The following blog post was written by Amy Benjamin, author of Math In Plain English, Teaching Grammar, Vocabulary at the Center, and many other Eye On Education English, Language, Arts titles.

In the Curriculum Matters blog post "Most Teachers See the Curriculum Narrowing, Survey Finds,"  we read that "Most teachers believe that in the era of high-stakes testing in math and English/language arts, other important subjects are getting pushed out of the classroom. At the same time, nearly half of those polled believe the extra focus on math and English is helping to boost students’ ‘skills and knowledge’ in one or both subjects." I think that both of these views are missing an important point...

Effective teams are a hallmark of effective schools. To create and maintain high-performing teams, all members of the team must share and adhere to similar commitments, or values. They must set commonly agreed upon goals, and hold each other accountable for attaining them.

Take a moment and watch this clip. It only takes 3 minutes and will inspire you!
http://www.powerofteamworkmovie.com/

How can this video be applied to your professional learning community (PLC)?

A Good Start: 147 Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class (Un Buen Comienzo) by Rebekah Stathakis provides foreign language teachers with 147 games and activities they can use to begin each class. This tip encourages students to become aware of their surroundings while bolstering their foreign language skills!

Preparation

Before class begins, change something in the classroom; for example, display a new poster, change a bulletin board, or move a piece of furniture...

Research has shown, time and again, that when we are feeling anxious or nervous, our brains begin to focus solely on ways to relieve the anxiety. Research also shows that our brains take much longer to process a negative statement than to process a positive statement. Well, we didn’t even need the research to tell us that. Just think about it. When you’re upset about something, it becomes your focus because you want to feel better. Not exactly rocket science! Now consider this one: If someone said, “Your hair looks nice today,” you would probably thank the person and move on. It would feel nice to receive the compliment, but the compliment would not overtake your thinking.

 The following guest post was written by Barbara Blackburn author of the best seller Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word.Learn more about Barbara Blackburn here.

High expectations are important, but the most rigorous schools assure that each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, which is the second part of our definition. It is essential that teachers design lessons that move students to more challenging work while simultaneously providing ongoing scaffolding to support students’ learning as they move to those higher levels...

The following guest post was written by Nancy Sulla, author of the new Eye On Education title Students Taking Charge: Inside the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom. In this post, Nancy evaluates redefining the role of a teacher.

Students Taking Charge presents a major paradigm shift in the role of the classroom teacher that I call, "From Teacher as Ferry to Teacher as Bridge." Consider that both a ferry and bridge take you across water. You embark on a ferry at the appropriate time and enjoy the food and entertainment.

In his book The Principal's Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year: Creating Instructional Momentum, Shawn Joseph provides veteran principals, new principals, aspiring principals, and other school leaders with valuable resources to help them build instructional momentum during the beginning of the school year. This tip explains how and why leaders should reach out to the community at the beginning of the school year and share information about themselves!

Last month, we wrote a blog post titled Bullying and Cyberbullying: 6 Things I Can Do, which focused on six things teachers and administrators can do when they witness one child being bullied by another. But what happens when a teachers is the bully? According to in the International Journal of Psychiatry, nearly 45% of teachers surveyed admitted to bullying a student, where bullying was defined as "using power to punish, manipulate, or disparage a student beyond what would be a reasonable disciplinary procedure. This WebMD article discusses the study, and provides parents with strategies for approaching a bully-teacher.

But what about other educators? What can educators do when they witness a colleague bullying a student?

The following tip is excerpted and adapted from Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise by Sherrel Bergmann and Judith Allen Brough. In this tip, you'll learn about the Decision-Making Process and the Student Decision-Making Log.

Starting at about fourth grade, students are faced with ever-increasing pressures to make decisions for themselves both in their daily lives and as they plan for their futures. They are bombarded with information, possibilities, family pressures, school expectations, and societal stressors.

Here's an image: class trip to Washington, DC without a tour guide! What if you, as the teacher, don't have the experience or expertise to offer insights into the many historical landmarks located there?  Perhaps you have some limited historical knowledge to offer, but you certainly cannot bring this history to life. An experienced tour guide would lead your students toward a greater understanding of the city and its significance. A tour guide would make all the difference!

In Math Intervention: Building Number Power with Formative Assessments, Differentiation, and Games (Grades PreK-2), Jennifer Taylor-Cox provides teachers with specific strategies and games that can be used to target math instruction for struggling students from preschool through grade 2.

In this tip, you will learn how to help your students understand fact families with the funny bunny game!

What are Addition and Subtraction Fact Families?

Fact families for addition and subtraction are facts that are directly related. In a fact family...

In Teaching Critical Thinking: Using Seminars for 21st Century Thinking, Terry Roberts and Laura Billings show how a seminar approach can lead students deeper into a text and improve their speaking, listening, and writing skills, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. However, in order for students to develop these skills, teachers must be able to craft meaningful questions that allow a purposeful discussion to occur. In this tip, you will learn how to create these meaningful questions to help guide your students toward a deeper understanding of the subject at hand.

The following guest post was written by Barbara R. Blackburn, author of the best-seller Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word. Learn more about Barbara R. Blackburn here.

A Fifth Myth About Rigor - Resources Equal Rigor

Recently, I’ve heard a common refrain. “If we buy this program, or textbook, or technology, then we would be rigorous.” I’ve worked for two textbook companies and one instructional technology company, and I learned a critical lesson: it’s never the resources, it’s always how you use them..

In her book Communicate and Motivate: The School Leader’s Guide to Effective Communication, Shelly Arneson explains how school leaders can become successful communicator with teachers and parents by analyzing and planning conversations from the ground up. For parent-teacher conferences, Arneson suggests that school leaders hold separate pre-conferences with both parties to familiarize themselves with all sides of the issue and alleviate the fear of preexisting biases.