Why? Sometimes the barriers are real, such as not having access to green space near your school.

However, a lot of times the barriers are in our heads, it’s because we don’t think we are “outdoorsy” enough or know enough about nature to take kids outside.

I’m here to challenge you, even if you don’t consider yourself to be an outdoorsy teacher, to get outside with your students. You don’t need to wear the latest gear from outdoor retailers, like bugs, or know the name of every plant in the schoolyard to get outside. You just need a tiny push to stretch your own boundaries and start thinking about learning outside of the walls of your classroom. The more you get outside, the more you will learn and the more comfortable you will be with it.

Now, you might be asking why you should go through all of the extra efforts of taking learning outside when you’re perfectly happy inside the four walls of your classroom.

The reason is simple: the benefits of outdoor learning are amazing and will not only benefit your students, but you as a teacher as well. It’s time to take learning outside and start reaping the many benefits.

How nature nurtures the whole child (and adult)

When thinking about the benefits of outdoor learning, I like to break things into 3 broad categories… physical benefits, mental health benefits, and social/emotional benefits. The benefits you see will depend on how you approach outdoor learning. You will also see more benefits as your students become more comfortable with learning outside and increase their time outdoors. You can read more about the benefits of outdoor learning here.

Building bodies: The physical benefits of outdoor learning are what likely come to mind first when people think about taking students outside. In the outdoor setting, your students are moving more and are moving in a way that feels natural to them. As they move about outside they are building their gross motor skills as well as their stamina. Students are also able to release the pent-up energy from being indoors in the classroom when they have more freedom to move outdoors. The uneven ground challenges students’ balance and coordination, especially if you can take your students to a naturalized area, such as a wooded area of a park. Students are also able to build fine motor skills by picking up tiny objects, such as rocks, sticks, or insects.

Calming brains: Not only do our bodies benefit from being outdoors, but our brains do as well. Being outdoors provides a mental break from the over-stimulating classroom. Nature has a way of providing the “just-right” amount of stimulus for our brains to feel content and relaxed. Time in nature has also been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. You may even find that your students are able to focus better on academic tasks once you take learning back indoors.

Fostering relationships: Additionally, our students benefit socially and emotionally through outdoor learning. During time outdoors, students are often more easily engaged in cooperative activities. Students naturally have to work together to overcome challenges or complete tasks. Additionally, students’ communication skills are enhanced by spending time outdoors as they describe really cool discoveries or give instructions or directions to others. While outdoors, students are often completing tasks that are difficult which improves their resilience, and self-confidence.

Changing the future: One final bonus benefit of taking learning outside is the relationship that students will begin to build with nature and the Earth. Students are only able to build a relationship with the Earth if they have opportunities to spend some time getting to know her. The best way to allow your students to get to know and love nature is by spending time in nature. So many of our students don’t have opportunities to get outside, so we can take a step towards fostering these relationships by getting outside the classroom. By providing our students with the opportunities to build a relationship with the Earth, we are influencing the future by creating students who care about the Earth and want to protect it.

10 easy, low-prep outdoor activities to do with students

Outdoor learning doesn’t need to be something that is time-consuming or hard. In fact, starting out simply is probably the best way to go. As you gain confidence and comfort in your own ability to take learning outside, you can start to build your practice into something bigger and longer.

As you start your journey into outdoor learning, you will need to remember that outdoor learning is something that is new for your students as well. Your students may not be accustomed to learning outside. (They may not even be accustomed to going outside, let alone learning outside.) Give yourself grace as you try new things and stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone.

Remember, you don’t need to be an expert on nature (or even anything related to being outdoors) to take your students outside. You simply need to have a willingness to try something new. In fact, not being an expert shows your students that they don’t need to be experts either to enjoy being outdoors. They can simply get outside and experience nature and build relationships with nature in their own way.

1. Do your morning routine, sharing circle, morning meeting, or team-building activities outside.

I know a lot of teachers who began their outdoor teaching practice by simply starting their morning routine outside. This removed the barrier of having a tricky transition for the students and allowed them to start out the day peacefully and without a morning rush. Simply taking the morning routine activities, your sharing circle, or your morning meeting outside is a quick and easy way to build in some outdoor time into your day. You can then begin to build on this and extend your time outside as your students become more comfortable with this routine.

2. Take a read-aloud outside

Whether it’s a picture book or a novel, taking your read-aloud story outside and allowing your students to find a comfy spot is a great introductory activity to getting outside. I like taking read-alouds or stories outside as there is very little equipment or preparation required. Bringing some blankets outside for students to sit on adds a layer of comfort but also provides a visible boundary for where you want students to be.

3. Take your independent reading outside

For older students, taking a novel study or their independent reading outside is another great low prep and minimal equipment activity. Simply provide some boundaries for your students, set the expectations for their reading time, and set them free.

4. Try doing nature journals or a nature-based writing activity

Nature journals can take many forms, from pre-made guided journals (like you might purchase and print out) to an open-ended notebook. At first, your students may need some guidance and prompts. However, as time goes on and your students get the feel for journal writing, you might be able to allow more freedom. Additionally, if you have specific writing intentions for your students (such as descriptive writing), you can either create or purchase outdoor-themed writing activities.

5. Take a learning game outside

I love inventing games. Active games are a great way to check for understanding of curriculum content while also engaging students through movement. Often the games that I create are simple (and sometimes even made up on the spot.) For example, in a game I call, “agree or disagree” I will assign 1 tree as the “agree tree” and another as the “disagree tree.” I will then give a statement and students will have to run to whichever tree they feel best suits their own understanding. Sometimes I even have students invent their own games to demonstrate a concept.

6. Take an art activity outside

Let nature inspire your art. So many artists have been inspired by nature, so why not let nature inspire your own budding artists? Taking simple, nature-inspired art activities outside can help students build their observation skills and connection to nature. Try to find activities that don’t involve a lot of materials, such as sketching or watercolor painting.

7. Invite local experts to help facilitate activities

If you feel like taking learning outside is too far outside of your comfort zone, why not seek out the help of an expert? Your community may have experts who offer programs that allow you to take your students outside with support. Local conservation centers, outdoor learning centers, or even environmental programs may have field trip opportunities or visiting guests that can support you in taking learning outside.

8. Take science outside

What better way to learn about ecosystems, weather, or tons of other scientific phenomena than by experiencing them firsthand? There are so many ways that you can take your science curriculum outdoors in ways that are both meaningful and more impactful than any textbook could provide. Your science curriculum or textbooks may even have some great activities for you to try.

