Team teachers must develop respectful relationships with each another if they wish their students to exhibit positive relationships with others in their group projects. One cannot model that which one doesn't...

What do you remember from your middle school or junior high days? Your test scores? Your grades? Probably not. You are more likely to remember special occasions and events that made a particularly positive...

As I drove home one evening after hosting a showcase of student work, attended by the community, all I could think about was how a new project called Genius Hour had transformed my seventh graders over the course of...

In the race to complete reports that prove the immediate value-added measures of our teaching, we've lost sight of one of the most powerful teaching tools we have: patience. Teacher patience is the heart of students'...

A basic educational principle is that no matter how well teachers design their instruction, students who refuse to engage can ensure the teachers' instruction will come to naught. This simple truth leads teachers on a...

Have you noticed the groundswell of volunteerism during the past few years? In 2006 alone, 60 million Americans dedicated 8.1 billion hours of service to community organizations. More recently, President Obama has...

“Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be.” When he wrote those words, could Goethe have foreseen a...

Academic rigor, achievement on standardized tests, character education, and student behavior will always be important topics, but above all, parents want their children to come home safely and in the same physical...

Today’s students need more than strong academic skills to be successful in the 21st century. To shape their future and the future of our global society, they also need strong leadership skills and a sense...

There is truth to the old adage "what is tested, is taught," particularly in the past several years of assessment mania. The question we need to be asking ourselves, though, is what "test" are we preparing our...