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The Risks and Rewards of Getting Rid of Grade Levels Language classes at the Latin School in Chicago have transitioned from a traditional grade-level-based approach to a proficiency-based learning model that groups students according to their abilities. In this commentary, language teacher Bing Wang shares how the process works and how teachers and students are embracing its "messiness." | A History in Which We Can All See Ourselves Educators are finding ways to tell a richer history of America—responding to the demands of an increasingly diverse student body.They are working to expand K–12 history curricula to include the narratives of people from a wider range of racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds aimed at making schools more culturally responsive and attuned to the whole child. | Meeting Students on Their Own Cultural Turf Teachers are hardwired to look favorably upon students who remind them of themselves although this is something that most teachers have rarely paused to consider. In this article Columbia University Associate Professor Chris Edin outlines the need for a reality pedagogy. “Reality pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that has a primary goal of meeting each student on his or her own cultural and emotional turf.” |
The Risks and Rewards of Getting Rid of Grade Levels
Language classes at the Latin School in Chicago have transitioned from a traditional grade-level-based approach to a proficiency-based learning model that groups students according to their abilities. In this commentary, language teacher Bing Wang shares how the process works and how teachers and students are embracing its "messiness."
A History in Which We Can All See Ourselves
Educators are finding ways to tell a richer history of America—responding to the demands of an increasingly diverse student body.They are working to expand K–12 history curricula to include the narratives of people from a wider range of racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds aimed at making schools more culturally responsive and attuned to the whole child.
Meeting Students on Their Own Cultural Turf
Teachers are hardwired to look favorably upon students who remind them of themselves although this is something that most teachers have rarely paused to consider. In this article Columbia University Associate Professor Chris Edin outlines the need for a reality pedagogy. “Reality pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that has a primary goal of meeting each student on his or her own cultural and emotional turf.”
TEACHERS: Starting Small with PBL
A middle school chemistry teacher has three tips for teachers who find project-based learning daunting. While it was intimidating at first, the experience convinced her that PBL can be successfully implemented in nearly any classroom.
TEACHERS: How Teachers Get Cold Calling Right
Cold calling is when a teacher asks students to participate, hand up or not. This is powerful, but it usually stirs negative emotions: fear, anxiety, embarrassment. However it’s healthy for students to feel on-the-spot. Healthy discomfort leads to growth. This post explores how to push students to participate even if they’re shy in September as well as cold calling scenarios that hurt discussions.
TEACHERS: 8 Fun Ways to Help Your Students Collaborate in the Classroom
The days of students silently working independently from textbooks at desks neatly arranged into perfect rows are becoming rare! In today’s classroom, you’re more likely to see students standing or sitting together around tables or huddling on the rug, gesturing and talking excitedly, drawing diagrams on tablets, sketching ideas on whiteboards, or gathered around computers. Here are eight great activities and tools to foster an environment of collaboration in your classroom.
TEACHERS: Six Steps to Take in Response to Your Frustration at Kids
This commentary explores what teachers can do when they are frustrated with students. If frustrated teachers yell at kids it "makes kids more aggressive, physically and verbally. Yelling in general, no matter what the context, is an expression of anger.” It scares kids and makes them feel insecure. Even though they may put on a front, their defenses go up; they shift into survival mode (even if it’s irrational) and slip out of a logical paradigm where they can grow and learn.
TEACHERS: How One Teacher Uses Live Video to Foster SEL and Connect to Classrooms Around the World
TEACHERS: Optimism is a Learnable Skill
PARENTS: How to Create Great Summer Reading Experiences for All
Throughout the school year teachers (and those at home) have been working hard to cultivate or protect a love of reading in students. Now that the school year has ended comes the real test; will kids keep reading over the summer? In this article, Pernille Ripp shares a few ideas that may help this be a summer of reading for your kids.
PARENTS: What’s Going on in a Child’s Brain When You Read Them a Story?
LEADERS: Ten Things Great School Leaders Do Over the Summer
Great school leaders aren’t measured by how much they accomplish from August to June, but rather, how their students grow and thrive year after year. In the summer months, it is vital for leaders to reflect, innovate and strategize on making the next school year successful. Here are some ideas of how effective educators make great use of the summer months.
LEADERS: Education Buzz Words: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
LEADERS: Show What You Know? The Shift to Competency
Competency-based school models have the potential to better prepare young people for the innovation economy. But what does competency-based mean? How do we get there? And what are the risks? This post explores answers to these important questions.
Center for Christian Urban Educators
The Center for Christian Urban Educators seeks to encourage, equip, and empower Christian educators as they impact the lives of the children entrusted to their educational care.
