Classroom

11 posts
6 Things To Know Before Becoming A Teacher

6 Things To Know Before Becoming A Teacher

Are you thinking about becoming a teacher? As a young elementary school educator, I've learned some important lessons after being in the field for the past few years.

Some of those lessons include:

  • Answers to questions that no professor lectured about.
  • Issues that no expensive text book explained.
  • Problems I would encounter that were non-existent in the five years of preparation for my career in education.

Want my view of a career in education stripped down? It's definitely not what you think it's going to be. Throw all of your preconceived misconceptions out the window, because that's what they are: misconceptions.

Don't get me wrong—I love my job and I feel lucky to get up every day and teach. But no matter how many internships you do or how many lessons you observe, you will still learn more in a single day in your own classroom than you ever will teaching in someone else's.

Here are some of the many lessons they don't teach you in all of those “Educational Theories" and “Teaching Through the Content Areas" courses…

1. If You're Expecting To Feel Appreciated Every Day, Think Again


Elementary school teacher helps her student color in pictures

The days you go home feeling as if no one cares you poured your heart and soul out on your classroom floor will far outnumber the days you go home feeling someone, anyone, truly appreciates what you do all day.

If you are an exceptional teacher, you will give your all each and every day with the hope that, in some small way, you are making a difference in the lives of your students. They probably won't say "thank you." They probably will grumble and complain about an assignment you worked endlessly on in an attempt to ensure they would find it compelling. But what will get you through your first year, your fifteenth, and your twenty-fifth will not be the unending gratitude and appreciation from your students. Remembering why you chose to teach in the first place will get you through those years.

Remembering will get you through those long days when nothing you planned seems to go right. Remembering will help you when you have reached the end of your rope after a parent with no background in education questions your abilities. If you hold onto that, you'll be the best teacher you can possibly be. If you let go, you'll be miserable (and your students will be too).

2. If You Don't Have Unwavering Patience, Get Out Now


A young teacher is patient while answering a student's question

If you are cut out to be an educator (especially at the elementary level), you will discover you have a seemingly bottomless reserve of patience once you enter your classroom. Students will ask the same question (which you have already answered, by the way) again, and again, and again. Did I mention you already gave them the answer? And it's written on the board? And it's printed on their paper? If the thought of repeating yourself countless times every day makes you crazy, you better get used to it.

And please be forewarned: The patience you had for all other aspects of your life will suddenly be sucked dry. You will find yourself annoyed by little things such as having to wait in line at the grocery store or having to stop to get gas for your car.

3. Learn Everything You Can About Teaching With Technology


A high school teachers shows his students how to use new technology in the classroom

Many of the people at your school will probably want nothing to do with using SMART Boards, tablets, and generative AI. Hopefully, you will. The way students need to be taught has changed over the past few years because the students themselves have changed. Sitting at a desk while someone talks and completing worksheets isn't going to motivate any of today's students. The kids of today need to be constantly stimulated, engaged, and communicating with you and each other.

The best avenue available to teachers is technology. The odds are in your favor here. Chances are, you grew up with computers and other technologies, and your brain is thought to work the same way that your students' brains work.

Surprisingly, there is a huge population of teachers out there who have absolutely no desire to use or learn about technology. I can honestly say I teach in a district where this year many of my colleagues complained about being required to check their school email. Most of them didn't even know how to check email.

You can quickly make yourself a valuable member of the school system by showcasing your knowledge of technology in the classroom—and more importantly, your willingness to learn about and use it.

4. Spend As Much Time In Classrooms As Possible


Student teacher asks the class a question during a lecture

Once you find the grade level you think you'd like to teach, do everything in your power to get an internship at that grade level. If your college offers a year-long internship placement, take it—and be incredibly thankful.

Many schools require a couple of six-week-long student-teaching placements at different grade levels. However, you will never get a real grasp of what your life would be like teaching during a measly six weeks. The best thing I ever did was go to a school that required a year-long internship for a master's degree. Yes, I paid tuition for a year and then worked every day of that year for free; but the experience I gained was more valuable than all of the college classes, observations, and short student-teaching placements put together.

I saw what it is really like to start a school year with a group of students and see how much they grow and learn throughout that entire school year. I was then able to market myself as a first-year teacher with a year of experience under my belt which, believe me, is pretty attractive to administrators with a budget crunch looking for teachers who already know the ropes.

5. If You're Not Happy With Teaching, Don't Do It


Young elementary school teacher reads a book to the class

Regardless of what some people tell you, teaching is not "just a job" (and those same people will say you have the easiest job on earth because you get summer vacation). If you want a 9-to-5 job with weekends off, you better start looking for a new career now.

Sure, there are those teachers who come in each morning with the students and then leave with them in the afternoon, but those teachers really aren't giving it their all.

If you're not in it to be the best teacher you can be, then you shouldn't even be there. Yes, you will get paid far, far less than the amount you deserve. Yes, you will put in 10-hour days and create lesson plans on Saturday afternoons. Yes, you will spend an exorbitant amount of your paycheck on items for your classroom. But you will do all these things because they are a part of doing what you love.

6. Remember Why You Went Into Education In The First Place


Happy high school teacher smiles because she loves her job

Whether it was for a feeling of personal fulfillment or just to see the smiles on students' faces when a concept finally clicks, it's something you're going to need to hold onto in a profession that almost half of all people hired will leave within the first five years. If that doesn't make all the other hoops you'll have to jump through seem worth it, then you don't belong in teaching.

Teaching is one of the most demanding and critical careers that exist today. Think of where you would be without ever having a teacher in your life. Think of a teacher who really made an impact on you—a teacher who changed your life in some way. Chances are, without that teacher, you wouldn't be reading this right now. You just have to decide if you want to be that person for someone else.

Need help finding the right teaching job (or career) for you?

Sign up for a 7-day FREE trial today and learn how to UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

6 Things To Know Before Becoming A …

10 Things To Look For In A “Perfect” Classroom



The other day, I was sitting around with other education consultants. And, as those who observe classrooms for a living are apt to do, we started discussing what teaching and learning elements illustrate both quality instruction and superior learning environments. What elements might define the “perfect” classroom?

Even though most educators live at “proficient” and only visit “well-developed” practices, for reasons both within and outside one’s locus of control, I believe a conversation on how a utopian classroom might look, in theory, is also worth having here.

The Three Questions That All Instruction Must Address


​All too often, educators get caught up thinking about the activities that students are going to do without first considering if these activities are aligned with learning goals. Stop. Think strategically. Review the basic, ground-level parameters for quality teaching and learning first.

At their core, every lesson must answer three basic questions in this order:

  1. What do I want my students to know and do?
  2. How will I know students know and can do the learning objective of the lesson?
  3. How can I vest students in the process of learning in ways/activities that are aligned with the learning objective?

Once we have a clear understanding that every lesson should answer the above questions, sequentially, we can then consider the elements for what might be the “perfect classroom.” Here are the 10 things that I would want to see in paradise:

1. Clear Classroom Expectations And Procedures


Empty classroom with math written on the chalkboard

Sometimes, I will sit down in a classroom before students arrive back from specials, lunch, recess, their last class, etc. I do this because I want to see if there are clear policies and procedures in place; a well-organized classroom is one where we do not lose one second of teaching time. Is there an introductory activity (“Do Now”) that students must complete as they enter the room? Do students know where in the classroom to pick up their writing journals? Is there a clear format/agenda to how the lesson will proceed—introduction, mini-lecture, student practice, and summary? At the end of class, is there a summary learning activity? A well-ordered classroom is usually a happier one with fewer student behavioral issues.

2. Academic Rigor


Teacher boosts student engagement in her classroom

Every lesson should have a clear learning objective; however, we can’t end the discussion on learning objectives there. Learning objectives must be cognitively complex; that is, they must extend our students’ thinking beyond rote memorization if students are to become critical consumers of information in society as well as problem solvers.

When crafting learning objectives—which teachers should also post and discuss with students—I want teachers to consider the depth of knowledge—mental demand—that they will require of students: the questions they will ask students to answer, tasks they will ask students to complete, etc. For example, we can have high school students memorize tips on writing a business proposal or, better yet, to have cognitive complexity, we can have students write and present their own business proposals.

3. Varied And Ongoing Assessment


Students take a test/quiz or complete a worksheet during class

Assessment does not always have to be a formal paper and pencil test that comes at the end of each unit. In every lesson, every day, I want to see teachers checking on student understanding in both informal and formative ways.

