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World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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ReadTheory fits everyone

From K-12 to adult education (ABE) - ReadTheory proudly serves them all.

ReadTheory is perfect for reinforcing English as a second language and thousands of students in Asia, Africa, and Europe are currently honing their skills with ReadTheory.

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Reading Comprehension Exercises for all Grades & Levels | ReadTheory

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From K-12 to adult education (ABE) - ReadTheory proudly serves them all. ReadTheory is perfect for reinforcing English as a second language and thousands of students in Asia, Africa, and Europe are currently honing their skills with ReadTheory.

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Improve your students' reading comprehension with ReadWorks. Access thousands of high-quality, free K-12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.

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Owl Eyes is an improved reading and learning experience for students, teachers, and everyday readers. Incorporate expert annotations, quizzes, and insights into your classroom or personal reading experience.

Sign Up for Free Already have an account? Sign in.

THE BEST READING EXPERIENCE ANYWHERE

Learning never looked so good. Experience a library designed for any device, and bring education and literature to the palm of your hands.

SIMPLE, INTERACTIVE TEACHING TOOL

Create your virtual classroom in minutes, and provide your students with an engaging reading and annotating experience instantly. (No laborious integration needed.)

TESTIMONIALS

I wish I had known about this product earlier! My students were actually wanting to read more books that are available on the site.

Owl Eyes comes at a perfect time for my son while he's discovering a deeper level of Poe and Shakespeare.

BRING REQUIRED CLASSROOM READING TO LIFE, SIMPLY AND BEAUTIFULLY.

Sign Up for Free

Frequently Asked Questions

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Owl Eyes is an improved reading and learning experience for students, teachers, and everyday readers. Incorporate expert annotations, quizzes, and insights into your classroom or personal reading experience. Sign Up for Free Already have an account? Sign in. Learning never looked so good.

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Teach and learn with The Times: Resources for bringing the world into your classroom

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The ability to READ, WRITE, and COMMUNICATE connects people and empowers them to achieve things they never thought possible.

ILA 2019 Replay

Watch the best of ILA 2019 Conference for free April 1-May 31!

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The ability to READ, WRITE, and COMMUNICATE connects people and empowers them to achieve things they never thought possible. ILA 2019 Replay Watch the best of ILA 2019 Conference for free April 1-May 31!

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National Center for Educational Statistics

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National Center for Educational Statistics

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National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education

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The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects, analyzes and makes available data related to education in the U.S. and other nations.

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The Marshall Memo, published 50 times a year since 2003, is designed to keep principals, teachers, instructional coaches, superintendents, and other PreK-12 educators well-informed on current research and best practices. Kim Marshall, drawing on his decades as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, consultant, and writer, lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their "designated reader." What Kim spends 20 hours creating each week, you can read in 20 minutes.

To produce the Marshall Memo, Kim subscribes to scores of carefully-chosen publications, and every Sunday reads through the 150 or so articles that arrived that week and selects 8-10 that have the greatest potential to improve teaching, leadership, and learning.

On Monday, Kim writes a brief summary of each selected article, provides e-links to full articles (if available), highlights a few compelling quotes, and by late evening starts the Memo sending to subscribers (it takes about 15 hours to reach everyone).

The rest of the week, Kim is in schools coaching principals, observing classrooms, consulting with school leaders, and giving presentations. This work is what keeps the Memo grounded in the real world of teaching and learning.

Kim gets invaluable support from his wife, Rhoda Schneider, who edits each issue with him Monday evening, improving the writing and providing thoughtful perspective, and from their son, Dave Marshall, and daughter, Lillie Marshall, both teachers, who are a constant source of suggestions, especially on helpful online resources. Joanne Bragalone, Kim's assistant, updates subscribers, manages the database, sends out reminders, and maintains high-quality customer service. And Mike Doughty reliably records a podcast of each week's Memo.

What do subscribers gain from reading or listening to the Memo? For one thing, they feel less guilty about not getting to all the accumulated journals and education blogs. More importantly, they tap into a rich vein of ideas and resources that can help them be more effective with colleagues and students. Some Memo summaries reaffirm what practitioners are already doing well; some boost an idea higher up the "to-do" list; and some are genuinely new and take people in a different direction. Reading the Memo provides top-notch professional development and keeps educators on the cutting edge.

While the Memo is copyrighted, subscribers are encouraged to clip and share selected articles with colleagues, sparking discussions on specific topics, or have an entire staff read a Memo summary "live" in a meeting and then discuss it in small groups or all together.

Here is what four subscribers said about the Marshall Memo (see "What readers say" for additional quotes and recent Survey Monkey questionnaire results):

"Kim is brilliant at doing an accurate précis of dense material and delivering it in a highly readable package that arrives without fail every week."

"Exceptionally clear, succinct, yet comprehensive summaries of the articles that are most relevant."

"An extraordinary resource for the busy educator."

"There's no better way to be kept abreast of best practices and research than reading the informative and lively Marshall Memo."

In addition to receiving a new Memo each week, subscribers have password access to the Members' Area of this website, where it's easy to download back issues and search the archive by author, topic, title, keyword, headline, publication, or grade level (there are now more than 9,000 article summaries from the last 19 years). The podcast of each week's issue is also available to members in MP3 or YouTube format a few days after the online edition is sent.

