(This is Part One of a two-part series on student engagement.) Cindy Murphy asked: The question that I seem to hear from teachers comes up when we discuss engagement vs on task behavior. Teachers want to know how can you see engagement. Paula Bevan tells us that engagement = brain sweat, but can we see a kiddo's brain sweating. What evidence can administrators and teachers collect that will show true engagement and not on task behavior? Student engagement is the sometimes found and often elusive Holy Grail for many of us teachers. I'm taking advantage of the opportunity offered by Cindy's ...

Cindy Murphy asks: The question that I seem to hear from teachers comes up when we discuss engagement vs on task behavior. Teachers want to know how can you see engagement. Paula Bevan tells us that engagement = brain sweat, but can we see a kiddo's brain sweating. What evidence can administrators and teachers collect that will show true engagement and not on task behavior? Please share your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me. Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a selection of ...

Last week's question was: What are the best ways to help students -- mainstream and/or English Language Learners -- develop academic vocabulary? Helping our students develop academic vocabulary knowledge has always been a challenge to us teachers, and the Common Core Standards "up" the challenge and its importance even more. Today, I'll begin by briefly mentioning some of my own classroom practices (though I won't both duplicating ideas mentioned by others later in the post), and then several educator/authors - Marilee Sprenger; Jane Hill and Kirsten Miller; and Maria Gonzalez - provide guest responses. Lastly, I'll be highlighting ...

This week's "question of the week" is: What are the best ways to help students -- mainstream and/or English Language Learners -- develop academic vocabulary? Please share your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me. Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a selection of seven published by published by Jossey-Bass. You can send questions to me at [email protected] you send in your question, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd ...

(This is Part Two of a two-part series. You can see Part One here) Last week's question was: How can teachers best relate to Superintendents -- and vice versa? A few days ago, we heard responses from a teacher perspective: Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers; Dean Vogel, President of the California Teachers Association, and Barnett Berry of the Center For Teaching Quality contributed to that post. Today, we'll hear from three Superintendents (along with comments from readers): Joshua Starr, Pamela Moran, and John Kuhn. Response From Joshua Starr Joshua Starr is the superintendent of Montgomery County ...

(This is Part One of a two-part series.) Last week's question was: How can teachers best relate to Superintendents -- and vice versa? This is a question that I regularly wrestle with in our school district, and I assume many others around the country do as well. Today's guest responses will be coming from the perpective of teachers -- shared by Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers; Dean Vogel, President of the California Teachers Association (Disclosure: I am a proud member of the CTA); and Barnett Berry of the Center For Teaching Quality (Disclosure: I am a ...

This week's question is: How can teachers best relate to Superintendents -- and vice versa? Please share your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me. This will turn into a multi-part series, so there will be plenty of space for reader contributions. I might be publishing a special post next week on a different topic, however. If that's the case, answers to this question will start appearing the following week. Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a selection of seven published by published ...

(This is Part Two of a two-part series. You can see Part One here) The question asked two weeks ago was: How can English Teachers Best Improve Their Craft? I've previously posted a number of responses that apply to this question, including a five-part series on teaching reading and another five-part series on teaching writing. I also shared additional resources in Part One of this series. Also in Part One, author/educators Penny Kittle and Carol Jago contributed responses. This week's post includes pieces from Jim Burke and David B. Cohen, as well as comments from readers. Response From Jim ...

(This is Part One of a two-part series) Last week's question was: How can English Teachers Best Improve Their Craft? I've previously posted a number of responses that apply to this question, including a five-part series on teaching reading and another five-part series on teaching writing. You also might be interested in a collection of posts I've written specifically about books -- Why They're Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them. And, of course, previous posts here on classroom management and on student motivation might also be useful. But there is a lot more that can be ...

As I mentioned in last week's post, instead of responding to the "question of the week," I'm lucky enough to share an interview I did with author Daniel Pink. Dan's new best-selling book is titled To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others (Disclosure: Dan interviewed me -- and my wife, Jan Judson -- for the book, and several quotes from us appear in one of the chapters). Dan will also be leading a Webinar in April for Education Week on "How Teachers Can 'Sell' More to Students." His Webinar will be the third in a series on "New...