Group Work: Do You Require It or Offer an Alternative?

In a recent Teaching Professor Blog post from education professor Maryellen Weimer, Weimer wrote about a group of higher education professors who had been discussing the merits of students working in groups and by themselves.

Weimer wrote about the usual dilemma that teachers face: shouldn’t teachers require students to complete at least some group work? After all, most professions require at least some group work. Isn’t it a disservice to students not to prepare them to work well with others?

Communicating with Parents and Community Stakeholders

Increasing the involvement of parent and community members is vital to school improvement for students and staff. It is in everyone’s best interest to continue to explore strategies and ideas that will facilitate increased involvement in ways that are positive, helpful, and sustainable. Many schools struggle with attempts to find solutions that work. Our students are the beneficiaries of our investment in successful strategies that work in K-12 schools to enrich and strengthen our relationships and communications with parents and other community members.

The Nation’s Private Public Schools – Part of the Achievement Gap Problem?

I read a study recently from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute called America’sPrivate Public Schools. According to the study, our public school system is supporting schools that are public in name, but are more exclusive than most private schools, teach no poor children, and have few minority students. In fact, according to the report, 1.7 million American children attend these private public schools.

Breaking Barriers: Unleashing the Potential of Black Males in School

“With education, I know I can go beyond my wildest dreams. With help from my teachers, family, and friends, the sky is the limit!” said 8th grader Zaniriusz. Zaniriusz lives in a community with a dropout rate above 50% for Black males, but aspires to graduate from college and return to his neighborhood to “build a new playground,” make sure “every family has air conditioners and heaters,” and “get rid of criminals and gangs.” He shared his experiences in “A Mile in My Shoes Writing Project: African-American Males Telling Their Own Stories.”

The Excellence Gap: A New Version of the Achievement Gap

Educators should give themselves a pat on the back: the achievement gap is narrowing. More kids are passing standardized tests and more schools are meeting NCLB’s requirements. That’s a huge achievement for teachers and schools, but most of all, it’s a huge achievement for the students themselves.

Except, along the way, we’ve forgotten some kids.

We’re doing well at the middle and that’s great, but the demographics have remained almost unchanged for students who excelled in education standards like reading and math.

Students Online: Time Wasters or Innovators?

Your students are spending a lot of their free time online. Think of the number of hours you estimate they spend online. Double it. The doubled number is probably closer to the truth.

According to the Norton Online Living Report 2009, parents believe their children spend 21 hours online. The reality is that students in twelve countries reported spending 39 hours online. Don’t tell me these kids don’t have time to finish their assignments or clean their rooms.

A College Culture Encourages Students to Continue Their Education

Researchers Nicole Holland, Ph.D., and Raquel L. Farmer-Hinton, Ph.D., looked into the question of whether school size encourages a college culture. They found that smaller schools, or smaller learning communities within larger schools, were more successful in creating a college culture than big schools.

In the budget battles, their findings that smaller learning communities prepare students for higher education should give student advocates powerful arguments to keep schools small.

For we teachers, the biggest take-away from Holland and Farmer-Hilton’s research is how we can encourage this college culture in our own classrooms.

What’s Good Teaching If Students Don’t Feel in Control?

For 10 years Raymond Perry, a psychologist at the University of Manitoba, has been studying the relationship between attributes students bring to class and the quality of instruction they receive there. His studies unite two important lines of research, heretofore considered unrelated.

During the time they spend at our institutions, students face a variety of personal and societal pressures. There are also academic pressures, of course: They must write papers, work in groups, make presentations, and take exams. Their ability to meet these challenges successfully depends on certain attributes they bring to class.

Teaching Strategies that Work for Students Who Have Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Teachers know: there’s no magic bullet. What works well with some students doesn’t work well with others. However, the closest we come to the magic are those golden, research-based teaching strategies that work well with most students.

Researchers Vannest, Temple-Harvey, and Mason reviewed 20 studies about teaching strategies that work well with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). They didn’t find a magic bullet or Shangri-la. They found those rock-solid teaching strategies that work with all students, but work especially well with the EBD population.