Think about driving for a moment. While one may have driving directions to help them reach their destination, sometimes detours and circle-backs are necessary to ultimately get to where one wants to go. Just like in driving, sometimes student misconceptions will force us as teachers to go slower, model a procedure multiple times, or find another way to present a concept. A teacher can only know if they must pivot through ongoing assessment—questioning/cold calling, signaling, polling, etc.

4. Student Engagement


Students listen to a teacher during a classroom lesson

I once worked with a middle school teacher who had students produce a morning chat show (“Good Morning Athens”) when they were learning about ancient Greece; the students came alive. While standardized paper and pencil tests aren’t going away anytime soon, and students do need to be prepared for this type of assessment, assessing students authentically—project-based learning, applying scientific/math problems to real-world situations, designing models, creating multimedia projects, and engaging students in role-plays/problem of practice consultancies—can help teachers better assess how well students can transfer knowledge to new situations. Such activities can also be designed in ways that are kinesthetic, visual, and auditory in nature, allowing our students the opportunity to practice learning from multiple angles.

If teachers do the above, we should not see students disrupting and/or avoiding tasks but rather students invested in their learning and on-task in their interactions with peers; even better if students are assessing their individual and collective growth and achievement.

5. Use Of Multimodal Resources


Teacher increases student engagement in her classroom

The textbook is not the curriculum. However, I often find myself reminding teachers of this fact. It’s ok to augment textbooks and written curriculum with age-appropriate multimodal resources that may further engage students in learning. Enrich the type of student-facing materials you, as teacher, provide. Have non-print materials such as video clips (not full movies); bring in primary source materials like photographs; use infographics, graphs, charts, maps; integrate audio recordings, podcasts, artifacts; and utilize math manipulatives, etc.

6. Purposeful Use Of Classroom Space


Empty school classroom

Teachers need to be mindful of how much space their desk and personal effects are taking up within a classroom. I distinctly remember working with one teacher whose room was covered by Denver Broncos memorabilia. Yes, educators, show your personalities but in a confined way.

In so doing, teachers may find that they have the floor space to divide their classroom into learning “zones” for individual, small group, and whole group student learning. Classroom walls are also a precious gift if they are used to reinforce literacy (word walls), exhibit student work that demonstrates mastery of standards (portfolio assessment), post directions/steps to common math problems, and display anchor charts such as reading annotation codes as well as performance rubrics, etc. Configurable ergonomic furniture can also allow for maximum student mobility while smaller teacher desks with wheels can be positioned next to students.

7. Personalization Of Learning


Student does his homework

Struggling students and, on the other end of the spectrum, bored students are both a recipe for disengagement from school. When I observe a classroom, I like to ask students what they are doing. When students show me their work, I can see if this work is differentiated—meaning are high-interest/low-level reading texts offered and scaffolds provided to help struggling students meet grade-appropriate learning objectives? Are multiple resources and/or is text being provided at a higher reading level to students who have already met the objective? While some teachers may say that personalization of learning takes too much effort, we need to invest the time if we want to ensure that all our students have an equitable opportunity to learn.

8. Literacy Connections


Teacher reads an assignment to the class

The reality is that we must be mindful that we are all literacy teachers. If students don’t understand what they are reading, they will not understand the subject-specific content. In lower elementary school, I look to see both the teaching of phonics AND whole language explicitly. In upper elementary through high school, literacy should be weaved into content/subject-specific learning using learning tools such as Cornell Notes, annotations while reading, and other content-specific vocabulary development activities. This is critically important if we are serving struggling readers, students with special needs, and/or multi-lingual learners.

9. Social-Emotional Connections


We all know that, in the wake of the pandemic, students are struggling with their mental health. We also know that bullying that starts online often finds its way into our schools. In a post-pandemic classroom, we should see teachers developing multi-layered lessons and activities where students can develop the self-awareness that leads to strong self-identity, establish interpersonal skills that nurture positive social relationships, and demonstrate intentional decision-making skills.

The above can come in the form of activities that ask students to self- and peer-assess as well as through more extended student-informed portfolio assessment and student conferencing activities. Teachers and students also can shout out positive student behavior when they see it, particularly during lesson summary activities.

10. Purposeful Use Of EdTech


Students in a classroom with laptops take advantage of EdTech

Let’s remain calm over the advent of AI. While AI comes with risks, it also provides teachers with, for example, the opportunity to develop differentiated lessons more efficiently and can help students research answers to questions they may pose across the depth of knowledge continuum. AI can even help us adjust the reading level of texts for students. The uses are almost endless.

Although AI has captured our attention as educators, EdTech is more than just AI. Many 21st-century schools, for instance, use Google Classrooms to organize learning digitally. Within moderation, EdTech—digital gamification in particular—also can increase student engagement through both cooperation and competition. Consider then the diverse needs of students when integrating EdTech. EdTech should be a value-add not just a mindless distraction. Make learning equitable, efficient, effective, and/or engaging through its use—think “4Es.”

Choose What Works For Students


Happy students and teacher celebrate in the classroom

Schools and teachers have constraints; so, don’t fret about doing everything all at once. Still, knowing the different elements of good practice can only further our mission to help all students grow and achieve; teachers should make a conscious effort to infuse their classrooms with as many of these elements at one time that make sense and all over time.

John Schembari is a school improvement coach. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

10 Things To Look For In A …

6 Things To Do To Prepare For Your Classroom Observation



Is it spring yet? Just observe any school hallway to figure this out. Each spring, there is usually a flurry of activity among school administrators as they hurriedly shuffle from one classroom to the next desperately trying to record/file all their required observations by their state deadline.

In New Jersey public district schools, for example, untenured teachers are evaluated formally at least three times a year with tenured teachers being observed at least once each year. This is a similar practice in other states as well.

So, what can you as a teacher do to prepare for formal observations besides downing an entire bottle of Maalox antacid tablets?

Announced Observations


Teacher gets evaluated before a classroom observation

If the observation is announced in advance, teachers can sit down with their evaluator to discuss the upcoming observation and review both their upcoming lesson plan as well as any student assessment data that will impact the amount of student differentiation and/or scaffolding of learning. Whether announced or unannounced, teachers should also be provided the opportunity to debrief their observations afterward so as to improve teaching practice moving forward.

Unannounced Observations


School files for teacher observations

The process for conducting announced observations is straightforward and often provides teachers with an opportunity to prepare a lesson to the best of their ability—i.e., “the dog and pony show”—since they know when their administrator will be coming to observe and might also know what the observer wants to see.

However, it also is important for administrators to assess the quality of everyday teaching and learning; hence why many observations of teacher practice are unannounced. While unannounced observations preclude the opportunity to discuss evaluator expectations for the lesson upfront, teachers need not lose sleep over not knowing what to expect in terms of administrator expectations.

As a former administrator who regularly evaluated teaching practice, here are six things that I looked for when observing teaching practice and that you might keep in mind when preparing for an unannounced classroom observation:

Teach Bell To Bell


Teacher calls on a student in her classroom

I can tell you that one of my biggest pet peeves when observing instruction was lost instructional time. I hate when students enter a classroom where there is no introductory task posted on the board (The Do Now); I also become frustrated when class ends early and students are milling around waiting for the end bell to ring. This lost instructional time compounds when added up across classrooms/periods each day.

Instead, plan with timing and transitions in mind. Have students enter and complete an introductory task (5 minutes). Then, engage in a mini-lecture—usually the new information and/or directions for the upcoming student activity (no more than 10-15 minutes). After this, allow the bulk of class time to be used for student practice/peer discussion (20-25 minutes) and then follow up with a culminating/summary activity (10 minutes). To help yourself, set a timer for each section and consider posting the agenda/flow for the class from section to section on the board. Before long, students will come to recognize where they should be within the flow of the lesson and, often, will let you know if you are running behind.

Know What You Want Students To Know And Do


Empty classroom with math written on the chalkboard

Every teacher and student action within the lesson should be driven by the learning objective—i.e., what we want students to know and be able to do at the end of the lesson. This needs to be made clear to students at the beginning of the lesson. Have the learning objective posted on the board when students enter. Discuss the learning objective with students at the beginning of the lesson. Also, consider having students reflect on whether the objective was met during the lesson summary/closure such as by engaging in a brief popcorn discussion and/or in writing through an exit ticket activity.

Even when teachers are mindful in posting and discussing learning objectives, they might not consider the cognitive lift in which they are asking students to engage. Consider using the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix when designing learning objectives/activities that have students both deepening their depth of knowledge as well as synthesizing, evaluating, and creating knowledge as opposed to merely identifying it; Bloom’s Taxonomy meets Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Theory.

For students not academically ready to meet the demands of such a heavy cognitive ask, do not “dumb down” the expectation for these students. Instead, provide scaffolds and supports so students can meet the expectation.

