Mid-Year Teacher Check-In: How are we doing?
The middle of the school year is the perfect time to check in and see how you, your students, and your colleagues are doing so far. Reflection isn’t just about surfacing the things that need course correcting. It’s also about identifying and celebrating the good and figuring out how to grow upon those areas of strength. Throughout the months, it may be easy to slip into habits of mind and work practices that merely get us through the challenges of teaching, but chances are yo
The Emotions of Learning: Q&A with Yale's Marc Brackett, PhD
Social-emotional and trauma-informed learning and teaching are at the forefront of education research and study today. The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) reports that nearly 50 percent of the children in the U.S. have experienced “at least one or more types of serious childhood trauma.” Therefore, ignoring emotions in the classroom can absolutely pose a barrier to learning. One group of researchers (Kautz, Heckman, Diris, Bas ter Weel, & Borghans, 2014) found tha
Small Things That Make a Big Difference in the Classroom
Sometimes the smallest practices and moments can make a huge difference in the classroom and with students. Ask anyone about their best school memories and, chances are, they will have little to do with the lessons or the test scores and much to do with the relationships and connections they formed with their teachers. Here’s a look at small classroom practices that have a mighty impact. Welcoming students at the door There’s so much to do at the start of class, but greeting
What Equity Really Means in Schools
Equity and equality are two different concepts that are often used interchangeably. Many people think that equity in education means everyone getting the same thing, but it actually means that everyone gets access to what they need. So how can we work to truly narrow the gaps and improve student learning? Let’s take a closer look. Equality versus equity To understand what equity means in schools, we must first separate it from equality. “We have heard the terms equality and e
Humility For Effective Collaboration in Schools
I often find myself returning to a chapter in Building School 2.0 entitled Humility Matters, as it reminds me that it is okay to struggle, because the work of teaching and learning is hard. It requires a lot of courage, among all of those involved, to take the risks necessary for real learning to happen. But authors Lehman and Chase are cautious about this courage as it has two edges. They say that courage “can also create a surety that is dangerous” as “the death of any gr
The Best Laid (Lesson) Plans Go Awry
Today, I continued work on my basement. This has been an ongoing project for the better part of 2 months now, and it has been wrought with fits and starts the entire time. Today’s work was less than ideal. There were a series of setbacks that resulted in a seemingly wasted day. The beauty of working on my house, and in my past experience in construction, is the immediate gratification that comes from altering the landscape in which you are working. No matter what I do in my h
Testing: How far is the moon from the Earth?
As we approach our mid year state assessments, I am reminded of a blog post I wrote 11 years ago around this same time. I think it's still relevant today: “Today, a colleague whom I have come to regard very highly told me a story. They spoke of a friend who, upon interviewing for a position in a NY District Attorney’s Office, was asked the question, “How far is the moon from the Earth?*” What skill would an aspiring assistant district attorney need to answer this question? T
How to Encourage Student Self-Efficacy
A confident classroom is a successful classroom. How do you build a culture of academic excellence in classrooms that promote student accountability, confidence, and success? By encouraging a growth mindset for all learners, finding ways to boost their confidence and their sense of academic potential. Here’s a look at a few ways to cultivate student self-efficacy. What is self-efficacy? According to Transforming Education, “Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to succ
How Positive Student-Teacher Relationships Create Resilient Learners
In her viral TED Talk “Every Kid Needs a Champion,” 40-year educator Rita Pierson, recounted a time when she heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” When most of us think back to our time in school, our stories tend to include the teachers with whom we had real, lasting connections. Our favorite teachers often changed our outlook on learning, made class fun, and inspired us to push beyond what
Empowering Teachers at EDxEDNYC 2019
It's that time of year! EDxEDNYC is back and ready for 2019! The EDxEDNYC Conference is June 6, 2019 from 9am-3:30pm. The EDxEDNYC Story Five years ago, a group of educators at Hudson High School of Learning Technologies wanted to make a difference in professional learning. After attending countless PD's and conferences, we noticed that teacher voice and choice were sorely lacking from professional development. Why weren't teachers learning from other teachers? Why did profes
Problem Posing: Generating Questions for Exploration
Students are asked a tremendous amount of questions daily, and yet they rarely spend time crafting their own questions or answering questions posed by their peers. This is true in my own math classroom, where most math problems encountered by students come from textbooks, digital curricula, blogs and suggestions from colleagues at school and on Twitter. But lately, I have been asking students to pose their own mathematical problems, with much success. What exactly is problem
Why Do You Rise?
Each day we leave our homes with a mission, may it be a mission to be the best in life, at work, or with our families, but we leave with a purpose. However, particularly for people of color, on a daily basis, we enter a world where our images aren’t the norm and we encounter a variety of obstacles unknown to many. One morning in the summer of 2010, I had a conversation with a White classmate enrolled in my special education master’s degree program at The George Washington Un
How to Bring EDxED To Your School!
“Professional Development is meant to develop you professionally, not serve as purely administrative time.” That one line, delivered by the passionate and talented Walter Brown of Hudson HSLT, completely changed my perspective on professional development. How often had I sat through meetings during my mandated “Professional Development” time to talk through administrative checklists? Even in the furthest stretches of the imagination, the it would be a stretch to call much of
Crisis Point: The State of Literacy in America
The United States is facing a literacy crisis. Yes, crisis. It isn’t new, but its impact upon our kids, our economy, and our society are far-reaching and expanding. How bad is it? Take a look at some numbers. More than 30 million adults in the United States cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third grade level. — ProLiteracy Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves. These children are mo
Solving School Problems? Ask the Experts — NYC Teachers!
The room was full of educational leaders from across the city, there to learn more about how to bring technology into school buildings, classrooms, and into the hands of the students they served. The mission was a good one. In 2008 the majority of schools still had limping-along access to the internet with maybe a computer in every classroom though mostly it was the teacher’s computer. Some schools were experimenting with giving students laptops, but mostly schools had comput