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Lose the behavior gimmicks and try this in your classroom
Savanna Flakes EducationA group behavior contingency (GBC) is a classroom management system designed to proactively support appropriate classroom behavior. Groups or teams of students are rewarded for exhibiting appropriate or desirable classroom behaviors rather than being punished or reprimanded for exhibiting inappropriate or undesirable behaviors. Why use a GBC? Gimmicks like names on the board, check marks, and loss of recess don’t work and are self-shaming to students.
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Call to action: Is your school best preparing kids for the future?
Brian Stack EducationAs we embark on a new calendar year, I ask my fellow school principals whether your school is best preparing kids for the future. This will be my single focus as we start 2019. At our graduation ceremony last year, I reminded graduates that they entered the PK-12 education system at just about the same time that the first iPhone was introduced to the market. I noted how much our world and our society has changed as a result of personal smartphone devices and drew a parallel to how much our school’s definition of "college and career readiness" has had to evolve over that same time frame.
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Project transforms the perception of religion in classrooms around the…
Sheilamary Koch EducationFrom reading Martin Luther King’s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to analyzing artwork at the Art Institute of Chicago, students around the nation are embarking on educational activities from a new religious studies-informed angle. Thanks to the Religious Literacy Project (RLP) at Harvard Divinity School, which guides teachers in incorporating a constitutionally sound approach to presenting the interplay between culture and religion, students are developing better understanding of how the multiple facets of religion influence human experience.
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Building metacognitive skills with English learners: Part 1
Erick Herrmann EducationMetacognition is an important yet sometimes underemphasized aspect of education, especially for English learners. In this two part series, we will explore this topic in more depth, including strategies. Metacognitions refer to thinking about our thought processes, monitoring those processes, and taking control of progress in learning. Educators know the importance of students taking charge of their learning, and expect that through the process of learning to read and write, and learning how school works, that students will become efficient and effective learners.
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States begin to mandate mental health education
Bambi Majumdar EducationExperts state that an overwhelming majority of our youth who commit suicide, over 90 percent, suffer from depression or other diagnosable forms of mental illness. Students who have some kind of mental illness are less likely to succeed in school as well. With such ominous statistics staring us in the face, it is high time we have straight talk with our children about mental health. New York and Virginia have become the first states to mandate that schools include mental health education in their curriculums. It is a step in the right direction, and other states should follow suit.
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How to fire kids up to be excited for their core subjects
Brian Stack EducationI spent years as a high school math teacher unsuccessfully trying to find an answer to this question: Why didn’t my students have as much passion and enthusiasm for math as they did for their extracurricular activities, and what could I do as a teacher to change that? The closest I had ever come to reaching an answer actually came two years after I left the classroom to become a school administrator. That year (over a decade ago), my school tried an experiment. We paired a math teacher with a woodshop teacher to offer a class entitled "Geometry in the Woodshop."
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Props in the music classroom
Aileen Miracle EducationAs music teachers, we have the opportunity to buy some really fun items for our classroom! Perhaps you've seen tennis balls or ribbons in another music teacher's room, and you've wondered how they incorporate those props into their music classroom. Here are my five favorite props for the music classroom.
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A look inside 2 distinct high school religion classes
Sheilamary Koch EducationThe two teachers interviewed for this article both mentioned wisdom as a quality they envisioned or witnessed their high school students moving towards as they engage in the study of religion. Interestingly, their teaching approaches and subject matter are strikingly different. One teaches at a public high school and the other at a private institution that encompasses primary through high school. Nonetheless, both use the study of religion in ways that have the potential to impact how these young people interact in the world.
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Learning disabilities don’t mean I’m stupid
Amy Temple EducationI have lived with learning disabilities for over 30 years now and not once have I wished to be anything other than who I am. I have dealt with "medical professionals" who told my parents that I wouldn't amount to much because of my learning disabilities. In a nutshell, I wasn't going to be worth anything! I have dealt with potential employers who have not been too sure of how to treat me when discovering my condition. I remember one in particular who was very hesitant in taking my resume.
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K-12 school districts must gear up for 5G
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe Verizon Foundation in September announced a 5G EdTech Challenge for nonprofits who can develop 5G-enabled apps that can transform and innovate teaching and learning. 5G is poised to become the leading mobile network technology in North America by 2025. To prepare for the 5G revolution, school districts have to rethink their existing business agreements with telecommunications carriers. They also need to think about doing away with the complex and costly legacy hardwired networks that are supporting classrooms at present.
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