For more information about the Marshall Memo, click on the links to the left.

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The Marshall Memo - A Weekly Roundup of Important Ideas and Research in K-12 Education

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The Marshall Memo, published 50 times a year since 2003, is designed to keep principals, teachers, instructional coaches, superintendents, and other PreK-12 educators well-informed on current research and best practices. Kim Marshall, drawing on his decades as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, consultant, and writer, lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their "designated reader."

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Welcome! To get started, take a look at some of what the Cult has to offer: Latest Post [custom_gallery gallery="7″ width="500″ height="300″] Strategies for the Classroom [custom_gallery gallery="9″ width="120″ height="180″ target="no"] Technology [custom_gallery gallery="8″ width="120″ height="180″ target="no"] Teacher Soul [custom_gallery gallery="11″ width="120″ height="180″ target="no"] Books [custom_gallery gallery="10″ width="120″ height="180″ target="no"] Learn More About Us [custom_gallery gallery="5″ width="120″ height="180″ title="never" target="no"] ...

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Click to See Dates
Upcoming trainings as you head into the 2019-2020 school year! Click here to see the dates and locations near you.

A huge set of resources to build PurposeFull People in elementary schools
Learn More
Meet the crew that makes it happen

Consistent, free webinars that are relevant and practical to provide ongoing support.

Special guests join the CS Team to talk school culture & leadership.
CharacterDares
40 weeks of research-backed, practice-based tools for staff.

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CharacterStrong is a character education & social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and professional development company to create positive habits through idea-based practice. It focuses mainly on high school and middle school campuses to help them practice character traits such as kindness, r

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If you're anything like me, you're running on empty by May! This has been one of the most challenging years of my 25+ teaching career and I'm exhausted... but we've still got 7 weeks to go!! Here are some activities to help you make it to summer break.
1. GO OUTSIDE
Take advantage of good weather if you can and allow your students to use the outdoors as writing inspiration for a poem, to practice using figurative language techniques to describe the environment, and simply for a change of scenery. I sometimes use the bleachers at the sports field as my classroom and it works well.
2. END of YEAR ONE-PAGER

Ask students to create a one-pager that represents their school year. This is a great way for students to show their learning and allow them to be creative at the same time! I ask them to include ideas around the following big ideas.

- What did you learn? How did you improve in certain aspects of school?

- What successes did you have at school? With a hobby? A sport?

- What are you looking forward to next school year?

What were the most significant news stories of the year in your school? Community? World?

Looking for a print-and-go bundle of activities for the end of the year?! I've got you covered with this set of resources that you get started with tomorrow! It includes 18 different activities - some are quick, and some are more involved, but you can pick and choose the ones that will work best for you and your students! Check it out HERE!

4. END OF YEAR COUNTDOWN / REVIEW ACTIVITY

Grab this FREE print-and-go review activity! It's an easy activity that students can use to review a specific topic or they can use to review their school year - the choice is yours! This could easily be used as a jumping-off point for a longer writing piece. Comes in a print & digital version!
5. CHECK OUT MY NEWEST END OF THE YEAR ACTIVITY!
It's the end of the year and I'm exhausted! The students are over it all and it can be a frustrating time of the year for everyone. Here are some quick and easy activities to help your students focus during the last few days of school.

Check out some of the resources that the ladies of the Secondary English Coffee Shop use to make it to the end of the year! Collectively we represent over a 150 years of teaching experience!!

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Creative Ways to Bring Nonfiction into Middle School ELA

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A great blog of secondary English teachers helping you find great ideas to enhance your classroom!

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The world’s largest library. View historic photos, maps, books and more. Contact experts for help with research. Plan a visit. Home of U.S. Copyright Office.

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History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places Smithsonian Magazine

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From coding to building to circuitry, these educational activities support basic skills to serve children in science, engineering and beyond

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This community brings together literacy teachers and leaders of many roles so we can improve our practice on behalf of students.

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Use Dabble to write your novel. Dabble organizes your manuscript, story notes, and plot. Dabble simplifies story, leaving more room in your brain to create, which is what being a writer is really about. Start your 14-day free trial today.

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There are many paths to becoming a great addition to the education workforce. Your path will depend on a variety of factors including your educational background, location, interests, and your motivation to make a difference in education. To become licensed as a teacher, students must learn about pedagogy, methodology, and technique to provide them with a comprehensive knowledge of teaching. Most education programs incorporate classes on the philosophy of education, psychology of learning, and technology in the classroom into their courses of study.

Finding time to fit in all of this learning can be difficult, particularly if you are working part or full-time to make ends meet. With society's increased reliance and emphasis on technology has come the emergence of online degree programs as the easiest way to advance ones education without sacrificing income and location. Whether you are a natural teacher seeking the credentials to start your career or an educator trying to make the leap into administration to enact change, Teach.com has all the resources to guide you to success.

