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  Why Home Learning Should Be More Self-Directed and Less Structured? Because of the coronavirus concern, pupils were forced to stay at home, and social media feeds were flooded with color-coded study regimens from well-meaning parents. However, they have failed to adopt those timetables, in part because traditional schools' strictly scheduled, time-in-seat strategy frequently has more to do with crowd management than optimizing learning. The abrupt shift to work-from-home may be a good kind of disruption, opening up a golden opportunity for students to engage in authentic, deep learning that is more self-directed, more playful, more aligned with the development of young students—and much easier for parents to manage than stacks of worksheets. Giving kids a say in their education fosters intrinsic drive, independence, and innovation. They can explore answers to real-world problems that interest them, construct models, or produce reports that empower them. While it may be challengin...

  The Benefits of Play-Based Learning for Young Children Some parents of young children may be concerned by the inclusion of word play in the teaching style known as play-based learning. Students, including our smallest, should be "playing" at home. They may claim that they attend school to study. According to Erika Christakis, an early childhood educator and author, the distinction between "learning" and "play" is erroneous. Although it is often undervalued in kindergarten and elementary schools in favor of direct instruction or seat time, play is the "defining feature" of all mammalian development, and its "signature" is visible in the bodies and lives of little kids who experience it: "Their life expectancies are longer and their social-emotional capabilities are more robust when they have a chance to learn through play and deep relationships, and when their developing brains are given the chance to learn through play and deep r...

  An Asset-Based Approach to Instruction and Assessment Since the start of the school year, teachers and administrators have been discussing how to effectively help students following the interruptions of the previous two years. We know that children now have significantly more intellectual, social, and emotional requirements than in previous years, and a variety of data points confirm what most of us already experience on a daily basis: During the pandemic years, students' reading and math skills suffered. How do we respond as educators, and where do we go from here? Teacher expectations of pupils, unsurprisingly, have a direct impact on accomplishment. Low or negatively biased expectations can be detrimental to student development, leading to underperformance. Even when expectations are excessively high, long-term student progress and even future student careers benefit. Here are some ideas for raising the bar for all pupils. THINK ABOUT YOUR PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNERS. Reflection i...

  High-Stakes Testing's Psychological Impact One issue with standardized testing is that we don't completely grasp what they are measuring. On the surface, they appear to be intended to provide an objective assessment of knowledge, or perhaps even inherent intellect. However, a recent study conducted by Brian Galla, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with Angela Duckworth and colleagues found that high school grades are more predictive of college graduation than standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT. This is because, according to the researchers, standardized examinations have a big blind spot: they fail to capture "soft skills" such as a student's capacity to adopt strong study habits, take academic risks, and persevere in the face of adversity. High school grades, on the other hand, tend to do a better job of identifying the intersection of resilience and knowledge. That is, arguably, where potential is turned into actua...

  6 Strategies for Engaging Neurodiverse Students in Class Neurodiversity can be found in any classroom, however not every teacher incorporates neurodiverse students' demands into their methodology. Our neurodiverse children are typically excellent at concealing their feelings of overwhelm in the classroom. Students' anxiety is sometimes expressed through fidgeting, talking to themselves, or engaging in off-task activities that comforts them, or in a number of different ways that are unique to them. As a neurodivergent instructor with many years of experience working with neurodivergent kids, I've discovered that the following tactics assist these pupils feel less worried and stay interested in class. All of these tactics are adaptable to K-12 kids. 6 WAYS TO KEEP NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS INTERESTED IN CLASS 1. The first five minutes: I've used this method for several years and it's always a terrific opportunity to interact with pupils and learn about them as individ...

  Classroom Design Is a Fun Way to Increase Engagement Imagine arriving into your classroom as a student and discovering it has been changed into a restaurant for tasting books. The desks are covered in checkered tablecloths, and the class chef (who has a fantastic French accent!) assigns you to a table where you sample a variety of book genres. Pizzas dangle from the ceiling, and you're greeted with plates and menus to share your ideas. This is a scene from a book tasting, which is one of the most prevalent classroom makeovers that teachers throughout the country are doing to improve student engagement. This year, I immersed my sixth-grade class in a series of very entertaining room renovations in order to rekindle their enthusiasm for learning. TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE CLASSROOM Classroom transformations provide our students with immersive experiences without requiring them to leave the classroom. Hope and Wade King have developed a number of innovative classroom transformation ini...

  Four Ways Classroom Design Affects Executive Function Many of us spend a lot of time at the start of a new school year focusing on our classroom design, arranging desks just so and putting up interesting bulletin boards. However, creating a room is not the same as decorating. Instead, it should have an impact on learning and have a purpose. Teachers sometimes recreate the same classroom year after year without evaluating if their design supports students' learning. Websites like Pinterest provide teachers with décor ideas, but do these ideas enhance student learning? A good classroom design promotes the development of not only topic skills but also process skills. We feel that when students understand the objective of the procedure, they are more likely to internalize it. This year, we are building venues that will allow students to master both subject and executive functioning process abilities. Executive functions are process skills that allow us to perform tasks successfully. ...

  Four Ways Classroom Design Affects Executive Function Many of us spend a lot of time at the start of a new school year focusing on our classroom design, arranging desks just so and putting up interesting bulletin boards. However, creating a room is not the same as decorating. Instead, it should have an impact on learning and have a purpose. Teachers sometimes recreate the same classroom year after year without evaluating if their design supports students' learning. Websites like Pinterest provide teachers with décor ideas, but do these ideas enhance student learning? A good classroom design promotes the development of not only topic skills but also process skills. We feel that when students understand the objective of the procedure, they are more likely to internalize it. This year, we are building venues that will allow students to master both subject and executive functioning process abilities. Executive functions are process skills that allow us to perform tasks successfully. ...