Classroom Toolkit Newsletter

Advocacy: Why Advocated Change Never Happens

Evolution and disintegration, growth and decay, building and demolishing…these are the natural order of the Universe.

Total Physical Response - Story: Integrating Storytelling into Instruction

The Total Physical Response - Story (TPR-S) strategy provides teachers with extraordinary tools for integrating storytelling into all aspects of instruction.

Scholastic™ Opens a New "Newbie Teacher" Service

Scholastic™ launched a new service aimed at capturing new teachers and bringing them into the Scholastic™ sphere of influence.

The new Help for New Teachers site is called, "First Class."

The Iron Triangle: Geometry that Foils Budget-Cutting Propaganda

One of the most egregious school district (bureaucratic) fallacies is that teachers "Can do more with less."

Write Reflections™: Do you Want your Students to Learn to Write for a Change?

Why do students experience the slightest bit of difficulty when they write?

Build an Invisible Teflon®, Flack-Jacket, Stormy-Day Suit

Teachers encounter stressful situations, often minute-by-minute.

Sometimes this is the result of student activity, sometimes the byproduct of colleague interaction, sometimes the stress is set off by parents' protests, sometimes a response to a principal's foibles or pathology.

But, teachers need to remain calm, composed and in control.

Steps to Controlling your Thoughts, Self-Talk and Emotions

Teachers should be able to say what they think, feel and believe; and in a world of real academic freedom, this would be true.

Digital Portfolios: Will these Tools Ever Work?

Digital portfolios are a great idea. Feature sets are increasing in reliability, scalability and relevance. Digital portfolios help teachers make important instructional decisions, and serve as outstanding reporting tools.

Teacher Creativity and Idea Incubation

Creative people may be quick of wit and nimble of tongue; but, creative
people are patient people.