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I continue my mid-year “The Best…” lists…

I’ll be adding this post to All Mid-Year 2016 “Best” Lists In One Place.

You might want to explore The Best Resources On Class Instruction – 2015, too.  I’ll be publishing a mid-year 2016 edition of that series soon.

The title of this “The Best…” list is pretty self-explanatory. What you’ll find here are blog posts and articles this year (some written by me, some by others) that were, in my opinion, the ones that offered the best practical advice and resources to teachers this year — suggestions that can help teachers become more effective in the classroom today or tomorrow. Some, however, might not appear on the surface to fit that criteria, but those, I think, might offer insights that could (should?) inform our teaching practice everyday.

For many, the headlines provide enough of an idea of the topic and I haven’t included any further description.

You might also be interested in:

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2015 – Part Two

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2015 – So Far

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2014 – Part Two

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2014 – So Far

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2013 – Part Two

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2013 – So Far

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2012 — Part Two

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2012 — Part One

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2011

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers — 2010

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers — 2009

In addition, you might find these useful:

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice In 2011

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice — 2010

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice — 2009

Here are my choices for The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2016- So Far:

Here’s a piece I wrote for The Washington Post:  Teacher: What happened when my students’ behavior took a ‘major turn for the worse’

I’ve got to include my BAM! Radio shows and my Education Week Teacher advice column.

“Grit” is all over the news lately, and I’ve previously shared a number of related resources (see The Best Resources For Learning About “Grit”). In fact, there’s been so much written about it, sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start or who to believe. But that won’t be a problem anymore because Dan Willingham has clearly written the best (and most accessible) analysis of grit that I have seen – and, believe me, I’ve seen a lot of them! (and this is one day after he gave the best advice you’ll see on students listening to music in the classroom!). It’s in this summer’s issue of the American Educator under the title of “Grit” Is Trendy, but Can It Be Taught? and it’s freely available online. He provides an excellent analysis of the research, along with reviewing common critiques.

The Best Videos About The Importance Of Practice – Help Me Find More

It’s been awhile since I shared this resource – a full (and free) downloadable chapter from my book, Helping Student Motivate Themselves. And it’s titled What Are the Best Things You Can Do to Maximize the Chances of a Lesson Being Successful? In addition to being useful to teachers, I have my IB Theory of Knowledge students read it in preparation for the lessons that they periodically teach their classmates.

The Best Social Media-Created “Syllabuses” About Current Events

The Best Resources On The Importance Of Correctly Pronouncing Student Names

The Best Resources About “Culturally Responsive Teaching” & “Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy” – Please Share More!

I’ve published many useful resources on the musical Hamilton (see The Best Teaching/Learning Resources On The Musical, “Hamilton”). But I don’t thing anything is as engaging as the new Wall Street Journal’s feature, How does ‘Hamilton,’ the non stop, hip-hop Broadway sensation tap rap’s master rhymes to blur musical lines? The multimedia piece compares Hamilton lyrics with those of other musicals and hip hop artists. The kicker is that you can paste your own lyrics in and the site will analyze them for rhymes and repetitions.

Calm Down, Everybody – Group Work & Class Discussions Can Work Just Fine

Updated: Here Are The Sites I’m Using For My Summer School “Virtual Classroom”

“FoxType” Looks Like A Very Versatile Writing Site

How My University Students Evaluated Me Spring Semester

I’ve previously posted about ReadWorks as a source of excellent reading passages for use in classes (see “ReadWorks.org” Looks Like A Good Source Of Free Reading Passages For Social Studies). They recently unveiled ReadWorks Digital, a free site where teachers can create virtual classrooms for students to interact with their excellent texts online, including digital assessments.

Education Week has just published one of their typically excellent special reports, and the title of this one is Next Draft: Changing Practices In Writing Instruction. It’s composed of eight separate articles, including “As Teachers Tackle New Student-Writing Expectations, Support Is Lacking,” “Remodeling the Workshop: Lucy Calkins on Writing Instruction Today,” and “Students in My Math Classes Next Year Will Do a Lot of Writing. Here’s Why.” I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Writing Instruction.

