Blogs

Turning Chaos into Opportunity

By Phil Kitchel posted 4 hours ago
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By Michael G. Ryan Michael Ryan and co-authors Megan Cziraky , Kristen Kain , Helena McKendrick , and Meredith Miller published the article “ Learning, Growing, Embracing, Transitioning, and Changing: Exploring Resilient Teaching and Learning during the Covid-19 Shutdown,” in Volume 87, Number 2, of KDP’s Educational Forum . The article is available free in the month of June. It’s easy to point out all the pain, sorrow, and challenges that COVID 19 wrought. This is especially true when thinking about the impact that the pandemic had on education. Zoom classes, isolation, and learning loss are some of the terms that come to mind. These ...
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3 Keys to Safe and Connected Classrooms

By Phil Kitchel posted 13 days ago
2 people recommend this.
By Kyle W. Lickel “Explosions.” That’s what popped in my head as I pondered the question: “What is going to get students to actually want to attend class and be engaged?” If I could put together an entire unit studying explosions—the science, history, math, literature, art, and so on—I bet kids would want to come to class. Then, that passing thought got swept away in the whirlwind of teaching, grading, planning, and managing behavior. Later I thought, “What is it about ‘explosions’ that made me think of it in the first place?” The excitement? The surprise element? The heat and ...
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Great Classroom Management + High Teacher Confidence = An Effective New Teacher

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-02-2023
2 people recommend this.
By Grace Kibe Novice teachers aspire to have a great classroom, with students who are well behaved and academically successful. They strive to practice student-centered and culturally responsive teaching practices that meet the needs of all students. To achieve this goal, novice teachers should aim to have effective classroom management practices and high self-efficacy beliefs. Classroom management encompasses teachers’ commitment to maintain a healthy learning environment through the establishment of rules and expectations that eliminate disruptive behaviors (Reddy, Newman, & Verdesco, 2016). Teacher self-efficacy beliefs ...
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ELLs 101: Debunking 5 Myths About ELLs, and Simple Practices to Reach Them

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-25-2023
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By Lisa Brizendine It is December in Tara’s first grade classroom, and 6 out of 18 students are English learners (ELLs). Tara reads aloud the story “Too Many Tamales.” Tara would stop at certain times in the story and ask leveled questions. However, one EL, Luis, has not yet spoken during any lessons, although he speaks Spanish and a little English with his peers during recess and lunch. She’s concerned that he may have a learning disability. She thinks Luis may need to be referred to the special education teacher for an evaluation. Is Tara’s hunch correct? This scenario is commonplace for classrooms across the nation. It is estimated that 10.1 percent (5 ...
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School-Shooting Drills: Yes, No?

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-19-2023
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By Carleton H. Brown Carleton Brown and co-author David DeMatthews published the article “There’s a Shooting at the Middle School” in Volume 87, Number 2, of KDP’s Educational Forum . The article is available free in the month of April. As an Associate Professor who has been studying, presenting, writing, and researching gun violence and school shootings, it is more than evident to me that America has a gun violence problem. It is difficult to argue against this point as plenty of statistics provide clear evidence. For instance, in the last five years, there has been a steady increase in the firearm death rate, with well over 35,000 firearm deaths ...
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Why “Print Culture” and “Emergent Literacy” Are Important to Literacy Development

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-18-2023
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By Jennifer Martin “A World Without Print”: This phrase is the title of a chapter from Victoria Purcell-Gates’ text, Other People’s Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy . In this text, Purcell-Gates details the literacy journey of a family of white, urban Appalachians., Although the family values education, the parents did not finish school, despite their best efforts. The parents lived within a non-print culture. Their world was based on oral tradition, and, despite their desire to get their children to learn to read and write, their children were not finding success in school. Jenny, the mother of two boys, attempted to communicate with her sons’ teachers, ...
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Collaborative Discourse: A Stepping-Stone in Creating a Sustainable World

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-13-2023
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By Lucijan Jović Society is made up of individuals from all walks of life. It is filled with multiple cultures, varied opinions, different backgrounds; however, speaking English is one thing most of us have in common. Regardless of one’s career, the ability to speak, read, and write effectively is a necessity. Burke (2013) in The English Teacher’s Companion , stresses that “each discipline develops in students not just bodies of knowledge—facts, theories, concepts to memorize—but ways of seeing, thinking, and communicating, all of which rely on the fundamental literacies [learned] in English class” (p.2). As educators, we prepare our students to not only ...
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Classroom Library 101

