Traditional approaches to the practice of teaching are unsustainable. Too many educators are disengaging, burning out, and leaving the profession in response to stressors both inside and outside of schools. And high teacher turnover has a negative effect on our students. In "Make Teaching Sustainable," Paul Emerich France explores six…

This "Quick Fix" describes the author's use of a single-use "Life Happens Waiver" as a modification of an otherwise typical late work policy. The strategy is intended to empower students, to establish rapport, and to provide a combination of structure and flexibility that enables students to meet learning goals.

Effective classroom formative assessment helps educators make minute-by-minute, day-by-day instructional decisions. This clear, practical guide for teachers centers on five key instructional strategies, along with an overview of each strategy and practical formative assessment techniques for implementation in K-12 classrooms. The authors provide…

Explore the web of factors that influence your power as a teacher--and how you can better use that power to foster student agency and empowerment. What kind of power do teachers have? What influences their instructional decision making--and how does that affect students, particularly Black students and other students of color? How can educators…

Learn practical strategies for ensuring each of your students feels valued, welcomed, and empowered. Author Carissa R. McCray provides the tools to combat biases inherent in education with pedagogy that encourages students to dismantle the injustices surrounding them. Tackling every angle of the classroom, from instructional practices and…

Be prepared to enrich students who already know your planned curriculum. "What's Next?" provides the tools you need to preassess students and practical strategies to further their learning. Concrete examples from different content areas and grade levels illustrate the ideas in action. Written for singletons and teacher teams alike, this…

Too often, students sit compliantly in class and are not engaged in the learning. Acclaimed speaker and author Aaron Hansen uses compelling stories and a step-by-step framework to help educators become hero makers. These powerful classroom mentors empower students to break free of their self-limiting stories and fixed mindsets and experience a new…

To encourage student empowerment, teachers must recognize and discuss the tension between their own instructional power and students' power and agency--especially in the fraught area of grading. To truly invest students with power in learning, educators must ask the tricky question of whether they are willing to give kids more ownership over the…

The issue of unfinished learning and achievement gaps in schools has been a persistent concern in recent years, particularly among underrepresented and disadvantaged student populations. AVID Elementary is a promising solution for ensuring students have the necessary knowledge and skills to be college and career ready, as it is based on proven…

This "Equity Tool" is intended to facilitate use of the concepts and processes described in greater depth in the Equity by Design brief, "Promoting Socially Just Evidence-based Practice." We summarize the framework presented in this brief and offer guiding questions to support educators' preparation for and engagement in…

Agency and empowerment in the art classroom can exist at the epitome of how a student explores and defines her-/him-/themself, and then voices that recognition. Merriam-Webster ("Agency," n.d.) defines "agency" as "a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved" (n.p.). Empowerment can be seen…

At the core of the intractability of racism is the persistent cultivation of our collective ignorance of it. This book argues that this cultivated ignorance compels us to support a status quo that we abhor. We are stuck because we cannot imagine a world beyond racism. We are also stuck because engaging with issues of racism with others usually…

Classrooms should be spaces where every child feels safe to bring their whole self to school. This book shows how to set up preK-grade 6 classrooms that support student agency, independence, and choice. The results of classrooms designed with these goals in mind include: (1) Greater student engagement with curriculum; (2) Students who know…

Psychologist Wendy Ostroff explains why using dialogue in learning with elementary-age students is a win for everyone, especially for learning. Young students are inventive questioners and naturally divergent thinkers, and they are engaged and empowered by exercising their voices. Teachers will benefit from Ostroff's guidance about fitting…

While student agency is considered an important aspect of classroom learning, opportunities to support and promote agency can be easily missed. This book addresses the inner dimensions of student agency to show what it is, why it is needed, and how it can be translated into instructional practices. In Part I, Locating Student Agency, Vaughn offers…