Teachers' Library

Connecting the novel The Outsiders to an anti-bias framework helps middle school students examine their biases. Anti-bias education is an educational approach, beginning as early as kindergarten, to teach children how to recognize their own biases as well as the biases or prejudices of others. Once these biases can be named, students can begin to move away from conditioned beliefs about marginalized groups of people. Curricula like Teaching Tolerance’s Anti-Bias Framework offer age-appropriate standards that begin with self-identifying skills and end with actionable steps students can take to make change in the world. S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders provided an opportunity for my seventh-grade class to explore anti-bias education. The plot, centered around two groups of kids from opposing socioeconomic backgrounds, was a fitting template for the Teaching Tolerance framework. But before we began reading the novel, we needed to lay some groundwork. CCREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT Teaching a...

Teaching young students how to write by hand before moving on to keyboarding can help improve their reading fluency as well. Technology is an undeniable fact of everyday life and can support students’ learning. But there are limits to that: Completely replacing handwriting instruction with keyboarding instruction in elementary school can be detrimental to students’ literacy acquisition. Why are handwriting and letter formation so important? Research has demonstrated a correlation between letter-naming and letter-writing fluency, and a relationship between letter-naming fluency and successful reading development. There’s a strong connection between the hand and the neural circuitry of the brain—as students learn to better write the critical features of letters, they also learn to recognize them more fluently. This recognition of letters leads to greater letter-writing fluency, which leads to greater overall reading development. In an article summarizing several studies on handwriting an...

Teaching with comics facilitates improved comprehension and social-emotional competencies. Comics and graphic novels are powerful forms of expression that can be an important part of every English language arts (ELA) teacher’s arsenal. They can serve as literary bridges to enhance not only ELA instruction but also self-awareness, empathy, and creativity. The art, whether vibrant or void of color, allows for a deeper comprehension of themes. The text, carefully chosen to work in tandem with the illustrations, creates a sense of connection and truth. To effectively instruct with graphic novels or comics, teachers need to make sure that students understand how the medium functions. Just as every word and aspect of grammar is purposeful in a traditional text, every part of the panel in a comic or graphic novel is used with intention. The placement of words, movement of lines, and chosen colors all have a purpose. Examining these details provides accessible channels for students to gain not...

How to go about developing a curriculum that takes into account both your students’ abilities and the initiatives of your building and district. Every new teacher is given the same challenge: Do the best you can to cover the material in the most engaging way all year. Sounds simple, right? Don’t worry—many of your fellow first-year teachers agree that it’s not at all simple or straightforward. But curriculum mapping doesn’t have to be a beast—it can help make your life easier in many ways, by helping you to set realistic expectations for your students and manage teaching a complex subject over an extended time. CCOMPONENTS OF A WELL-PLANNED CLASSROOM Before you put pen to paper—or finger to keyboard—there are several things to consider. Without a solid idea of your own expectations, you’ll never be able to develop the most engaging and developmentally appropriate curriculum for your students. I’d advise you to consider the following points before you map out your curriculum. Student ab...

For young teachers, their age can be both an obstacle and an advantage when teaching social and emotional learning. Since starting my teaching career six months ago, I have learned that I can’t expect my students to learn effectively unless they first feel cared for and comfortable in my classroom. Yes, you read that correctly: I’ve been a teacher for six months. That is my current amount of experience as an educator. I teach physics to students between the ages of 16 and 18, and I recently turned 23. I have realized that of the many challenges on my journey as a young teacher, the most pressing is the need to care for my students’ social and emotional needs while still maintaining the boundaries of professionalism—establishing that I am their teacher, not their peer. Due to our closeness in age, it’s not uncommon for my students to view me as more of a friend than an authority figure. Additionally, the way I teach social and emotional learning (SEL) in my classroom often brings out st...

Exercises that help young students who’ve experienced trauma transition into the school day in a relaxed and ready state. For the past year and a half, I’ve been working with the directors and educators at St. Mary’s Early Childhood Center in Indianapolis. During my frequent visits, I’ve been introducing brain-aligned sensory and motor system strategies for emotion regulation to 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Many of these children have experienced significant adversity and trauma, and their brains are functioning in a survival state originating from these early life experiences. Many don’t have the secure emotional attachments that we all need, and as a result they may have disorganization in the lower brain regions, which prohibits healthy brain development. This can lead to dysregulation and chronic behavioral, social, and academic issues. To develop and strengthen cognition in all children, including those who have experienced trauma, we must address their level of brain developm...

The educational choices available to children are changing rapidly. Apps, online courses, digital games, recordings and videos are all easily accessible. But, despite appearances, human evolution has not suddenly gone into overdrive and the main aim for us as teachers remains the same. We are helping children to… The educational choices available to children are changing rapidly. Apps, online courses, digital games, recordings and videos are all easily accessible. But, despite appearances, human evolution has not suddenly gone into overdrive and the main aim for us as teachers remains the same. We are helping children to make sense of the world and then to make their mark on it. There are 5 essential ways in which we can do that for every child, whatever their circumstances. 11. Attention Paying attention to what we are doing is something that we have to re-learn. Very young children pay great attention to the smallest of things. Washing their hands takes forever as they want to focus ...

Encouraging learners to feel more confident in the classroom is a problem often faced by teachers. Below are five simple things that you can adopt in your classroom to encourage learners to feel self-confident. Encouraging learners to feel more confident in the classroom is a problem often faced by teachers. Below are five simple things that you can adopt in your classroom to encourage learners to feel self-confident. TThe small things Let’s start with the physical comfort of our students. Having the room properly heated or cooled, asking if they would like the window open, making sure everyone has had some water or checking to see if anyone needs to go to the bathroom or wash their hands only takes a minute at the beginning of the lesson and it helps our children to know that their welfare is our concern. Then, making sure that everyone has their books, praising them for being organised or having their pencils sharpened and ready. These things seem trivial, but they count. They count ...

If you are an teacher, Director of Studies or school owner you’ll know the importance of putting students in the right group. Whether it’s a business English class, exam prep or general English – a placement test is essential. Without one, you’ll teach classes with such varied levels and needs, it’ll be hard to plan an effective lesson. Placing students in the wrong level will not only lead to unmotivated learners, but it may also cost your institution money, as we explored in our article: The high cost of placing university students in the wrong English program. But how exactly do you design a test that’s reliable, accurate and easy to use? In this post, we’ll examine the key questions you need to consider before making your own placement test. We’ll also explore what features you need to achieve your goals. PProblems with traditional placement tests Most private language schools (PLSs) and higher education institutions offer new students the opportunity to take a placement test befor...

What are the origins of exam day stress? There’s no doubt about it – exams are scary. But why exactly is this? What is it about an exam scenario that stresses us out and how can we make it feel okay? To answer these questions we’re going to have to take a trip back in time and look at how our ancestors evolved their abstract thinking skills. At the same time, we’ll look at how mindfulness can actively help shift the way we think about exams. About 70,000 years ago, or thereabouts, a key development happened in how the human brain processed experiences. Over a relatively short space of time (in evolutionary terms), scientists believe we stopped simply experiencing primal urges (safety/hunger/tiredness etc.) and responding to them. Instead, we started to be able to imagine, analyze and believe in things that didn’t exist. This meant not only could our brains respond to the threat of a real predator in front of us, but also to the perceived or imagined threat of a predator. This shift had...