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How should we teach about social justice in a post-(Michael) Brown world?

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** A guest post by Beth Ellor Picture a 5th Grade classroom in Chinatown on New York’s Lower East Side. Twenty-seven mostly Asian children – when I use the classic ‘clap, clap, clap-clap-clap’ signal, they fall silent immediately, eyes on me. Thorough plans from their teacher, including Social Studies – based on a Scholastic News magazine article about …

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Justice in action: How we can address the school-to-prison pipeline

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** A guest post by Julian Vasquez Heilig Why are we sending droves of young Black and Brown students into the school-to-prison pipeline via our harsh discipline policies when there are better alternatives? In this newly published chapter in the Handbook of Urban Educational Leadership, we examine a unique peer run youth court at an urban middle school to …

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Should Bi-Lingual Learning be Required?

This generation of K-12 students is growing up in a society that is increasingly bi-lingual. Foreign language requirements have long been a core requirement for high school graduation and are also part of most arts-based college degree programs. Along with Spanish, languages like French and German are common options for students. But just how “foreign” is Spanish in today’s society? The U.S. Census estimates that there are 50.5 million Hispanic people living in America, and another 3.7 who are residents of Puerto Rico. This number represents a 43 percent increase in the recorded Hispanic population from 2000 to 2010 at …

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K-12 Writing Standards: What Will it Take to Improve Them?

While global communication has grown and improved by leaps and bounds in the past two decades, the same cannot be said for K-12 writing skills. A new study released by Gary Troia at Michigan State University finds that K-12 writing standards are stagnant from a decade ago, along with student writing achievement. What’s more, Troia says that nearly 25 percent of K-12 students in the U.S. are not performing at a proficient writing level. He takes aim at the Common Core standards for writing and says that though some ideas are strong, others are still not asking enough of student …

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New Teacher Tip: Handling Challenging Behavior Problems

Every class has its share of challenging students. If you feel frustrated with the behavior issues that you have to handle, take comfort in the fact that you are not alone—handling behavior issues comes with the job description. Experienced teachers also have trouble managing talkative students, power struggles and disputes among students. Behavior Management: A Whole-School Approach, a book authored by behavior management expert Bill Rogers, delineates how to handle tough behaviors. Typical classroom behaviors and strategies for handling them are detailed below. Talking in Class The nonstop talking of a chatterbox can distract other students from concentrating on their …

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What Teachers Want Parents to Know

While you will always be your child’s first teacher, classroom teachers play a tremendous role in his/her development. Teachers have the unique task of educating your child and preparing him/her for success both inside and outside the classroom. We simply cannot do it without your support. If I could tell parents five ways to support teachers, this is what I would say: Trust Us First, we love your children and are excited to see them grow this school year. We are educated and continue to learn about our profession through various classes and professional development opportunities, so do not treat …

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Four Keys to Successfully Adopting New Instructional Materials

Leading change can be quite a challenge, especially when you’re asking teachers to let go of materials and techniques they have used for most of their careers. Here’s how we approached this successfully in our district. By Cristina Charney and Janeal Maxfield As math instructional specialists for the North Thurston Public Schools in Washington State, we were tasked with helping elementary teachers adopt a new math program for teaching to the Common Core standards several years ago. Initially, we thought this would be easy. Our district had chosen Stepping Stones from ORIGO Education to be our new program for core …

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Have You Hacked These Cognitive Tools?

Modern technology offers a plethora of cognitive tools for implementation in your classroom. You’re likely familiar with pedagogical tools and teaching resources, but you may also be wondering what exactly a “cognitive tool” is. Cognitive tools are tools that, when used outside of the classroom, play a role in productivity. They include word-processing programs, spreadsheets, and e-mail programs. Applied to the classroom, these become cognitive tools, because they improve the learning process, enhancing thinking and understanding. Let’s look at some examples: Spreadsheets Spreadsheets are screens that are divided into rows and columns, and are supplied in programs that have mathematical …

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Three Handy Rubrics for Assessment Creation

When it comes to creating classroom assessments, educators have a lot of leeway as to form, content, and length. Sometimes, the breadth available can be a little overwhelming. If you’re stalling when it comes time to draw up evaluations for your students – don’t fear! We’ve got a set of handy guides to help you get your assessment-brain inspired! Rubric 1 – Seven Forms of Assessment: 1. Forced Choice Multiple choice, matching, true/false, fill-in-the-blank Can be scored objectively Most common form of assessment Choose from among alternatives given 2. Essay Good for assessing thinking, reasoning, and expression skills Opportunity to …

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Ask Dr. Lynch: Teaching Students About Genocide

Question: How should the topic of ‘genocide’ be taught in schools? Answer: Before I respond, I would like to thank you for your question. Nowadays, we are seeing the topic of genocide being covered even in the elementary grades and there is no consensus on when it should be introduced or taught. However, I will give you my expert advice, which takes all of the dominant schools of thought into consideration. In my opinion, the topic of genocide should not be discussed prior to grade six, because although younger students have the ability to empathize with the victims of genocide, …

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