Alex V. asks: How can I help my school develop a culture of open practice where teachers are happy to be observed and look forward to observing and learning from each other, in a school where up until now observation has been used as a tool of evaluation and judgment from the administration without constructive feedback, thus demoralizing the teachers? 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 ...

Katie Ciresi asked: What is the best approach teachers can take towards homework? I think the guest responses today, along with numerous reader comments, provide a great perspective on the topic. If you'd like to read more research and discover additional ideas, you might want to explore my collection at The Best Resources For Learning About Homework Issues. Todays guests are educator/authors Dr. Cathy Vatterott and Bryan Harris. Reader suggestions follow their contributions. Response From Dr. Cathy Vatterott Dr. Cathy Vatterott is the author of Rethinking Homework: Best practices that support diverse needs (2009): 1. Treat homework as feedback. ...

Katie Ciresi asks: What is the best approach teachers can take towards homework? 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 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind. You can also contact ...

(This is Part Two of a two-part series on student engagement. You can see Part One here) 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? As I wrote a few days ago, student engagement is the sometimes found and often elusive Holy Grail for ...

(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 ...