Check For Student Understanding


Students take a test/quiz or complete a worksheet during class

Assessment is much more than quizzes and tests that come at the end of learning. Show your administrator that you are constantly taking the pulse of student retention of learning using ongoing checks on student understanding—i.e., cold calling, signaling, and/or choral response. Equally important, when students demonstrate a lack of understanding, do not charge on with the delivery of instruction. Stop. Reteach that point. In other words, show your administrator that you can pivot in the moment to meet immediate student needs.

Anticipate what you will do when students fail these checks on understanding. Again, do not just push on. Instead, ask a few students until you get the correct response and then have those who did not know the answer repeat the response of peers who did. Have confused students “call on a friend” to help them respond. Checks on understanding are particularly important to implement before students are released to practice their new learning—in other words, during the introduction as well as the mini-lecture phase of a lesson.

Ask The Right Questions The Right Way


Teacher asks questions while being observed by an administrator

Too often, teachers do not plan, in advance, the questions that they will ask students and, as a result, questions rarely require students to engage in heavy cognitive lift. Administrators observing your lessons will want to see that you prepared your student-facing questions to engage students in both discussion and/or debate as well as to assess overall student learning. During the introductory and/or mini-lecture portion of a lesson, it is acceptable that questions be more factual and/or convergent as these types of questions will help teachers to ascertain student basic knowledge and understanding of key concepts and task directions. Once students are released to practice/engage in their learning, however, teachers will want students to reflect upon more divergent and/or evaluative type questions.

Another way that teachers can get into trouble with questioning is not allowing students enough “think time” to ponder the questions being asked of them before answering the questions themselves on behalf of the students. Embed “wait time” of 3-5 seconds after asking students a question so that students can reflect more deeply upon what is being asked of them. This should improve the quality of student responses. Also, allow wait time after a student speaks and before a follow-up question is asked.

Engage Students Throughout The Lesson


Students pay attention to the teacher in the classroom

As an administrator observing teachers, another area of concern for me was when teachers never released students to practice their learning and, instead, held students hostage to a never-ending whole class mini-lecture. If I was bored, I could leave. Students, however, could not. Another missed opportunity for student engagement that I have seen repeated is when teachers release students to independently complete worksheets, during the student practice phase of a lesson, which are then reviewed as a whole class with the teacher leading the discussion one problem/question at a time.

There indeed are times when students will need to learn independently before engaging with peers. However, administrators observing lessons also will want to see how teachers have planned out student pair and small group work as a means through which students can discuss learning collaboratively. I often suggest to teachers that they adapt the National School Reform Faculty Protocols, meant for teacher collaboration, to be student facing. As students work in pairs or small groups, the teacher can/should be walking around the classroom addressing any misconceptions and taking anecdotal notes that the teacher might then want to address with students after the pair or group activity concludes. Administrators also would be excited to see how teachers have planned out student rotation work.

Scaffold And/Or Extend The Learning


Teacher helps a student in his classroom

During the observed lesson, teachers may notice administrators asking students about what they are doing. Administrators are doing this to gain a sense of how well teachers have used student achievement data to place students in groups and how the learning process, product, and/or content is being adjusted, or differentiated, for students with different needs.

Teachers often get scared when they hear the word “differentiation” because they think this means that they need to show their administrator a separate instructional plan for each student in their class. This is not the case. Rather, most administrators observing instruction are looking to see if teachers have considered the needs of the different instructional GROUPINGS in the classroom—i.e., those below readiness, at readiness, and above readiness to meet the posted lesson objective and/or unit of study standards. This last sentence is important—per posted lesson learning objective and/or unit standards. Administrators want to see that you are routinely considering the needs/supports required by students and then equally considering when students no longer need those supports.

If your school is not already using some sort of formal common diagnostic assessment, such as i-Ready or NWEA MAP, you can determine if your students are ready to meet the learning objective and/or unit standards by giving a brief pre-assessment before the lesson or the unit of study. Then, use that pre-assessment data to place students within their appropriate group and determine how you will adjust content, process, and /or product for each group of learners. At the end of the lesson/unit, you can then reassess students—conduct a post-assessment which can be as simple as an exit ticket—to see if and how instructional groupings have shifted; hopefully, there will be increased student growth and achievement after the lesson.

Other Helpful Tips


Teacher looks at her lesson plan during an observation

If teachers really want to impress administrators observing their classroom instruction, consider placing copies of your lesson plans in a folder attached to the wall outside/just inside your classroom that the administrator can pick up without disturbing you/your instruction. Administrators also like to see the literacy connections that students are making, across content areas, as well as how teachers are considering student cultural and background knowledge in their lesson planning. I enjoyed seeing/hearing when teachers were able to make real-world connections in what students were learning.

John Schembari is a school improvement coach. If you would like additional ideas on how to impact student lives without sacrificing your own, and have a life teaching, check out his quick hack teaching courses here. You can also reach out to him on LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

6 Things To Do To Prepare For …

How To Help Newly Arrived English Language Learners Thrive In The Classroom



“Don’t just assume a student is lazy or just doesn’t care about what they are learning. They might understand the content you are teaching just not how to express themselves,” says Uswai Husna, education major at Brooklyn College and America Needs You member. Husna should know. As a child, Husna moved back and forth between the United States, ultimately settling here in 2012, and Marsad, Pakistan—a place of sanctuary for Afghani refugees fleeing the Taliban.

Despite today being a confident and erudite young woman in English, it still took Husna five years to feel comfortable using English as a medium to express herself. Husna, a former English language learner (ELL) and student with interrupted formal education (SIFE), cites the relationship that she developed with her former teacher, Michelle Ortiz (quoted later in this article), as being an instrumental factor in her ultimate success as well as going to a middle school with a large international student body that had similar backgrounds and experiences to that of Husna.

Husna’s story is not unique. New York City, alone, is integrating more than 7,000 students from migrant families into classrooms this school year (22-23) with some of these students also making up the 61,000 people in the New York City shelter system.

Like in New York City, educators, city officials, and non-profits around the country are scrambling to support the literacy needs of newly arrived English language learners. They also must concurrently address the social-emotional needs of the approximately 10% to 20% of newly arrived ELLs arriving as SIFE students. While the majority of ELLs are not coming from a situation where their education has been interrupted, those who are can present even greater teaching challenges for educators not accustomed to teaching newly arrived ELLs.

What Advocates Say We Must Do To Support The Needs Of These  Children


Diverse, multilingual/multicultural students learn new technology

Fen Chou

Program Director, Council of Chief State School Officers

Ensuring meaningful participation of English learners—who represent 10% (or 5.1 million students) of the total K-12 student population and have diverse linguistic, cultural, and academic backgrounds—is a core concern in the delivery of K-12 public education across the country. At the start of their educational experience in the United States, these students face the challenge of learning English so they can fully access academic content. They need specific supports and services from schools for success. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is committed to supporting state education agencies as they work with districts and schools to ensure English learners get the best possible educational opportunities and graduate from high school on time, prepared for college and careers.

In the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic compelled state leaders to develop new instructional delivery models and support teachers, students, and families as they shifted from in-person to remote and hybrid learning environments. These shifts have presented many challenges to educational equity, especially for English learners and their families, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

However, these disruptions to school also presented an opportunity. We encourage states to integrate technology in new ways, revisit their programs and services for English learners and families, monitor the effectiveness of English learner programs, and provide educators with a chance to ensure that they are supporting access and equity for English learners. Specific recommendations are provided in CCSSO’s State Leadership Guide to help state education agency leaders engage stakeholders in continuous-improvement processes focused on English learner programs and services.

Amber Crowell Kelleher

Executive Director, TESOL International Association

TESOL International Association values and fosters diverse and inclusive participation within the field of English language teaching. For more than 50 years, TESOL has globally promoted equitable representation of, engagement of, inclusion of, and access to multilingual learners of English (MLE). We do this with the support of more than 150,000 educators in more than 160 countries. Simply put, TESOL advances linguistic expertise in multilingual contexts through professional learning, research, standards, and advocacy.

We strongly support and advocate for asset-based approaches for MLEs that serve the learners and their families. Regardless of the language learning context, learning an additional language starts with a student’s culture and heritage or home language. In particular, refugees and asylees, who may have limited or interrupted formal education and may be unfamiliar with U.S. social and academic cultural norms, benefit from an asset-based approach that values and draws from their home language and culture. Home language supports, such as encouragement in translanguaging and offering multiple ways for students to share their knowledge, can empower newcomer MLEs. Such students may also benefit from specialized supports that include trauma-informed instruction and social-emotional and mental health supports. Teachers can also help establish a safe space by teaching MLEs the vocabulary to express their emotional state, such as anger, sadness, fear, or frustration.