“Bloom’s Taxonomy According To The Big Bang Theory”

I have pinned over  16,500 visual resources on my Pinterest Boards, and over 9,500 of them are ones I haven’t shared here on my blog or on Twitter. You might find some of them useful…

I have often shared classroom management advice from Marvin Marshall, and he wrote another gem recently:

You-can-focus-on-the

I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Classroom Management.

The “Constraints Principle” Revisited

Good Advice On How To “Outsmart Your Next Angry Outburst”

How to create digital homework that students love is an excellent “how-to” post about using TED-Ed with students.

The Best Links For Helping Students Learn How To Write “Leads” or “Ledes”

The Best Ways To Use Stephen Curry & The Warriors For Teaching Social Emotional Learning Skills

Here’s How My Students Taught Their Classmates A Social Studies Unit – Handouts Included

There’s a lot of food for thought in Tim Shanahan’s post, Should I Set Reading Purposes for My Students?

The Peace Corps has a nice collection of lesson plans for all subjects — they’re not about the Peace Corps, but are lesson plans they and their volunteers developed for teaching around the world. I wouldn’t say they’re the most sophisticated ones around, but many seem to offer some interesting perspectives you won’t find elsewhere. Because of that “freshness,” I’m adding it to The Best Places To Find Free (And Good) Lesson Plans On The Internet.

Why Teachers Need To Know The Wrong Answers is an intriguing story over at NPR.

Harvard Business Review Criticizes Trump’s Negotiating Skills & Provides Excellent Classroom Management Advice At Same Time

Kevin Durant On “Hard Work” & How I’m Using It In Class

The Secret of Effective Feedback is the lead article in the new issue of ASCD Educational Leadership, and may be the best article you’ll ever read on giving effective feedback to students. It’s certainly the best piece I’ve ever read. And, it’s not behind a paywall! It’s filled with numerous insights and very practical suggestions – a number that I haven’t read anywhere else. I’m certainly adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

I’ve previously written in my books and here on my blog about writing scaffolds like “ABC” (Answer the Question; Back it up; make a Comment/Connection) or “PQC” format (Point/Quote/Connect). You can see Here’s An Example Of How I Scaffold A Short Writing Prompt for more details. Teacher Meghan Everette recently wrote an excellent post on Scholastic about her school’s version of this kind of scaffold, which they call “RACE” (Restate, Answer, Cite the Source, Explain/Examples). In her post, Responding to Text: How to Get Great Written Answers, she shares helpful examples. I’m adding this info to The Best Posts On Writing Instruction.

The Best World Poetry Day Resources – Help Me Find More

The Best Resources For Learning About “Deeper Learning”

The Best Resources On Student Agency & How To Encourage It

Adam Grant On Failure & How I’m Using What He Says In Class

New Study Reviews 25 Years Of Research Into What Helps Students Graduate – Here’s What They Found

What Are Creative & Effective Ways You’ve Used Multiple Choice Exercises?

Guest Post: “Walk & Talks” Are Extremely Effective Way To Connect With Students – Here’s A “How-To” Guide

Short & Simple Writing Prompt On Effort & Perseverance

Do Your Students Slouch Back In Their Chairs? Here’s A Writing Prompt On It I’m Using In Class

The “Best” Lists Of Recommendations About What “Effective” Teachers Do

Thoughtful Learning has a great collection of model texts in multiple genres and grade levels. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement, where you can find other collections of writing examples.

New “Open eBooks” App Unveiled By White House Looks Like A HUGE Benefit To Students & Schools

Student Instructions For How They Can Create A Cloze (Gap-Fill)

I Did A Presentation Today On The Concept Attainment Instructional Strategy – Here Are My Materials

The Best Teaching/Learning Resources On The Musical, “Hamilton”

How My Students Evaluated Me This Semester

Here’s An Example Of How I Scaffold A Short Writing Prompt

Here’s What My Students Think Of A Growth Mindset

I Did My Best Job Teaching A “Growth Mindset” Today – Here’s The Lesson Plan

“Ask A REL” Archives Are Some Of The Most Accessible Education Research Sites Around…

The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of Prior Knowledge (& How To Activate It)