Sharing is a basic social grace encouraged and taught at the earliest age. As children grow, they are urged to share at home and in school. It is a vital life skill that children need to learn in order to play cooperatively and make friends. In fact, the children who consistently do not want to share in peer circles commonly become isolated later in life.

Sharing, or collaborating, in today’s educational market has become a veritable basic skill. We, as teachers, are encouraged to collaborate on everything from teaching styles to assessments, from data analysis to Mother’s Day projects. Why the big push? One major reason is the same reason we want our students to work collaboratively in pairs or groups – they learn best from each other. Subsequently, so do we!

As teacher evaluation styles, programs, and models evolve over time, although different and varied, each has a tried and true common ribbon running through it: collaboration. Teachers are now being held accountable for collaborating with colleagues and team members.

In a departmentalized world, collaboration could be as simple as meeting and incorporating bits of what other team members are teaching into your lessons. However, teachers must collaborate to glean information about content presented to students from each other, and then commit to delivering it to the students in a way that will be more meaningful to them, facilitating content retention. For example, if fifth graders are studying World War II in Social Studies, students solve math problems about World War II, write persuasive essays after studying about World War II propaganda, read texts about World War II in Reading class, and complete language tasks centered around that topic.

Self-contained teachers can also collaboratively plan by meeting and discussing content presented to students. One effective model is for each teacher on the team to plan a subject for the group. Division of subjects is directly affected by the number of team members involved. For example, if you have a four person team, teachers could choose to plan either reading, math, language, or science and social studies. Each teacher is charged with preparing plans in their subject area for the entire week ahead. This would include writing the lesson plan, differentiation of tasks, and gathering any materials that might be needed, such as copies, specific texts or manipulatives, etc. Teachers would then collaboratively plan the week ahead by presenting their packets to each other, explaining important details, and fielding questions.

Present and future evaluation programs are now going a step further in the direction of collaboration to include a teacher-leader-mentor piece. Top notch educators are now being required to be mentors to each other, sharing ideas and disseminating information on best practices, modeling techniques, and teaching others how to be highly effective.

What we are building, in turn, is a new generation of highly skilled, superhero teacher-leader educational coaches. This group of educators is characterized by and committed to highly effective teaching strategies, a love of lifelong learning, and most importantly, a willingness to share.

The word “hashtag” was recently added to the dictionary. It has revolutionized the way people share, organize, and archive information on social media sites.

One hashtag in particular, #satchat, is near and dear to my heart. It has given me an opportunity to connect with current and emerging school leaders in the wonderful world of Twitter. Each and every Saturday at 7:30am EST educators use the #satchat hashtag in their tweets to share ideas and resources on specific discussion topics. Throughout the week when the actual discussion is not taking place, educators use the #satchat to gain access to timely information and best practice ideas. Hashtags have enabled educators to customize their learning. So let’s take a look at the power of hashtags in education.

There are so many hashtags to follow. Are you a school leader? Try out #satchat. Parent? Check out #ptchat (Parent-Teacher). Educational junkie? No doubt you will love #edchat. Addicted to educational technology? Follow #edtechchat. I could go on and on. Whether it’s a state oriented hashtag, like #iaedchat (Iowa), #njed (New Jersey), or #arkedchat (Arkansas), or a subject specific hashtag such as #sschat (Social Studies) you have so many options at your fingertips.

The great thing about hashtags is that they are applicable to a number of social media sites. Utilizing your search box feature will help with finding resources related to a particular hashtag. A very popular Instagram hashtag educators use is #teachersfollowteachers. Whether you are looking for a classroom decoration idea or want to see what a particular learning experience looks like, Instagram provides educators with an opportunity to grow in ways once thought unimaginable. Educators can actually see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms.

Hashtags are sometimes overwhelming, especially across multiple social media sites. That’s why it’s imperative to use a tool like Tagboard to stay on top of things. Tagboard is a collection of social media posts that share a common hashtag, helping you stay connected and organized. Hashtags can also have a profound effect on stakeholder engagement. Classrooms, schools, and districts should strongly consider utilizing hashtags to activate stakeholder interest in school happenings. For example, Joe Sanfelipopo, Superintendent of Falls Creek School District in Wisconsin, encourages the school community to stay connected and promote initiatives through the #gocrickets hashtag.

So what do you say? Take a chance and start a hashtag to tell your school’s story and promote all that’s right with education.