Types of Online Degrees for Teachers

Depending on how far you want to take your career in education, there are a variety of degree options that can help you achieve your goals. For those looking to make a difference in the classroom and affect the lives of students, a Masters of Art in Teaching (MAT), Master of Science in Teaching, or a Master of Education (ME) might be the degree you're best suited towards. For those looking to address change at a higher level or make an impact in education administration, a Doctorate in Education might be the right fit. Each of these degrees can be completed online, something that might be a lifesaver if you are a full-time worker who can't put their income on hold while they attend school.
Learn a little more about each degree option below:
Master of Arts in Teaching online (MAT online)

The Master of Arts in Teaching online (MAT online) is a degree designed for both current and prospective K-12 teachers who are looking to obtain an initial license or advance their career in education. Often, it is easier for education professionals to complete the MAT online degree, in an effort to maintain an income and use their time efficently. Many MAT online programs offer programs offer specializations within the field of education including special education and childhood education, allowing students to concentrate their studies on a passion area.

Read more about Online Master of Arts in Teaching Programs

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Finding the Best Online Education For You

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There are many paths to becoming a great addition to the education workforce. Your path will depend on a variety of factors including your educational background, location, interests, and your motivation to make a difference in education. To become licensed as a teacher, students must learn about pedagogy, methodology, and technique to provide them with a comprehensive knowledge of teaching.

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Education Week American Education News Site of Record - Education Week

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Find breaking news, analysis, and opinion on K-12 education issues affecting school and district leaders, teachers, policymakers, and ed-tech professionals.

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Google Sites is a quick and easy way to make a website. In 2020 a ton of new features were added (including the ability to create a site from a Template). One thing I use a lot when typing text is SHIFT ENTER. What happens when you press Enter in a Google Doc (and other places) is it creates a new paragraph. I do not necessarily want a new paragraph, I just want to . In Google Sites when you press Enter it creates a space between the two lines. This has been frustrating when I want to keep text together. No more! sites.google.com/new Bullet Points When you press Enter while making bullet...
read more

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Google Sites is a quick and easy way to make a website. In 2020 a ton of new features were added (including the ability to create a site from a Template). One thing I use a lot when typing text is SHIFT ENTER.

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LiteracyTA - Tools and materials for reading, speaking, and writing about texts.

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LiteracyTA offers tools and materials for reading, speaking, and writing about texts.

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Scholastic | Books for Kids | Learning Resources

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Find the best kids books, learning resources, and educational solutions at Scholastic, promoting literacy development for over 100 years.

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Laura Randazo

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Laura Randazzo - Solutions for the Secondary Classroom

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This week, let's figure out how we can win every argument (see Friday's video): 1. MUG Shot Monday (Mechanics, usage, and grammar proofreading practice): Click here for a semester-long set of these MUG bell-ringer slides. 2. Words on Wednesday - SAT-level vocabulary: Click here for a semester-long set of these vocabulary bell-ringer slides. 3. Freestyle Friday [...]

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Laura Randazzo - Solutions for the Secondary Classroom

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This week, let's figure out how we can win every argument (see Friday's video): 1. MUG Shot Monday (Mechanics, usage, and grammar proofreading practice): Click here for a semester-long set of these MUG bell-ringer slides. 2. Words on Wednesday - SAT-level vocabulary: Click here for a semester-long set of these vocabulary bell-ringer slides.

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Interactive notebooks, math, Blog, teaching, high school, interactive student notebooks, standards based grading

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Our vision

We want to see a world where difference, disability or language are no longer barriers.

A world where accessibility doesn't get in the way of everybody leading more satisfying, fulfilling lives...and a world where nobody's held back by age, language, difference or disability.

Learn how we help

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Literacy, Accessibility & Dyslexia Software | Texthelp

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We want to see a world where difference, disability or language are no longer barriers. A world where accessibility doesn't get in the way of everybody leading more satisfying, fulfilling lives...and a world where nobody's held back by age, language, difference or disability. Learn how we help

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ClassTools.net: Create your own interactive learning resources

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Dozens of templates, quiz generators and learning tools for use in the classroom

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All4Ed Launches State Policy Center To Advance Educational Equity
The center will serve as a repository of model legislation and policy resources, incorporating real-world examples and research from the field with the experiences and voices of superintendents and educators.
All4Ed is building on our mission of expanding equitable educational opportunities for all students by creating this open resource to share equity-centered model legislation and supporting resources. Building policy from the classroom to Congress, All4Ed is collaborating with policymakers, advocates, and practitioners to provide policies needed in classrooms and legislatures across the country.

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All4Ed Launches State Policy Center To Advance Educational Equity The center will serve as a repository of model legislation and policy resources, incorporating real-world examples and research from the field with the experiences and voices of superintendents and educators.

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APSRC is a service-oriented, nonprofit membership organization that offers support, technical assistance and training to charter schools and rural school districts across the state. APSRC's full-time and highly trained staff provide assistance in five main areas:

Legal services

Financial analysis and management

Teaching and Learning

Technology

Communications

Membership in APSRC is open to charter schools, rural school districts, educational cooperatives and educationally related entities and businesses. To apply for membership, please call 501.492.4300. We also can help with any questions or requests for assistance in the membership application process.

