As I head back into the ELA classroom after years off, it seems appropriate to start this post with a little vocab. Cognitive Offloading: A process in which we use an external tool (genAI) as a se...

I want to clarify a few things as I begin: 1) It is the second day of school and my brain is a combination of spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and weird middle school slang that doesn’t make sense to me. ...

For the first time in three years, I’m sitting in my own classroom with endless thoughts running through my head as I think about my students walking through the door for the first day of school tomor...

A teacher shares variations on covering the syllabus, creating class norms, and starting to build a community that he designed to boost student engagement from day one.

YouTube video by Edutopia

A roundup of Edutopia favorites to help you kick off the school year strong, with ideas for classroom design, family communication, community-building, routines and norms, and classroom management.

Extrinsic motivation gets a bad rap, but middle and high school teachers can use it judiciously early in an activity to encourage students to get started.

Extrinsic motivation gets a bad rap, but middle and high school teachers can use it judiciously early in an activity to encourage students to get started.

Extrinsic motivation gets a bad rap, but middle and high school teachers can use it judiciously early in an activity to encourage students to get started.

Mastery Check Purpose: A mastery check helps you pinpoint what you already know and what you need to focus on learning and practicing next. Learning Focus: I can analyze how a character’s developmen...

After years of search and experimentation, this teacher finally hit on a room layout that allowed for efficient shifting between whole class, small group, and independent work.