I’ve been thinking a lot lately about discourse, oral language, and the amount of talk kids engage in throughout their days at school. Two resources that I share in this post support the importance of providing meaningful, plentiful opportunities for kids to talk for various purposes.
Community of Learners & Learning Environment
The Equity Transformation Cycle: Listening to Students to Empower Them and Improve Teaching Practices
Understanding the student experience is key to designing culturally relevant instruction. Our students know best what works for them. By seeking student feedback, we empower them and build stronger relationships. In this post, I want to describe how the Equity Transformation Cycle described in Street Data has helped me think more deeply about my students. It has helped me feel more creativity and curiosity about teaching.
How to Use Universal Design for Learning to Create Assessments
My tenth article with Edutopia was published today!
How to Use Universal Design for Learning to Create Assessments
Developing Strong Student to Student Partnerships
As the school year begins, many of us are talking about how to build strong student to student partnerships in our classrooms. When students collaborate in effective partnerships, learning increases and a sense of belonging is nurtured. In this post, I want to share some partnership ideas.
Continue reading “Developing Strong Student to Student Partnerships”
Envisioning Language
This summer I had the privilege of attending part of a Responsive Classroom® training. This opportunity helped strengthen my understanding of how to nurture conditions that include the four domains of a responsive classroom: engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmentally responsive teaching. A key strategy to support all four domains is Envisioning Language. In this post I want to summarize some of what I learned about such language.
Understanding Students’ Identity: Starting the Year With a Student-Centered Focus
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s book Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy offers many excellent ideas designed to learn about the identities of our students and plan for joyful learning experiences. In this post, I want to highlight some ideas, especially those experiences that are powerful to explore at the beginning of a new school year in order to create classrooms where students feel seen, heard, valued, and loved. When students feel belonging, they thrive and can engage in deep learning. In addition to Dr. Muhammad’s ideas, I will explore ideas I have used with students and that colleagues have shared with me.
“Knowing self prepares young people to live joyfully in the world…. Young people need to know themselves as well as others who may be different from them…. This knowledge teaches young people how to love and live with differences as they grow older.” ~Cultivating Genius
Continue reading “Understanding Students’ Identity: Starting the Year With a Student-Centered Focus”
Today my fifth article was published on Edutopia!
The Importance of Story and Deep Listening
As a teacher and as an instructional coach, I’ve tried to improve my listening skills. It is such a gift when one feels deeply listened to and I strive to provide this for others. Deep listening continues to be a goal for me. I have always been intrigued by the power of telling stories. In classrooms making space for, and deeply listening to students’ stories, insight, and feedback is critical. In this blog I want to highlight some of the ideas in Chapter 4 of Street Data as they relate to listening. Continue reading “The Importance of Story and Deep Listening”
Empower Students by Cultivating Agency
My fourth article was published last week!
Empowering Students by Cultivating Agency
Thank you to all of you who have taken time to read the article and provide feedback. If you want to comment on the article you can do so here on my personal blog… or find the article on Twitter (Twitter Link).