By observing, or "noticing," what sparks learning in the classroom, teachers and students alike can cultivate a learning environment centered around personalization and choice. Education experts John Almarode and Paul Emerich France outline strategies for engineering a culture of self-reflection that sets learning in motion.

New teacher attrition is a serious problem, with some studies estimating that 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first few years. This high attrition rate means that many schools have large number of inexperienced teachers and that districts must spend scarce funds for recruitment and replacement costs. Springfield Public…

The minute students first step into any classroom, they begin assessing the environment, the teacher, and one another for clues about what to expect in the upcoming school year. Yet what do they usually encounter the first day? A teacher who's busy assigning seats, reviewing rules, and assessing various skills. However, it is during this time that…

The design of a classroom space can make a big difference in student behavior and learning. The use of color, sound, light, furniture arrangements and more can help foster community and culture and promote understanding. Dillon discusses some easy ways to transform the classroom space that can help with classroom management.

Danielson's Framework for Teaching has provided a common language for discussions of teaching practice for almost 20 years. Many educators love the Framework's comprehensiveness; they find the specific language to be useful as they strive to improve their practice. For other educators, however, the Framework's 22 components and 76 smaller elements…

The concept of personalization in learning appeals to many K-12 teachers and students weary of regimented, one-size-fits-all instruction. The in-vogue term personalization is used to refer to many different learning strategies and structures--from personal learning plans to greater student voice. Differentiation expert Carol Ann Tomlinson is…

Language ideologies--the way our ideas about language and accent both reflect and are informed by our ideas about people and society--influence us in subtle, often subconscious ways. They can shape classroom practices and potentially create barriers to student learning. In this article, learn about two especially harmful language ideologies that…

Marge Scherer describes this issue of "Educational Leadership" as being all about questioning for learning--how to ask questions of students, how to encourage students to ask their own questions, and how to ask better questions and find better answers. Among feature topics explored in this issue are why children, who start questioning…

The author, an outspoken advocate for using technology in the classroom, knows how important it is to establish expectations for responsible use of mobile devices. She's found that five strategies help ensure that mobile devices enhance, rather than distract from, learning. Teachers need to establish new norms that clarify responsible use,…

With the number of emergent bilingual students (also known as English language learners) in classrooms increasing, it's key that teachers practice "linguistically sustaining practices" so students don't lose their native language as they learn English. Hill describes ways teachers and school leaders can support retaining native…

Good essential questions rarely emerge in the first draft. Common first-draft questions typically are convergent low-level questions designed to support content acquisition. They either point toward the one official "right" answer, or they elicit mere lists and thus no further inquiry. So how can teachers ensure that subsequent drafts…

Being a new teacher is especially stressful and overwhelming: classroom management challenges, lack of administrator support, work-related stress, and feelings of isolation are pushing some to leave the profession all too soon. There are five actions, however, that principals can take to make new teachers a priority now, explain the authors of…

Nurturing the "good" in students of color requires educators to confront harmful stereotypes. Alexs Pate, author of "The Innocent Classroom," describes how teachers can create safe spaces where all young students can thrive.

"Students are naturally inclined to watch one another, to make suggestions and support their peers, to avoid mistakes, to copy what works and modify what doesn't, and to learn from one another," writes Rob Traver in this article. To prove his point, Traver brings readers into three classrooms where teachers tap into students' intrinsic…

The win-win approach to solving conflicts, which has become popular in the business world, should be a natural for the school environment. Win-win thinking can foster a cooperative school climate by meeting educators' and students' needs for dignity, belonging, and respect. Yet win-win thinking faces a number of obstacles in schools, writes…