When U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona referred to being bilingual as a superpower, he not only highlighted multilingual learning but also elevated the voices of MLEs, their families, their communities, and their collective experiences and stories. What students and their families bring to the learning process from their home language and culture serves as an asset to the student, their teachers, and the larger context of learning.

Tim Boals

Executive Director, WIDA

I believe teachers like to see all their students thrive. This is why they teach. Nonetheless, myths about language learning, the role of culture or home languages, or about the need for language or content remediation and what that involves persist, and often get in the way of creating and sustaining real opportunities for multilingual learners to learn.

Lately, some politicians and commentators suggest that schools should push equal opportunity but not equity. Equity is bad, they say, because it implies that we want students to all be the same. I disagree. The notion of equity for multilingual learners can be traced to Lau vs. Nichols (1974) where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that giving multilingual learners equal treatment in the same classroom was not, in fact, equal, because without proper support multilingual learners would not understand the same lesson as the English speakers or proficient English readers would. Equity, in this context, is akin to getting the correct eyeglasses. We all need a different prescription to have an equal opportunity to see clearly. If we follow that analogy in the case of multilingual learners, we must provide them equity in the classroom through support that acknowledges where they are on the continuum of learning English, as well as how their home languages, cultures, and individual identities can be used as assets.

For a beginner to intermediate English learner, we need to modify or scaffold the English language and literacy demands of those programs. Even students at more advanced levels of English proficiency often need some targeted support. This is what we mean by equity. There are numerous ways to do that, but we know traditional high school lectures and assignments in unsupported English won’t get us there.

Always encourage educators to maintain a can-do lens when thinking about these students. This can be accomplished by considering the cultural and linguistic assets students bring to class and building upon those assets. Consider how the can-do lens helps value and support students’ home languages and cultures to the maximum extent possible. Home and community language and culture are a big part of students’ assets and identities, and we need to nurture and build upon them. Emphasize how can-do also means to not over-emphasize grammatical correctness. Students do need targeted feedback on their progress when learning English, but this should be done strategically—since making mistakes is part of learning and we should help them understand that. Otherwise, while comparing themselves with others, they will feel they cannot successfully take on those academic identities or roles.

Promote learning about how to hold and maintain academic conversations. This is a skill worth teaching and practicing. It is far more effective than traditional question-and-answer techniques found in many classrooms. Accelerate content learning, rather than focusing on language remediation. Foster collaboration between language support teachers and content or classroom teachers. Involve, engage, and empower families to participate in and better understand their children’s educational path. Encourage extra-curricular activities and participation in the arts, in and outside of school.

Developing Lessons That Support Newly Arrived ELLs  


Multilingual students with their teacher in the classroom

So, on a practical level then, what should educators do to support multilingual learners? Michelle Ortiz, ENL Coordinator in the NYCDOE and adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, suggests the following:

One strategy that I recommend to teachers who have various levels of ELLs in their class is to first draft their lesson without differentiation. Then, go back into the lesson and ask, "How can I provide an entry point for my entering and emerging level students?" If they aren’t sure, I recommend applying some general best practices for students at this level. This includes adding visuals to slides, translating essential vocabulary words, and allowing students to discuss the content in their native language. For example, during a gallery walk activity, allow students to discuss the images and write notes in their language. This provides an entry point for students to access the lesson by using visuals and research shows strong correlations to academic success when ELLs utilize their first language.

When ELLs are at the transitioning and expanding level, teachers need to keep in mind that students at this level have a strong command of social English, but often struggle with academic reading and writing. Research shows that it can take five to seven years for students to acquire and apply academic language. As a result, teachers can differentiate their lessons to ensure students can build upon their reading and writing skills. Teachers can scaffold complex texts by using close reading strategies along with targeting academic vocabulary. Students may often continue to lack essential background knowledge to comprehend a text, especially if varying cultural norms are found within the text. Therefore, strategies such as using a pre-reading assessment and surveys will help to assess knowledge and provide a focus for teaching background knowledge. Teachers should also consider using graphic organizers, jigsaw activities, and creating leveled notes and outlines to support their students as they build upon their reading and writing skills.

In supporting newly arrived ELLs, who are also SIFE, here is what Judith O’Loughlin and Brenda Custodio, co-authors of Students with Interrupted Formal Education: Bridging Where They Are and What They Need by Corwin Press (2017), say are some surefire strategies:

SIFE (Students with Interrupted Formal Education), by definition, have experienced gaps in their formal first-language education. They need to be supported by language and content educators who understand their situation and are willing to provide extra academic, as well as social and emotional supports to assist them and help fill in those gaps. Students who have experienced trauma need supports, such as consistent routines in the classroom that help them feel comfortable and safe. Writing assignments on the board in print, not cursive, and providing models or several examples of assignment expectations at their level of learning, ensures that students understand what is expected, eliminating panic and confusion. Permitting students to use their first language for support in bilingual classes or using translanguaging in content classes may be critical. At times, peer assistance or a “buddy” may be needed. For students with extremely limited previous education, extra classes to build basic literacy and numeracy skills may be necessary. For too many secondary students, the lowest math available is algebra and SIFE may not have the foundational math skills or foundational knowledge to be successful in mathematics. And finally, it is important that modifications, addressing their current support needs, but also changing as SIFE become more proficient academically, should be provided for students with academic gaps while their literacy and content knowledge develop.

John Schembari is a school improvement coach. If you would like additional ideas on how to impact student lives without sacrificing your own, and have a life teaching, check out his quick hack teaching courses here. You can also reach out to him on LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

How To Help Newly Arrived English Language …

How And Why All Teachers Must Teach Vocabulary



Being able to both comprehend and write increasingly complex text and participate in oral discourse starts with a knowledge of words. Yet far too many of our students stumble in expressing their thoughts, understanding the written intent of others, or even understanding what is being asked of them in written prompts because they do not have nor are growing in their awareness of vocabulary.

The reasons why our students may lack robust vocabularies are varied. Some students are coming to English as second language learners. Others may have or have not been exposed to a varied vocabulary in their homes. Still, others may be hamstrung by the way we have been teaching reading in our schools: phonics and/or decoding in the early years—the debate still rages—being phased out in favor of specific academic content instruction in middle and high school. I, myself, can think back to my early days of teaching 6th grade when I had a student come into my class the day after they arrived from Vietnam with no English-speaking skills. Although she received push out ELL services, if only I knew then how to better scaffold the learning through language supports, perhaps she might have been able to be more fully present in class.

While we are all literacy teachers, tell that to some middle and high school science, math, and/or social studies teachers and you might be told in return that they teach their subject content not English. Still, how can one teach content well if students do not understand what they are reading? Also, how can students write in full paragraphs if they don’t know words?

Teaching Vocabulary Helps Students Develop Content Knowledge


Teacher teaches a young student vocabulary

Think strategically about how vocabulary might help your students master content-specific standards. As a consultant, I’m always recommending that teachers utilize Harvey Silver’s vocabulary CODE activities. These activities assist students in connecting vocabulary to key concepts, in organizing/categorizing words, in deep processing words, and in exercising the mind through exercise and practice.

While we see word walls in many classrooms these days, which is an excellent strategy that compares words to units of study, we should not stop there. Sadly, this is often the case. Word walls are NOT for classroom decoration only; students need to practice these words intentionally during instruction. One way to do this, for instance, might be to have students describe how a set of three words from the word wall might be related (the three-way tie strategy).

Teachers can also gamify the learning of vocabulary by giving “points” for student use of specific vocabulary within their written responses. I would often give my students a word splash activity at both the beginning and end of a lesson. In this strategy, students are given a writing prompt as well as a series of words to use in their response. Students are then told to use as many words as they can in their response.

Comparing the quality of the response/vocabulary produced at the beginning of the lesson, before instruction, with the same prompt response provided at the end of the lesson can be a brilliant way to check on student growth in understanding during a lesson. Have students used more vocabulary in the second response? Are connections between concepts stronger after instruction than before?

Vocabulary Development Strategies Are For ALL Students


I recently had the opportunity to present these vocabulary development strategies at a middle/high school workshop. By engaging in a 4As discussion protocol, we were able to surface assumptions made by Mr. Silver in his work, where we agreed, where we argued/or disagreed, and where we might apply his vocabulary development strategies in our own lesson planning.

