How Book Cover Keychains Boosted Our School’s Culture of Reading — from edutopia.org by Carsyn Smothers
This clever idea, which came from a librarian’s TikTok, is easy to carry out and encourages lively conversations about books.
Last year, I came across a TikTok that instantly caught my attention. School librarian Lauren Mobley explained how she managed to insert specially designed book covers into keychains, which students could attach to their backpacks and show off to their friends. Mobley created the book cover designs in Canva, she said, and then purchased a batch of keychains.
I loved the idea. I also wondered whether the keychains could be more than a fun craft or a decoration. Could they additionally serve as a reader advisory tool?
How Good Teachers Get Even Better — from edutopia.org by Youki Terada
Like elite athletes and musicians, even outstanding teachers have room to grow. Here are 6 research-based ways to keep sharpening your skills.
Effective teaching, then, is less about executing a set of prescribed strategies and more about developing the “informed judgment” necessary to “engage in complex decision-making and practice,” the researchers note. For example, watching how a master teacher delivers a lesson or handles difficult moments in the classroom, and then rehearsing those moves while getting feedback from coaches, allows for authentic “feedback in the moment” along with quick hints on “how to elevate instruction.”
That kind of expertise doesn’t happen automatically; it develops when teachers take the long view and engage, over many years, in a disciplined course of deliberate practice, identifying a set of skills they want to improve and then making the time to reflect on and practice them.
Arts-Integrated Outdoor Lessons for Elementary Students — from edutopia.org by Charlene Lutz
A pumpkin can become an entire unit if you let it: These engaging fall activities encourage students to slow down and learn from what’s around them.
October is one of my favorite times to take learning outside.
There is so much already happening in the environment that we really do not need to create an elaborate setup. Leaves are changing, seed pods are drying out, sticks and pine cones are everywhere, and pumpkins are suddenly easy to find. I have found that these ordinary seasonal materials can lead to some of the richest learning experiences because students are able to observe, move, touch, collect, build, draw, measure, and ask questions all within the same lesson.
Here are three October investigations I have found especially easy to adapt across K–5.
A 4-Step Plan for Promoting Metacognition in Middle School — from edutopia.org by Kasey Short
Thinking about how they think helps students develop an essential skill that supports their academic success and independence.
In middle school, as students gain independence and are given increased responsibility, it’s an essential time to explicitly teach metacognitive skills. Middle school is often the first opportunity for students to move from one class to another and interact each period with a new teacher who has their own style and set of expectations. Students also move from concrete to abstract thinking while managing long-term assignments, preparing for assessments, revising writing, and solving increasingly complex problems. When students are instructed to study, revise, prepare, and more, they need tools to make effective decisions about those tasks and useful strategies to manage their additional responsibilities.
Metacognition is an essential part of providing students with the tools and strategies they need to be successful in middle school. Work with metacognition is best used as a regular classroom practice that can be implemented by naming it, modeling, providing students with language to discuss their thinking, and creating consistent opportunities for students to engage with this skill and see its impact on their learning.