It was report card time and I wanted to share with my families how grades were determined in the behavior section. My behavior grades were based on ClassDojo. One parent mentioned that I seemed to use the negative behavior feature far more than the positive. I went back to my reports and noticed this parent was correct. I had far more negative activity than positive. My focus was off and I needed to find a way to use ClassDojo in a more positive manner.

After a long dialogue with my class, we came to the idea of “First to…”. We turned ClassDojo into a reward game. We would clear all points and then set a goal for how long it would take for all students to earn 10 points. If it took 10 days to earn ten points, we would clear points and set a new goal: 8 days to earn 10 points!

This system allowed students the opportunity to reflect on their behavior. They could ask questions like, “How was my day? What might be some things I did today to earn a Dojo point? What might be some things I can do today to earn a Dojo point?”

We also acknowledged students that made it to a certain number in a given amount of time. For example, students competed to be the first to make it to twenty-five points in a month. When student’s reached 25 points, we celebrated as a class and acknowledged students at the end of the month.

While it was still necessary to give negative points at times, the positive points began to outweigh the negative. The shifted use of ClassDojo motivated my students and instilled reflection within their learning day. Moreover, parents were much more excited about their child’s progress and ultimately more supportive of me as a teacher!

When and if you decide to use ClassDojo with your students, it’s a good idea to think about how you will use it first. Do you have a projector that you can display ClassDojo on? If so, how often will you display it? Some teachers have it up all day, while others choose to display it at specific times, like first thing in the morning. Whatever you decide, I recommend following these steps:

1. Create buy-in

Let students design their own avatar. They’ll be much more enthusiastic if they can personalize their character. Get them involved in the process of creating a classroom culture, let them help choose which behaviors will go on ClassDojo, and what they need to do to earn points. Let the students have a voice in when they think people should lose points as well. Ultimately, you will make the call when it comes to awarding points, but giving kids ownership of the development process will increase buy-in. You can also check in with your group ever so often to discuss what is working and what is not.

2. Be consistent

Whatever you decide to do, stick with it. If you say you are going to give a prize to students when they reach a certain goal, follow through! On the other hand, if you say you are going to take away points when something happens, do it. Make sure your plan is feasible. If you promise to give points for certain behaviors, set up your space so that you can easily give points at any given time. If you have to find a computer and log in every time you want to give a point, you are unlikely to follow through. I recommend using the mobile app for this reason.

3. Make it a part of the culture

ClassDojo is a tool that works best when used in tandem with other classroom management programs. I used ClassDojo with my classroom economy last year. My fifth graders loved it. When they earned a certain amount of ClassDojo points they were able to “cash out” and get a cash bonus in their class bank account. We had an auction every month, giving students had a tangible reward for their behavior that was reinforced with ClassDojo. There are endless ways you can adapt this tool to fit your classroom management needs.

Gone are the days when you only had access to parents via one-way monthly newsletters or twice-a-year parent teacher conferences. Thanks to technology you can easily keep in touch with your students’ parents all year-round.

Here are some tips to get your communicating with parents in the digital world:

Keep a Class Blog

Rather than sending home a monthly or weekly newsletter to parents that might never make it out of the bottom of your students’ backpacks, try starting a class blog. Set a schedule for posting and share that schedule with parents. Allow moderated comments on the posts to get parents involved with the classroom.

Have your students do most of the blogging. Assign one student a week to be the class chronicler. Have that student take photos, record interviews with other students, and summarize what the class learned. Weebly is an easy platform for students of all ages to use.

Get your class blog linked to your school’s homepage to show all the exciting work your class is doing!

Use a Messaging Service

Sending individual texts or emails to parents is time consuming and not very private. Let a messaging service, such as ClassDojo Messaging, do all the work for you. Once students and parents opt into the system, it allows you to easily send text message blasts to update all parents at once, or you can privately message them to keep them up-to-date on their child’s progress. You don’t see their phone numbers and they don’t see yours. This is a great option for families who may not have home Internet but do have smartphones.

Set Up a Class Social Media Account

If parents don’t want to have their phones buzzing all the time, consider starting a class Twitter account or Facebook page. You can use the page to share updates, photos, and links to student work. If your students are under 13, be sure to set the account to private. To view the page, all parents will need to have Twitter or Facebook accounts (many of them probably already do). Before setting up any class social media accounts, review your school’s Privacy Policy and check with administrators.

Make Parents Feel Welcome

Let parents know that your classroom is a welcome space for them. Consider inviting parents to your classroom on days when students are giving presentations or sharing projects. Working parents can use Skype or Google Hangouts to visit virtually.