9. Explore your community

Learning does not just take place in our schoolyard but can take place in our community as well. You can theme your community walks to whatever best meets your curriculum. It can be as simple as looking for letters or numbers for the “littles,” discovering the services and businesses that are in your community for your older students, to more in-depth community analysis for high school students. Getting to explore the community helps students to feel like they are a part of it and helps them get to know their “neighbours” better.

10. Just play!

Play is an essential part of learning and growing. If you teach younger students, simply finding time for students to play outside in a natural setting (not on a playground) is a fabulous way to integrate outdoor learning. A few props, such as stuffed animals, can help students really get into their outdoor play.

Bring back joy by teaching outdoors: A how-to guide

How to take your first steps toward outdoor learning

The idea of taking learning outside can be daunting. You may have even tried to take things outside in the past only to say, never again. However, outdoor learning is a journey. Nothing goes perfectly the first time and you may encounter challenges that you never thought about before. Here are a few tips to help you get out the door.

1. Start small

Outdoor learning is something new for both you and your students. In the past, students may have only ever played outside and don’t know what it looks like or feels like to learn outside. Your students will need time to get the idea that outdoor time can be learning time too. Try short, easy activities first then build on from there. Also, keep your boundaries small at first. As your students get more comfortable and you build trust, you can expand your boundaries.

2. Set boundaries and expectations ahead of time

Speaking of boundaries, set your outdoor learning boundaries and expectations ahead of time. Don’t wait until your students are outside and running around to let them know what you expect from them. Instead, take some time in the classroom (or in a controlled space outside) to set expectations and explain where you will be going.

3. Be patient

Trying something new is always a bit scary. Be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. I still have lessons that didn’t go according to plan. Take the information you learn from that and use it to grow. Don’t give up, just keep on learning!

4. Be prepared

Have what you need for both safety and your lesson ready ahead of time. Additionally, have a plan in case the weather doesn’t cooperate with you. There are so many times when I have had lessons go sideways simply because I forgot something. Additionally, check you outdoor site ahead of time to ensure that it is safe for your students. Check out this free outdoor learning tool kit for templates and tools to help you prepare for outdoor learning.

5. Ask for help: there are people who would love to get outside with you!

You may feel like you are the only one taking your students outside. I’ve felt that way so many times. Remember, there are people out there to connect with who can help you overcome your barriers or problem solve specific challenges. If costs are a barrier, look for local grants or sponsors to help you purchase equipment.

6. Practice building respect and relationship with the Earth

No matter how you choose to approach outdoor learning, make building relationships with the Earth a priority. Set a good example of what respecting nature looks like. Additionally, build in time to talk about how nature helps us in so many ways. Remember, you can help build a generation of citizens who want to help the Earth, simply by getting outside.

How you can teach outdoors (even in the winter!)

Now it’s time to get outside…

It’s time to start taking those first steps towards getting outside with your students. Remember, you don’t need to consider yourself to be outdoorsy to take your students outdoors. You don’t need to know the names of every bird species or plant in your school yard or be an ecosystem expert. Once you start getting outside with your students you will begin to notice the benefits for both yourself and your students.

By getting outside with your students, not only will you be helping them to develop in a more wholistic way, but you will also be building citizens of the future who care about the Earth and have a desire to protect it. Be curious and adventurous and take the first steps towards changing the world and getting outside with your students.

The post 10 easy ideas for taking your students’ learning outdoors appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

It’s incredible to see students using artificial intelligence to brainstorm creative project ideas, get instant feedback on their writing, or even generate unique artwork—but how do we ensure they’re using it responsibly?

As educators, we have a unique opportunity to guide students in harnessing AI’s potential while teaching them to think critically about its limitations and impacts. In this article, I’ll share practical strategies to help you teach students how to use AI responsibly, ensuring they become thoughtful, tech-savvy learners in an AI-driven world.

Teaching Students AI Literacy

Before students can use artificial intelligence responsibly, it’s crucial they understand how it operates. Many students interact with AI daily—whether it’s through personalized playlists, virtual assistants, or autocorrect on their devices—but they often don’t realize it, or grasp the mechanics behind it. To teach students responsible AI use, we need to first demystify the technology.

1. Start with Simple Definitions

Explain that AI, at its core, is technology designed to learn from data and make decisions or predictions based on that information. Compare AI to a very fast and complex version of human learning: just like people learn from experiences, AI learns from data.

You can use accessible analogies to explain this. For instance, when a student uses a streaming service like Spotify or Netflix, AI pays attention to the types of songs or shows they prefer and recommends similar content. This is much like a friend who knows their preferences and suggests what they might like next. AI’s power lies in its ability to recognize patterns and continually refine its predictions.

2. Discuss How AI Gathers Data

Students need to understand that AI isn’t a magical decision-maker. It’s powered by vast amounts of data collected from different sources. This includes everything from what users click on to the questions they ask a virtual assistant like Siri. Explain how AI gathers and processes this data to “learn” and improve its responses.

For example, when students use search engines or social media, AI is constantly collecting information about their interactions to improve the accuracy of the results they see. This can be a fun opportunity to let students brainstorm how their favorite apps might be using data.

3. Explain Machine Learning

Machine learning, a core part of AI, allows AI systems to improve over time without explicit programming. Introduce this concept by explaining that machine learning enables AI to get better with practice, much like how students improve their skills the more they study a subject. The more data AI has, the better it becomes at recognizing patterns and making decisions.

Use examples like how a smartphone’s autocorrect function learns from a student’s typing habits. Over time, it adjusts to suggest the correct words they tend to use. The phone isn’t programmed for every possible word; instead, it learns what the user typically writes and adjusts accordingly.

4. Cover the Limitations of AI

It’s important that students understand that AI isn’t perfect. It can make mistakes because it’s only as good as the data it receives. If the data is biased, incomplete, or inaccurate, the AI’s outputs will reflect those flaws. You can encourage students to think critically by asking questions like, “What happens if an AI system is trained on biased data? How might that affect its recommendations?”

Ways That AI is Changing the World

Once students understand how AI works, the next step is to show them the real-world impact AI has across different industries. Teaching this can inspire students to think about the broader implications of AI and how it will affect their future careers and daily lives.

1. AI in Healthcare

AI is transforming healthcare by improving diagnostics, treatments, and even predicting health outcomes. For example, AI systems can analyze medical images more quickly and accurately than a human doctor, helping to detect diseases like cancer earlier. Chatbots and virtual health assistants can provide patients with basic health advice, and wearable devices use AI to track heart rates, steps, and sleep patterns, giving real-time health feedback.

