I can’t stress enough how important it is to encourage student voice. When students are allowed to speak and to write their truth, they begin the process of introspection, inquiry and critical thinking. While this process may be rudimentary at first, and the words may seem to be reactive rather than reflective, it is crucialContinue reading “Student Voice”
Tag Archives: motivation
Classroom Management 101: Relevance
I’ve said this many times in many ways but I believe it bears repeating. The inescapable truth is that students don’t care for content the way teachers care for content. That is, they aren’t exhilarated by the thought of a perfectly formed sentence or a flawless mathematical proof. They don’t find excitement in uncovering aContinue reading “Classroom Management 101: Relevance”
Classroom Management 101: Respect
How is it that we expect to command respect from a group of strangers who have never met us, know nothing about us, and very often want nothing to do with us or our content? And yet, teachers everywhere walk into classrooms on that first day, read out a syllabus and a list of rules,Continue reading “Classroom Management 101: Respect”
Classroom Management 101: Being Human
Yesterday as I was wrapping up a class on content literacy writing strategies, one of my credential students raised his hand. I was in a great mood, having waxed eloquent on ways to build writing into the curriculum and had them all practice implementing the strategies in their content area groups. It had been aContinue reading “Classroom Management 101: Being Human”
Writing From the Heart
My latest paper in Ed Leadership Text Version Writing from the Heart Challenged by a classroom full of silent, angry, and disengaged students, a teacher makes a promise and ignites student learning. Jyothi Bathina When I was hired to teach at-risk students in the poverty-stricken, gang-infested former murder capital of East Palo Alto,Continue reading “Writing From the Heart”
The Secret Hook: Reeling Students In
Dwayne. He was my most memorable student in the South Bronx high school where I taught freshman and junior English nearly a decade ago. He was one of those kids that doesn’t fight you, doesn’t resist, doesn’t participate, just puts his head down on the desk and doesn’t lift it up again till the bellContinue reading “The Secret Hook: Reeling Students In”
Student Engagement: Why Are We Learning This?
I’ve had some questions both here on the blog and in my classroom about the challenge of getting and keeping students engaged. Rigid discipline and strong armed guidance have been mentioned as a possible necessity, given middle schoolers who may be behind in reading and writing skills. While this seems like an inevitability to manyContinue reading “Student Engagement: Why Are We Learning This?”
Literate Voices 