Several concerns and/or misconceptions emerged, one being that the study of vocabulary is only for students who are underperforming. To be true, studying vocabulary can assist ELLs and other students below mastery to meet learning objectives and, as such, is an excellent scaffold. At the same time, depending on the complexity of the words themselves, vocabulary development strategies can help more advanced students solidify and extend their knowledge of key concepts/themes in their learning.

To bring in higher-order thinking and learning within vocabulary development activities, consider the level of complexity of the words that students are studying. Per the work of Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan, in Bringing Words to Life, we can think of vocabulary as being in three tiers: tier one (everyday words like tree or cat), tier two (school words like analyze or discuss), and tier three words (content-specific words like reformation or reconstruction). I would argue that middle and high schools could consider the academic words that they want the entire school community practicing with students (tier 2) and have this language posted/discussed throughout the school community while teachers could not only be promoting the use of these tier 2 vocabulary words in class but also be working with students to increase their knowledge of specific content vocabulary (tier 3). As an aside, I also use Robert Marzano’s work, Building Academic Vocabulary, with teachers. Most notably, his lists of academic words in each content area.

Making Time For Vocabulary Instruction


Teacher teaches his students vocabulary during class

Teachers in the training also surfaced the question of time. When there is so much to teach, where is the time to front-load all this vocabulary? Consider when it is and is not appropriate to use a vocabulary development strategy with all students at the same time. However, also consider how individual students could practice vocabulary on their own. For instance, I used to always keep blank copies of the Frayer Model available in the classroom so that students could practice vocabulary on an as-needed basis. Students could also be practicing vocabulary at rotating stations as well as completing other tasks if the lesson is planned accordingly. Lastly, just like we do not want all middle/high school teachers giving a test on the same day, confer with teaching colleagues so that the front-loading of vocabulary is staggered across classes.

If you would like additional ideas on how to impact student lives without sacrificing your own, and have a life teaching, check out my quick hack teaching courses, including on student engagement, here. You can also reach me on LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

How And Why All Teachers Must Teach …

8 Surefire Ways To Do Student Engagement Well



I have had moments in my schooling that shine brightly—playing a card game in Mr. Ritter's 8th grade social studies class with the true purpose being to show just how difficult it was to survive the Holocaust as well as having an opportunity to create our own country using the same economic, social, and political characteristics that define authentic nation states. I also remember Ms. Ziemba's 9th grade English class where she would routinely pause our reading of fiction to allow us to predict what would happen next as well as my foreign language classes with Mrs. Kane—"Madame"—and Mr. Tellis where we would act out every day conversational scenarios using tone, props, and facial expressions.

While the content we were covering differed in each class, there was one commonality—an emphasis on student engagement. Today, I try to pay forward the appreciation that I feel for my teachers, for making learning engaging, by mentoring new teachers on how best to engage their students through similar learner-centered practices. Educators are so much more than content specialists; they help shape the whole person. Educators facilitate the growth of student self-awareness, they flame the sparks of curiosity, and they can make connections between learning theory and real-world application.

Involving students in class is not just a feel-good practice; student engagement results in better student attention with attention leading to higher rates of student achievement. Here are eight considerations to keep in mind to not only make student engagement possible in a distracted and complex world but that also will, hopefully, bring you joy as an educator when you see your students light up like a sports stadium.

Plan Lessons Around The Learning Objective And Not The Engagement Strategy


Teacher boosts student engagement in her classroom

As a teaching coach, I often see well-meaning teachers planning a lesson around a fun student activity. I love that these teachers are keeping student interest front and center, but we can’t forget that time with our students is limited, and we need to ensure that students are meeting certain content and skill-based standards. Instead, step one should be to develop your lesson objective and then consider how you will assess student learning outcomes in this lesson. After this, choose a student activity/task that will help students practice the learning outcome. Many students are driven by personal success; they will appreciate completing tasks and engaging in activities that they know will help them reach a defined goal.

Tip: Connect that learning goal to real-world relevance through articles, podcasts, videos, etc. Let students know how/where they might use this learning. How does this learning help explain the world around us?

Plan Activities That Are Cognitively Rigorous


Teacher increases student engagement in her classroom

How does the saying go? Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. So are idle minds. Bored students are the kiss of death when it comes to classroom management. If we do not engage students productively and consistently throughout a lesson, they will find ways through which to amuse themselves even if inappropriate.

Write learning objectives where students are consistently asked to stretch and expand their thinking. Then, plan activities, aligned to the learning objective, that will require students to assess, evaluate, synthesize, and create information. Plan activities that move beyond students recalling and reproducing information and place emphasis on student strategic thinking. One lesson planning tool that I always recommend teachers have by their side is the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix for writing/speaking and/or math/science as it combines both the cognitive rigor models of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) construct.

Vary The Learning Modalities In Your Teaching Practice


Engaged students in a classroom

How many of you remember the 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? In that movie, Ferris’ teacher drones on and on while students sleep, doodle, blow bubble gum bubbles, and even drool. Funny, yes. However, it’s sad to say but some teachers in 2022 still turn their students into hostages during never-ending lectures. Even I, as a teaching coach, sometimes get bored when observing teachers talk incessantly but at least I have the option of leaving and visiting another teacher’s class. Students do not have this option.

Alternate how you teach. Whole class instruction has its merits/role—particularly when introducing a topic and conducting a BRIEF mini-lecture on that topic—but release students to practice learning both independently AND in small peer groups, during each lesson, before regrouping as a whole class during the lesson summary.

Student Activities And Assessment Can Be One In The Same


Teacher increases student engagement in her class

Assessment is not just formal paper and pencil tests. While tests are an important indicator of how much students have learned AFTER instruction, teachers can use cold calling, polling (i.e., Kahoot games), and choral response DURING learning to determine if students are learning material or if they must pivot their instruction for better student understanding. These informal assessment strategies can both be fun and produce assessment data.

Also, we educators can do a better job in assessing our students through more authentic assessments such as project-based learning, case studies, and scenarios as well as through student portfolio assessment. So many careers these days require collaboration. So, why then are we still often assessing in isolation?

Involve Students In Self- And Peer Assessment


Engaged students work on an assignment

Above, I mention portfolio assessment as both a great student engagement and assessment strategy. There also are additional less-involved ways through which to engage students in analyzing their academic growth and achievement daily. For example, students can self- and then peer assess essays using a performance rubric. Students can critique their and peer contributions to group work. Students can also shout out positive peer contributions during lesson summary activities. These strategies not only engage students but foster social-emotional competency as well.

Engage Students Through Personalization


Teacher engages her students during a lesson

I was lucky to be able to enroll in Ms. Firestone’s ELA/visual and performing arts “house” in a high school that was otherwise dominated by achievement in sports. However, while it is wonderful when districts do provide students with opportunities to learn through cross-disciplinary and theme-based learning approaches, all teachers can engage students through personalization of the learning experience.

Conduct a survey/inventory of student interests. How do you build these interests into your lesson plans? Consider the cultural backgrounds of your students. How might you bring in learning materials and/or teach content through situations with which your students already may have community knowledge? Also, students who are below academic proficiency may become frustrated and disengage while students who are above proficiency may also check out if not provided with an appropriate level of challenge. How do you use common diagnostic assessment at the beginning, middle, and end of the year to determine how many instructional groups you have in your class? What scaffolds and/or extensions might you provide your students so that they do not become frustrated or bored?

Know Which Engagement Strategy To Use When


Engaged students play with blocks during class

If a typical lesson is 45 to 50 minutes, and we are following a gradual release model, this means that we have approximately five minutes for an introductory activity, 10 minutes for a mini-lecture (I and we do), 20 to 25 minutes for student practice (you do), and five to 10 minutes for summation of the lesson. Therefore, our engagement activities need to be concise during a lesson’s introduction, the mini-lecture, and the summation of a lesson and can be extended/deeper process when students are practicing their learning. In other words, don’t try to do an inside-outside circle activity during the mini-lecture when a quick turn and talk is more appropriate. Save the inside-outside circle activity for student practice time.

Also, have a ready bank of four to five student discussion strategies that you can swap in and out during student practice time each lesson. However, a word of caution. Don’t push back against collaborative learning if you fear the loss of classroom control. It is not the discussion strategy that is faulty but how well the teacher implements it and sets classroom expectations. Students may still need the teacher to instruct them on how to engage in a discussion as well as both discussion stems and guiding questions.

Let Students Own The Learning


Teacher increases student engagement in his classroom

Provide students with SOME choice when it comes to how they will learn content/skills and how they will demonstrate mastery. Allow students who like to move/dance an opportunity to demonstrate their learning through a role play. Perhaps students who like to draw might demonstrate learning through the creation of a poster. Still, others may want to write and/or produce a podcast. Our students are digital natives. Don’t fight technology; embrace it. Regardless, make sure students are being evaluated similarly/on meeting the learning objective and not on other extraneous skills used to produce their product.