This is a good moment to ask students questions like, “Would you trust an AI doctor? Why or why not?” Such discussions can help them consider the ethical implications of relying on AI for critical decisions.

2. AI in Retail and Shopping

AI is everywhere in retail, from personalized shopping recommendations to virtual assistants like Alexa. When students shop online, AI is constantly analyzing their behavior—what they click, what they add to their cart, and what they leave behind. AI-driven chatbots answer customer questions and even help with purchasing decisions.

Students can explore how AI impacts their shopping experiences: “How does AI make online shopping easier? How might it influence your decisions without you even realizing it?”

3. AI in Transportation

Self-driving cars are one of the most recognizable examples of how AI is changing transportation. Autonomous vehicles use AI to process real-time data from cameras, sensors, and GPS to navigate roads, avoid obstacles, and make split-second decisions. AI is also improving public transportation systems by optimizing routes and reducing traffic congestion.

Ask students to imagine what their future might look like if self-driving cars become the norm. Would they feel safe in one? What are the potential benefits and risks?

4. AI in Education

In the classroom, AI is helping both students and teachers by personalizing learning experiences. AI-powered platforms like DreamBox or Khan Academy adapt their lessons based on how well students are doing. For example, if a student is struggling with a specific math concept, AI will offer more targeted practice problems. AI also helps teachers by automating grading, identifying student needs through data, and suggesting resources.

Teachers can have students reflect on the benefits and challenges of AI in education: “How might AI help you learn better? What are the risks of relying too much on AI in school?”

5. AI in the Workplace

AI is reshaping jobs in nearly every field. In manufacturing, robots powered by AI are working alongside humans to assemble products faster and with fewer errors. In offices, AI automates repetitive tasks like scheduling, data entry, and customer service. As AI becomes more advanced, it’s essential for students to consider how it will impact their career options.

Engage students with questions like, “What jobs might be replaced by AI? What new jobs might AI create?” This helps students think critically about the future of work and the skills they will need to thrive in an AI-driven world.

6. AI in Everyday Life

Students may not realize it, but AI is all around them—in their smartphones, smart home devices, and even social media filters. AI helps predict the weather, provide driving directions, and even powers the voice recognition features of their virtual assistants like Siri or Google Assistant. By exploring these everyday uses, students can see just how much AI has integrated into their routines.

A fun way to engage students is by asking, “What AI tools do you use every day without even thinking about it? How do they make life easier or more fun?”

AI’s Possibilities

As educators, we want to inspire curiosity and excitement about the future, but we also need to encourage healthy skepticism and critical thinking. I like to talk with students first about the possibilities, and then the limitations:

• Efficiency & Time-Saving: AI can handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks that humans might find tedious. Think about autocorrect, voice-activated virtual assistants, or even AI-powered chatbots that answer common customer questions. For students, this might mean using AI tools to help brainstorm ideas for a writing assignment or improve the clarity of their grammar.
• Creativity & Innovation: AI can also help foster creativity. For example, AI tools like DALL·E and Canva are helping students and professionals create stunning visual designs with minimal effort. AI-generated music and art are pushing the boundaries of human creativity by suggesting ideas that people may not have thought of on their own. Ask your students to imagine: How might AI help them get creative in their school projects or even hobbies outside of school?
• Problem-Solving: AI excels at analyzing large amounts of data and finding patterns. In fields like healthcare, AI is already helping to diagnose diseases earlier and more accurately than doctors alone. It’s used in finance to detect fraudulent transactions, and in education, it can personalize learning paths to fit the needs of individual students.

AI’s Limitations

• Bias in Data: AI can only be as good as the data it’s trained on. If the data is biased or incomplete, the AI’s decisions will reflect those biases. This can lead to unfair outcomes—like facial recognition systems being less accurate for certain races or genders—or search results that reinforce harmful stereotypes. It’s critical to have conversations with students about the ethical use of AI and how bias in data can impact the world around them.
• Lack of Human Intuition: AI is great at analyzing data, but it lacks human intuition, emotion, and judgment. It can’t always understand the nuances of human behavior or relationships. For example, an AI system might be able to tell you which book you might like based on your reading history, but it can’t have a conversation with you about why you loved that book. In fields like teaching, counseling, or customer service, there will always be a need for human connection.
• Dependence on Algorithms: While AI can be a helpful tool, we need to be careful not to become overly dependent on it. Students should understand that not all tasks should be automated. For instance, using AI to write a complete essay might seem tempting, but it can prevent students from developing their own critical thinking and writing skills. Encourage students to consider: “What tasks should I do on my own, and when is it okay to ask for help from AI?”
• Privacy Concerns: AI relies heavily on personal data, and this raises concerns about privacy and data security. Students should understand the importance of being cautious about the information they share online, especially when using AI-powered apps or tools that collect personal data.

Do’s and Don’ts for Responsible AI Use

By establishing some key do’s and don’ts, you can help students understand how to make ethical choices when using AI in school and in their daily lives. These guidelines will give them a framework for evaluating when and how to use AI tools, both for academic work and personal projects.

Do’s:

• Do use AI to brainstorm and generate ideas.
  AI can be a great tool for jump-starting creativity. Whether it’s coming up with essay topics, brainstorming projects, or getting feedback on ideas, students should feel encouraged to use AI as a resource for inspiration and support.
• Do use AI to help with research and fact-checking.
  AI-powered search engines and tools like language models can help students find information faster. Encourage students to use these tools to locate relevant sources, check facts, and gain a deeper understanding of complex topics.
• Do give credit when AI assists in your work.
  Students should be transparent about when and how they use AI. If an AI tool helped them generate an idea or solve a problem, it’s important to acknowledge that in their work. Teaching students to credit AI sources reinforces honesty and integrity.
• Do use AI to practice and improve skills.
  Whether it’s learning a new language or improving writing skills, AI can provide personalized learning experiences. Encourage students to use AI for skill-building exercises, like grammar checks or language practice apps, to supplement their learning.
• Do think critically about the information AI provides.
  Just because AI provides information doesn’t mean it’s always accurate. Teach students to critically evaluate the outputs of AI, cross-check facts with reliable sources, and consider the potential for bias in AI-generated content.

