In the last few years, all but a few U.S. states have rushed to enact tougher teacher evaluation systems. Spurred by the incentives offered by two federal education initiatives--Race to the Top and the ESEA Flexibility Program--these states have designed teacher evaluation systems designed to "remove ineffective tenured and untenured…

When Alexis Wiggins returned to full-time teaching after having a baby, she took with her an idea from the book "A Path With Heart" by Buddhist Jack Kornfield. The idea was that each day might go better if she viewed everyone she encountered during that day, including any student or parent who seemed to make her teaching life harder, as…

According to Dylan Wiliam, the traditional classroom practice in which a teacher asks a question, students raise their hands, and the teacher calls on a volunteer does not actually provide much useful information--and it may even impede learning. When teachers ask questions in this way, they're only engaging the most confident students in the…

What if all students had an opportunity to work through content at their own pace? What if all students had to master content before they moved on? The authors take their flipped-classroom model to the next level by flipping their classroom for mastery. In the flipped-mastery model, the teacher begins by organizing content around specific…

"If we expect students to learn to write, we need to teach them how." This statement may seem obvious. But Carol Jago points out that many teachers share the assumption she started out with as a new teacher--that inviting students to write at length about whatever they want will enable them to "magically morph into good…

Although using the five-paragraph formula to teach essay writing is a ubiquitous practice--and many K-12 teachers defend it--Campbell argues that having students write according to this formula does more harm than good. The formula's tight structure stops the very critical thinking students need to do to strengthen their cognition and their…

Parents know that writing is essential to their children's success, and they're eager to help their children become good writers. But often, they're at a loss about how to help. Instead of leaving them in the dark, schools can make parents into valuable writing partners by giving them a toolkit of guidelines for coaching writers.…

"How in the world are we supposed to apply the Common Core writing standards to teaching English language learners?" The authors propose a tentative answer to a question that has been troubling educators of late. Educators, they suggest, need to keep in mind three crucial elements: Students should (1) begin by reading more informational…

When it comes to professional practice, getting a clear picture of how you're teaching in the classroom is easier said than done. The instructional coaches and teachers whom the author interviewed as part of a study on using video in professional development were, in almost all cases, surprised by what they saw in a video of them teaching. In…

The first time the author was responsible for planning a districtwide professional development day, DuFour secured a funny speaker, provided plenty of doughnuts, and made sure everyone could return to their classrooms in the afternoon. "The day was considered a huge success," he notes. "There was absolutely no evidence that the day…

When U.S. educators first hear that Japanese teacher preparation programs require only four weeks of formal student teaching at the end of the credential program, they're appalled: How can this be? More surprising still, few new teachers in Japan (1.35 percent) leave the profession during their first year. So where are these beginning…

Everything's going wrong in the classroom; the teacher's frustration level is so high that she's ready to walk out and try her hand at any other profession besides teaching. Just as things reach a peak, in steps the coach, who says, "Pause classroom!" To the teacher experiencing this scenario, it certainly seemed real. The…

Educators know that students learn better when their teacher considers carefully how young people learn best. Yet, when administrators plan professional development for teachers, the author claims, they often forget to consider how teachers learn best. As principal of a private K-8 school, Scott arranges professional learning for her teachers in a…

The best way to teach students to write well-crafted essays, Gallagher claims, is to consider how people learn to do anything unfamiliar. They carefully examine someone who knows how to do that thing and then emulate that person's actions. Just so, if teachers want students to write persuasive arguments, interesting explanatory pieces, and…

"Let's keep this in perspective," writes Jeff Anderson." The Common Core State Standards are a guiding document." Anderson cautions readers to look beyond such artificial boundaries and dive into pedagogy, process, content knowledge, and research that reveals best practices for teaching writing. Educators, he notes, need…