If you would like additional ideas on how to impact student lives without sacrificing your own, and have a life teaching, check out my quick hack teaching courses, including on student engagement, here. You can also reach me on LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

8 Surefire Ways To Do Student Engagement …

5 Reasons Why Teachers Are STILL Not OK



I have been coaching for more than a few years now and I hate to say it: this has been one of my more challenging years. In facilitating in-person whole staff training, for example, I have noticed more than a few teachers sleeping in the back of the room, coming late to training and continuing to engage in telephone conversations as they enter, refusing to collaborate/work with each other, and not engaging in conversation even when prompted by me or their teaching peers. Others have giggled and laughed while watching TikTok videos as their peers were trying to speak. Video trainings have been even worse with teachers turning off both their microphones and cameras and then walking away from the computer. I know because participants are not responding to prompts or going into assigned breakout rooms.

However, I do get it. Teachers are simply overwhelmed and, increasingly, are feeling like their needs are not being met and that they are not valued as professionals. Indeed, according to a recent Challenge Success survey, only 65% of teachers reported being involved in making schoolwide decisions. The after-school trainings that I mention above may also be the only time when teachers have had the chance to chat with their colleagues all day or even week.

Here are five specific reasons why some teachers still are behaving badly, even as the pandemic ebbs, and what we might do to return positivity to our school buildings:

Staff Retention Issues


Teacher teaches his class outside

​Forty-four percent of teachers leave the occupation within their first five years (NSBA). Additionally, a poll recently conducted by GBAO strategies—a democratic polling firm commissioned by the NEA—has found that 55% of all teachers, administrators, and other staff are now considering leaving the education field sooner than planned due to the increased stress brought on by COVID-19.

In my recent WID article, "3 Reasons for the Big Quit in Teaching," I discuss, specifically, the negative impact that increased teacher expectations, political discord, teacher pay, and the combination of all these factors is continuing to have on teacher retention post-COVID-19. Indeed, when staff leaves, teachers left behind must pick up even more duties thereby only perpetuating the cycle of burnout. As discussed by me and many others, schools can do more in providing mentorship support to new teachers and invest in third-party one-on-one coaching for all teachers regardless of their time in the profession. What is encouraging is that many states, regardless of political bent, are indeed using ESSER III funding for teacher training and support so that teachers stay in school.

Less Experienced Staff


Stressed young teacher professional at work

Today, on average, a teacher has 1-3 years of classroom experience compared to 15 years of experience 30 years ago. In addition, less than half of new teachers are over 29 years of age and just 19% are older than 40 (NSBA). To address teaching staff shortfalls, many states also are lowering the requirements to get into the teaching profession. Teachers in Arizona, for instance, can now teach with only a high school diploma if they are at least enrolled in college. Eleven other states also are considering lowering entry standards. New Jersey has not only removed testing requirements but also has developed a pilot program for teachers entering with low GPAs.

What does this mean? This means that some teachers may not have "yet" developed the professional maturity to successfully navigate the everyday challenges and expectations of teaching. While only requiring a high school diploma to teach may be a debatable policy, it is, at least, encouraging that Arizona does require teachers with only a high school diploma to be concurrently enrolled in college. Should we wish to draw upon new teacher talent sources that are not, perhaps, prepared to teach in a traditional sense, it will be important that K-12 school administration partners with higher education in training teaching staff not only on the college campus but also embedded at the teacher's assigned school. We also should continue to explore teacher micro-credentialing programs; as teachers earn micro credits, they can be given increasing amounts of teaching responsibility without waiting for a degree in its entirety.

Stress Related To Disrupted Learning (And Testing)


Teacher walks around the classroom while students take a test

Let's face it. To varying degrees, teachers are held accountable for how well students do on end-of-year state exams as well as on other student achievement benchmarks. However, just because we are once again testing, this does not mean that students have mastered the content/skills on which they are being tested. Studies do show, in fact, that students learned less during remote pandemic learning and are now playing catch-up. Teachers are therefore helping more students individually to catch up while also trying to move their classes forward in meeting grade-level standards. This just adds stress to an already stressful time for teachers. At least states are using ESSER III funds to support tutoring programs. Still, while we could be using the pandemic as an opportunity to consider less "high stakes" and other authentic “low stake” approaches to assessment, I do not currently see many states moving in this direction.

Decreased Administrative Support


School principal talks to a teacher

There are a host of reasons why teachers may not feel supported by administrators; these reasons can range from feeling micro-managed to having large class sizes, to leaders not ensuring appropriate student behavior—such as having a consistent student cell phone use policy for one—and/or a safe campus environment. In an anecdotal LinkedIn poll I recently conducted, a whopping 91% of participating educators stated that they had never been asked by their supervisors what their priorities were for the week and if the supervisor could help. Wow! While this survey was informal, it is still telling. Further, supervisors can’t support staff if they don’t exist. Even prior to COVID-19, research indicated that one out of every two principals is not retained after their third year of leading a school. COVID-19 has only exacerbated the demands placed upon school leaders.

As with teachers, if we must continue to bring in less well-qualified school leaders, we must develop micro-credentialing opportunities so that school leaders can gain exposure to core concepts within school administration as well as consider how schools might partner with leadership development organizations—institutions such as New Visions for Public Schools, the Center for Educational Innovation, and/or Fordham University’s GSE Office of External Partnerships, each of which offers leadership coaching around systemic school improvement, strategic planning, and communication/outreach. For instance, CEI is drawing upon the organizational improvement work of Anthony S. Bryk and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. At Fordham, where I also consult, I have had the fortune to facilitate the growth of teacher leadership teams that provide peer support alongside that of administration using the equity framework of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad.

Decrease In Positive School Climate


School counselor, teacher talks to a student

Just read some of these sobering statistics provided by the School Culture and Climate Initiative:

  • More than 1 in 3 high school students had experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40% increase since 2009.
  • In 2019, approximately 1 in 6 youth reported making a suicide plan in the past year, a 44% increase since 2009.
  • More than 66% of youth in the United States experience a traumatic event or circumstances by 16 years of age and many children experience chronic trauma.

While most districts did have a school counselor in the 2020-21 school year, only 14% met the ratio of one school counselor to 250 students as recommended by the American School Counselor Association. New issues, connected to COVID-19, also are bubbling up. Nearly half of school and district leaders said in an Education Week survey that their school or district is getting more threats of violence by students than in the fall of 2019. Two out of three teachers, principals, and district leaders also say students are misbehaving more now than they did before the pandemic.

As a result, schools need to become more creative in recruiting counselors from outside traditional school settings and explore virtual support. Additionally, one way to give staff a break and to potentially improve overall school/life balance might be to move to a four-day work week; however, a four-day schedule is not without its challenges. Still, other schools are increasing teacher training in SEL practices with yet others prioritizing restorative justice practices over that of traditional discipline measures.

Please feel free to reach out to the author at John Schembari, Ed.D. | LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

5 Reasons Why Teachers Are STILL Not …

8 Amazing Ways Teachers Can Use Their Summer Break



I must admit. I don’t enjoy being off in the summer as an educator. I enjoy a beach day from time to time, like most people, but I can tolerate sweeping up sand in my house only so much. So, you might understand, when I was still teaching in the classroom, why I jumped at the chance to teach English as a foreign language during the summer program of an American school outside of London. The international students and teachers were a fun and diverse lot, and, on days when I wasn’t responsible for afterschool activities and/or in charge of my dormitory, I still had time to rush to the train into London to catch a late-in-day visit to a museum or to swing dance in an old hotel basement ballroom somewhere near Marble Arch.

This was a fun time in my life. And, while I recognize that many educators can’t just jet off to Paris, Rome, or Timbuktu over their summer break, there are still many ways through which we can both rest and recharge as well as prepare for the upcoming school year.

Here are some suggestions for how educators might make the most of their summer holiday:

Rest


Woman reads on the beach

Yes, recharge. Go to the beach with that book you’ve been itching to read but have had no time to do. NPR recently released a list of books about each of the 50 states while The New York Times also published a list of great summer reads. I, myself, have always been a fan of librarian Nancy Pearl’s book recommendations. Remember, though, the early bird catches the worm so don’t let the summer pass you by without engaging in at least some of the following activities which will pay you dividends throughout the entirety of the next school year.