Don’ts:

• Don’t use AI to complete assignments for you.
  It’s important that students understand AI should be used as a tool to assist learning, not as a shortcut. Submitting AI-generated content as their own work deprives them of the opportunity to develop their own skills and understanding.
• Don’t rely solely on AI for decision-making.
  AI can offer suggestions, but it can’t replace human judgment. Students should understand that AI is a tool to assist with tasks, not a substitute for their own thinking. For important decisions, human intuition and reasoning are still essential.
• Don’t ignore privacy concerns when using AI.
  Many AI tools collect data to function effectively. Students should be cautious about the personal information they share with AI platforms, understanding the importance of protecting their privacy and data.
• Don’t use AI in ways that harm others or spread misinformation.
  AI can be used to create misleading information, like deepfakes or fake news. Students should understand the ethical implications of misusing AI for manipulation or harm and avoid participating in such activities.
• Don’t let AI replace human effort in creative or personal tasks.
  While AI can assist in many ways, some tasks require a personal touch or creative input that only humans can provide. Encourage students to maintain ownership of their personal and creative projects, using AI to enhance their work, not replace it.

How to Determine When AI is Okay to Use for Assignments

One of the most important lessons for students is learning how to discern when it’s appropriate to use AI for schoolwork. To help them with this, we can guide students in referring to a simple continuum that shows varying levels of AI use. This chart provides a structured approach, so students can make informed decisions about how and when to integrate AI into their assignments responsibly.

Here’s a breakdown of the continuum:

• 0: No AI Use Allowed
  Some tasks should rely entirely on the student’s own thinking and skills. These might include personal reflections, creative writing, or assessments where the goal is to evaluate the student’s understanding. For these assignments, students should work independently without using AI assistance.
• 1: AI-Assisted
  In this stage, AI can be used as a helper to assist with brainstorming or editing, but the final product should be the student’s own. For example, a student might use AI to generate ideas or get feedback on grammar, but they should still write the essay or complete the assignment on their own. AI tools should be supplemental, not the main creator of the content.
• 2: AI-Enhanced
  This level allows for AI to be used for specific tasks within an assignment, like organizing research, generating examples, or providing detailed feedback. However, students must be transparent about their AI use and cite it properly as a source. In these cases, AI adds value to the project but does not replace the student’s own work or analysis.
• 3: AI-Empowered
  For more open-ended or exploratory assignments, full use of AI may be allowed. Students might use AI for tasks like creating visuals, generating full reports, or conducting comprehensive research. In these instances, students need to acknowledge the AI’s contributions and ensure their work is still meaningful and accurate, even if AI played a significant role in shaping it.

While it’s important for you as the teacher to spell out where an assignment or task falls on the continuum, it’s also good to teach students how to self-reflect:

• “Is this assignment about showing my personal understanding and skills, or is it more about creativity and problem-solving where AI can help?”
• “Can AI assist me in improving my ideas, or will it take over and do most of the work?”
• “Am I using AI to help me learn, or am I relying on it too much to complete the assignment for me?”
• “Am I giving credit where it’s due by acknowledging the AI’s role in my work?”

Encouraging students to use this continuum will empower them to be more thoughtful about when and how they use AI for academic tasks. It emphasizes balance—showing students that while AI can be a helpful tool, it’s important to use it in a way that enhances their learning rather than replaces it.

Want a done-for-you solution?

Teach students how to use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically with a no-prep 3 lesson mini unit!

What’s included:

• 40 professionally-designed slides that are fully editable, and guide you through the lesson implementation, including interactive partner, group, and whole class practice activities
• 5 student reflection pages which can be printed or used digitally
• A short teacher’s guide with instructions
• An editable AI use continuum to convey to students when they can and can’t use AI for assignments in your class

Each lesson is designed to take only 20 minutes of class time, but can be extended if you’d like to encourage additional discussion.

Students will learn:

• How AI works
• Ways that AI is changing the world
• AI’s possibilities and limitations
• Ethical issues to consider with AI
• Do’s and don’ts for responsible AI use
• How to determine when AI is okay to use for assignments

Watch the video preview here to see every slide and activity in the unit.

NOTE: This resource is included for members of 40 Hour AI at no cost, and can be downloaded from the membership site.

The post Teach students how to use artificial intelligence responsibly appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Designing high-quality assessments and giving students thoughtful, timely feedback on their work can take hours every single week.

So, I wanted to share one of my favorite tools for automating student assessment. It’s a free Google Chrome extension called Brisk Teaching that’s powered by artificial intelligence.

There’s tons of other things you can do with Brisk beyond assessment, including generating lesson plans, creating slideshow presentations, and designing activities for students.

But today, I’m doing a deep dive on just the assessment piece, because there’s a lot to explore. We’ll look at using Brisk for student feedback, rubric generation, and quizzes.

Disclosure: Brisk Teaching is a proud sponsor of Truth for Teachers. They’ve compensated me for sharing this post, but I do not get paid referral commissions for sign-ups. All opinions are my own, and I only share resources that I use myself and recommend for others. Brisk is one of the top tools I’ve always recommended to teachers in my 40 Hour AI program, and I’m proud to partner with them to bring you this article.

1. Give better student feedback more quickly

Giving students high-quality feedback on their writing is super time-consuming.

You can use Brisk Teaching to quickly give students feedback on work submitted through Google Docs. There are a lot of different types of feedback you can give with Brisk, but the Glow and Grow is free and a great place to see exactly how this process works.

If you haven’t installed the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension, click the button in the top right-hand corner of the site’s homepage to add it. Then follow these steps:

1. Open a Google Doc where student work is submitted.

2. Click on the Brisk Teaching icon in the lower right corner.

3. Select “Give Feedback” and choose either “Glow and Grow.”

4. Select the grade level, language, and standards if applicable.

5. Review the generated feedback including “Glow” (positive feedback), “Grow” (suggestions for improvement), and “Wondering” prompts for deeper thinking.

6. Edit the feedback as needed for clarity or conciseness.

7. Copy and paste the feedback directly into the document or insert it as a comment.

8. Optionally, use the “Next Steps” feature to provide students with specific suggestions for improvement based on the feedback received.

A few tips to help you get the best results:

• Select standards from within the dropdown if you have a paid account; copy/paste standards in if you have a free account

• You can give targeted feedback aligned to a rubric if you have a paid account.

• Avoid overwhelming students with too much feedback; customize the amount based on the student’s needs and capacity. Brisk generates 3 pieces of feedback for each aspect of assessment: you can delete the one (or two) you find less helpful, or ask it to generate only 2 piece of feedback.