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APSRC is a service-oriented, nonprofit membership organization that offers support, technical assistance and training to charter schools and rural school districts across the state. APSRC's full-time and highly trained staff provide assistance in five main areas: Legal services Financial analysis and management Teaching and Learning Technology Communications Membership in APSRC is open to charter schools, rural school districts, educational cooperatives and educationally related entities and businesses.

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The writing app for teachers to conduct remote learning activities with students

Our writing app tool kit

For all fiction, non-fiction and vocabulary-focused writing activities

BoomWriter inspires students to write on any subject.

Try it for ELA, Social Studies/History, Science and even Math. Plus, it can be used on any device.

Sign up for free as a teacher

BoomWriter Remote Teaching

These resources should help you deliver impactful remote learning activities through BoomWriter. Download them now for free!

BoomWriter Student Journals

Your 'go-to' place for students to write about anything and everything!

Learn more

This month on BoomWriter

BoomWriter is an award-winning writing app that is committed to school and student privacy and safety.

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BoomWriter: The Group Writing Tool Loved by Teachers

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The writing app for teachers to conduct remote learning activities with students For all fiction, non-fiction and vocabulary-focused writing activities Try it for ELA, Social Studies/History, Science and even Math. Plus, it can be used on any device. Sign up for free as a teacher These resources should help you deliver impactful remote learning activities through BoomWriter.

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The Write Tools | Common Core Writing Program| CCSS Writing Training | Writing Software

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Writing Strategies for the Common Core State Standards. Exceptional Professional Development in Writing Instruction. Writing Software.

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We offer educators a massive library of videos and other resources to drive professional learning. Join our worldwide community of educators today!

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Create Your Own Comic Strips Online with MakeBeliefsComix

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We Offer Support and Resources.

From Richard Byrne, editor of Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week -- ''Creating Comics for Comfort'' -- Living in Maine and father of two school-age children, Richard wrote the following item for teachers and students dealing with the terrible tragedy of the recent mass shootings in that state. He thought this an appropriate time to review and use Social and Emotional Learning resources, such as those offered by MakeBeliefsComix.com.

Make Beliefs Comix offers a library of fantastic, free ebooks for SEL. The library hosted by Make Beliefs Comix contains fillable PDFs that you can download for free. The latest addition to that library is 50+ Ways to Talk to Yourself and Find Healing. And for something a bit lighter, take a look at Pet Words: Conversations With Your Animal Friends.

"Here's a video overview of the Make Beliefs Comix ebooks and here's one about how to create comic strips on the Make Beliefs Comix website."

For many LGBTQ+ kids, especially when they're figuring things out, finding accepting spaces online can sometimes feel safer. Seek out creative opportunities and modes of self-expression, with this section in Make Beliefs Comix.

READ ABOUT US IN THE NEW YORK TIMES!

ARTICLE #1: (click on the link below)
MakeBeliefsComix encourages students to create their own visual pandemic diary.

ARTICLE #2: (click on the link below)
One easy way to start playing with ideas is through the free, online tool at MakeBeliefsComix.com.

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Create Comics Online, it's Fun & Free at MakeBeliefsComix!

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Create comics online at MakeBeliefsComix. A fun way educators & parents can empower students to express ideas and stories in comix!

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Benefits of Bubbl.us mind maps over text:

Superior clarity of structured information

Whether it's a family tree, a decision flow map, or an algorithm, mind maps have a huge advantage in presenting complexity clearly and concisely.

Better retention of complex ideas.

Visualizing complex ideas in shapes, lines, and pictures leads to much better recollection later than simple text.

Creative collaboration with others.

Visual brainstorming with a team can dramatically improve the quality of the final product because of diversity of perspectives and experiences.

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Bubbl.us - Create Mind Maps | Collaborate and Present Ideas

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Benefits of Bubbl.us mind maps over text: Superior clarity of structured information Whether it's a family tree, a decision flow map, or an algorithm, mind maps have a huge advantage in presenting complexity clearly and concisely. Better retention of complex ideas. Visualizing complex ideas in shapes, lines, and pictures leads to much better recollection later than simple text.

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Edublogs is more than just WordPress

Edublogs enhances WordPress with education-specific features, themes, and plugins. We offer tailored tools for classroom management, student privacy, and collaborative learning.

Our platform is designed to meet the unique needs of educators and students, with dedicated support and an active educational community.

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Edublogs is more than just WordPress Edublogs enhances WordPress with education-specific features, themes, and plugins. We offer tailored tools for classroom management, student privacy, and collaborative learning. Our platform is designed to meet the unique needs of educators and students, with dedicated support and an active educational community.

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Primary Tech by Kathleen Morris: Technology in the Classroom Made Easy

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Want to learn more about technology in the classroom? Interested in educational blogging, digital citizenship, internet safety, or global collaboration? Primary school teacher, Kathleen Morris shares her tips and practical resources to use in the classroom. Advanced tech skills not required!

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Teacher Tech Tools - The Teacher Tech Blog

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Enter, Teacher Tech Tools. I'm happy you're here, let's squash the intimidation of technology in the classroom while tackling how to leverage its presence in the classroom to display students' evaluation and creation of learning!

