Lauren Davis has been Senior Editor at Eye On Education since May 2011. She is the author of the popular white paper "5 Things Every Teacher Should be Doing to Meet the Common Core State Standards." Lauren is also a regular blogger on Eye On Education's blog, and publishes a bi-monthly column called "Comments on the Common Core State Standards."

In this podcast, Lauren sets the record straight on how much fiction is still allowed under the Common Core State Standards, how it can be taught along with nonfiction, and provides suggestions for selecting and incorporating engaging nonfiction texts.

The following guest post was written by Jacqueline E. Jacobs and Kevin L. O'Gorman, authors of The Learning Leader: Reflecting, Modeling, and Sharing.

In February most faculty and administrators have forgotten that they have passed mid-year: the break in December but a distant memory and spring break seeming far away. Even with fun thoughts of Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, and the shortest month of the year, February can often seem challenging. Will you and your teachers be like the groundhog that comes out of his hole and can examine where you are in your instructional year? Or will you be the groundhog who stays buried in the hole of work that awaits you?

On February 2 of each year, the town of Punxsutawney, PA celebrates their groundhog, Puxsutawney Phil Sowerby. This day is known as Groundhog Day! During the celebration, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his hole. According to tradition, If he sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter. If he emerges and does not see his shadow, he has predicted an early spring!

Here are 4 fun activities to celebrate this fun holiday with your students!

Reaching English Language Learners in Every Classroom: Energizers for Teaching and Learning, by Debbie Arechiga, is filled with practical tools, strategies, and real-world vignettes that will help you teach reading and writing to a diverse student population. The book features Mental Energizers, aptitudes that will help sustain your commitment as you work in linguistically diverse classrooms, and Strategic Energizers, teaching approaches that promote learning and engagement.

This infographic outlines how you can create a visually stimulating classroom environment to increase your students' literacy skills.

In Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise: Strategies for Student Success, Sherrel Bergmann and Judith Allen Brough provide a clear path to follow for helping your at-risk students achieve success in and out of the classroom. Packed with actionable items for school leaders, teachers, and parents, this book provides a basis for effective communication between school and home, and important piece of the puzzle often overlooked.

This infographic outlines seven things administrators should be doing to help students develop one of the key characteristics that will lead them toward success: resilience.

The following guest blog post was written by PJ Caposey, author of Building a Culture of Support: Strategies for School Leaders. PJ is the principal of Oregon High School, an adjunct professor in the educational leadership department for Aurora University, and he is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree through Western Illinois University. He can be found on Twitter @principalpc, and he is a guest blogger for many websites such as ASCD, Edutopia, and Test Soup.

A few weeks ago I requested help to answering the question, ‘What is school for if it is no longer the place to go to acquire knowledge?’ I received considerable feedback from a variety of sources that answered the question in a wide variety of ways.

New teachers are often afraid to ask questions. Said a new teacher, “I have so many questions, but I don’t know whom to ask. I’m afraid to look stupid, so I can’t ask other teachers. They’ll probably think I should know these things. Then my reputation will suffer. But I need answers!” Sadly, this is a very typical concern of new teachers. They’re afraid to ask, for fear of appearing incompetent. This is what they do not yet know...

In this clip from Battling Boredom, Bryan Harris discusses for key strategies for keeping students engaged in the classroom.

This tip discusses how school leaders can build a strong learning-focused environment in their district or school. High-Impact Leadership for High-Impact Schools: The Actions That Matter Most, by Pamela Salazar, presents specific knowledge and practical strategies for school leaders to reach high standards of excellence.

Strong learning-focused communities offer professional support and provide learning opportunities and mutual accountability for improving instruction. Principals must build a work culture that promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and collective responsibility for improving teaching and learning.

The following blog post is part of a blog series called "Comments on the Common Core," written by Eye On Education's Senior Editor, Lauren Davis.

When teaching reading, we can’t overlook visuals. We should show students how to read illustrations, photos, and charts, not just text. It’s easy for students to gloss over the bar graphs and pictures in an article and think of them as decoration. We need to show students how to understand those visuals and integrate the ideas presented with the ideas in the text...

Every year on January 22, people around the country celebrate their love for pie. Why not make this a fun day to teach your students about pi, the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference? Pi, or π, is an irrational and transcendental number, meaning that its decimal numbers continue infinitely without repeating.

Dr. Barbara Blackburn has dedicated her life to raising the level of rigor and motivation for professional educators and students alike. What differentiates Barbara’s 12 books are her easily executable concrete examples based on decades of experience as a teacher, professor, and consultant.

In this video podcast, Dr. Blackburn discusses what rigor is, what a rigorous classroom should look like, how students can demonstrate learning at high levels, and that rigor is for every single student.

Family Science Night: Fun Tips, Activities, and Ideas is a practical, readable guide for teachers, school leaders, and parent/teacher associations that shows how to plan fun, hands-on science nights. Shelley S. Connell provides easy-to-implement, content-rich tips and ideas that will cultivate prositive attitudes toward science. This tip, Bubble Glove, will allow students to experiment with bouncing bubbles on a glove and understand that certain ingredients can make strong bubbles.

In November of 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law. This bill sets aside the third Monday in January as a federal holiday (the date falls near his birthday, which was on January 15th). This date is a day to remember what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for—freedom, justice and equality for all.

In Rigor is NOT A Four-Letter Word, 2nd Edition, Barbara Blackbun explains how to increase rigor so that all students can each higher levels of learning. This tip focuses on using the Common Core State Standards' focus on text complexity as a meanss to increase rigor in your classroom.

To increase rigor related to text selection, it is valuable first to simply look at whether or not your students are reading texts that challenge them. ou’re looking for a balance: Material should be difficult enough that students are learning something new, but not so hard that they give up. If you like to play basketball, you’ll improve if you play against someone who is better than you. But, if you play against the most talented NBA star, you’ll learn less because you are overwhelmed by his advanced skill level...