In Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word, 2nd Edition, Barbara Blackburn provides practical ideas for increasing text complexity, providing scaffolding during reading instruction, creating open-ended projects, and much more. In this tip, she explains how to increase rigor by increasing the complexity of a vocabulary assignment.

How many of your students struggle with understanding new vocabulary terms? My students did, particularly in social studies. It’s difficult to understand the specialized vocabulary found in some content area courses...

In Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Practical Solutions, Toby Gruber (Director of Professional Services, Eye On Education) provided:

• An in-depth look at how our new series Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources can help educators achieve success in the classroom
• Free lesson plan samples on key topics such as text complexity and argument/opinion writing
• Tips on creating authentic assignments
• Access to research-based resources to help educators make sense of the Common Core

In this video clip, Toby explains how the series can help teachers create authentic assignments and teach argument writing rather than persuasion.

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.

During the past two years, educators have been transitioning to the Common Core with a big question looming over their heads: What will the assessments look like?

We’re finally starting to get at least a partial answer to that question...

In this post, Sally J. Zepeda, author of Instructional Supervision: Applying Tools and Concepts, discusses four conditions that are essential to ensure successful implementation of job-embedded professional development.

Job-embedded learning links learning to the immediate and real-life problems faced by teachers and administrators. It is based on the assumption that the most powerful learning is that which occurs in response to challenges currently being faced by the learner and that allows for immediate application, experimentation, and adaptation on the job.

There are three attributes of successful job embedded learning...

Don't bore your students with the traditional turkey lessons to celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead, try some of these fun activities to get your students excited about this holiday!

The following tip was written by Annette Breaux and featured in her book with Eye On Education: 101 Poems for Teachers.

Okay, so we all entered the profession of teaching for the same reason: the money! (Ha!) Seriously, I believe that, as teachers, we all share a common calling and a common purpose.

In my training sessions with teachers, I often begin by having them state why they entered the profession. It is always inspirational to hear the same thing, yet stated in unique ways by each teacher. The prevailing theme? “I wanted to make a difference, to touch lives.”

In Academic Vocabulary: Not Just for English Class, Amy Benjamin discussed new and highly-effective ways to teach academic vocabulary by answering the following questions:

1. How do words get learned and stay learned?
2. What criteria should we use to select words for explicit instruction?
3. What are essential words in academic texts across all subject areas?
4. How do we make vocabulary learning engaging and fun?

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.

The Common Core State Standards for Reading call upon students in grades K-12 to read and comprehend complex literary and information texts independently and proficiently. But before students can learn how to tackle complex texts, teachers must be able to identify texts that meet this challenge. In Big Skills for the Common Core: Literary Strategies for the 6-12 Classroom Amy Benjamin and Michael Hugelmeyer outline six traits that can be used to identify complex texts and the difference between informational texts and literary nonfiction.

In Building a Culture of Support: Strategies for School Leaders, PJ Caposey shares insightful advice and meaningful examples for building a healthy school culture. In this tip, Caposey talks about the "Five S's" that can be used to build the community's support for a school or district. He also provides a sample to-to list to help principals jumpstart their support of the five S's.

Schools can create names for themselves and attract people in five ways, which can be labeled the five S’s: sports, student achievement, specials, safety, and service. Dramatic success in any of these five areas can have a significant impact on a school’s reputation and community pride...

In Students Taking Charge: Inside the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom, author Nancy Sulla uses practical examples and step-by-step guidelines to create an environment where students WANT to learn, while focusing on incorporating technology into the learning process. In this tip, Nancy Sulla explains three critical goals for teachers to keep in mind when planning their classroom instruction.

Judith Brough, co-author of Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise: Strategies for Student Success, was awarded the prestigious John H. Lounsbury Award at the 2012 Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Conference.

The award is the highest award given by AMLE.

November 13 is World Kindness Day. This day isn't as well known in the United States as it is in other countries such as Japan, where it first originated, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate it! On this day, individuals are asked to perform one kind act in honor of the day.

The following blog post was written by Sally J. Zepeda and Bill Kruskamp.To read more newsworthy blog posts from Eye On Education, subscribe to our Insights eNewsletters.

Classrooms are complex due to the variability of the teaching force and the students who populate them. Good’s (1988) thoughts hold true for the practical aspects of conducting classroom observations as a way “to describe what takes place in classrooms in order to delineate the complex practical issues that confront practitioners” (p. 337). Learning to teach is a lifetime endeavor that needs to be supported by classroom observations. If teachers are not learning, it is highly unlikely that their students are learning (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

The following tip was written by Annette Breaux and featured in her book with Eye On Education: 101 Poems for Teachers.

Researchers tell us that the effects of an ineffective teacher can be seen in student test scores years down the road. To some, that research seems amazing. That’s just common sense!Can you see where I’m going with this? Why is it that when students are not achieving in our classrooms, we tend to buy more “stuff,” implement more programs, or, better yet, spruce up the physical surroundings?