students options can inspire them to show their faces.
Liz Byron Loya
Teaching Strategies
6 Exercises to Get to Know Your Students Better—and Increase Their Engagement
Celebrating your middle and high school students' unique identities can bolster connections and improve performance in school.
Nora Fleming
Online Learning
5 Ways to Support Kids With ADHD During Remote Learning
Without the rules and structure of the classroom, students with ADHD are struggling. Here’s how teachers can help.
Katy Reckdahl
Social and Emotional Learning
High School Is Not the Time to Let Up on SEL
The science suggests that teenagers still need lots of social and emotional support—but SEL work tends to focus on the elementary years.
Sarah Gonser
Teacher Wellness
Creative Approaches to Supporting the Emotional Well-Being of Staff
Three strategies school leaders can implement to help ensure that all staff members manage the stresses of this year.
Michele Lew

Assessment

Brain-Based Learning
How Simple Visual Cues Can Improve Your Teaching Materials
In a 2020 study, researchers demonstrated that annotating your instructional videos and slides can improve student retention.
Teaching Strategies
Managing the Virtual and Hybrid Teaching Workload
Many teachers are finding their work to be more demanding this year, so looking for ways to simplify some of it is important.
Beth Pandolpho
Professional Development
PD That Helps Teachers Improve the Quality of Their Video Instruction
Tips for planning professional development that supports teachers’ growing skills in using video to enhance students’ learning.
Matthew X. Joseph
Technology Integration
The Connection Between Working Memory and Students’ Tech Skills
Teachers can boost elementary students’ developing tech skills by being mindful of the limitations of working memory.
Debra Jacoby

The Research Is In
The Mistake Imperative—Why We Must Get Over Our Fear of Student Error
The fear of making mistakes is often paralyzing, but cognitive science suggests that errors are part of the fundamental machinery of learning.
Youki Terada
Brain-Based Learning
How Simple Visual Cues Can Improve Your Teaching Materials
In a 2020 study, researchers demonstrated that annotating your instructional videos and slides can improve student retention.
Resilience and Grit
Getting in Tune to Soothe the Nervous System
Singing or humming can be a simple way to get the whole classroom recentered when things are out of hand.
Environmental Education
Moving From the Comfort Zone to the Challenge Zone
When we are faced with challenges, our brains are activated to learn new things—so long as a foundation of safety, belonging, and trust is there as well.

New Teachers
Mentoring New Teachers Virtually
Experienced and new teachers shared what they learned in the spring about how to make mentoring work during the pandemic.
Alan Neville, Janeen Outka
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Choosing Culturally Responsive Images to Connect With Students
For teachers who are just starting to weave students’ backgrounds into their practice, focusing on the images in lessons is a good option.
Lidia Aguirre
Literacy
How Students Can Learn From Judging a Book by Its Cover
A close collaborative analysis of the text and graphics on book covers makes for a powerful literacy activity.
Rose Reissman
Social and Emotional Learning
Getting Started With Integrating SEL Into Lessons
The pandemic and many recent events have been tough for students, and promoting social and emotional learning skills can help them process their reactions.
Jorge Valenzuela