Perhaps the greatest tragedy to come from COVID-related distance learning would be "not" learning from this experience to improve teaching when teachers and students physically return to classrooms. A robust discussion of the evidence of success during this pandemic school could be a major boost to the process of teaching and learning.…

Innovative teaching means the teacher is the creator, but unfortunately it does not necessarily mean the same for the students. Innovation is not just "doing" something new; it is "thinking" of new ways to improve a product, a method, or an idea. How can educators teach students to become better innovators themselves? This…

Structured protocols can help teachers ensure equitable participation and create more culturally responsive discussions. Zaretta Hammond, author of "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain," shares five steps for incorporating protocols in your classroom so that every student is heard.

According to Dylan Wiliam, the traditional classroom practice in which a teacher asks a question, students raise their hands, and the teacher calls on a volunteer does not actually provide much useful information--and it may even impede learning. When teachers ask questions in this way, they're only engaging the most confident students in the…

What if all students had an opportunity to work through content at their own pace? What if all students had to master content before they moved on? The authors take their flipped-classroom model to the next level by flipping their classroom for mastery. In the flipped-mastery model, the teacher begins by organizing content around specific…

When Alexis Wiggins returned to full-time teaching after having a baby, she took with her an idea from the book "A Path With Heart" by Buddhist Jack Kornfield. The idea was that each day might go better if she viewed everyone she encountered during that day, including any student or parent who seemed to make her teaching life harder, as…

In this article, the author shares her experience that illustrates that the feedback students give is just as important as the feedback they get. For her, the idea that students giving her feedback was more powerful than her giving them feedback sounded too good to be true. If she could come up with a system to regularly collect feedback that did…

One hundred repetitions--100 "useful" repetitions. This notion has guided the author's work in alternative education programs for almost 20 years, dealing with the most challenging students, from addicts to conduct-disordered adolescents to traumatized 5th graders. There are no magic tricks. The role of educators is to align with the healthy…

Discusses the conflicting roles of the various actors involved in curriculum development and suggests several strategies for resolving the power struggle that presently characterizes curriculum development. Available from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1701 K Street, N.W., Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20006, single copies,…

Describes the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students in science and mathematics. Provides advice to parents, educators, and students on how to raise minority-group achievement. Describes the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which recruits and supports minority students who excel in…

Article stresses the need of values clarification to give pupils experience in valuing to enable them to answer the questions that really concern them. (Author/ML)

The ideal classroom climate promotes deep understanding, excitement about learning, and social and intellectual growth. Students are active decision makers, teachers work with students, and learners' interests and questions drive much of the curriculum. This brief article provides guidelines and a checklist to help administrators, parents, and…