Tossing Out Traditional Grades: Gaining Buy-In and Open Communication
When making a big change like throwing out grades, many people will not “get it” and may push back in ways that impede the progress of students.
Schools and colleges have supported the traditional grading system for far too long, making it challenging to suggest this seemingly...
Push Your Boundaries: 3 Ways To Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
After twenty years of teaching and more than fifty marathons, Mike Roberts is still chasing greatness. In his book, Chasing Greatness, Roberts shares his experiences while showing you, teacher and/or marathoner, how to run the most enriching race of your life.
The Warmup: Change Is Good...
Harold and Maude, sunflowers, and the value of each human being
By Stefani Roth
One of my favorite movies is Harold and Maude. A little-known gem about a young man coming of age meeting and falling in love with a vivacious, soon-to-be 80-year-old woman.
Wait, what? Yup, all kinds of things to unpack in that storyline, but the most important, as is usually the...
Gaining Student Investment With Graphic Novels and Comics
Here's the problem. Many don’t see graphic novels as serious learning, or they only see the limited potential.
Author Shveta Miller, a teacher leader and global advocate for teaching with comics, sees it very differently. In her book Hacking Graphic Novels, Miller shows...
Build a Classroom Identity and Nurture Belonging
33-year veteran classroom teacher, James Alan Sturtevant, wowed teachers with the original Hacking Engagement, which contains 50 Tips and Tools to Engage Teachers and Learners Daily.
Those educators and students got better, but they craved more. So, longtime educator and wildly...
How To Structure a Project Based Learning Experience
As questions about project-based learning (PBL) continue to swirl, we turned to the experts to help answer our questions.
Experienced classroom teachers and school administrators Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy explain how to empower those intimidated by PBL to cry, “I...
Creating a Mentorship Program: Key Elements to Consider Before Starting
We understand that becoming a mentor is not a rite of passage for all educators. But too often, we are in the minority in that understanding.
Effective mentoring does not mean simply asking a veteran teacher to teach a new teacher "how they do it." Educators bring individuality to instruction....
Setting and Modeling High Expectations
In his popular book, Hacking Classroom Management, Utah English Teacher of the Year and sought-after speaker Mike Roberts brings you 10 quick and easy classroom management hacks that will make your classroom the place to be for all your students.
He shows you how to create an...
Student Focused Libraries
Many people don’t know exactly what school librarians do.
Your administrators don’t know, your teachers don’t know, your students don’t know ... not even your family and friends know. And when you were studying library science in college, you THOUGHT you knew.
...
How a pandemic has exposed education's flaws and cleared paths to massive change
By Mark Barnes
Teachers and school leaders sacrificed so much during a global pandemic. A tsunami of issues came hurtling their way, but they stood on the shore, dug in their heels, and would not be moved.
They embraced the Zoom age, hybrid teaching, and remote learning, while constantly...