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-04-2023
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By Julie Hoffman The classroom library is a fundamental component of the literacy-rich environment we want children to access at school. In essence, if we want our students to become readers, to identify as readers, we need to supply a variety of texts that students can and want to read, and provide time for them to do so. If we know that the time students spend reading independently correlates with reading achievement, then it’s on us to provide volumes of diverse, high-quality materials for them to read (Krashen, 2004). In other words, we need to display the joy and power of reading across our bookshelves. Which books should be in your classroom ...
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Activate Students’ Minds with Active Reading

By Phil Kitchel posted 03-28-2023
2 people recommend this.
By Brian Williams, Rebecca Kavel, and Kyle Graham “I don’t understand! My students can read well, but they struggle to make sense of the text. As a result, student engagement dwindles, text discussions are like pulling teeth, and assessment scores are horrific. Help!” Do you find yourself saying the same thing? If so, you are not alone. Many beginning teachers struggle to understand that reading well is more than just being able to demonstrate fluency. In fact, being able to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression is just a step in the meaning-making process. Unfortunately, your students were taught how to read and not how to read to learn ...
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3 Subtle Classroom Management Strategies That Can Have a Big Impact

By Phil Kitchel posted 03-07-2023
5 people recommend this.
By Amie Weinberg Let’s begin with an important, common question that new teachers typically ask: “What’s the difference between classroom discipline and classroom management?” Discipline refers to a reactive, problem-driven process that focuses on something that has already taken place; classroom management centers on being proactive and promoting student responsibility (Wong & Wong, 2014). Experienced teachers know that a successful classroom management plan can make the difference between a day of learning and a day of chaos. Classroom management includes rules, procedures, and guidelines for students that allow them to focus on learning. Teachers ...
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Giving Students the World Via Live Virtual Expeditions

By Phil Kitchel posted 02-21-2023
2 people recommend this.
By Mariel Gómez de la Torre-Cerfontaine and Nichole L. Smith Have your students ever visited the Pyramids or Buckingham Palace? Have they asked if it’s the same time in the United States as Calcutta, India? Virtual field trips are a medium for these explorations. As one student states: “I love [virtual] field trips. They are awesome. I get to see the most beautiful countries in real life and…know where to visit…in the future” (Emir, 6th grade). The World Awaits! It’s important for teachers to create engaging lessons that expose students to real life experiences, field trips, virtual tours, guest speakers, and so on (Honigsfeld, 2019). COVID-19 impacted ...
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The ABCs of Teaching Empathy

By Phil Kitchel posted 02-14-2023
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By Jodi Legnon, Sherry Been, and Anita Ede You scan your kindergarten classroom and see students working during centers when suddenly you hear, “No, you can’t play with the blocks!” Lilly moves toward Cody and pushes his body away. Cody crosses his arms over his chest as his lip quivers and tears stream down his face. You move toward the children knowing this is a teachable moment for Lilly, Cody, and the other kindergarten students, as you model using your words and perspective taking. Children do not come into the world filled with empathy for others. This is a learned skill that comes from experiencing empathy towards themselves. Teachers are in a ...
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Living the Dream by Authentically Living Your Work!

By Phil Kitchel posted 02-06-2023
2 people recommend this.
By Anastasia P. Samaras Dr. Samaras is author of the article “Letter to a New Academic: In and Out of the Ravine,” published in The Educational Forum, Volume 87, Issue 1. When was the last time you stepped back to take stock of your professional journey? Do you ever ask yourself, “What am I actually doing in my professional work?” “Do I love what I do?” “Does my work matter and for whom?” Whether we work in a school or university, sometimes we might find ourselves just getting carried along a slow winding path or even on a roaring stream. That is why I wrote this article to share what I have learned about taking time to retrospectively consider if ...
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How the Current Teacher-Evaluation System Could Lead to a Mass Exodus of Black Women Teachers

