Fostering empathy in kids and teens
We need empathy more than ever in our current world, and we think books are one of the best tools for understanding another person’s perspective. We highly recommend you read our original deep dive into children’s books that teach empathy for detailed recommendations based on age groups, but we’ve also taken a fresh look at some recent and favourite books that encourage empathy in babies, kids and teens. Ten Little Fingers & Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox & Helen Oxenbury This modern classic uses sweet rhyming text to introduce babies in contrasting pairs – starting out with just two – which results in the cutest baby gang ever. The babies come from all over the world, born into different circumstances and locations.
Using Literacy Skills to Solve Math Word Problems
When Concourse Village Elementary School (CVES) opened in 2013 in the wake of the planned phaseout of P.S. 385, which the New York City Department of Education had tagged with a D, students were struggling academically. “When we arrived, we found a major deficit across all content areas,” said incoming principal and school founder Alexa Sorden, who was particularly alarmed by the reading scores. “The first year was challenging because we were trying to come up with a plan and say, ‘OK, how are we going to make sure that all the children are reading on grade level so that they’re prepared?’” Sorden, a former literacy specialist and teacher, felt that a strong foundation in reading and writing underpinned success across all content areas—and she made it the school’s mission to be literacy-first. In mathematics, a subject area not traditionally associated with literacy, Concourse Village has developed an especially innovative model that reinforces both reading and computational skills.
The Deskless Classroom: UFLA 19 Presentation Handout
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Reading Culture at School
As you know reading fosters empathy, language skills are developed, improved focus and concentration, mental stimulation, vocabulary expansion, better writing skills among other things. There is a need to know how to promote a reading culture at school and find fun ways to motivate students to love reading. Enjoy this list of mine for ways the school library and all staff can promote a reading culture for students and the community: Let students see educators reading.
In High School, the Kids Are Not All Right
I lost my first student to suicide not long ago. The student was no longer in my class at the time, nor even at the school, but I was flooded with the expected surge of feelings: overwhelming sadness, periodic despair, compulsive frame-by-frame replays of our every interaction. I felt the loss deeply. It was unspeakably tragic—for the student’s friends and family, for me, and for the world I’d hoped the student would help shape. I was haunted, too—I still am—by the fear of a similar tragedy among my raw-nerved and anxious students. And the recent spike in teenage suicides in my area has underscored this fear sharply.
CI Non-fiction Library
Major errors, broken links, copyright violation, etc? Please report any problem with the CI Non-fiction Library to the "Report an Issue" form below or email ProfeElote@gmail.com. Errors: The CI Non-fiction library is designed as a safe place for teachers to share their non-fiction texts written for their classroom with the hopes that other teachers will also share.
YA and Middle Grade Reads for Game of Thrones Fans
This week, Game of Thrones fans the world over are wondering what will happen on the show's Sunday finale. Will Danaerys ultimately assume the Iron Throne? Will Jon Snow's true parentage become public? And whatever happens, will it be any good? We're asking different questions: What should teen viewers read when it's over?
Overcoming Test Anxiety in High School
A rapid heartbeat. Sweaty palms. Clouded thoughts. For many students, the biggest obstacle to passing a test isn’t what they know, but the anxiety they feel. Stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on a student’s ability to concentrate on tests, leading to poor performance and, ultimately, fewer opportunities to succeed in school.
Digging out of the reading rut by Carrie Toth - Fluency Matters
At iFLT 2017, I presented a session called “Digging out of the Reading Rut.” In this session, we explored ways to read chapters of a text differently and activities to follow up those chapter readings. Because many Fluency Matters Comprehension-based readers have 10 chapters let’s look at 10 different ways to read. Read in a new environment: One of the easiest ways to make the reading feel different is to change the place you’re reading.
Eight Australian picture books that celebrate family diversity
The official label used by the Australian government to define a traditional family (a two parent family with biological or adopted children only) is “intact”: Not damaged or impaired in any way. Complete. Whole. Unbroken. This is problematic when we think about all the other possible ways to live in a family: blended, step, single parent, foster, or any other family that diverges from we might call the “traditional” family model. In Australian picture books, family representation has been overwhelmingly traditional; not just “intact”, but specifically white, middle class, with a mum, dad, and a (frequently blonde) male child protagonist.
4 Ways a Learning Management System Can Benefit Students With ADHD
Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder often have difficulty keeping their things organized. Have you ever looked inside the backpack or desk of a student with ADHD? It may have looked like a hurricane had torn right through it. That doesn’t happen because such students are lazy or careless—students with attention challenges are typically not geared for this type of organization, and many of them also have concurrent learning and developmental disabilities like dyslexia, spectrum disorders, fine motor delays, or sensory integration issues that may add to the struggle.
MORE Digging out of the reading rut by Carrie Toth - Fluency Matters
At iFLT 2017, I presented a session called “Digging out of the Reading Rut.” In this session, we explored ways to read chapters of a text differently and activities to follow up those chapter readings. Because many Fluency Matters comprehension-based readers have 10 chapters let’s look at 10 different ways to follow-up after reading. Floor Venn Diagrams: Most of the comprehension based readers I use are part of a larger unit. These units compare film and text, authentic pieces with literature for learners, film shorts and text, etc. As students are building the necessary skills to compare and contrast, I have found that floor Venn diagrams are a fun way to practice.