Teach


Teacher with students outside on grass

You heard me correctly. Teach. While it might be late in the game to acquire a summer teaching position for this summer, consider looking for summer work in the late winter/early spring prior to the summer in which you want to teach. I knew that I wanted to both teach and visit the UK, so I took advantage of low winter airfares and flew to the UK for a few days, in February, to conduct interviews with various English language schools; this is how I ultimately ended up teaching at the American school that summer. Again, one need not fly across the globe to acquire work as summer teaching jobs may be available right around the corner within your own or the next school district.

Why be a glutton for punishment? Teaching over the summer can be a great way to experience another school and/or school district without committing full time. At the same time, one’s cash flow continues. Should you teach over the summer, you also may have an opportunity to extend your professional network which will be important if/when you decide to look for new teaching opportunities.

Prepare Incoming Students


Student reads a book

The summer learning slide is real. A Scholastic survey finds that children in 3rd to 5th grades lose, on average, about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school-year gains in math during summer break. If you know who your students will be for the coming year, consider providing them with some summer work to keep their minds agile. Many public libraries, such as the New York Public Library, also publish summer reading educator guides. Consider assigning some of these books to students.

Get To Know Incoming Students


Students smile at school

There is a difference between preparing students for learning and knowing who students are as individuals, both personally and academically. Consider conducting interest and strength surveys with incoming students. Also, find out how students like to be recognized be that through praise/prestige, prizes, power, people, and/or play (The Five P’s). This can help to incentivize learning for students. Strength assessments also can assist teachers in grouping students during project-based learning.

You also can get to know students academically early on by conducting benchmark skills assessments—such as NWEA Map Growth—in the late summer or early autumn and then by measuring student academic progress in the late winter and, again, in the early spring. This way, teachers both know the skills that need to be taught and have the time to teach them rather than cramming for state tests at the end of each academic year. Take the time now to pre-assess student academic skills so you will know what parts of the curriculum scope and sequence to focus on this coming year. Base your decisions on identified student needs as indicated by these benchmark assessments. If your school does not use a formal diagnostic tool, create your own benchmark assessment and/or use previously administered state exams.

Share Knowledge Of Outgoing Students


Teachers meet to talk about students

Consider connecting with teachers who will have your outgoing students next year to share important information about these students. Many schools often systematize/schedule these teacher meetings formally for the late spring or when teachers return for pre-service days in late summer. I also have worked with schools that maintain student work portfolios that follow students from grade to grade which is a wonderful way to measure student progress on academic standards—even better if students can discuss their progress with teachers and parents by referencing these portfolios.

Take A Class Or Go On A Study Tour


Woman studies abroad

Within my own subject area of social studies, organizations such as Facing History and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History often offer teacher seminars over the summer which not only help teachers build up their professional learning hours but can help educators increase the quality of resources/materials used within their classrooms.

Many organizations also offer grants and stipends to teachers so that they can participate on study tours over the summer. As for myself, I will be forever indebted to the NJ Holocaust Commission and Federation of Metro West which financially supported my European study tour, and NJPSA for supporting my study of the post-Apartheid education system in South Africa. I networked with wonderful teachers interested in similar topics, learned something about new places, and further developed my own teaching practice by participating on these journeys. Don’t assume that trips like this are automatically out of your reach as you could be losing out on amazing opportunities. It's about being proactive in one’s research as to which teacher-facing organizations offer such programs in specific content areas and which provide funding.

Line Up Expert Speakers


Teacher talks to students about technology

Last week, I observed two middle school teachers deliver a lesson on drought and global warming. This got me thinking about the many experts dedicating their lives to this problem and prompted me to ask these teachers if they ever considered having a guest speaker on the topic. The teachers’ response was that there was no time to schedule this enrichment activity. During the year, this reluctance is understandable given the long list of tasks that teachers have. Sadly though, this is such a lost opportunity for real-world relevance in learning.

Over the summer, take your curriculum scope and sequence and plan out the scheduling of potential speakers. Many experts in their field of study would not only be excited to meet with your students (in person or virtually) but such relationships often result in increased student engagement through inquiry, more formalized community partnerships, and additional work-study opportunities for older students.

Makeover The Classroom


Teacher helps a student with an assignment

I once worked with a teacher who had two large desks in the classroom, taking up one-third of total class space, and who also had the classroom walls plastered over with New York Jets paraphernalia. Sure. We want students to know teachers as people, but how large is your footprint in the classroom versus that of the student? Consider how you might increase student ownership of the classroom by arranging furniture collaboratively, having areas for individual study and/or technology-infused learning, removing unused textbooks, papers, and posters, and designating wall space for specific student academic supports (anchor charts) and student-generated work that will be completed during the upcoming school year. Further, curate and update classroom libraries (MUSTIE).

Please feel free to reach out to the author at John Schembari, Ed.D. | LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

8 Amazing Ways Teachers Can Use Their …

5 Common Teaching Mistakes That Stunt Student Growth



As an education consultant observing instruction across content areas, grade bands, and schools, I have seen A LOT of instruction, both good and bad. While most teachers teach from a place of caring and compassion, the simple mistakes that I see teachers repeatedly making are undermining the overall impact that they could be having on learning especially when one considers the cumulative effect of poor teaching practices, across multiple teachers, on any one student.

Don’t get tangled up in this trap. Start upping your teaching game by canceling the following five teaching practices:

Using The Standard As The Lesson Objective


Student does his homework

I sometimes see teachers using specific Common Core State Standards as the learning objective for an entire unit of study. For example, I once saw a fourth-grade teacher use “Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning (CCSS ELA-LITERACY L.4.5)" as the learning objective across many days of learning. This is an academically rigorous standard to be sure. However, as there are many types of figurative language, how does the teacher know they are meeting the precise intent of this standard unless they break down this standard into its component parts? Could each part then be a lesson/daily objective?

To answer, I suggest teachers draw upon the work of Larry Ainsworth in unwrapping standards. In a nutshell, Ainsworth’s model for deconstructing standards has educators identifying each concept (nouns) and skill (verbs) embedded within each standard to ensure that the complete intent of the standard is understood. More about the model can be found here.

Dumbing Down Objectives


Math teacher lectures his students

My blood boiled over one day when a teacher told me that his students could not possibly meet learning objectives and/or success criteria that asked students to synthesize, evaluate, and/or create since his students were lower functioning. I have no doubt that this teacher was correct in saying that some of his students would, indeed, struggle in meeting higher-level success criteria. However, what then was this teacher doing to scaffold the learning so his lower-functioning students could succeed in meeting such objectives? First, develop lesson objectives with high achievement in mind so that high-performing students are not held back by low-performing students. Then, consider the scaffolds—such as one-on-one and small group direct instruction—that will be provided to lower-achieving students so they, too, can achieve rigorous objectives.

In developing rigorous learning objectives, those that place the cognitive lift on students, I recommend teachers use two tools—a Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Wheel and Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix. The DOK Wheel will help educators to craft learning objectives inclusive of increasing levels of student challenge from a DOK Level One (Student Recall) through to a DOK Level Four (Extended Student Thinking). The Matrix will help teachers to compare their learning objectives, as currently written, to examples of those at varying levels of cognitive complexity so that these objectives may be rewritten to reflect higher levels of cognitive complexity. The Matrix is available for both humanities and math/science content areas.

Bonus Hack for Writing Objectives: When teachers write the learning objective into their guided practice slide decks, it is often only on the front slide. How can students refer to it/follow along if they can’t see it? Instead, include the objective on all slides or, better yet, write it on the class board.

Talking Non-Stop


Teacher leads a class discussion

Less is more. If a teacher’s guided practice drones on and on, as their coach, I sometimes ask if the teacher can call on a student to repeat and/or summarize what was said. Sometimes the student can but, other times, as the student begins to explain, they become confused. This is precisely why I ask this of teachers. If students are to retain information, research shows that there need to be breaks in long lectures. Chunk the learning. Allow a quick turn and talk so students can process learning before proceeding to ask students to repeat and/or summarize information.

On a related note, teachers should stop asking “Any questions?” as a matter of pro forma politeness before speeding along on the bullet train that is their lecture. Most students will not admit that they do not understand something unless it is teased from them. Instead, cold call and use other strategies such as polling, individual whiteboards, and signaling cards. And, when teachers do stop talking to ask questions of students, they can ensure that those questions are cognitively rigorous using this question stem tool.

Telling Students To Take Notes Instead Of Showing Them How


Student takes notes during class

If I had a quarter for each time I heard “take notes.” What does this mean? One of the practices in which I engage when observing classes is to look over at what students are doing and the notes they are taking; the level of detail and amount of relevant information can vary widely. Instead, a good practice is to adopt a standard note-taking format like Cornell Notes. In adopting a standard format, teachers can scaffold notes, build in essential questions, and have students summarize their learning—all best practices discussed in this article. Further, students can assess the quality of not only their notes but that of peers and use these notes in the development of student-generated study guides.