2. Generate customized rubrics in minutes

Customized rubrics are an excellent tool for teachers because they provide a clear, personalized framework for assessing student work. Every class is unique, and rubrics tailored to specific assignments and student needs ensure that evaluation criteria align with learning goals. They help students understand exactly what is expected of them, reducing confusion and promoting more focused effort. A well-designed rubric also allows teachers to offer more meaningful feedback, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement in a structured way.

Additionally, customized rubrics make the grading process more efficient and consistent. By establishing specific criteria beforehand, teachers can assess student work more objectively, minimizing subjectivity and bias. This not only makes grading easier but also ensures fairness, as every student is held to the same clear standard. In the long run, customized rubrics support both student growth and teacher effectiveness, creating a more transparent and productive learning environment.

If you haven’t installed the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension, click the button in the top right-hand corner of the site’s homepage to add it. Then follow these steps:

1. Open a new Google Doc.

2. Click the Brisk Teaching icon that appears in the bottom right-hand corner of your document.

3. Select the rubric option.

4. Choose the language, grade level, and scale for the rubric.

5. Click “Brisk It” to generate the rubric.

6. Save the rubric for future use or make edits as needed.

3.  Reduce the time it takes to create quizzes in Google Forms

In the video above, teacher Chelsea Howells demonstrates how she uses Brisk Teaching’s tool called AI QuizMaker to generate quizzes in Google Forms.

Brisk Teaching’s AI quiz maker is a fantastic tool that enhances the feedback process for both students and teachers. With its ability to create customized quizzes quickly, teachers can assess student understanding in real-time and tailor their instruction accordingly. The AI quiz maker allows for instant feedback, showing students what they got right (the “glow”) and where they can improve (the “grow”). This immediate response keeps students engaged and gives them clear insight into their progress without waiting for manual grading.

The tool also supports differentiation, as it can adjust quizzes to fit the varying needs and skill levels of students. This personalized approach ensures that each student is challenged appropriately while receiving constructive feedback that fosters growth. By integrating technology like Brisk Teaching’s AI quiz maker into the classroom, teachers can streamline assessment and make feedback more dynamic, helping students thrive through the balanced “grow and glow” model.

If you haven’t installed the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension, click the button in the top right-hand corner of the site’s homepage to add it. Then follow these steps:

1. Open a new Google Doc.
2. Click on the Brisk button and select “Create” then “Quiz.”
3. Enter quiz details like topic, questions, and grade level.
4. Choose question types and desired language.
5. Opt for Google Form for quiz presentation.

Need help getting started?

The short overview video above by Chelsea will introduce you to more features Brisk offers, show you how to install the Chrome extension, and give an overview of the free and paid pricing plans.

Once you install the extension, Brisk Teaching integrates automatically with Google Classroom so the icon will appear whenever you are working in Google Docs. So, you don’t have return to the Brisk website when you want to use the tool–it’s already there, automatically!

The Getting Started page on Brisk is a solid place to begin and get an idea of what you can do with the tool.

The post 3 tips for more effective, efficient student assessment appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Here’s what I mean.

In my 4th grade classroom, a focus of my Math curriculum each year is the standard algorithm for double-digit multiplication and long division.

I enjoy these instructional days because as a Type-A teacher, I like to solve multiplication and division equations with the standard algorithm.

Standard means the way most people do things, or the common way. Algorithms are the step-by-step problem-solving method for completing the given task. Therefore, a standard algorithm is a stepwise practice for solving a problem. I have a standard algorithm to start each day in my classroom. I have a stepwise practice for setting up my day for success.

Taking ownership of your morning flow

I have a practice of entering my room the same way each day. I have chosen each step in this entrance. I turn on one of the overhead lights and head to my desk. I turn on my desk lamp and place my lunch box under my desk. Next, I switch on the library lamp, and then the smartboard. I pick up the smartboard’s keyboard and mouse after switching the reading group tag that hangs on the keyboard’s shelf. I deposit the keyboard and mouse along with my backpack at the standing desk and log into my computer. While the computer is loading, I move to the nearby schedule to switch the schedule cards for the day of the week and special area class. Finally, I complete the full circle around my classroom by turning on the back counter lamp and hanging my coat in my closet.

You get to set the practice of this in your own room. Take ownership over the space and how you flow into it. Choose menial tasks that are both necessary and helpful. These are the first things I check off my mental checklist to feel success each day.

Tech shortcuts for efficient mornings

To prepare for teaching that day, I return to my smartboard and start opening all the programs I need. To batch this task, I have put all of my daily needed websites into one folder titled Morning: Pandora, GoNoodle, Google Classroom, Google Drive, Planbook. With a click on the folder, then selecting open all, I have all the websites open in two clicks! Not only did I choose the resources to group together, I have purposefully chosen this order. I want Pandora always open on the far left to easily access play/pause all day by both myself and my students.

Since making the decision to get rid of my PC for more space on my desk this year, I had to adjust my Morning bookmark folder. I use my smartboard for both instruction and my non-instructional tasks during my planning period as well as before and afterschool. So students would not see confidential information, I have a bookmarks folder for instructional items and another for my school email, Google Drive, and Class Dojo. I have two Google Chrome windows open and click “Morning Smartboard” to get all the instructional materials set and then click “Morning Teacher” to have my needed resources in another window.

To create a folder, I simply clicked on the bookmarks bar and selected “add folder”. I then decided which websites would be used daily and dragged and dropped them into this folder. (An alternative way to complete the same procedure would be having your needed websites open upon startup, found in the settings for Google.) I have made folders for not only my daily morning needs but also each subject area. When I am using a slideshow or resource for instruction for several days or weeks, I move that into my Morning bookmarks folder as well.

Your practice of opening each site separately can be streamlined. Choose which websites you need and even the order in which they are placed in the folder or startup list. This small change, using technology shortcuts, will save minutes and create another moment of success as you lay out your day.

My slideshow strategy for efficient morning meetings

Another resource I have in my Morning bookmarks folder is my Morning Meeting slideshow. I have three slides for each day in my Morning Meeting slideshow:

• 1 – Welcome with morning routine and morning work directions
• 2 – Morning Meeting with greeting, sharing, and activity
• 3 – Morning message

Having the daily check-in directions displayed helps students to build independence, as I refer them to the slideshow as I spend time greeting students by the door.

I am so thankful for the duplicate option! I was able to duplicate these three slides to create an entire month, then duplicate the entire month to create each month of the school year! Although I have to adjust the dates or rearrange the activities, for the most part, these slides are ready for the entire school year after creating them in one year. The September Morning Meeting presentation always makes me thankful for my past productivity! Having all my extra introductions, procedural lessons, and classroom rules with my morning meeting procedures helps me to streamline planning during the dizzying rush of the beginning of the school year.

