Love Better: Connecting Again in Hard Times

Sanam EdwardsBlog, Reflect Better, Teach Happier

TL;DR: While some teachers were excited to be back at school, others loved working from home. A lot of negativity was hidden when people didn’t have to interact with one another in person daily. How do you react to negative experiences at your school? Connect to students and staff members, practice patience, and love better. Back to School After being … Read More

Lead Better: Passions and Saturday Dinners

Raymond PortenBlog, Leadership

TL;DR: Finding passions and interests can make experiences come alive. When you become interested in something, you are much more likely to get creative and show passion for it. In my home, it was cooking with my boys. What can leaders do to translate this same idea to their schools? Make the Drive Part of the Experience In July, I … Read More

3 Steps to Dive Deeper Into the Cultural Iceberg

Teach Better TeamBlog, Student Engagement

TL;DR: Explore your cultural iceberg. What are the visible and less visible bits of your culture? What does culture mean to you and how can you address it in the classroom? Take a global perspective when teaching about cultures. “Equity and Inclusion Just Got Better” Blog Reflection Questions:  What does culture mean? How is culture embedded into the curriculum we … Read More

Science Better: Using Models

Teach Better TeamBlog, Differentiation, Grading & Assessment, Innovation, Lesson Planning, Personalized Learning, Student Engagement, Teach Further

TL;DR: Models are a great way to determine student understanding of content. Use exemplars to inspire students to do great things. Encourage students to let their passions fuel their creativity, and give them lots of loose parts to experiment with. Provide expectations, but let students determine how they rise to those expectations. Student Designed Models I am big on student … Read More

Using Infographics with Multilingual Learners

Carly SpinaBlog, Differentiation, Lesson Planning

TL;DR: Infographics are a way to show information visually to support multilingual learners. WIDA updated its ELD Framework to include viewing and visually representing. This better describes how we consume and produce information today. Infographics increase accessibility for students. They can also help educators collaborate quickly and easily. Infographics Infographics are a great way to visually and/or graphically represent information. … Read More