By Phil Kitchel posted 02-06-2023
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By Shanyce L. Campbell Dr. Campbell is the author of “Shifting Teacher Evaluation Systems to Community Answerability Systems: (Re)Imagining How We Assess Black Women Teachers” in the latest edition of The Educational Forum . Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now, imagine that there are no Black women educators in classrooms teaching our children. Not a single one. What are you feeling? What are you thinking? This imagining is a breath of fresh air for some, who may think that America is finally being made great. Others may feel a numbness rooted in their lack of surprise, thinking, “I knew this was eventually going to happen.” Others ...
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At the United Nations: Creating a Sustainable Future for Generations to Come

By Phil Kitchel posted 02-01-2023
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By Lucijan Jović Rigorous learning standards in schools hold students to high academic standards, which ensures that they are well-prepared to enter the workforce. As educators, our goal is to provide the highest quality instruction that not only engages our students but places them on the path toward personal and academic success. In order to ensure students are successful, educators must strengthen students’ critical thinking, reading, writing, and communicative proficiency. By doing so, we not only meet the needs of the diverse learning community, we’re also molding students into individuals who will create a more sustainable world for years to come. It ...
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3 Questions to Ask Before Enrolling in Online Certification Programs

By Phil Kitchel posted 11-22-2022
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By Helen Hoffner and Jack Mills After teaching for a few years, Madeline Church enrolled in an online graduate program to earn a master’s degree and certification as a reading specialist. The tuition was steep, and the assignments were challenging, but she persevered. Her dreams were dashed, however, when she completed the graduate program with A’s but could not be certified as a reading specialist in her home state. Although the program’s website stated that it met national standards, it did not fulfill the certification requirements of her state. In America, each state sets its own policies for certification. Although most states require similar coursework, ...
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Our Journeys as Immigrant/Immigrant Descendant, African, and Afro-Caribbean Educators

By Phil Kitchel posted 11-10-2022
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By Christine Nganga Dr. Nganga is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at The George Washington University in the U.S. Her teaching and research interests include leadership practice with a social justice and equity focus, narrative inquiry, and mentoring theory and practice. The article “Tapestries of Epistemologies: Intersectional and Transnational Feminist Understandings of Caribbean and African Women Faculty’s Influence as Researchers,” by Christine Nganga, Kimberly Williams Brown, Makini Beck, and Joyanne De Four-Babb, is in the current issue of The Educational Forum , and is available free through the month of November . ...
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Children’s Grief Awareness Day

By Phil Kitchel posted 11-01-2022
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Children’s Grief Awareness Day is held each year on the third Thursday in November. In 2022, it will be marked on November 17. The day reminds us that childhood bereavement is all too common. In the United States, one in 13 children will lose a parent or sibling by the time they reach 18 years of age (CBEM). Almost all children-- about 90 percent --will experience the death of a close family member or friend. 2022 has been another challenging year because of the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many children have lost loved ones from COVID-19. The nation has experienced excess deaths from other causes as well. Despite these sobering facts, grieving ...
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5 Awesome Apps to Get Kids Moving Indoors

By Phil Kitchel posted 11-01-2022
3 people recommend this.
By Melissa Bittner & Mariya Davis Physical activities give students a break from demanding cognitive tasks and serve to encourage creative development (Skoning, 2008). Offering active breaks during classroom instruction has favorable outcomes for academic achievement (Fedewa & Soyeon, 2011). Research also supports the positive impact of physical activities on student classroom behavior (Barros et al., 2009). In addition, physical activity is especially important for children with disabilities, as they are almost 1.5 times more likely to be overweight or obese compared with their typically developing peers (Healy et al., 2018). When the ...
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“The world has collapsed inside me”: An International Student’s Reflection on Immobility

By Phil Kitchel posted 10-28-2022
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By Anh Ngoc Quynh Phan The author’s article in the current issue of The Educational Forum , “In-betweenness, Mother Guilt, and Juggling Roles: The Emotional Experiences of a Vietnamese International Doctoral Student Mother,” is currently available free. Anh Ngoc Quynh Phan is completing her PhD study at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. Anh is familiar with qualitative methodologies such as narrative inquiry, critical (collaborative) autoethnography, and poetic inquiry. Anh is interested in migration, diaspora, international student mobility, space, place, and identity. COVID-19 came like a tornado, causing a worldwide blackout. The earth ...
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