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A blog about preparing teachers for the classroom

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Teacher's Tech Toolbox - Looking for a tool to use in your classroom? You'll likely find it here!

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Looking for a tool to use in your classroom? You'll likely find it here!

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Social and Emotional Learning - Aperture Education

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Create transformation with DESSA SEL assessments:

When We Start With Strengths, We End Up Stronger

Our CASEL-aligned social and emotional learning system provides you with industry-leading SEL tools:

SEL Assessment

Gain confidence through the data gleaned through the industry's most well-researched and
nationally-normed SEL universal screener and assessment - the DESSA.

Reporting & Insights

Understand critical social and emotional data through intuitive, real-time reporting at the individual, classroom, school, and district level.

Strategies

Support student social and emotional growth with a strength-based approach through hundreds of strategies for educators and students K-12.

Who We Serve

2,300,000+

students

Aperture Education SEL Solutions

Strength-based, nationally-normed SEL universal screeners, assessments, strategies, and reporting for students K-12, plus educator SEL and professional development.

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Social and Emotional Learning - Aperture Education - Social and Emotional Learning - Aperture Education

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Create transformation with DESSA SEL assessments: Our CASEL-aligned social and emotional learning system provides you with industry-leading SEL tools: Gain confidence through the data gleaned through the industry's most well-researched andnationally-normed SEL universal screener and assessment - the DESSA. Understand critical social and emotional data through intuitive, real-time reporting at the individual, classroom, school, and district level.

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We share evidence and practitioner-based learning strategies that empower you to improve K-12 education.

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EdSurge - Education Technology News and Resources

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EdSurge is an independent education technology information resource and community. Find K12 and HigherEd Edtech News, Research, Jobs, Products and Events.

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Understood | For Learning and Attention Issues

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Help your child thrive. Chat with experts, connect with parents and get tips on parenting kids with reading, writing, math, organization, attention issues and more.

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A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

Click on a section to explore
Second Step ® programs.

A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

Click on a section to explore
Second Step ® programs.

All Second Step ® programs include supports for families, from weekly letters and book lists to free resources like The Imagine Neighborhood™ podcast series and ParenTeen Connect. Families can also bring social-emotional learning home through our Captain Compassion® comics, which give kids and adults the power to prevent bullying, as well as our Hot Chocolate Talk® resource, which helps families talk about child safety.

Universal, classroom-based, social-emotional learning curriculum for Kindergarten-Grade 5 that nurtures children's social-emotional competence and foundational learning skills. Choose from two options: the new Second Step® Elementary digital program, or evidence-based Second Step Elementary classroom kits.

In 2021, our adult professional learning program will be available to support the social-emotional development of K-12 educators. Second Step SEL for Adults is a stand-alone program, so even if your high school doesn't have a student-facing social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, the program will help build a stronger school community around SEL-starting with the adults.

A stand-alone professional learning program designed to help K-12 educators strengthen their social-emotional skills and create a supportive school climate.
Now Available

Decades of research show the positive effects of universal, classroom-based SEL programs for children. There's also broad recognition that benefits are even greater when children experience SEL throughout their day, across home, school, and out-of-school time environments, and throughout developmental stages. When implemented holistically, with a coordinated, community-wide approach, SEL can build stronger communities and support inclusive, equitable learning.
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The new Second Step® Elementary digital program is designed to meet the needs of today's classrooms.
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Introducing Second Step® SEL for Adults, a professional learning program for all school staff to strengthen their social-emotional skills and create a supportive school climate.
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The Second Step family of programs helps you take a holistic approach to social-emotional learning (SEL), combining classroom SEL with new offerings for out-of-school time and SEL for adults. Learn how our expanded family of programs can help you level up with:

Compassion in the classroom

Common language across environments

Educator well-being

While we're best known for our Second Step family of social-emotional learning programs, Committee for Children has championed the safety and well-being of children since 1979. From our headquarters in Seattle, Washington, we partner with researchers, policymakers, and thought leaders to fulfill our vision of safe children thriving in a peaceful world. Learn more about our work.

We're committed to ensuring our programs are culturally relevant, affirming, and accessible to all children, especially the most systemically marginalized children. Find out more.

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A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning. Click on a section to exploreSecond Step ® programs. A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

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Blog
At times, there can be a disconnect between school leadership and classroom teachers. That disconnect can sometimes feel like a chasm, widening each year, and make it difficult for teachers and leaders to connect, move the work forward, or even get along. Here are some insights from educators on what teachers wish leaders understood. Remember... Read More

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SHARE Blog: Content and Resources for Teachers & Education Leaders

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Blog At times, there can be a disconnect between school leadership and classroom teachers. That disconnect can sometimes feel like a chasm, widening each year, and make it difficult for teachers and leaders to connect, move the work forward, or even get along. Here are some insights from educators on what teachers wish leaders understood.

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We Are Teachers - Ideas and inspiration for reaching the next generation

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We Are Teachers is a proud community of K-12 educators, sharing ideas, resources, and awesome freebies and giveaways.

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Writing A–Z is a complete K-5 writing curriculum solution, making writing instruction easier for teachers and engaging for students.

