Veteran's day is a day to remember the men and women who have fought to protect our country. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 to be Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of World War I. In 1954, Congress changed the name of Armistice Day to the more appropriate Veteran's Day.

Students enjoy having a day off for Veteran's day, but do they understand the meaning of this important federal holiday?

Solving Behavior Problems in Math Class: Academic, Learning, Social, and Emotional Empowerment, Grades K-12 by Jennifer Taylor-Cox uses realistic, case-by-case examples to reveal practical strategies for eliminating teacher-student tensions related to power struggles, bullying, disengagement, and more. This tip is about "Tonya Tantrum,' a primary school student who has temper tantrums when she does not get her way.

Tonya Tantrum

Today during the math lesson, Tonya threw the pattern blocks across the table, fell on the floor, began screaming, and kicking her feet...

In our monthly eNews, we bring you the latest education news, resources, and classroom ideas from the Eye On Education Blog and other blogs we read. Click below for our favorite educational blog posts from the past month.

Everyone’s been buzzing about the Common Core’s emphasis on argument writing (called opinion writing in the elementary grades). The standards are very specific about what aspects of this genre to teach at each grade level, K–12. In the elementary grades, students have to learn the basics about facts and opinions. This sets the foundation for the more sophisticated writing they’ll be required to do later. But how do we teach students those basics?

The following blog post was written by James H. Stronge, Xianxuan Xu, and Lauri Leeper. To read more newsworthy blog posts from Eye On Education, subscribe to our Insights eNewsletters.

Teaching is complex. And because it is so complex, capturing all that teachers do to provide effective instruction requires the use of multiple sources of evidence. In traditional educational practice, classroom observation has been the primary tool to document teacher performance (Weade & Evertson, 1991). However, while classroom visits remain important and viable ways to observe and inform teaching practices, multiple sources of evidence provide a far more accurate, multi-dimensional portrait of teacher performance (Darling-Hammond, 2006). 

The following guest post was written by Rebekah Stathakis, author of A Good Start:147 Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class. This is the first in a five-part series about classroom strategies for staying in the target language.

How much time should be spent in the target language?
As most language teachers know, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) “recommends that language educators and their students use the target language as exclusively as possible (90% plus) at all levels of instruction during instructional time and, when feasible, beyond the classroom...”

The activities in 100 Games and Activities for the Introductory Foreign Language Classroom by Thierry Boucquey et al. are stimulating, engaging, and effective. In this activity, You're Up, Stand Up, students will practice the verb to be, the verb to have, descriptive words, color, and clothing.

It is that time of year again--the end of Daylight Saving Time! Many students will surely wonder whether this means they get an extra hour of sleep, or lose one. Many are also unaware of how Daylight Saving Time came to be.

On Sunday, November 4th, our clocks will turn back by one hour. Why not take some time on Monday to review the history of Daylight Saving Time with your students?

The Eye On Education team is here with a brief message to our customers. Our office, located in Larchmont, NY, escaped the worst of Hurricane Sandy, but is without power and therefore closed. Since our phones are currently not working, please feel free to get in touch with us by emailing insights@eyeoneducation.com. We’ll do our best to help you in whatever way we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding and we’re hoping to be back in full swing very soon.

We'll keep you apprised of our status on our blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with those affected by the storm.

—Eye On Education

The Common Core State Standards ask teachers to shift from teaching persuasion to teaching argument. Unlike persuasion, argumentation relies more on claims and evidence and less on emotional appeals.

Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, 6-8 provides a model lesson plan for teaching argument techniques. The lesson shows students how to acknowledge and respond to opposing claims (called concession-refutation). Students use T-charts independently and with partners to flesh out their claims and consider the other side.

We've asked the members of our panel: Have you switched from teaching persuasion to teaching argument? What strategies have you found effective for teaching argument? OR Please describe a lesson you have used to teach argument.

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

We all have lives of our own outside of our classrooms. If you’re a new teacher, then you’re the exception. (Just kidding—but I know it feels like you don’t have a life outside of school right now!) Whenever possible, however, it is important to participate in after-school functions.

Dr. Barbara Blackburn has dedicated her life to raising the level of rigor and motivation for professional educators and students alike. What differentiates her 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 talks about the challenges faced by school leaders to create schools that are rigorous and provide all students with the support necessary to be successful...

It's that time of the year again—Halloween! Students are excited and looking forward to dressing up in costumes, going trick-or-treating, and telling scary stories. Why not bring some of this excitement to the classroom?

Below is a list of five activities we are sure your students will enjoy!

In this post, Sarah T. Meltzer, author of Step-by-Step Professional Development in Technology talks about the importance of assessing staff’s needs when it comes to technology infused professional development.

In this fast-paced society where the use of technology is embedded into all aspects of education, it’s important that we, as educators, take a step back and realize how to successfully integrate technology into our curriculum.  In order to do that, we must first ascertain where our teachers are with technology in general. 

The Common Core State Standards aim to help students become independent learners and thinkers. Students should “become self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them, including teachers, peers, and print and digital reference materials” (The Common Core State Standards, p. 7). Giving students questions with predetermined answers will not accomplish that goal. Instead, try to make your writing and research assignments more authentic and open-ended, so students can discover information on their own.