One scaffolding technique that I suggest teachers use with Cornell Notes is to include unit-related vocabulary with which students may be struggling and/or may not yet have been exposed. Often, when students leave questions blank on assessments, it can be because students do not understand what is being asked of them because of the vocabulary being used. In addition to highlighting key vocabulary on Cornell Notes, consider expanding a student’s knowledge of related vocabulary through the use of varied Vocabulary CODE activities as well as tiered vocabulary in each content area.

Taking Class Time To Have Students Complete Worksheets


Students complete a worksheet during class

A standard practice that I have seen, when teachers are afraid to release control, is for students to complete worksheets independently and silently in class. First, teachers should consider if work needs to be done in class or, after modeling one or two examples of what students are to do, the rest of the worksheet can be done at home so that class time can be used for discussion of the work. Learning together builds creativity, blends individual strengths, and enhances the sense of collective ownership.

However, teachers are wise in anticipating where learning can go wrong, and there can be many reasons why students may not be focused during student-to-student-based activities. Still, the solution for most attention problems resides with the teacher. If students are unfocused and discussing unrelated matters during group work, give them the questions to discuss up front. If students can’t engage in discussions with one another appropriately, give them discussion/accountable talking stems. If some students are doing all the work while their teammates stand about idly, assign individual roles within each group as well as have students self-assess their level of contribution as well as peer assess that of their teammates. Also, provide exemplars of quality work and allow students some choice in how they demonstrate proficiency (the product) beyond that of a worksheet. There are also varied discussion protocols that can be used to differentiate the process through which students talk collaboratively about the content.

Word To The Wise


Teacher helps a student with an assignment

These are, without a doubt, some of the most common mistakes that I have seen educators make regardless of the amount of time that they have been in the profession. I, myself, was not immune from making these same missteps in the classroom. Still, being forewarned is forearmed and hopefully an awareness of these common pratfalls, along with a knowledge of the tools that can be used to navigate around them, will help ensure that not a moment of class time is wasted to inefficiency.

Please feel free to reach out to the author at John Schembari, Ed.D. | LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

5 Common Teaching Mistakes That Stunt Student …

4 Essential Strategies Mindful Educators Are Using To Revolutionize Teaching



My first teaching job was that of a 6th-grade teacher in a stand-alone classroom. As a new teacher independently teaching all four core content areas, it sometimes was a struggle in knowing both what to teach (the content) and how to teach (the teaching moves). I had a mentor, but they were busy teaching their own class. While we conferred, we never co-taught. This was a shame as I could have exponentially increased my teaching game through this type of live, in-the-moment coaching while my students would have had better continuity in their instruction.

Today, as a teaching consultant myself, I am happy to say that I routinely see and participate in co-taught instruction. This got me thinking. In general, how have teaching practices changed in the last decade? Here are four game-changing practices, within teaching, that are raising the bar on inclusivity, attentiveness, and compassion in education:

1. Cross-Curricular Instruction And Co-Teaching


Students learning outside

While deep knowledge of discrete subjects remains important for those interested in specializing within a particular subject area, we also have seen a shift in teaching towards the inclusion of cross-content and topic-based instruction. Cross-curriculum brings together different aspects of learning that represent the interactivity of the real world. Further, such interconnectedness of learning may better stimulate student-driven questioning and engagement, creativity, and fun in learning. In scientific learning, for example, we now commonly see and hear references to STEAM education—integration of the arts into traditional STEM instruction. An example in the humanities would be when two or three high school teachers (ELA/Social Studies/Science) co-teach around, for example, a non-fiction text that integrates themes such as medical ethics, family, and race.

Also of note is the growing integration of 21st-century life skills such as cooperation, perseverance, and the use of technology as success criteria in learning alongside that of content-specific goals; think of this as the how/process to the what of learning. COVID-19 also has sped up the desire to include SEL and trauma-informed practices, like restorative justice practices, within content-based teaching. If students are fearful or distracted, they cannot learn. Check out these resources for integrating social-emotional learning in mathematics, science, as well as core curricula.

2.  Focus On Student Assets And Abilities


Student receives an award at school

In my coaching work, I sometimes am told by teachers that student engagement strategies I recommend will not work with “these (their) students.” These students may be of color, SPED, ELLs, or really any other student that a teacher might feel is less than/at a deficit because of the challenges and inequities that student faces and for which that student, the teacher might believe, is responsible. In these situations, rarely does this teacher ask what they can do instructionally to help students embrace new learning nor determine what that student already might know about a topic. While not every student will become the next Mark Bezos or Oprah Winfrey, student promise should not be stunted simply because others had low expectations of them and taught accordingly.

Luckily, most educators have come round to the notion that every student has strengths and knowledge that can help them access and retain new information. Culturally responsive teaching, in particular, “creates student-centered learning environments that affirm racial, linguistic, and cultural identities” which, in turn, “elevate historically marginalized voices, develop students’ abilities to connect across difference, and empower students as agents of social change” says Maria Underwood, CEO of M Ideas Consulting Services, Inc. Jeanette Simonson-Gurolnick, who serves as Program Management Director for Thrively, a company that has developed a personalized learning platform that uncovers students' strengths, adds, “A strength-based approach is important because it gives students greater confidence to tackle challenges and it increases motivation and engagement. When students and staff are known for strengths, schools can create a culture that nurtures a positive learning identity and activates chemicals in the brain that bring joy back to learning.”

3. Multiple Access Points Into Learning


Students learn by playing esports at school

“Research encourages us to ensure that we provide mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for our students,” says equity consultant, Underwood. Indeed, multiple entry points are important for engaging students in learning as students learn differently and can benefit from accessing different pathways through which to process information. Through outdoor learning, for instance, participants learn through what they do, what they encounter, and what they discover. Additionally, hybrid/digital learning provides unlimited opportunities for flipped learning, student digital collaboration, and access to online learning resources such as an open curriculum. We also see high school networks such as Cristo Rey incorporating student work-study as part of its college and career readiness programs and other high school networks, like Bard Early College High School, expanding the definition of who earns college credit, where, how, and when.

Esports (electronic sports), a term used to describe competitive video gaming, also is gaining traction within schools as a pathway through which to increase student engagement. John Widlund, field director at the Center for Educational Innovation, directs the Center’s esports programs across 20 New York City schools. He becomes noticeably charged when explaining the benefits that come with the gamification of learning. “There is no putting the genie back in the bottle as this new generation was quite literally raised on a computer screen. Hopefully, the excitement surrounding esports will be integrated into academic classes and technology education. Organizations have developed school curriculum that teaches the ins and outs of the gaming industry. There are jobs for coders, marketing specialists, artists, YouTube content creators, and finance professionals. The road ahead will be a wild ride.”

4. Authentic And Systemic Assessment


Student gives a presentation during class

A few decades ago, the main source of assessment data on what students knew and could do came from in-class paper and pencil tests as well as through end-of-year state assessments. While these assessments remain important, we see a push for diagnostic formative assessment in education—assessment given to all students systemically across a school and/or district two to three times a year—so that individual teachers, grade teams, schools, and districts can measure, compare, and contrast not only student achievement but also growth at different points in time and levels of hierarchy within a school system; when I served as an NWEA MAP Growth facilitator, I always stressed the point that this data could then be used in designing responsive and differentiated lessons that targeted the specific academic readiness levels of students and in evaluating the efficacy of any academic interventions and/or instructional strategies being employed between test administrations and year over year.

Assessment is also becoming more authentic in that student mastery of content and skills is becoming increasingly measured through the completion of rigorous learning tasks as opposed to using multiple-choice standardized tests. Authentic assessment can be devised by the teacher, and/or determined in collaboration with learners, by engaging student voice and choice. Some examples of authentic assessment might include writing a research report, engaging in formal student discussions, creating posters and/or websites to demonstrate knowledge on a particular topic, student self/portfolio assessment, presenting, etc. Teachers at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, as a case in point, routinely assess student performance through formal student-led discussions where small student groups get to choose the specific discussion protocol they will use, thus developing not only opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know but also instructional tasks that prioritize the values of the school such as student liberation, genius, and joy. BLGJ Teacher Christopher Connelly adds, “As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure students aren’t confused, but it's easier to understand where that confusion comes from if students are open as shareholders in the lesson.”

What do you think is an important practice in teaching today?

Please feel free to reach out to the author at John Schembari, Ed.D. | LinkedIn.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

4 Essential Strategies Mindful Educators Are Using …