I usually just do a year-end list on practical advice and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — I’m going to start publishing mid-year lists, too. These won’t be ranked, unlike my year-end “The Best…” lists, and just because a site appears on a mid-year list doesn’t guarantee it will be included in an end-of-the-year one. But, at least, I won’t have to review all my year’s posts in December…

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 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 some, 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 To Teachers — 2010

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

Here are my choices for The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2011 — So Far:

Whenever You’re Tempted To Use Punishment As A Classroom Management Tool, Remember This Comic Strip

I’ve previously posted about the Bloom’s Taxonomy of Reflection that Peter Pappas developed. I just discovered that he developed this excellent Prezi about it. I’d also strongly encourage you to read his post that explains it further, as well as one by Langwitches giving an example of how to apply it in the classroom.

What Do Teachers Do On Twitter? is a nice slideshow presentation. Thanks to Joe Dale for the tip.

Asking if people are available and have time to talk with you instead of just immediately talking with them dramatically increases the rates of compliance, according to a study.. In the classroom, when a student is acting inappropriately, I generally try to begin with a “Can I talk with you, please?” before intervening. Just framing it as a request, even though the student knows it really isn’t, seems to help de-polarize the situation. And there have been a few times when a student has responded something like “Can you not talk to me right now — give me some time and let’s talk later” and that has also ended up working well.

I’ve written quite a bit about Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, here on this blog (see My Best Posts On “Motivating” Students) and in my new book. I recently saw what I think is the best short description and summary of the book’s key points. Check-out the post “What really motivates us?” at the Barking Up the Wrong Tree blog.

Extraordinary “What If?” Student Project

What A Great Way To Get Comments On Student Blogs!

“Write About A Success That One Of Your Ancestors Had”

Bloomin’ Mathematics is a great post sharing ways to incorporate Bloom’s Taxonomy into teaching math.

The Best Posts About The Power Of Light Touches In The Classroom

I had a fun online chat with over 450 educators at Ed Week. It was on my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves. The transcript of the chat is now available.

Eye On Education, the publisher of my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges, has placed the entire first chapter on “How To Motivate Students” online. It includes several lesson plans and hand-outs. In addition, you can access all the web resources for the whole book on a special publisher’s page. Just to to my book’s webpage. Right below the image of the cover is a link that says “Click for PDF sample chapters.” That will take you to the sample chapter. On my book’s webpage, if you scroll down a few inches, you’ll also see a link to “Online Resources.” That link will take you a listing of all the recommended links for each chapter of the book.

Asking “Why Not?” & “What If?” As Well As “Why?”

This Would Be A Nice Geography Assessment

How We Can Help Our Students Deal With Stress

These Three Slideshows On “How To Create Sustainable Behavior” Will Keep You Occupied For A Long Time

Top Ten Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning is a new great — and free — classroom guide from Edutopia.

Students Annotating Text — Part Two

You can read an article I wrote for Teacher Magazine, What ‘Star Wars’ Can Teach Educators About Parent Engagement, without having to register first at this link. It’s a cute headline, but it provides very practical suggestions for teacher/parent meetings.

Ronnie Burt at Edublogs has published what might be the very best guide for helping teachers begin to blog (and for helping veterans get even better) — The ultimate guide to getting started with blogging!

Individualized Computer Support For Students Facing Challenges

Why Teachers Shouldn’t Blog….And Why I Do

What Are Good Inexpensive (& Simple!) Classroom Technology Tools?

Feedback is welcome.

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You might also want to explore the nearly 700 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.