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5 Ways to Focus On Your SEL
Did you know that March 26th is International SEL Day? I appreciate that a specific day has been designated to focus on social and emotional learning (SEL), and I am hopeful that this focus perseveres beyond March 26th. My hope is grounded in my reflection of the past year. This global pandemic and long overdue
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Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust
Teaching Holocaust history requires a high level of sensitivity and a keen awareness of the complexity of the subject matter. The following guidelines reflect approaches appropriate for effective teaching in general and are particularly relevant to Holocaust education.
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5 Ways to Engage Your Students With Poetry
April is National Poetry Month, and unfortunately, poetry has a bit of an optics problem.
It’s hard! It’s confusing! It’s boring! I don’t get it!
Fear not, there are actually super-engaging ways to dazzle your students with the wonders of poetry -- and reach even your most struggling or reluctant students. So this year, be
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The SEL Benefits of Improv
Over 10 years ago I first explored the educational benefits of using improvisation in the classroom. Since then, thousands of K-12 teachers and students have been exposed to the educational benefits of improvisational games. What makes improvisation such an engaging and effective learning experience?
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Teaching Women's History With Photos
“I’m glad we’ve begun to raise our daughters more like our sons, but it will never work until we raise our sons more like our daughters.”
-Gloria Steinem
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Teaching Music Purposefully
Have you ever read a book to your child so many times that you don’t even have to look at the words? Maybe you’ve noticed the way you rhythmically chant the words, until you’re practically singing the story together?
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Clarity in Virtual Classrooms
Teacher clarity, or the idea of teachers creating clear learning intentions and success criteria for students, becomes even more critical when students are no longer in the traditional classroom setting. Sharing learning intentions and success criteria provides learners with what they still need to learn, and what actions need to
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Specific Steps to Anti-Racist Teaching
Want to learn more from Kwame Sarfo-Mensah? Join Kwame and Wendy Amato at a free webinar series where they'll explore how understanding your teacher identity can positively impact student success. Register now.
In his most recent op-ed, “Denial is the Heartbeat of America”, Ibram X. Kendi discusses how white Americans, for many generations, have
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Create a Culture of Error
Team TLAC was thrilled to have ace teacher Sadie McCleary of West Guilford HS in Greensboro, NC join us in a video review meeting recently, bringing some footage of her online AP Chemistry classroom for us to watch together. Team member Beth Verrilli shared some observations about the main thing she loved.
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Black Leaders You Should Teach Year Round
In 1908, Dr.Carter G. Woodson, received his M.A. from the University of Chicago, and in 1912, he received his Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. Later in his career in 1926, with the help of organizations, he founded “Negro History Week” which was the impetus for establishing February as Black History Month. Dr.
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Observe a Hybrid Classroom
Hybrid instruction can feel a bit like juggling–it offers all the challenges of in-person teaching while you also teach an online lesson.
But a good model can really make a difference so this video of math teacher Jill Mattis (Bethlehem Central Middle School (NY)) is super-helpful. As a double bonus, I
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Encouraging Complex Classroom Discussions
What do you do when your student asks a big, hard, nuanced question about self, someone else, or a big important topic like inequity? Let’s explore how we might make those moments more meaningful and inclusive for all of us.
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Equity-Driven Family Engagement
As we start 2021, I’d like to share some tips for working with families through a resource round up/collection of our most popular articles on this topic. At Confianza, as we coach, train and support educators, we know that sharing strategies is only half of what it takes to work successfully
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Microaggressions in the Classroom
Ever get that unsettling feeling after you have said something that didn’t sit right with your audience? Or experienced a time when you just said something and received a strong reaction that you didn’t intend?
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5 Fun Virtual Classroom Challenges
In Drive, Daniel Pink outlines that true motivation comes from having opportunities for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. By taking ordinary tasks and transforming them into competitions or captivating stories, we dramatically escalate our students’ interest and sense of determination.
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How to Prioritize Self-Care This Year
It was 1 am on a school night, and I was still grading student essays. I’d skipped doing any exercise that day, and my back was creaking from hunched-over work. Suddenly, I flashed back to the lecture I’d ended class with that same day. “7th graders,” I’d declared to my
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The Case for World Language Programs
Given that budget cutting is contentious in less challenging times, deciding what to cut at this pivotal juncture is a real conundrum for administrators. When budgets tighten, World Language has always been a vulnerable discipline; this is no different now. Eliminating or reducing K-12 World Language programs now would be
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Project-Based Curriculum From a Distance
When we were thrust into the unknown territory of teaching students from a distance during a pandemic and the nation’s racial reckoning. Teachers have shown remarkable flexibility, ingenuity, and resilience striving to reach their students despite the challenging circumstances. What could we do to support teachers in creating meaningful learning experiences at
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When Your Personal and Teaching Lives Collide
About one month into e-learning this fall, I was exploring with my 9th-grade humanities class the construct of the American dream in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. The play centers on the experience of a Black family living on the Southside of Chicago after WWII, who strive to achieve
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Checking for Understanding Online
This article was originally published on the Teaching Like a Champion blog on May 26, 2020. It has been updated with new links.
Checking for Understanding (CFU) is one of the biggest challenges in teaching; online you can multiply that tenfold. It’s like trying to assess how well your class is doing while
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What I'm Grateful For This Year
In challenging times, it can be easy to dwell on the negatives — especially as an educator trying to navigate this new remote world. Of course, it’s okay to mourn the loss of normalcy and have concerns for the future, but as we head into the holiday season, focusing more on
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15 Ways to Remotely Build Classroom Community
How can you continue to build positive culture and relationships in a virtual classroom? It’s the question that’s on every teacher’s mind. With distance learning at least a partial aspect of teaching in many districts, educators are looking for ways to facilitate the traditional get-to-know you activities in an online
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Being a Better World Educator
Civics education matters now more than ever. Learning about one another across lines of difference, understanding new perspectives, and engaging in meaningful and peaceful conversation is essential for us to come together as a society. Regardless of our beliefs, we are all human. We are all one species. To create
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Online Teaching: Chat Techniques
“The Chat” is one of the key tools available to educators teaching online, and one of the best tools for building dynamic, active and inclusive learning environments. You might even call it a ‘silver lining’: a small thing that works better online even if the overall context of online learning
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3 Tips for Teaching on Camera
Teaching online comes with lots of opportunities and challenges, most of which you’ve probably encountered this school year and are working through. But what about how you, yes, Educator You, actually show up online?
In addition to lesson planning, navigating the vagaries of Zoom, and learning how to provide an enriching