We have all probably been in classrooms where it seemed as if the teacher was teaching to the wall. Few students were focused, participating, or even in their seats. What these teachers lacked was a classroom management system. There are several basic tenets of classroom management that can smooth the rough edges of any school year, no matter what the student population.

Set boundaries. Discuss with students well-defined rules and consequences, as well as rewards. Help them build ownership in the rules by brainstorming reasons for each guideline.

Accentuate the positive. Recognize and reward worthy behavior publicly. This will sharpen students’ hunger to please you and be recognized in front of the class. Appropriate and positive behaviors should receive public accolades each time they occur. Consistent positive reinforcement will do more to curtail negative behavior than consequences!

Be fair and consistent. Negative behaviors should receive the same consequences every time. Let students know that any behavior that impedes learning is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Refrain from making threats without following through. This will do wonders for your credibility! Students need to know that you mean business.

Give warnings before giving penalties for negative behavior. We all need to be urged to step back in line at times without consequence. Simply say,“This is a warning,” and make sure the student understands what the warning is for. Use “the look”. All teachers inherently have this facial expression that warns students they are on thin ice.

Stay calm when negative behaviors occur. If students make bad decisions and you react as a “loose cannon”, they often do not know what to expect. As one of their primary role models, students need and expect you to be cool, composed, and consistent. Simply give the student who made the bad choice a consequence and move on.

Choose a management system that is easy to use and that students are interested in. Whether it is a program like ClassDojo, a clip chart with colors and clothespins, or card pockets with multi-colored cards, be enthusiastic and consistent when using it. Routine and structure are crucial here.

Communicate with parents. This should be an integral part of any management system. Begin the school year with a positive communication for every student. When you have completed one positive contact for each student on your roster, start again! The rewards you will reap are invaluable!

Make parents your partners. Consider making home visits to build a rapport with families and students. Keep the lines of communication open with parents throughout the year with positive phone calls, written notes, emails, ClassDojo messaging, and personal contacts. Not only will this help build your relationship, but it shows parents that you are dedicated to the support and success of their child. This will garner parent support and make things easier if you ever need to contact them with news about negative student behavior. If you have their support, half of the battle is already won!

Document everything. Negative behaviors, positive behaviors, as well as parent contacts need to be documented. This can become quite tedious, so find a system that works well for your teaching style and preferences. Choose something that makes documenting simple. If it isn’t easy for you, or you don’t have a system, you are more likely not to do it. For example, ClassDojo keeps record of specific positive and negative behaviors as well as what dates they occurred.This makes data collection easy when needed for RTIs, IEPs, or conferencing.

Being a strong classroom manager is never easy! Remember to be consistent, accentuate the positive, and make parents your partners. Utilize these tools to help make your school year as smooth as possible. Keep calm and teach on!

Are you wondering what you can do to improve your students’ reading test scores this year? Are you trying to supplement your lesson plans with Common Core-based resources? Maybe you’re trying to reduce or resolve the setbacks from summer?

Here are great online resources that will help your students in English Language Arts:

Subtext

This free app and web-based platform allows teachers to assign leveled readings that can be embedded with quizzes, writing prompts, polls, and comments. Subtext has many texts pre-loaded, but you can always search for and upload your own digital text (e.g. a free Google book). In addition to collecting students’ responses to the pre-embedded prompts and quizzes, the system allows students to make their own annotations to the texts. There’s also a speech-to-text feature that works really well for struggling readers and English learners.

Newsela

This free site provides current event news articles that are vetted and leveled (based on Lexile measures). You can assign the same reading to every student, but differentiate the lexile level based on your knowledge of individual ability. In other words, Jack might read the article at 780L while Jamal reads the same article at 1170L. Your students can then discuss the article as a group and you can be confident that everyone was equally capable of accessing the content. The best thing about Newsela is that it gives your students access to relevant and authentic non-fiction texts. It’s a great tool for bell-ringer activities.

ReadWriteThink

If you’re looking for new ELA lesson plans or interactive activities (for individual or whole group instruction), ReadWriteThink is a great place to start. This nonprofit is supported by the IRA and NCTE, so you know the reading pedagogy behind the resources will be sound. They also provide at-home resources, so if you’re trying to get parents more involved in students’ reading success, you can suggest they look here as well.

I always knew that reflection was an important part of being an excellent teacher. I teach reflection to my students when I pass back a test, essay, or other assessment. I stress the importance of it and I’m disappointed when my students don’t take it seriously. Harvard’s Business School hails the importance of reflective practice. Education gurus have written about it for decades. I always thought of myself as a reflective teacher, but last year I realized that I really don’t reflect too often. I was more of an, “I’ll do that differently next year!” type of teacher. Then next year rolled around and I forgot.