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This site has some excellent in depth information about the writing process. It is also a good resource for Job Search writing - preparing an application, writing job search letters, resumes and more. There is an ESL section as well, mainly geared toward advanced students in college. This site can help your students classify ideas and communicate more effectively. Graphic organizers can be used to structure writing projects, assist in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research and brainstorming. Hopelink's website provides some great tips for teaching writing, with links to suggestions for beginning writing, journal writing, and a writer's feedback guide.This site will help your students practice English grammar through writing exercises, including writing worksheets, printable composition writing templates, sentence scrambles, gap fill exercises, word scrambles, picture description and more, all of which have been broken down into beginner, intermediate and high level writing exercises.

Check out this great self-study site that has over 1,000 fun and helpful activities for ESL students, including grammar quizzes that focus on
ThisEnglish Basics site features original grammar worksheets for teachers and parent-teachers to copy for their kids; use them for teaching, reinforcement, and review!

TheIdiom Connection helps learners understand idioms, phrasal verbs, and proverbs; plus, take some fun quizzes to test your idiom knowledge!
ESL Galaxy: Hopelink: vocabulary , places, and scrambled words .

Paragraph Punch: An interactive online paragraph writing tutorial.

GoEnglish.com teaches the meaning of English idioms and phrases for native and non-native English speakers of all ages; also, receive their Weekly Preview of idioms straight to your email.

Internet TESL Journal Links of Interest: This site, maintained by the Internet TESL Journal, maintains more than 14,000 links to sites relevant to students and teachers of English as a Second Language.

Tips-o-Matic has short and clear explanations about sentence structure, paragraph development, and essay-writing.

Dave's ESL Cafe has "stuff for students" (grammar lessons, idioms, phrasal verbs, pronunciation power, quizzes, and slang) and an idea cookbook for teachers. In the idea cookbook's list of writing activities you'll find ideas from "No Drudgery Drills" to "Using the Senses" to help students' writing improve.

Check outBBC's Skillswise for students and for tutors. This website, written for adult learners, has information on building sentences and organizing writing into paragraphs, sections on planning and proofreading, and information on writing format and structure. Students can also submit their writing to be published online.

TheNational Writing Project (NWP) is a professional development network that serves teachers of writing at all grade levels, primary through university, and in all subjects. The site includes links to lessons and articles on teaching writing, from teaching sentence fluency, grammar and usage, and more.

Make your own comic strip : a fun way to practice writing.

Handwriting Practice : a collection of printable PDFs to help with writing practice.

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Online Resources for Teaching Writing - Literacy Online

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This site has some excellent in depth information about the writing process. It is also a good resource for Job Search writing - preparing an application, writing job search letters, resumes and more. There is an ESL section as well, mainly geared toward advanced students in college.

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Annotate PRO is a tool, developed by 11trees, that helps teachers streamline response to student writing by providing a library of common comments that they can easily insert into writing projects.

The Annotate PRO site asks teachers, "Do you ever feel like you say the same thing over and over again to students?" While acknowledging that of course teaching often involves repetition, the site asks what would happen if teachers could streamline that process when responding to student writing, thus putting more energy into deeper feedback and teaching. A series of screenshots show how to use Annotate PRO:

Once downloaded as a Chrome Extension, Annotate PRO appears as a sidebar.

Users simply click anywhere that feedback can be provided within a browser: "Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Dropbox, Box, Blackboard, Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology, Gmail - just about anywhere you can type feedback into a webpage."

From there, users add a comment.

Groups of comments can be saved to create personal, program, or even institutional libraries.

Annotate PRO allows for "smart automation." Teachers can use it to reduce repetitive keystrokes, but they can customize it using a "Free Form Comment" function that pops up in sidebar when using the tool.
Annotate PRO has great functionality for helping teachers respond to digital papers, and, I suppose, such is still the traditional framework of teacher writing feedback: A teacher giving feedback to a student essay/report/paper. 11trees provides a video description of this core use here.

However, I want to focus on another aspect of Annotate PRO: Its use in developing a library of responses for electronic forums like discussion boards.

As I have written about numerous times, a large component of student writing, and not just in OWCs, involves short, informal writing on electronic platforms. In many courses, students compose most of their words in these environments.

Teachers want to encourage this, but how do they respond/moderate in ways that are helpful for student learning? I've come across and written about a number of strategies--a favorite source is the book Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker--and I think Annotate PRO is a smart tool that offers another possibility.

With Annotate PRO, after installation, I simply opened a Discussion in Blackboard Learn (my LMS) and clicked in a message. Voila! I could instantly drop in a comment that had been stored in a library.

It was impressive and powerful in its simplicity, and I saw immediately how Annotate PRO reduces the literal keystrokes and would free up time for for more substantive teaching. Library comments could help me with the frequent encouragement and questioning posts while I used "Free Form Comments" for more specific moderating and commenting posts.

A common--and, at times, legitimate--complaint from students is that they feel no presence from their teachers on discussions. Teachers are seeking strategies and pedagogies to work more fully and carefully with students in discussion environments. (The Community of Inquiry framework [1] offers a way to think about teacher presence.) Annotate PRO provides them with a technology to help them do that.

