Literacy is arguably the most valuable asset we develop in our students, but many classrooms are missing some of the most effective literacy practices. In this episode, author and educator Angela Peery shares a set of tools any PK-12 teacher can use to evaluate what you're doing right, what you're missing, and how you can fill the gaps. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Scholastic Scope for sponsoring this episode. ------------------- The check-up tools we discuss in this episode come from Peery's book (co-authored with Tracy Shiel), What to Look for in Literacy: A Leader's Guide to High Quality Instruction*. *affiliate link  

Now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Covid-19, we have an opportunity for a fresh start in schools, and we can't waste it. Let’s take the wisdom we've gained over the last year and use it. Let's not go back to the way things used to be. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Parlay for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

Revolution School is a fantastic new high school in Philadelphia where students co-create their education around experiential learning, community partnerships, and personal development. In this episode I learn about how Revolution works from Henry Fairfax, Head of School, Jane Shore, Head of Research and Innovation, and Master Educator Mike Pardee. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Parlay for sponsoring this episode. ------------------- Learn more about Revolution School at revolutionschool.org

Wrong answers can be an incredible tool for learning and critical thinking. In this episode, Thinking Like a Lawyer author Colin Seale teaches us four easy ways to add mistake analysis into our regular teaching practices. This is a strategy that works in any content area and at any grade level! ------------------- Thanks to Hāpara and TGR EDU: Explore for sponsoring this episode. ------------------- Mistake Analysis is just one of the many strategies in Seale's book, Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students*. *affiliate link  

When we include students in the process of defining quality work, they are more likely to rise to those standards. In this episode, educator Starr Sackstein explains how she co-constructs success criteria with her students. ------------------- Thanks to Hāpara and TGR EDU: Explore for sponsoring this episode! ------------------- Looking for high-impact PD that won't take a lot of time? Check out my mini-course, 4 Laws of Learning, and use the code LISTENER at checkout to take $5 off the course tuition.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that rejects one-size-fits-all teaching by offering students options for how to engage, what materials to use, and how to demonstrate learning, and it's a solid way to offer a more equitable education to all of our students. My guests Katie Novak and Mirko Chardin help us understand how it works and walk us through a sample lesson that's gotten the full UDL treatment. ------------------- Thanks so much to Hāpara and Kiddom for sponsoring this episode! ------------------- Get your copy of the 2021 Teacher's Guide to Tech at teachersguidetotech.com, and remember to use the code LISTENER at checkout for 10 percent off.

It's a terrible feeling when you know some of your students didn't really learn the content, but you move them on anyway. Mastery-based grading solves that problem by requiring students to actually master key concepts before progressing to the next stage. In this episode, Kareem Farah of the Modern Classrooms Project shows us how it's done.  This is the third and final episode of a three-part series that has taught us how to run a blended, self-paced, mastery-based model that works beautifully for remote, hybrid, or in-person learning. The first two episodes are 144, Making Great Screencast Videos, and 158, How to Create a Self-Paced Classroom.  Join tens of thousands of other teachers who are learning how to implement the Modern Classrooms model by signing up for their free course (affiliate link). ------------------- Thanks so much to Hāpara and Kiddom for sponsoring this episode!

An argument for spending more time practicing subtlety and nuance and complication in our thinking. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu and Kiddom. 

These fresh ideas for student jobs will invigorate your classroom and get you and your students excited about school again—even if you teach remotely. My guest Thom Gibson shows us how he does it. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu and Kiddom. Check out the 2021 edition of the Teacher's Guide to Tech at teachersguidetotech.com and use the code LISTENER to get 10 percent off the new guide!

Students often struggle to make meaningful connections to literature and put those connections into words. The Up-Down-Both-Why technique, which starts with how the text makes a student feel, gets much better results. My guest, Sarah Levine, explains how it works.  This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu and National Geographic Education. And check out the Teacher's Guide to Tech 2021 at teachersguidetotech.com, and use the code LISTENER at checkout to get 10 percent off!