Updates
Extra Credit: Culture refuses to be canceled; COVID-19 inequities
Helping worn-out students and teachers. Broadening cultural education. Read about these and more in the latest Education Extra Credit.
Education
Insights
How to talk about SEL with families
Misconceptions about social and emotional learning often can disappear once educators talk about SEL with families to explain its skills.
Insights
Blending Socratic discussion with modern tech
Give students a jump on a lesson by having them tackle information digitally before starting a whole-class Socratic discussion.
Education
Using virtual reality to add oomph to lessons
From the Great Wall of China to a sleigh ride with Santa, virtual reality enlivens lessons for a broader student experience.
Updates
Extra Credit: Gender Support Plan; US teacher jailed in Russia
Will a Gender Support Plan help students limited by Florida's Parental Rights in Education law? Are sneaker giveaways a fix to chronic absenteeism?
Education
Teacher shares 2 math tools for engaging assessments
A math interventionist shares two of her favorite math tools that make assessments easier for her and more engaging for her students.
Educational Leadership
How alternative schooling better serves diverse students
Many students are suffering in traditional schools. Robin Harwick explains alternative schooling that embraces students' differences.
Education
TPACK: Incorporate technology into lessons
Fancy edtech programs abound, but it needn't be costly or difficult for teachers to incorporate technology into lessons.
Educational Leadership
School changes: Shaking off the pandemic mentality
As districts confront a post-shutdown normal, school changes are a given. Leaders must decide where they want to go and plot a course.
Education
Why gamified learning enhances a kindergarten classroom
Using gamified learning in kindergarten -- via tech or no-tech -- can engage students longer and teach other skills.
Updates
Extra credit: Teachers unions, death-defying students, performance-based college funding
Performance-based funding for colleges has frustrating results. A scrappy teachers’ union shows what teamwork is. Girls in Afghanistan go to secret schools against Taliban orders.
Educational Leadership
4 leadership lessons from 2021-22
Contemplation always yields keen insights into the past that can serve the future well. Fred Ende shares his recent "aha" leadership lessons.
Commentary
Professionals need continuing education on inclusive language
Using person-first and respectful language forges better relationships with others. Charmian Lewis, M.D., explains how.
Education
When to introduce STEM? The earlier, the better
Students' minds are most open to new things when they're very young. That's the perfect time to introduce STEM across all subjects.
Insights
3 cognitive hacks to help readers accelerate learning
Implementing an approach grounded in the science of reading, gauging students’ cognitive load and connecting to the joy of learning will help students catch up.
Education
Creating a welcoming exceptional education classroom
Teaching veteran Susan Engelhart offers 5 tips for making an exceptional education classroom an engaging and responsive environment.
Edtech
School communications platform: What to consider
A Virginia district's school communications platform designed for every level of K-12 streamlines the process and reach all stakeholders.
Updates
Extra Credit: Views on Title IX; ideas for transforming education
Education Extra Credit features views on Title IX, ideas for transforming education and wishes for a whole lot of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Education
Resources that connect sports and academics
Educational resources can help lessons from the sports field -- practice, perseverance and integrity -- carry over into the classroom.
Education
Nerdle creator loves teachers’ input
Nerdle - a math game inspired by Wordle -- has been an accidental success in classrooms. Creator Richard Mann explains how the game came to be and how teachers are using it.
Insights
5 ways to integrate SEL with math
Teachers can combine SEL with math to enhance students' interpersonal skills -- and maybe help some students enjoy math more.
Updates
Extra credit: Great restorative justice; 1619 and 1776 in practice
What does restorative justice done right look like? How different are 1619 Project and 1776 Report curricula in actual classrooms? Learn more in Extra Credit.
Educational Leadership
Network = Net Worth
Networks are vital to our growth, but they shouldn't be static or ever-growing. Fred Ende explains why networks that change are more valuable.
Education
How are we doing? How do we know? Using data in special education
Data is key to creating and managing programs for special education students. Teacher Carleen Julian explains how she does it.
Educational Leadership
Prevent violence by helping every student feel like they belong
Educators may be able to prevent more tragedies by ensuring every student feels they belong and believes someone there cares about them.
Updates
Extra Credit: Students on violence, voices on curriculum, spelling’s a sport!
Photo: These green shoes were the only way doctors could identify 10-year-old Uvalde, Texas, shooting victim Maite Yuleana Rodriguez. Extra Credit is a...
Updates
Edtech 2022: SmartBrief Readers’ Choice Awards
The votes are in! From classroom management to security and safety to social-emotional learning, your favorite education technology platforms and solutions.
Education
Finding your place in the new education reality
After a chaotic years, educators should recharge and ensure their needs -- and their students' -- are being met in this new education reality.
Education
Using video coaching for teachers — and coaches too
Capturing and sharing videos helps both teachers and instructional coaches feel safe to take risks and improve their practice.
Educational Leadership
Administrators need to give teachers real mental health support now
Educators need social and emotional development opportunities for their own well-being, as well as that of their students.
Insights
Providing literacy intervention, support within MTSS
A multitiered system of supports uses a team approach that includes parents and special education teachers who together help students progress.
Updates
Extra Credit: Success skills, civics assessments, prison dorms
Find out more about some intriguing, bonus education topics curated for SmartBrief readers.
Education
How teachers can better support foster youths in the classroom
When educators think about all students, the list becomes extensive: students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners, etc. How often do we think about education for foster youths?
Educational Leadership
4 ways to accelerate learning this year
Edtech data can help accelerate learning more precisely and successfully. A superintendent shares her district's has done it.
Educational Leadership
Stigma-free CTE makes all students problem-solvers
Earlier exposure to career and technical education could benefit all students, while a reshaping of CTE would greatly help students who choose those pathways. First, though, we need to change the negative perceptions around CTE.
Updates
Extra Credit: Resilience in Ukraine, frustration in US
Teachers and students -- both refugees and those still in Ukraine -- show remarkable resilience and determination to stay in school. In the US, a mass shooting at a Texas schools prompts frustration at a problem that seems to be getting worse.
Educational Leadership
Build a positive partnership with parents of students with disabilities
Program specialist Alina Davis shares 4 ways to work more effectively with parents on IEPs.
Education
After-school programs, teachers can partner on students’ SEL
Social-emotional learning expert Carlyn Andrew shares 3 ways educators and after-school programs can work better together.
Insights
Tech Tip: Choosing digital tools for a virtual classroom
For both virtual and in-person teachers, the right digital tools will focus on student needs to enhance and support learning outcomes.
Edtech
Teacher experience should drive edtech design, research says
Researcher explains how a teacher-led process led to certification for edtech tools.
Edtech
Tech Tip: Individualized AI coaching provides helpful PD
Donna McDaniel of Keller Independent School District in Texas was one of the first teachers in the world to use artificial intelligence-driven coaching for professional learning. Here’s what she thought.
Updates
Extra Credit: S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G, Supreme Court, sex ed in the 1920s?
SmartBrief's Extra Credit pays homage to academic/arts achievers, extolls the value of clubs and notes that sex ed wars will never end.