Note
1) As described by Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher educationmodel. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

Labels: 11trees, Annotate PRO, discussion boards, message boards, OWC

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Annotate PRO is a tool, developed by 11trees, that helps teachers streamline response to student writing by providing a library of common comments that they can easily insert into writing projects. The Annotate PRO site asks teachers, "Do you ever feel like you say the same thing over and over again to students?"

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Model for Reading Diagnosis and Instructional Planning 

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Model for Reading Diagnosis and Instructional Planning 

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As of Monday, October 24, content that was on TweenTribune.com will now be available here on our new educational resources page and on our learning pages. While much of the content that you enjoyed will still exist, educators will unfortunately no longer be able to assign content to students. Tween Tribune has been a valued educational brand of Smithsonian magazine, and we appreciate your continued support.

Though the Girl Scouts of the USA initially declared itself a space for all girls, the reality was different for girls of color

Erin Blakemore

Get Smithsonian Educational Resources

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As of Monday, October 24, content that was on TweenTribune.com will now be available here on our new educational resources page and on our learning pages. While much of the content that you enjoyed will still exist, educators will unfortunately no longer be able to assign content to students.

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Search Results for Common Sense Education

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Use filters and keywords to refine you search results for lessons, digital citizenship resources, videos, edtech reviews, and advice for teaching with technology.

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For young white students, explorations of fair and unfair, just and unjust, can go a long way in advancing anti-racist white identity. Purposeful use of literature and basic study of white anti-racists are among the key ways educators can advance such aims.Teaching Tolerance presents four short biographies for early grades classrooms, with activity ideas.

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These robust, ready-to-use classroom lessons offer breadth and depth, spanning essential social justice topics and reinforcing critical social emotional learning skills.

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Tes provides a range of primary and secondary school teaching resources including lesson plans, worksheets and student activities for all curriculum subjects.

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Bonnie Lewis / September 15, 2021

Elementary classes have a lot of curricula competing for airtime. Reading, math, writing, and many other vital and worthy topics fill the day. During a packed day, how can social studies inquiry fit into the schedule? Moreover, students get worn down and weighed down with everything they are expected to learn from the disciplines. Sometimes [...]

Bonnie Lewis / December 13, 2020

We began this COVID season with a group of teachers generating a set of compelling questions. What is the balance between freedom and security? Will a virus heal the partisan divide? How will disease change the world? When this list of questions was first published, no one knew if we could answer them but, like [...]

Jill Beccaris-Pescatore /

Who would think helicopters flying over your house would lead to an inquiry about slavery, the cotton industry and the Panic of 1837? Then again, it is 2020. I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania near the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art. The "Art Museum" is a gathering place for celebrations, running up the "Rocky" steps and [...]

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The Inquiry Design Model The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers' knowledge and expertise, avoids overprescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State [...]

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All things Kelly Gallagher, including my books, my schedule, teacher resources and what's going on in my life as a teacher.

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All 2020 Mid-Year "Best" Lists In One Place!

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As I do every June, I've begun publishing mid-year "Best" lists. I'll list the ones I've already posted, and continue to update it here as the month goes on. T...

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Hemingway Editor makes your writing bold and clear.

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Writing.Com is the online community for writers of all interests. Established in 2000, our community breeds Writing, Writers and Poetry through Creative Writing Help, Online Creative Writing Portfolios, Poetry, Writers’ Tools and more.

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The Principal Center - Building Capacity for Instructional Leadership - The Principal Center

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ABOUT OUR MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMAs a member of The Instructional Leadership Association you'll gain access to our library of on-demand trainings to help you build capacity for instructional leadership-plus live + on-demand access to all of our new webinar trainings. join the Instructional Leadership Association As part of our Instructional Leadership Association Program, you'll gain access [...]

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As an education speaker, I speak to a wide array of audiences regularly. Because I have spoken to such a variety of audiences all over the U.S. and different parts of the world, I am very comfortable speaking to all audience compositions, which include when I am the only African American in the room (which is often). As a speaker, I would argue that one must strive to feel comfortable with all audiences if one is going to experience longevity in the world of speaking.

Countless times in my capacity of speaker, I have been the only African American not only in the auditorium, gym, library, cafeteria, classroom, ballroom or meeting room, but I have been the only African American in the entire building when you consider the support staff who are in the building who are not a part of my presentation. In this context, there is this one engagement that will always stand out for me that has probably crossed my mind at least once per day over the past year since it occurred. I was in a state that shall remain nameless where the African American population is rather small with a rather large white majority. I was invited to speak to the entire school district staff at their day long professional development conference via a morning opening keynote and an afternoon closing keynote.

When my contact person invited me, he informed me that the district had no African American educators but that they did have a small percentage of African American students. Since this was not going to be an uncommon experience, my response to him was a simple, "no problem at all...I'll be ready." On many occasions when I am the only African American in the room, it is quite normal for me to address the "elephant in the room" early on by making a light joke of the fact that "I guess I'm the only African American in sight," because the "elephant" is so obvious and blatant in those situations, though not uncomfortable for me at all. After all, I'm a speaker and speakers speak to people...all people.

