As the year comes to a close, you have likely considered activities and ways to bring the year to a joyful end with students. The end of the school year Read More »
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MAY
20
2022
Quick Ways to Recognize and Celebrate Every Student at the End of the Year
The end of the school year is always an exciting time—full of opportunities to celebrate and reflect. The students we met in August and September have grown in innumerable ways—they’ve Read More…
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MAY
13
2022
Pause, Ponder, and Reflect: Six Ways to Celebrate School Year Success
The countdown to summer can be bittersweet as fond memories of activities, moments, and achievements from the school year intermingle with the excitement of summer’s many possibilities. As our minds Read More…
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MAY
06
2022
Five Ways to End the School Year With Joy!
The end of the school year is approaching, and with it comes a flood of thoughts and emotions, from relief to reflection to anticipation of summer’s promise of rest. One Read More…
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MAR
04
2022
In Celebration of Teachers
Most people can recall at least one instance in which a teacher showed caring and kindness toward them at just the right moment in their lives. For me, it was Read More…
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FEB
25
2022
Teaching Diversity Beyond Black History Month
Growing up, I always looked forward to Black History Month at my public school in New York City. My teachers taught lessons about Black people who made notable contributions to Read More…
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FEB
11
2022
Beyond the Heritage Month: Teaching Black History All Year Long
Black History Month is a critical time to acknowledge the systemic oppression and racism that Black people have experienced in this country while also celebrating their incredible contributions to American Read More…
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DEC
31
2021
Seven Tips for the Transition Back to School From Winter Break
For so many teachers and students, returning after winter break can feel like the first day of school all over again. The routines, rules, and procedures that were once so Read More…
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DEC
17
2021
Use Responsive Advisory Meeting to Lend a Helping Hand
The holidays are a time everyone looks forward to. Some of us cannot wait to relax and binge watch our favorite TV shows; some are ready to eat delicious holiday Read More…
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DEC
10
2021
Handle the Holidays With Morning Meeting
As the holiday season gets into full swing, maintaining a productive and pleasant classroom atmosphere can become a difficult task. During this time of year, students are frequently distracted by Read More…
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DEC
03
2021
Inviting All Winter Holidays Into the Classroom
Q: The students in my classroom come from many different traditions and cultures. I know the winter holidays could be a great opportunity for students to learn about each other’s Read More…
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NOV
26
2021
How Social Distancing Helped Me Up My Interactive Learning Structure Game
Six feet of distance. Masks indoors. Individual materials for all. All the new safety requirements felt overwhelming when my middle schoolers sauntered into B-5 after ten weeks of virtual learning. Read More…
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NOV
12
2021
How Have We Reimagined Teaching, Leading, and Communicating in our Schools?
Recently there has been discussion in our education ranks about how students have not had an uninterrupted school year for over eighteen months. The disruption started at the end of Read More…
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NOV
05
2021
Apps That Grew My Responsive Classroom Practices Despite the Hurdles COVID Created
The past two years have undoubtedly shaken up the way I approach teaching. Beginning the 2020–2021 school year virtually produced many daunting questions. How could I build community? How could Read More…
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OCT
29
2021
How Do You Know It Is Happening? Six Clues That May Indicate Cyberbullying
Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior between school-aged children. It is a way that a child with physical or social power abuses a less powerful child. Cyberbullying, according to the U.S. Read More…
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OCT
29
2021
What Should I Do? Six Strategies to Use When You Notice Cyberbullying
You hear mean and unwelcome teasing as students do math activities on electronic devices. You see exclusion when a group of students are playing an online game. You suspect that Read More…
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OCT
22
2021
Redefining Student Success
Traditions feel good. It is why we sing songs that we know well, why we go to the same store each week, and why we drive to work the same Read More…
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SEP
24
2021
Empowering Educators to Get to Know Their Students: A Conversation with Authors Andy Moral and Heather Young
Early in the school year, all educators are faced with the same important task: getting to know their new students. To learn some effective strategies for making connections with Read More…
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SEP
03
2021
Meaningful Learning Through the Natural Learning Cycle
A new book from CRS Publishing, Make Learning Meaningful: How to Leverage the Brain’s Natural Learning Cycle in K–8 Classrooms, offers a brain-based approach to sustaining student engagement and Read More…
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JUN
11
2021
Decades from Now, What Will Be the Story You Tell?
I recently had the opportunity to reconnect with educators I worked with at the school where I began my teaching career. Many of them came straight from productive days in Read More…
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MAY
21
2021
Celebrating a Year of New Learning
This year tested us, our students, and their families as everyone worked to meet new and challenging expectations. Yet our students, when faced with seemingly impossible circumstances, were able to Read More…
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MAY
14
2021
Growing from Challenges—Ending the Year on a Positive Note
There is no other way to say it—this school year has been full of unique challenges and demanding questions. Whether you have been teaching remotely, in-person with social distancing, or Read More…
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MAR
31
2021
Sustaining Safety, Joy, and Challenge for Students with Diverse Learning Needs
All of us, students and teachers alike, approach the end of the school year with a wide variety of feelings. Just as teachers might be feeling burned out right Read More…
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JAN
26
2021
Trust Yourself – You Know a Lot Already
Did the first half of the school year give you a “déjà vu” feeling from your first year of teaching? Everything feels new and unfamiliar. A lot of time is spent Read More…
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JAN
26
2021
Grounding Responsive Classroom Practices One Step at a Time
Walk with me as I share how my daily scheduled walks for self-care have served to ground and bring to life the Responsive Classroom core belief, guiding principles, and academic Read More…
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JAN
26
2021
Approaching Discipline with Compassion
Teaching and learning has been transformed this year by various models of hybrid, virtual, and remote learning. Along with restructuring and modifying how they deliver education to students, the coronavirus Read More…
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DEC
07
2020
Reflection in a Virtual Classroom
This time last year, I published an article titled “Building a Positive Community Through Reflection.” The article began with excitement for the start of a new year and a new Read More…
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