Reading comprehension is not a skill someone learns and can then apply in different reading contexts. It is one of the most complex activities that readers engage in on a regular basis, and the ability to comprehend is dependent upon a wide range of knowledge and skills. Despite a common view about comprehension, several lines of enquiry have…

The most obvious way that misinformation does damage is by causing people to believe misconceptions or reducing belief in accurate facts. One experiment found that just a handful of cherry-picked statistics about climate change confused people and reduced their acceptance that climate change was happening. After being shown the misinformation,…

The strategy of creating confusion and doubt about product safety, often called the "tobacco playbook" after the industry that used it so successfully, has become standard operating procedure among many corporations across a wide range of industries. The "tobacco playbook" has been widely applied, generally with great…

Writing gives children a way to share their voices and ideas with the world. Even in early childhood, the purpose of writing is to communicate. All young children have messages to share, and writing is one tool they can use to communicate those messages. For young children, it is quite challenging to form and remember messages while also figuring…

Educators constantly hear the mantras "develop relationships with students" or "add a personal touch"? They know they will be better teachers if they connect with their students, but how can they if their students come from very different backgrounds than they do? How do educators find common ground? The common ground is the…

As a learner, researcher, and educator, Kripa Sundar has depended on concept maps to become more intentional with her time and to better understand topics. Why? Her top two reasons are their efficacy across subjects and age groups and their versatility in application. In this article, she delves into what concept maps are, why they are effective,…

The author believes that happiness equals success. Which is why, at age 50, the author fears retirement. The author believes that he may have found the fountain of youth for his spirit: the joy of teaching children, living in his community, and getting to witness learning. The author loves what he does. By asking he got to this point, he hopes the…

People who engage in the life of a school is in a unique position to isolate and push back against the growing white nationalist movement and the hateful narratives it touts. Their job is to build schools where everyone feels valued and where our students can grow to be engaged citizens of an inclusive democracy. This sidebar article is adapted…

Freedom is a basic human desire. It is a central idea behind historic human rights movements and a sign of human flourishing. In this article, the author highlights five freedoms that are central to doing mathematics: (1) The freedom of knowledge; (2) The freedom to explore; (3) The freedom of understanding; (4) The freedom to imagine; and (5) The…

From the 1960s until his death in 1997, Albert Shanker was a major force in expanding the labor movement, defending and improving public education, and fighting for all people to live freely in democracies. As president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), he became known…

This is the story of how the author came to understand race and racism in America. This story has everything to do with how he came to understand unconscious bias, white nationalism, and the fundamental threat to democracy we face today--and what each of us can do about it. The author shares a framework to help understand key concepts central to…

Between 2003 and 2016, the percentage of undergraduates taking at least one course online nearly tripled, increasing from 15.6 to 43.1. Initially, that enrollment was concentrated in the proprietary, or for-profit, higher education sector. In response, and to make up for declining numbers of "traditional" college students and the…

As a result of the racial justice reckoning happening alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, more educators were able to see the impact of gross inequities in education. The educational disparities went beyond the digital divide and access to technology: the more insidious gaps were in the ability of students to be independent learners during distance…

Headlines about the negative effects of screen time may alarm teachers and cause them to worry about using digital media with early childhood and elementary school students. However, the relationship between digital media use and language and literacy learning is complex, and there are, in fact, arguments both "for" and…

As an American Indian woman, parent, educator, and scholar, the author grapples with the question of how to ensure American Indian children receive an equitable, just, and appropriate education. The creation of culturally and academically affirming schools for Native children requires educators, to ask themselves some difficult questions. Honest…