As I walked into that gym that morning full of educators, I felt a different vibe from my norm. I am accustomed to being spoken to by somebody...anybody. I was alone that morning. No one acknowledged my presence. People walked past me as if I wasn't in the room. I knew I stood out not only because I am an African American but because I was that one unfamiliar face in the building. I truly felt alone, isolated and invisible in that moment...and I was the keynote speaker. That meant I had some "heavy lifting" to do that day for sure. Consequently, due to the "vibe" in the room, I even refrained from resorting to my normal joke about being the only African American in sight. I didn't think it would fly in this setting.

The morning keynote went well. I don't mean it produced "amens"throughout my presentation...lol...but I thought it was productive. As I engaged in my normal self-reflection and self-assessment during my down time, I concluded that the presentation went over well. But it's that afternoon keynote that motivated me to write this blog post a year later. I walked back into that gym while everyone else was filing in and thought that now that everyone heard me in the morning and was now familiar with me, they would open up to me....not hardly! Again, it was like I wasn't even in the room. It was as if I hadn't spoken to this same audience just a few short hours ago. I was invisible! When I was being introduced to come up and deliver my final presentation, I said to myself, "Here we go again....you got this...let's do this!" As I took the microphone from the introducer, I stood on the half court line of the gym directly in front of a little over 500 faces, all white, with mine as the lone African American face in the room and the first words that came out of my mouth were, "Are there any questions, comments, feedback or concerns about anything I said during this morning's keynote address?" Whenever there is a break in my presentations with the same audience, I will ask this question 100% of the time before we resume the discussion. Immediately, a woman enthusiastically raised her hand which relieved me. Her hand going up so quickly made me feel that on the one hand, she was engaged in the morning session, and on the other hand, I anticipated that there were probably many more questions to come from others. My thinking in that moment was, "Great...this is going to be an awesome afternoon!" But then she proceeded to ask me a question that literally blew me away. She said, "Have you ever spoken to an audience as white as this one?" Immediately, many in the room began to laugh. I just stood there and looked at my audience. I didn't say anything...not a word. I just took it all in. I wondered though was the organizer of the event (or the person who introduced me) going to take the mic from me and address this awkward turn of events....it didn't happen. I wondered if maybe one of the educators in the audience was going to stand up and condemn what just occurred....it didn't happen.

Time froze for me momentarily. I was deep into my own thoughts in front of a live audience of educators as an African American man...an African American speaker...who now felt completely detached and disconnected from his audience. All sorts of history popped into my head regarding the Black male experience in America. The recurring theme in my thinking though was this feeling of isolation. I thought to myself, "So what you are an internationally renowned and respected speaker, author and educator...that's not what you are in THIS room in THIS moment." More importantly though, I thought about that small percentage of African American children who are enrolled in the schools where the members of this audience teach and undoubtedly have their own testimonies of isolation and invisibility (my high school story for another time). Or those African Americans who work in the lonely world of Corporate America for example, and the ongoing feelings of isolation and invisibility that many of them endure (my story too for another time). Time was truly frozen in that moment. The reality though was that I felt compelled...obligated to address what had just occurred on behalf of the African American children that they service.

As I made my way out of my momentary silence and back to my present reality with 500+ educators awaiting my response, the first words out of my mouth were, "Yes, I speak to audiences as white as this one regularly. White teachers across America comprise over 80% of the total teaching force while African American teachers are about 6 to 7%. Since I do about 200 presentations per year, I talk to a whole lot of all white audiences regularly." I proceeded to ask her why she felt so comfortable asking me this question in this forum, particularly when I was seeking questions and feedback related to my morning presentation. Instead of answering the question, she apologized to me repeatedly. I decided that I would not spend my hour addressing my topic of student and staff attitudes but instead, I would turn my presentation into a teachable moment and talk about the repercussions for African American children when they feel isolated and invisible in white majority classrooms and schools, which would include a discussion on cultural responsiveness, cultural relevance, equity and some of the realities of being an African American male / African American man in America for the next hour. Ironically, this experience was one of those realities.

Between this teacher and the many who found her question funny, I truly believe they didn't see the wrong and the hurt in their behavior...a clear example of "unconscious bias." To them, it was probably quite normal and business as usual. In other words, my feelings weren't considered until I opened my mouth and addressed them to an extremely captive audience. When the day finally ended, many in that audience, led by the woman who raised the question marched right over to me to apologize. Several were crying including the woman in question. Many had long explanations with their apologies and expressed feeling badly about the situation.

As I close, this essay is actually not about me nor my presentation. I'm a "big boy" and I will be fine. This essay is all about African American children. As educators, we must all and we must always "check ourselves" toward ensuring that we leave whatever biases that we may possess at home. Our children cannot and must not be subjected to them. When they are, we run the risk undermining their efforts toward truly maximizing their own potential to be amazing young people and eventually amazing adults.

For further writings by Principal Kafele, visit PrincipalKafele.com

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As an education speaker, I speak to a wide array of audiences regularly. Because I have spoken to such a variety of audiences all over the U.S. and different parts of the world, I am very comfortable speaking to all audience compositions, which include when I am the only African American in the room (which is often).

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