For years, educators were talking about social-emotional learning (SEL) and how to boost students’ skills. But after the lockdown and a year out of the classroom, SEL has become the favorite buzzword outside of school walls. SEL isn’t mental health services for students or a one-time fix to help with learning loss, though.
Students are using video daily—creating, watching, and reviewing. It’s one of the key ways they’re communicating with each other and consuming information outside school, so why wouldn’t schools want to use it in the classroom?
Changing the reading instruction provided by a school or district is a complex, multi-step process that can take years to accomplish, but as one presenter noted during the edLeader Panel, “Leadership and the Science of Reading: An Honest Look at the Joys and Challenges of School Transformation,” it can transform students’ lives as well as significantly increase their academic achievement.
The last two school years have been a challenging time for many students who were learning English while speaking a different language at home. First, they needed to access and use remote learning technologies, and then they needed to continue developing their language and literacy skills despite the pandemic-related disruptions and other difficulties they and their families faced.
Helping students resume their learning progress as they emerge from the pandemic may require more than academic intervention or acceleration. In cities such as Baltimore, MD and Lexington, KY, school districts have recognized the importance of considering the whole child and using community and family engagement programs to provide comprehensive support.
A better approach to STEM education is project-based learning (PBL), emphasized by veteran teachers in the edLeader Panel, “Impacting Student Achievement with Project-Based Learning and STEM.” Describing innovative student-led initiatives they launched, the panelists highlighted research-based PBL practices that advance skill development, academic success, and a vast appreciation for science.
Teachers can no longer download any app they want and use it the same day—every piece of instructional technology must be vetted for how it relates to educational goals and checked against software the school already has. More important, though, every piece of technology must adhere to the district’s student data privacy policies.
Lex Gillette, a 4x Paralympic silver medalist, was hyperexcited about making his mom’s mac and cheese, a meal he grew up with. He called her one weekend to walk him through each recipe step. But just before finishing up the last one, he realized that his favorite dish wasn’t going to be like his mom’s. He had messed up, he believed. And it bummed him out.
For decades educators have known that children who can read on grade level by the third grade stand a much better chance of succeeding...
If schools are truly preparing all students for college and career readiness, then strong reading and literacy skills are a must. Star Connor, Region Superintendent of Transformation Schools in Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL), believes that all children can become proficient, but it takes continual planning and goal setting for each individual.