I look over my Morning Meeting slides when planning the upcoming week, update the dates, tweak the minor changes needed, and I am ready for the week. I can fill in the morning work ahead of time or each morning. I will rotate this slideshow in my Morning bookmarks folder on a monthly basis.

Your productivity can be increased with simple copy and paste. Take time to make a resource you can benefit from both now and later. Success sometimes means reusing and adjusting.

Achieving a “Tidy Inbox”

With my tabs all lined up and ready, I first go to my school email. From my backpack, I take my agenda, a combination of the list-making system from 40 Hour Teacher Workweek, and monthly calendars. I read emails with my agenda so I can immediately add to my calendar or to-do list then reply, file, or delete each email. I find “zero inbox” to be a lofty goal, so rather I shoot for “tidy inbox.” In order to do this, I do not look at email until I can give it my full attention with my calendar and to-do list present. Otherwise, emails get lost, requests get lost, dates get forgotten.

After getting the Morning Meeting slides on the one needed for the day, I move on to Planbook. I review my plans for the day. I adjust the schedule and write the lesson objectives on the board.

Strategic resource organization: Subject area copy bins

I gather the necessary resources from my subject area copy bins. I have spent planning time in previous days or weeks copying the upcoming items so I can be more prepared. If a copy needs to be made, I can do that right away if time allows or put it on my to-do list for my planning period. With my agenda still out, I can also see what tasks I have delegated to this morning or work ahead on tasks I have slotted in for the following day. The power of the one-stop agenda has allowed me to dump many of my worries into the weeks ahead and pressing to-do items into today, tonight, or tomorrow.

On some mornings, I arrive one hour prior to school and my morning process takes that whole time. On other mornings, I choose to leave home earlier to get more time in the morning for planning and preparation for the days and weeks ahead. Some afternoons, I leave right at contract time after just a quick clean up. Other afternoons, I spend time preparing for the day ahead, checking off some prep for the next day prior to leaving. The choice of the time to arrive or leave the classroom may be an area of reflection for morning success too.

Achieving productivity through thoughtful, intentional morning routines

Wikipedia states that “Practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior repeatedly, to help learn and eventually master a skill.”The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the noun practice as “the condition of being proficient through systematic exercise.”

My morning practices lead to productivity, both in the morning and throughout the day with my students. I have chosen repeated, systematic behaviors that are both necessary and efficient. My productive morning helps me feel in control of my classroom environment.

On a daily basis, teachers make so many decisions: countless adjustments to instruction, assessing and logging behaviors, responding to interruptions to the schedule… and teachers do not have control of many of these decisions. So every morning is your time to choose personal proficiency. Define the practices you need. Choose the practices that will make you successful from the start of your day. Repeat these practices until they are routine. Monitor and adjust your practices until they help you achieve mastery of your morning.

The post Productive morning routines: How one teacher creates intentional practices for daily success appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Join me for a free online training to help you teach productivity practices to students by finding flow.

Teach your students how to be more productive

I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve spent in schools training teachers on the Finding Flow Solutions curriculum, and helping teachers reimagine student engagement in their classrooms. Productivity practices and mindsets CAN be taught, and Finding Flow makes that process super simple (read: no-prep!) for teachers.

Because not every school has the funds to bring me in to conduct professional development in person, I thought it would be fun to offer an online event.

The post Join me for free online professional development: Finding flow and student engagement in the classroom appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Sandra comes into the classroom before you can step outside to greet her, and she immediately starts telling you all about her weekend as she hangs up her backpack. Jordan, who you wish would talk to you a little, walks in sullenly and sulks at their desk with their backpack still on. You try to finish listening to Sandra but are relieved when Meg comes in and can continue the conversation. You walk over to Jordan to ask, “How’s your day going? Do you want to talk about anything?” You hear, rather than see, Dan and Jack come into the room literally bounding on all fours and neighing like horses.

Instead of getting to the root problem of Jordan’s morning, you take Dan and Jack outside to be able to discuss the appropriate way to enter a classroom and let them try again. Brody says something rude to his brother before entering the room and immediately sinks into the bean bag, and you have no idea what transpired between them in the morning. You are torn between greeting students at the door (like you’re supposed to because greeting kids can reduce behaviors throughout the day) or helping Brody right now so that he doesn’t have an outburst later (which you’ve experienced and know is likely).

Many other students walk in nicely and chat with friends as they get ready, but you hardly notice as you try to solve emotional problems that started before your school day even began.

You manage to get everyone ready to learn and start the day with a good morning meeting. The next couple of hours pass by alright with typical, minor problems. When you pick students up from lunch, however, there are a whole host of other issues. Someone didn’t listen to the monitor and stood on their chair. Someone else threw the corn out of their salad and all over someone else’s lunch in their haste and disgust.

You convene the class to discuss, yet again, appropriate lunchroom behavior; everyone seems to understand and agree with you. You purposely take a brain break before the social studies lesson, but students are calling out before you can get to the main idea. Someone is blocking someone else on the carpet; someone else brought a pencil and is jabbing a classmate and calling it an accident.

By the end of the day, students are wired and wild and can’t listen to your read-aloud which you painstakingly chose to be interesting. You manage to share highlights of the day in a closing circle for the last five minutes before the bell. Then, students are trying to entertain themselves for another 15 minutes as you wait for the final buses to come since runs take so long due to bus driver shortages. You’re spent as they leave, but they literally run down the hallway as a patrol tells them to walk.

It seems like no matter how many strategies you implement, how much time you allow for brain breaks and meditation, how many fidgets you allow, how many times you email parents, how much you discuss in class meetings how to meet expectations, and how much energy you put into solutions … it’s never enough.

I hear you. The scenarios listed above are not imaginary. While I changed names and minor details, this is my teaching life as a 2nd-grade teacher. Some days, I am truly exhausted by students. It does seem at moments (or even for a week or two at a time) that nothing I’m doing is making a difference in student behavior.

In the grand scheme of a year, though, I do see improvements or changes in behavior. I can sense what helps me on my best days. My great days are not free of challenging behaviors; no day as a teacher has zero interruptions, zero need for redirection, zero conflict between students. I think teachers have been saying for years that students are more active, seem to have undiagnosed or diagnosed ADD/ADHD, have difficulty focusing, are emotionally dysregulated, and struggle to calm down and readjust. This is a problem that’s facing teachers as a whole, but here are the ideas that seem to be helping me the most.

