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Articles

My Approach to Virtual Kindergarten

Last spring, when terms like global pandemic, virus, hybrid-, distance-, synchronous-, and asynchronous-learning first became a regular part of educators’ vernacular and most educators across the country were thrown into unfamiliar territory, I couldn't wait for the school year to be finished. Everything felt new, uncomfortable, and stressful, and trying to…
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Nov 12 2020
It’s a New Year – Time to Look at Students Through a New Lens

It’s a New Year – Time to Look at Students Through a New Lens

A new calendar year provides the ideal occasion to reflect on who our students are now compared to who they were at the beginning of the year. Depending on how early the school year begins, some of us have been with our students for almost six months! In that time,…
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Jan 06 2020

Know Your Students: Developmentally Responsive Planning

Knowing the students in your class happens in different ways for different teachers. A middle school teacher who sees 150 adolescents for one subject, 45 minutes a day will likely develop different kinds of relationships with their students than a first grade teacher who has one class of 22 six-…
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Jan 09 2018
Photo by Jeff Woodward.

Teachers, Specializing in… Everything!

You’re a master of flexibility, an expert gear-switcher, and you know and teach every student at your school. You’re a Special Area Teacher. And you’re amazing! Being a Special Area Teacher means that, on any given day, your lesson plans are meeting the needs of students in vastly different physical,…
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Sep 20 2017
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

A Time of Change

Suddenly in the last few weeks, I can’t keep enough band aids stocked in my classroom. It seems like every time I look over, I see one of my students putting a band aid on a hangnail, paper cut, or other minuscule hurt. "My eye hurts," "my leg aches," and…
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Apr 29 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Magnetic Friendships

As a kid, I was fascinated by magnets: the force they exert, the way they could push and pull through tables, windows, and papers . . . sometimes without even touching! Now as an adult and a teacher, I've been thinking about those pairs of students I've taught whose attraction…
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Jan 07 2014
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Why Do Children Act Silly or Show Off?

Sometimes, we forget that the children we teach are just that—children. Humor, silliness, playfulness, and showing off are hallmarks of childhood, and we should expect to experience some at every grade. Just for the fun of it Children often act silly or show off because these are ways to have…
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Feb 14 2013

Questioning Your Assumptions

Winter break can provide teachers a bit of time and space to reflect on how the school year has gone so far, and to decide what adjustments to make in January. This year, in addition to thinking about classroom routines and procedures, progress toward learning goals (for yourself and your…
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Dec 27 2011
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Terrific Tens

Double-digit kids, tens can take on almost anything and love almost every minute of it. It didn’t take me long as a teacher to latch onto the understanding that if you want to teach in “middle childhood,” there is no better age than ten, no better grade than fifth. Children…
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Apr 01 2011
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Notable Nine-Year-Old

Nine is not always an easy age, but it is an age of growing social awareness, of intellectual stretching, wondering, and clamoring. These are the “ing” kids: the kids who are doing, questioning, doubting, arguing . . . sometimes seemingly just for the sake of it, with no clear goals…
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Feb 01 2011
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

What’s Changed?

One of my favorite times of the school year is right after the winter holiday break. That first week back reminds me of the first days of school—many students come in wearing new clothing and with a mix of nervousness, happiness, and excitement about being back in school. It is…
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Jan 05 2011
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Energized Eight-Year-Old

When eight-year-olds wake up in the morning, new plans for adventure are often percolating before their feet hit the floor. These plans usually involve a friend, or better yet, a group of friends. They may be as simple as rounding up a game of kickball or as complicated as starting…
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Nov 01 2010
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Seeing Seven-Year-Old

Sevens notice everything . . . in detail. Their drawing, writing, and play construction is characteristically small, reduced to the microcosm, miniaturized to an intricate and controllable world they're trying to make perfect. Dioramas fit in shoeboxes, providing room enough for furniture, rugs, animals, vases with tiny flowers, people smaller…
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Aug 01 2010
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Sensational Six-Year-Old

No one is more industrious than a six-year-old. Sixes take on every activity with unbridled enthusiasm. Work is completed in no time at all, though quantity, not quality, is the measure that counts for them—along with trying new things. Being first to read a new book, spell a new word,…
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Apr 01 2010

Do Your Students Seem Older?

Have you noticed an age shift in your class now that it's the middle of the year? It always seemed to me that when we'd come back from February vacation, my students had all grown an inch, seen some new movie that changed the lingo in the room, and were…
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Feb 19 2010
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

The Feisty 5½ Year Old

There's a discernible turning point in children's fifth year where the focused, centered, rule-following kindergartner becomes the full-fledged explorer. The growth spurt that's beginning will last through the sixth year. "Stretching" is a good word for this age. Children often stretch the truth, test the rules, see what they can…
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Feb 01 2010

Erica’s Surprising Insight

In almost forty years of problem-solving with children, I learned how important it can be to stay open to surprises. Although I'd always try to figure out what was causing a problem before asking a student to work with me on solving it, my guesses were not always right. When…
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Feb 01 2010
Photograpgh by Jeff Woodward.

The Phenomenal Fives

Oh, what fun to be five! Busy and loving every moment of it, each day is a brand-new adventure, and if the structure of life around them is strong, they’re good to go. Fives are actively and selectively receptive, as they take in the world through their senses. They see,…
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Jan 17 2010
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

On Turning Seven

One recent January, I noticed something odd each time my class of first graders settled into their writing workshop tasks: A handful of children had begun writing with tiny, tiny letters. "You need to erase and write bigger," I would say, again and again. "That writing's too hard to read!"…
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Nov 01 2007

Child Development

Question: What are your goals in sharing knowledge about child development with students’ families, and how do you go about it? A: One goal that my teaching partner and I have in talking with families about child development is to help them understand our teaching and assessment approaches. For example,…
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Feb 01 2004

Homework!

Ask any teacher, parent, student, or administrator about homework and you're likely to get a different opinion about the quality and quantity at their school: there should be more, there should be less, it's too easy, it's too hard, it should start when children are very young, it should start…
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Oct 31 2000

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