Lesson Plans

Providing students with clear directions and easy-to-navigate content is especially important during distance learning.

Activities that incorporate speaking and listening, reading and writing, math, music, science, art, and drama—and are parent-friendly.

Quick activities that can be used to check for understanding or emphasize key information at the end of a lesson.

We teachers are always looking to innovate, so, yes, it's essential that we try new things to add to our pedagogical bag of tricks. But it's important to focus on purpose and intentionality -- and not on quantity. So what really matters more than "always trying something new" is the reason behind why we do what we do.

Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions. With that in mind, if you are a new teacher or perhaps not so new but know that question-asking is an area where you'd like to grow, start tomorrow with these five ideas.

Classroom activities and resources for developing a vital character trait.

Combining the six-word memoir with a film containing six shots gives students a way to introduce themselves at the beginning of the year.

Keeping fourth graders engaged in math in the run-up to winter break is easier with this sweet project.

The Claim, Evidence, Reasoning framework is a scaffolded way to teach the scientific method.

Because of pressure to teach bell-to-bell, many classrooms now start with bell work—short exercises that students complete while the instructor handles attendance and other administrative chores. I’ve collected several creative, practical, and entertaining exercises that can function as bell ringers or sponge activities.

Look through the door of one classroom and you might see the students hunched over, not engaged, even frowning. Look through the door of another classroom, and you might see a room full of lively students, eager, engaged and participating. What is the second teacher doing that the first one isn't? He or she is using creativity in that classroom.

Students need feedback often and creating a system by rubber stamping work can provide visible and immediate proof of student progress.

A hands-on administrator asks teachers to become students for a class period and, at his prompting, model trust, academic risk taking, and camaraderie.

A collection of curriculum-planning tips, guidance, and other resources to help new teachers plan effective activities, lessons, and units.