I would encourage you to approach these solutions with the Swiss Cheese Model in mind that Angela discusses here. These solutions are not one-size-fits-all, one-and-done, checklist-type strategies. You will need more than one solution to a problem, and you’ll need to layer those solutions. It’s important to have multiple strategies for each problem so that you can move on to a new solution when one stops being as effective. Layering solutions allow you to swap out strategies throughout the year.

The Swiss Cheese Model: Letting go of “all or nothing” thinking

One thing I have noticed about students with increased frequencies of behaviors is that they need different things throughout the different seasons of the school year. Sometimes, just specific praise works. Other times, an intense behavior plan is needed. Then, when that behavior plan feels too stale, it’s time to shake things up with a different plan.

I’m listing multiple solutions to common struggles in the classroom with the idea that you can do more than one strategy when needed. If the behavior increases, add another strategy and/or double down on what you were doing a month ago but had lessened. This list can serve as a set of reminders of strategies you probably already know and therefore you can draw from this for ideas to implement when you get worn down by the ongoing issues in your classroom.

Try something different, and you’ll feel like you are taking action which is a powerful motivator in and of itself. You’re in control of the strategies you choose to use, and you can make a difference.

Here are the 10 issues I’m discussing in case you want to jump down to one that stands out to you.

1. Calling out
2. Fidgety bodies
3. Emotional regulation
4. Focused attention
5. Following directions and creating consistent habits
6. A few students pull your attention away or are constantly seeking connections
7. Other students are frustrated
8. Need more space and activity
9. Impact is from home
10. You’re personally overburdened

1. Problem: Calling out

Strategies: Take a Break, Buddy Classroom Break, Reteach/Clarify Procedures, Repeat Procedure

• Reteach procedures: At the beginning of the year, you will teach procedures such as raising your hand. If you skipped explicitly telling students when they need to raise their hand vs. when they are allowed to call out, take the time to do that. One of the most confusing things for students is when you are (probably unintentionally) confusing in your expectations. If you’re validating responses when some students are calling out and then getting upset when other students call out, you are not clear in your expectations. Likewise, if you are sometimes encouraging students to shout out answers and just share openly without raising hands but then other times you are telling them they should always raise their hands, that’s frustrating. Take the time to get clear on when you want students to just call out. Is there a particular activity? Can you point to the class with open hands to show them it’s their turn? Can you explicitly say “you can call out ideas” for certain times you’ll accept those responses? Will you accept calling out in a small group only?
• Repeat procedure: When a student calls out, immediately respond, “What do you do when you have something to share?” or “Show me what it looks like when you want to share.” If expectations are clear, they will say “raise my hand” or they will actively raise their hand. You can tell them to “try again.” Then have them raise their hand, call on them, and then validate their response. In this way, you are re-training their body and mind to follow the procedure. If you keep this up, you should not have to repeat it frequently.
• Take a break is a Responsive Classroom practice. I have found Responsive Classroom to be extremely helpful. I send kids on Take a Break as a response to calling out or being disruptive. At the beginning of the year, I read aloud the book, “When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry” and explain how Sophie is able to calm down when she focuses on nature and gets away from the upsetting scene. While students can’t climb a tree and hide, they can find a comfy spot in the classroom (I have a bouncy ball and a child-size beach chair) and practice breathing techniques. I have other tools in my take-a-break spot: a whiteboard to write down their feelings and wipe away because feelings come and go, a stress ball, a glitter wand that can act as a timer. I explain how to use these tools. We also learn about the different parts of the brain. We can get upset and not be able to be as focused in the decision-making center of our brain at the front which is like being the driver of a car. You want to be the driver of your own car. I explain that when you’re making a choice that’s showing you’re distracted or you’re distracting others, you need to take a break to get back in the driver’s seat. Later in the year, I often just have to look at a kid and they tell me, “I’ll go take a break.” You can read more from Responsive Classroom about this system here.
• Buddy classroom break: Similar to taking a break in the classroom, students can also take a break in a buddy teacher’s room. If you have a teacher who’s next door whether they teach the same grade as you or not, try to build a system between you where if you need a break from a student, they can go take a break in the other teacher’s room. Similarly, you can be a safe space for a student who needs to take a break in your room. Often, students do not want to take a break in another classroom. I’ve had students really struggle with accepting the consequence of behavior to go to another room. I persist in this agreed-upon consequence and follow through, and it truly helps prevent repeat behaviors in the classroom. It also gives me a chance to clear my head while they are away so that I can appropriately discuss behavior with them later. If you have never tried this, I would highly recommend it. Here is an article about Buddy Teachers to learn more.

2. Problem: Fidgety bodies

Strategies: Chair Bands, Take a Break, Calm Strips or Velcro Dots, Weighted lap bands, Chair Push Up, Chair Pull Up, Wall Push Ups, Hallway Break, Brain Breaks, Classroom Jobs, Classroom Games

• Take a break: There are several logical consequences you choose in response to behavior, but taking a break is useful for many of the typical disruptions to “classroom management.” If a student is talking when they are not supposed to be, distracted and not focused, doing a preferred task over the expected activity, take a break is a great strategy. See problem #1 for more explanation.
• Classroom jobs: I love my classroom job system. I had always used a job system, but this was one thing the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club helped me improve. I keep jobs for a month or two at a time and students apply for them, so it works really well to have an active job that a student is motivated to do. Some of my favorite jobs to assign my active students are:
  • Bouncer — student answers the phone for me, answers the door, closes the door as needed, turns on/off lights
  • Messenger — student is a buddy to go to the clinic, take something to the office, etc.
  • Paper Passer — passes out papers
  • Recycling/Trash — they walk around with a recycling bin whenever we cut things up
  • Manipulatives Manager/Supplies Manager — passes out calculators, math manipulatives such as counters or base ten blocks, individual whiteboards, etc.
• Chair bands: These are like exercise bands that get wrapped around the front two legs of a chair. Students can push on the band. They can break eventually, but they last a long time.
• Calm strips/velcro: Calm Strips are a brand name tool that is a piece of tape with texture so it has some resistance as you rub it. I have found strips of velcro to be very effective stuck to desks. They are cheaper and even tend to last longer.
• Weighted lap bands or weighted stuffed animals: This can be used in conjunction with a take-a-break spot. For some students, this can be an effective tool to have a weighted item to calm their body and give them a sensory outlet.
• Chair push-up: You can teach students how to get out some excess energy by pushing their hands down on either side of their legs and lifting up their body.
• Chair pull-up: Students push themselves down as the sit at the same time as they pull up on the sides of their chair. I find this one better for frustration than the push-up. Students can alternate push-ups and pull-ups on their chairs with deep breaths.
• Hallway break: I will allow a student to take a break in the hallway if they need an alternative spot to take-a-break spot in the classroom and don’t need the consequence of a buddy classroom break. This can be helpful for stretching out legs or pacing. We used to have an area at my school that a counselor set up that had a little walking exercise for students to do. They had to type their name on a fake keyboard, follow the winding tape in circles, then jump, then do wall push-ups, then hop like a frog, etc. This really helped a few students I’ve had who needed to go take a break elsewhere. I could call the office to have someone take the student over for 5 minutes then return. This would need to be something that the school collectively prepares, but it could be a good solution to offer to administration.
• Wall push-up or wall sit: If a student is taking a hallway break, a good strategy is a wall push-up or wall sit. A wall push-up is where you lean against the wall and just do a standing push-up. A wall sit is where you start standing then slide your back down along the wall and put your feet out so that eventually your legs are at about a 90-degree angle or a little higher. This can help a student focus on their body and use up some energy — good if they have a tendency to want to punch or kick.

