A “Roadmap” for Teaching Civics and History Is Coming. Will It Restart an Old Curriculum War?
“Nearly a quarter century after the meltdown of a national effort to set history standards, two federal agencies are putting a toe back into troubled curricular waters: determining what history and civics content students should learn—and the best ways for teaching it.”
National Reading Scores Are Down. What Does It Mean?
“Reading performance has dropped significantly among both 4th and 8th graders since the last release two years ago. Just 35 percent of 4th graders are considered proficient by NAEP standards as of this year. That’s down from 37 percent in 2017. And 34 percent of 8th graders scored at the proficient level or higher for this year, down from 36 percent in 2017.”
Empowering Students Through Connections-Based Learning
“Each educational label is a way to guide the priorities of our pedagogy. These learning methods are an attempt to describe a learning process that is more meaningful and personal to the students. With project-based learning, projects based in genuine reality become the vehicle for learning. With passion-based learning, we can leverage students’ passions to enable growth. In competency-based learning, students focus on progressively mastering smaller elements of a greater objective. And with inquiry-based learning, students build skills and knowledge around developing and responding to essential questions that can’t simply be solved by “Googling it.””
5 Ways to Respond the Next Time You’re Interrupted
“Remember to approach the situation with empathy, because chances are, the interrupter doesn’t realize what they’re doing. The end goal is to help the interrupter change their behavior and help make everyone feel on the same side of making the workplace as productive and inclusive as possible.”
Boys and Girls Brains Are Equal When It Comes to Math, Study Finds
“Testing revealed that “girls’ and boys’ brains function similarly during mathematical processing.” Additionally, there was ‘no evidence of gender differences in neural responses to mathematics content, neural responses during educational video viewing, or rates of neural development for mathematical processing in early childhood.’ ”
Remember to Breathe: Tackling Teaching’s Challenges With Mindfulness
“We all closed our eyes and took three deep breaths together. I could tell almost immediately the energy in the room had shifted from intense to something much calmer. As I walked them through a visualization and breathing practice, I slowly made my way around the room, gauging the effects of this mindfulness practice. Some students had completely surrendered to the breathing, flopping over in their seats, while others simply sat quietly breathing and taking a few moments to clear their minds of their earlier emotional struggles. It was working!”