Last year I got in the habit of reflecting every day. Even if it was only for 10 minutes right after school, I made sure to reflect. I use PowerPoint almost every day during my instruction, so I decided to reflect by taking notes in the PowerPoint notes section. I would write what I would change about the lesson for next year. If I had time I would even tweak the presentation itself. Sometimes I would pull up handouts on my computer, make a few adjustments, and write a quick note in my planner. It never took me more than 10-15 minutes and was an investment that really paid off!

My 8th grade team meets as a group twice a week, giving us an opportunity to reflect on our practice with each other. If you are not given weekly collaborative time at your school, find someone in your content area to meet with regularly. Start the conversation in a safe place and reflect on the areas of your instruction that are working and areas that aren’t. For example, l was having a hard time teaching complex sentence structures to several students. After reflecting on this issue and talking with another teacher, she suggested an alternative way to approach the situation, and it worked! The experience of admitting you need help can be incredibly humbling and ultimately will help your students succeed.

There are many procedural-type of tools that teachers pick up throughout the year. Some of them are easy to implement at different types of the year, while some of them require a fresh start. I have a document titled “Do This Next Year”, where I keep a running tab of all the great things I want to try a bit differently. For example, I learned a great technique for forming student groups by giving each group a color and each desk a number of 1-4 , both noted by a sticker on the top right corner of the desk. This would allow me to group students in a variety of ways simply by saying “Get into your color groups. 1’s come up and get the papers…” This would work for an endless amount of activities. Though I adopted parts of it, the entire procedure was too much to implement in April. Into the list it went!

Reflecting is an investment that is well worth the time. It will improve your practice, professional growth, and most importantly, student achievement.

Schools throughout the nation are embracing the Common Core State Standards as a guide for developing curriculum across the content areas and designing assessments to measure student performance. It’s important that teachers have an understanding of what students need to be able to do at the level they are teaching. For educators who reach a wide range of students in their everyday workload this can be an especially daunting task.

There are great resources for helping teachers access the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards has a fantastic website for teachers full of useful information. They have a clear outline of all of the standards in addition to resources for parents and frequently asked questions.

If you are operating most often with the screen of your mobile device you’ll definitely want to download the free mobile app from Mastery Connect (iOS / Android). By having this app on your tablet or smartphone, you can easily access the Common Core State Standards in a meeting, planning session, or just to answer a quick question.

One helpful feature is the ability to type in a keyword and search through the Common Core State Standards. If you’re in a school that is new to these national standards this option will definitely come in handy. You can type in a phrase like “comparing fractions” and figure out which grade and standard applies to this particular skill. As you prepare for the upcoming school year definitely add this app to your homescreen for easy access to the Common Core!

I’m not sure about other teachers, but I found talking to parents particularly intimidating when I first started teaching. Having no children of my own and being in my early 20s, I was unsure of myself and it showed. Here are some tips to get the most out of communicating with parents:

1. Make contact before official events such as parent teacher conferences or report cycles. Get in touch to let parents know about your class, your expectations with regards to homework, and show them their child is in good hands.

2. Do not bombard parents with information. People these days get a lot of emails and text messages. Keep it short and to the point. Rule of thumb: The older the students are, the less the parents really want to read about what they did in class.

3. Praise students to parents. Send pithy emails or postcards about how great their child was. I sent a few off at the start of the year with what turned out to be a difficult class of 15 year olds. The most difficult of the students actually carried that postcard around with him for months. You can usually find something that a student has done well.

4. Don’t try to soften the blow with teaching euphemisms if you need to convey difficult or hard-to-hear information. I ran some of my best jargon past a friend of mine and she had zero idea that I was even giving bad news. If you need to say, “Your child is ruining every lesson with their poor behavior,” only sugar-coat this information lightly. Consider, “Johnny’s poor choices often mean he does not make any progress and makes learning harder for other members in the class.”

5. Don’t be a ‘yes’ man. If a parent is wrong, it is okay to let them know. Obviously you would not talk to them like they were a child. However, an adult-to-adult professional conversation should not always end with you agreeing to whatever the parent says. I watched in awe as my old boss talked down a parent who was insisting that his son should not have been suspended for a disciplinary issue because ‘everyone else was doing it’. She was masterful. She was gentle and polite but she was firm and gave no ground. And in the end, the parent agreed with my boss.