Kids these days are so lucky! There so many great young adult (YA) books for them to choose from. Here are some of our favorites for social justice:
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t’s been a tough pill to swallow. With Donald Trump back in the White House, many of us are grappling with feelings of despair, anger, and confusion about what the future holds. It’s easy to feel like screaming into the void, letting the frustration and hopelessness take over. But the truth is, despair isn’t going to help us, nor will apathy. So, how do we channel this energy into something productive? How do we keep from going crazy and stay engaged in the fight for what matters?
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The proposed cuts to the Department of Education threaten to undermine decades of progress in American education. From reducing resources for vulnerable students to limiting teacher support, these cuts will have long-lasting effects. Here's why the DOE matters and how we can protect our schools.
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The recent education budget cuts, combined with the end of COVID relief funding, are creating immense challenges for schools across the nation. With my district facing a $25 million shortfall, the impact is deeply personal for both educators and students. In this post, I explore how these cuts affect our classrooms and offer actionable steps we can take to advocate for change, support one another, and adapt to new educational models.
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Engage Your Middle School Students in an Epic Journey of Storytelling
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Here are some tips and tricks that we have learned along the way to elicit productive comments from students in the hopes that they recognize their own self worth and try their best in school.
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There are so many debates now-a-days when it comes to grammar instruction. To explicitly teach grammar concepts or not to explicitly teach grammar concepts? To teach grammar in context or not to teach grammar in context? Some grammar experts even argue that we should just get rid of all the grammatical terminology that we grew up learning, like phrase and clause, and instead just teach sentence structure. This can be found in the post by Edutopia and in the new book, Between the Commas by Martin Brandt. One thing is for sure…we are noticing that each year our students are coming to our classrooms with more and more gaps in their grammar knowledge. This is not the fault of the teachers prior, but the result of such grammar debates and changes in curriculum instruction. We really have no dog in this fight. Our one goal is to make sure that our students leave our classrooms with an understanding of sentence structure and how to organize their paragraphs within an essay.
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English Language Arts (ELA) classes, where students dive into the fascinating world of literature, can sometimes feel like a never-ending labyrinth of words and characters. Let's be honest, retaining all that information can be as challenging as deciphering Shakespearean sonnets. But fear not! In this delightful blog post, we'll explore five strategies that will help your students remember class content in ELA, because, well, let's face it, Shakespeare isn't memorable enough on his own.
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Welcome back, fellow educators! As the new school year approaches, it’s time to brush up on those classroom management skills that keep our classrooms running smoothly. Here are my top 10 strategies to ensure a peaceful and productive year:
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Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome is a book that we love to teach to our middle school classes. It takes place right after World War II during the Great Migration as Langston and his father move from rural Alabama to the bustling city of Chicago after Langston’s mother passes away. It is a heartfelt story about a boy’s love of his family, books, and poetry.
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Public education has long been a cornerstone of American democracy, a system designed to give every child a chance, regardless of their zip code. But that cornerstone is cracking under the weight of deliberate policy decisions. Federal funding for public schools has been slashed, leaving schools in underserved areas struggling to meet even basic needs. Programs that support special education, school lunches, and after-school enrichment have been gutted.
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