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Carry on Teaching: Higher Education During a Pandemic

14 Apr, 2021

Article by Amanda Jasi AS it has for many aspects of society, the Covid-19 pandemic has served a blow to the education system. Universities have been forced to change how they operate to enable students to continue learning in the face of imposed restrictions and safety measures. How have teaching methods changed? And how well have they been received? To get a better understanding of this, in early 2021, The Chemical...

How to Help High School Students Develop Empathy

14 Apr, 2021

By Maurice J. Elias , Edutopia High school students spend a lot of time thinking about who they are and who they will be in the world. They think about their upcoming decisions about college and careers. All this naturally pushes them toward a lot of concern with “I.” Educators need to help ensure that the “we” stay in the picture as well. And that’s why it’s necessary to encourage...

5 Ways to Build Resilience in Students

13 Apr, 2021

By Sarah Gonser , Edutopia For many children, the past year brought disruption on a grand scale, with the pandemic affecting virtually every aspect of their daily lives. And while “caregivers can’t always alter children’s circumstances or shield them from discomfort, they can offer a more enduring gift: tools to manage adversity,” writes therapist and school counselor Phyllis L. Fagell for ...

How a Simple Visual Tool Can Help Teachers Connect With Students

13 Apr, 2021

By Jorge Valenzuela , Edutopia Being empathic toward students directly correlates with our ability to share in their feelings and perspectives and understand their academic needs. Empathy maps can be a scaffold that individual teachers or grade-level teams use to begin empathizing with students while simultaneously increasing their knowledge of them—which is critical for raising equity in schools. The...

A Culture of Kindness in Early Childhood Classrooms

12 Apr, 2021

By Michele Coulombe , Erin Zuccaro , Edutopia Whether kindness is innate or not, being purposeful about teaching it definitely contributes to a positive classroom culture. When you focus on kindness, you send the message of its value in your classroom community. Modeling and encouraging kind behavior and reflecting on its presence in your classroom can create an environment of care. Prioritizing kindness helps...

5 Tips to Center Student Wellness During School Reentry

12 Apr, 2021

By Kathryn Fishman-Weaver , Stephanie Walter , Edutopia The last year has been one of constant recalibration as many of us move from teaching in person to online to hybrid and back to in person. Reentry is on all of our minds, with many of us wondering how educators can support our students’ well-being. As administrators of a global school, we see how this essential challenge presents itself across...

In Schools, Finding Hope at a Hopeless Time

09 Apr, 2021

By Nora Fleming , Edutopia In mid-February, three snowstorms knocked out the electricity for thousands of residents in Boyd County, Kentucky. As they waited for up to two weeks for the lights to come on, many residents were left snowbound in their homes in freezing temperatures. Two people died from hypothermia before power was restored. The outages added insult to injury for a rural community struggling to keep...

Boosting Student Motivation in World Language Classes This Year

07 Apr, 2021

By Elena Spathis , Edutopia Avoiding lectures in favor of games and lessons that emphasize culture can help remote students stay engaged. With students learning in hybrid and virtual formats, optimizing engagement and increasing motivation are more challenging than ever before. In any setting, involving students in their own learning is key; we cannot expect them to be enthusiastic or motivated if they are merely fed...

10 Ways to Harness the Power of the Chat Function

07 Apr, 2021

By Maureen Picard Robins , Edutopia Digital conversations are a good way to connect with students learning at home—and they can serve as a useful artifact of learning. Engaging teenagers in classroom discussion has often confounded me through my many roles in education as teacher, staff developer, assistant principal, and now adjunct professor and student-teacher supervisor. It’s as if the conditions have...

10 New Focused Attention Practices

07 Apr, 2021

By Lori Desautels , Edutopia Whether students are in class or at home, these quick breaks can help them find calm and prime their brains for learning. The traumatic conditions of isolation, chronic unpredictability, and physical and emotional distance over the past year are affecting everyone, but children and adolescents are experiencing these effects as they are still developing. Toxic levels of stress can wear out...

7 ‘read-aloud’ tips for parents to help prevent children’s COVID-19 pandemic learning loss

06 Apr, 2021

COVID-19 has been with us for a year, and the negative consequences of disrupted learning are becoming clear especially for our youngest learners. Researchers who studied children in Alberta report that in grades 2 and 3, children are six to eight months behind where they would usually be in reading . International researchers have projected the possibility of serious long-term consequences if learning losses are not...

After a year of digital learning and virtual teaching, let’s hear it for the joy of real books

06 Apr, 2021

We know COVID-19 and its associated changes to our work and learning habits caused a marked increase in the use of technology. More surprising, perhaps, is the impact these lockdowns have had on children’s and young people’s self-reported enjoyment of books and the overall positive impact this has made on reading rates. A recent survey from the UK, for example, showed children were spending 34.5% more time reading...

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