Empowerment: The Key to Excellent Teachers in Schools

How do we ensure that we have the best teachers in all of our schools? We’ve already taken the first step by acknowledging that our best teachers aren’t drawn to serve in our highest needs schools. It is time to make a major commitment to enacting real change for our most needy children. We must also commit to developing excellence in each and every teacher….read more

Are You Hacking Your School’s Learning Spaces?

Are there better ways for today’s schools to approach the use of space – ways that promote contemporary student learning at higher levels of engagement and success? Redesigned spaces can quickly be rearranged to suit various collaborative and instructional scenarios that meet contemporary student learning styles….read more

Using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor

The word “rigor” is hard to avoid today, and it provokes strong reactions from educators. Policymakers tout its importance. Publishers promote it as a feature of their materials. But some teachers share the view that, to them, rigor simply means more work, harder books, and longer school days. Part of the problem is that we have adopted the jargon without a clear understanding of what we really mean….read more

The World’s Coolest One-take Music Videos and the Stories Behind Them

When trapped in a YouTube spiral (we’ve all been there), there are few things more satisfying than watching a perfectly-executed one-take music video. Whether it’s a big budget extravaganza involving everything but the kitchen sink, or just a simple, stripped back dance routine, there’s a special thrill in watching your favourite artist nailing a performance in just one take….read more

Black Dog Institute Rejects Dollars for Chaplains Proposal

The Black Dog Institute and mental health academics have come out against the federal government’s religious-only school chaplain proposal, saying it lacks evidence compared to existing programs. The comments follow the release on Monday of a study by the Black Dog Institute, which found its mental health awareness program was better at battling mental health stigma in schools than normal PDHPE classes….read more

Blended Learning in the Mix: The Proactive Teacher

It’s early spring, and you’re just leaving the faculty meeting where you’ve learned that next year your classes will fall under the umbrella of blended learning, and each of your students will have an iPad as a take-home device. Awesome, right?…read more

How Video Games and Social Media Fuel Students’ Passion for Art

The average teenager consumes about 10 hours of media per day according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, and that’s often through a gadget like smartphone or tablet. But depending on what we choose to focus on, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The same devices that are used to consume art have also allowed students to create on their own, often with little instruction or direction….read more

What is Theme, Anyway? 11 Tips for Teaching About Theme in Language Arts

Each time students read, they’re entering into a conversation with the author about what matters. At the core of that conversation, however, is comprehension. To fully explore theme, students must understand what they read and then extract ideas from the text. Getting students to go beyond the obvious and use their higher-order thinking can be a challenge. When you get to the other side, however, it’s worth it….read more

Perspective, People! Ideas on Teaching Literature

During our literature units, I’m always ranting about “perspective.” When I do, students assume I am referring to the point of view from which a piece of literature is written. First person, third person, limited, omniscient. That’s all fairly simple, but I have come to learn that the higher-order thinking involved in analysing how the point of view impacts the way a story is read is a different ball of wax for students….read more

Marzano’s 9 Instructional Strategies

Rightly or wrongly, Robert Marzano is known for identifying “what works” by reviewing and distilling research and then packaging for schools and teachers to use. Amongst his most frequently quoted products is the Marzano 9 – 9 instructional strategies that have been “proven by research” to produce gains in student achievement. Dr. Kimberly Tyson has gathered these nine instructional strategies into infographic form….read more