Outside the Lines by Terry Janes

Explicit Vocabulary Lesson T: (Holding up the word "elegant" that has been written in bold, dark print on a sentence strip)      Students the word is elegant.       What is the word? S:  elegant T:  say the word. S:  elegant T:  Elegant means beautiful.  (Hold up picture of swans from Mem Fox's Feathers and Fools.) S: beautiful T:  What does elegant mean? S:  Beautiful T: What is another word for beautiful, everybody?<- flipping it S:  Elegant T:  In the book, it says, "Nearby, in the rushes and reeds of a clear blue lake dwelt/lived a flock of     elegant swans." (Holding up picture again) Elegant or beautiful swans T: I can think of something else that is elegant. My sister wore an elegant gown when she went to the military ball with her husband.  Her gown was elegant or beautiful. T:  Think of something elegant that you have seen. I'm going to give you think...

                     In 1995, Hart and Risley conducted a study of children from families of three socioeconomic levels: professional families (college-educated parents), working class families, and welfare families. The study focused on the number of spoken words children 0 months - 48 months heard. The study produced these findings: Children from professional families heard 45 million words by the age of 4. Children from middle class families heard 26 million words during the study. Children from low income families heard only 13 million words during their first 48 months of life leaving about a 30 million word gap between them and children from professional families. Researchers  found this word gap equates to an achievement gap when students entered a formal school setting. Does this mean that students from lower income families are destined to remain in an achievement gap that places constrains in every area ...

"You're so smart!" "You're a wonderful writer!" "I've seen no other Mathematician Magician as magical as you!"  We've all done it. Hopefully, we've all said it as educators. If you're like me, I was taught to build a child up. The power of positivity goes a long way, after all. We still need to build up our students. However, in the name of feedback, we can do better. According to John Hattie's meta-analyses studies, feedback has a very strong affect on student achievement. In fact, feedback had a 0.73 effect size from his studies. When done correctly, his studies have shown that feedback is crucial to student achievement. When giving student feedback, you must know your students. Some are fragile and you'll have to be very gentle when giving feedback at first. Other students may seek more feedback than they need at the moment. Choose your words wisely. Do it one on one. Make it level specific as all learners are not the...

These things should never go out of style: Teacher Read-Alouds Students reading with other students Students collaborating with other students Partners working (Reciprocal teaching) or Partner Work Cooperative Learning Groups Self-Selected Independent Reading Time at School and time to discuss Books! Writing, writing, writing, and writing (Meaningful writing!) Smiling Students Respect/community among teacher and his students Meta-Comprehension Strategies Hands-on Science Real-Life Science Connections Manipulatives in Math/Modeling Real-Life Math Problems Character Lessons and Modeled by Everyone in the Building Citizenship Lessons and Meaningful Social Studies Meaningful Experiences rather than rote assignments Some Changes That You Should Try If You Haven't Already Done So: Flexible Seating Student Reflection Process Student Goal Setting in many areas Student Monitoring of Progress More Intentional Feedback Start small with Technology and find an ap...