Time for another end-of-year “Best” list.

I’m adding list list to All My End-Of-Year “Best” Lists For 2018 In One Place!

You can find previous editions of this list, along with other “Best” lists related to instruction, here.

You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON CLASS INSTRUCTION IN 2018 – PART TWO.

Here are my choices:

GUEST POST – CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: REDIRECTING WITHOUT ESCALATING – CIRCLING BACK (PART TWO)

GUEST POST: DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IN MATH CLASS

AN OUTLINE FOR HOW STUDENTS CAN LEARN TO WRITE ESSAYS INDUCTIVELY

HAVE STUDENTS CREATE NINETY-SECOND VIDEOS RETELLING BOOKS WITH THE NEWBERY FILM FESTIVAL

INTRIGUING STRATEGY IN ASSESSING MULTIPLE CHOICE TESTS – GIVING CREDIT FOR EXPLAINING WHICH OPTIONS ARE WRONG

THE BEST RESOURCES ON STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT

The New York Times Learning Network produces an incredible amount of useful resources. But they’ve outdone themselves with Out of the Classroom and Into the World: 70-Plus Places to Publish Teenage Writing and Art. You’ll want to check it out, and you’ll want to use it – often. They also have a companion piece headlined Writing for an Audience Beyond the Teacher: 10 Reasons to Send Student Work Out Into the World. I’m adding them both to The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience”

TEACHING & LEARNING RESOURCES FOR THE PITTSBURGH MASSACRE

MY SIMPLE EMPATHY LESSON, PLUS A TON OF OTHER RELATED RESOURCES

For a long time, Jennifer Binis has been sharing #pairedtexts on Twitter. She scours the media to find contrasting articles, photos, quotes, etc. that are great teaching tools for a variety of classes. In fact, between her #PairedTexts and #Disrupttexts (see #DISRUPTTEXTS LOOKS LIKE AN EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE WHERE ENGLISH TEACHERS CAN LEARN & CONTRIBUTE), I’m not sure you’ll find two better text resources around. Here’s a sample of what Jennifer has recently found:

Most of us are familiar with TED Talks and TED-Ed animated videos and lessons – I certainly share enough of them and you can read more at The Best Teacher Resources For “TED Talks” (& Similar Presentations). As part of World Teacher Day, Google and TED-Ed announced a new TED-Ed Educator Talks YouTube Channel, that “will be dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the ideas of teachers around the world.” Here’s their introductory video:

I REALLY LIKE THIS NEW (TO ME) STRATEGY I’VE BEEN TRYING THIS YEAR TO ENCOURAGE STUDENT INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

DO WE GIVE A ZERO OR 50% FOR WORK NOT TURNED-IN? HERE ARE SOME USEFUL COMMENTARIES

I have twelve videos on my “Video Page” right now, with many more to come. They include animations I did with Ed Week on differentiated learning and on transfer of learning; one I did for the Sacramento Bee on “tips for new teachers,”; a video presentation for MindShift on helping students develop intrinsic motivation to write; a talk I gave on Social Emotional Learning for the California Teachers’ Summit, and several more. Look for new ones in the coming months, including two more on differentiated learning Katie Hull and I will be doing with Ed Week…

TWO “WRITING FRAMES” FOR ELLS & EVERYBODY ELSE

MAKING POSITIVE PHONE CALLS HOME

I’M USING THIS GREAT NEW VIDEO TO INTRODUCE A CLOSING “APPRECIATION, APOLOGY, AHA!” ACTIVITY

Katie Hull and I worked with Education Week to create this new – and, I think, nifty – animated explainer about differentiated instruction. Check it out and let me know what you think!

I’m also adding it to The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction.

IMPORTANT NY TIMES ARTICLE ON TEACHER DIVERSITY & IMPLICIT BIAS

I think all teachers can benefit from watching this short video, The Power OF Expectations. This is one reason why we should be Looking At Our Students Through The Lens Of Assets & Not Deficits.

ADDENDUM:

Here is how I have suggested to our principal we use this video at our site:

1. Lead asks teachers to think of an instance when they personally have lived up or down to another’s expectation of them (for example, attendance staff have always showed pity on me and, because of that, I’ve never really tried that hard to do better – BUT DON”T TELL SANDY! 😉 ). Pair share, and then a couple share to group.

2. Lead asks teachers to think of an instance when they believe their expectations impacted on how a student did. Pair share, share out.

3. Ask for ideas on how we can keep this idea in the forefront of our minds

And here’s a related tweet:

RESPONDING TO STUDENT LETTERS FROM THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

WE HAD OUR FIRST STAFF MEETING OF THE YEAR TODAY & HEARD GREAT ADVICE FROM AN EXCELLENT TEACHER

LEADING WITH INQUIRY, NOT JUDGMENT

GOOD ARTICLE & PODCAST ABOUT OUR SCHOOL’S HOME VISITING PROGRAM

NY TIMES LEARNING NETWORK FEATURE “WHAT’S GOING ON IN THIS GRAPH?” GOES WEEKLY

The September issue of ASCD’s excellent Educational Leadership publication is online. The theme of this issue is “Classroom Management Reimagined.” Many of its articles are behind a paywall, but several are not. I’d like to especially recommend:

Tear Down Your Behavior Chart! by Lee Ann Jung and Dominique Smith.

Relationships and Rapport: “You Don’t Know Me Like That!” by Gabriel “Asheru” Benn.

I’m adding them to Best Posts On Classroom Management.

NEW STUDY FINDS A SPECIFIC FORM OF “COLLABORATION” GETS THE BEST RESULTS

How to Provide Help is an article from Harvard’s Usable Knowledge.

I really like how it provides a simple frame for differentiated instruction with three categories:

 

Supports help learners practice the whole task in a simpler way.

Scaffolds help students develop one specific skill or part of a task without worrying about all the components.

Extensions push students beyond the task at hand and deepen their learning.

 

I might come up with different ways to describe each of those three categories, and different examples than the ones described in the article, but I think that framing is fantastic!

The article also refers to a website that I think the author (Rhonda Bondie) of that framing has which appears to have some useful resources, though you have to dig around a bit to find them.

I’m adding this info to:

The Best Resources On Providing Scaffolds To Students

The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction

AM I THE ONLY TEACHER WHO DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT “BOOKTUBERS”?

GREAT ARTICLE ON THE BENEFITS OF READING – WITH AN ACCOMPANYING WRITING PROMPT!

SHOCKER – NOT: STUDY FINDS NOT SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF IS A GOOD CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGY