Principal: Turn misbehavior into positive lessons
Misbehavior in the classroom is a great opportunity to teach students the value of respect, cooperation and self-control, writes school principal Rita Platt. In this blog post, she outlines 10 ways teachers can turn classroom disruptions into positive learning experiences, including by modeling good behavior and helping students correct their own behavior.
Full Story: MiddleWeb
Surveys consider effects of student engagement
Data collected from surveys by Gallup show that 47% of students say they are engaged in school and such students are 2.5 times more likely to get good grades than their disengaged peers. The data show the engagement is highest among elementary-school students, but it drops off between fifth and 10th grades.
Full Story: Gallup
Is school choice killing “civic participation”?
Public schools traditionally have contributed to the welfare of communities and helped them build a sense of “shared civic participation,” writes Amy Lueck, an assistant professor at Santa Clara University. In this commentary, she notes that the school choice trend is siphoning off some students, leaving both communities and public schools to flounder.
Full Story: The Atlantic online
Tools to help students with dyslexia
Educators don’t have to wait for formal assessments to identify students with dyslexia and begin helping them, Donell Pons writes. In this blog post, Pons shares strategies and resources to help teachers spot struggling learners and assist them with building reading skills.
Full Story: SmartBrief/Education
Ariz. adopts new science, history standards
The Arizona State Board of Education recently approved revised science and history standards that include references to evolution and the study of world religions. The science standards emphasize more student investigation and history standards expand US and global history requirements for students in grades four through seven.
Full Story: The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (tiered subscription model)
Audrey Altmann is an editorial assistant at SmartBrief.
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This “most read” feature reflects the most read items in ASCD SmartBrief from the previous week. Sign up for ASCD SmartBrief to get news like this in your inbox, or check out all of SmartBrief’s education newsletters, covering career and technical education, educational leadership, math education and more.