Teaching quality impacts classroom instruction. Teaching is difficult, demanding and draining work; teaching in urban environs exacerbates the difficulties, the demands and the complexities of teaching. Through the eyes of an assistant superintendent, charged with implementing a new vision for literacy teaching and learning, this manuscript…

Online learning in the elementary school grades is popular in the United States. A recent study by Allen and Seaman (2009) estimated that the number of U.S. students enrolled in at least one online or blended course was over 1 million. Minimal research has been done on how working in isolation, when a teacher is removed from the daily contact with…

When English language learners (ELLs) don't speak in class or make friends outside their language group, teachers often attribute the problem in the student's cultural background. It's possible, however, that the method of teaching ELLs is part of the problem. A growing number of schools are trying to roll back that problem by launching…