• Brain break: Consider building in more brain breaks throughout the day. I like to have one calm quiet independent brain break (I call this quiet time) and one active brain break where we are doing an exercise or dance. I think having these two types of brain breaks are helpful. Throughout COVID, I heavily relied on how-to drawing videos for brain breaks which were fun.
• Academic Games: Consider using classroom games to make learning more active. Here is an article I wrote for 24 classroom games that can make learning fun. These help break up longer class periods and long days with movement.

3. Problem: Emotional regulation

Strategies: Zones of Regulation, Yoga, Mindfulness, Special Place Boxes, Trauma-Informed Practices

• Zones of regulation: This is something that the counselor and social worker use at my school to help students choose strategies appropriate to their feelings. This framework can be helpful in talking through options with students and building their own self-awareness. I like to use this as a check-in for students about their feelings and readiness for learning. You can read more about this framework here: https://zonesofregulation.com/ Below is a short encapsulation of what I’ve found helpful.

• CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning or CASEL has a lot of information on schoolwide implementation of SEL resources: https://casel.org/ They also offer a playbook to support morning meetings and other resources.
• Mindful schools: Many educators love using Mindful Schools and those resources. Here is their site: https://www.mindfulschools.org/ While their official trainings cost money, they have mindful moment videos for free as well as monthly community practices for free.

• Yoga4Classrooms: Here is their website: https://yoga4classrooms.com/ While they recommend their official training which costs money, one easy-to-use resource they offer are yoga activity cards which are specifically designed for use in a classroom setting. It’s only $29 for one set and you can use them right away with limited yoga experience. If you’re looking for a set of mindfulness and yoga activities that can be used in a classroom, these are a great option that I’ve used with lower and upper elementary.

• Special place boxes: When I taught 6th grade, I had students make special place boxes out of used Altoid tins. I collected a bunch of random craft supplies, pebbles, shells, thread, beads, different textured papers, and all sorts of tiny objects. I also printed some mindfulness strategies on cardstock that fit inside the box. Then, I let students decorate the outside with paper and hot glue objects onto it. I let them fit whatever tiny objects they wanted inside. I got this idea from a trauma-informed teaching seminar I went to as part of my professional development. Everyone in my class loved making these boxes and then they were a traveling calming corner for them. I told them to think about it as their special place and try to put things inside that would make them feel safe and loved. They carried them around in their pencil pouches and could use them anytime in any classroom. One student told me later that she used it a lot during online learning throughout COVID and it really helped her focus and feel better. That was over a year after I gave her the box!
• Trauma-informed practice: Often, students have difficulty regulating their emotions or understanding what an appropriate response would be to a situation or feeling because of trauma. Here is one article on the Truth for Teachers site that has more ideas specific to trauma-informed teaching.

4 trauma-informed approaches that help kids with ACEs (and benefit your entire class!)

4. Problem: Focused attention

Strategies: Timers, Stations, Small Group Teaching, Teach student habits

• Stations and small group teaching: I try to cut down on my whole group teaching as much as possible. The days I try to do more lessons and activities as a whole class are always my most exhausting days because I’m working to maintain the attention of the group as long as possible. As a goal, I keep mini-lessons to 10 minutes. I recommend a workshop model of teaching where you have students listening to a minilesson and spending the majority of a class period writing, reading, doing a science lab, practicing math skills, etc. I know it can feel like more work to plan different stations and activities for students to do, but keep in mind that you can repeat stations. Since the students are doing different activities on a daily basis, they can repeat those activities often. I have found it so much more efficient to teach in small groups than whole group because I’m able to adjust my pace in the moment with students.
• Independent work habits: It’s imperative that students have independent work habits in place so that they can reserve energy and teach in small groups and use station models in the classroom. Set goals with your class to be on a website without interruptions for 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, then 20 minutes depending on the age of your students. Then, practice doing worksheets as a whole class or everyone reading independently for 10 minutes without needing an interruption. Work towards the goal with small increments and let students know that you can introduce more free choice stations and games as they prove to you that they can handle independent work.

• Timers: It can help students focus if they know how long they need to focus. If you can clarify that everyone is going to be writing quietly for the next 15 minutes then they know how much they can get done in 15 minutes. You also can teach students your expectations for that amount of time (1 page of ______ or _____sentences or ______problems). You can project a timer on the board or you can use individual timers for students at desks with only those who most need the reminder.

5. Problem: Following directions and consistent habits

Strategies: Teacher Language, Redo Procedures, Echo Instructions, Write Down Instructions

• Teacher language: Another Responsive Classroom practice is using teacher language. This article has multiple specifics on different types of teacher language, and I’ve found it helpful. Teacher Language helps me know what to say when. When I want to reinforce a behavior, I say “I notice…” and give specific feedback. This ideally is 70% of your feedback to students throughout the day — noticing the positive. Personally, that’s a goal for me that I don’t think I’ll ever reach but it’s good to try! I use reminding language often; having go-to language such as “How do we..?” or “Show me how…” helps me stay calm and not say something I’ll regret out of frustration. I just remind the student of the expectations we have. Redirecting language is when you need to stop something. It helped me to distinguish between reminding language and redirecting language since I’m only redirecting when I need to immediately stop unsafe behavior. Now that these are part of my typical language, I think it makes me a much better teacher because students know what I will say in response to behavior which means my consistency is high which is so important with behavior management.
• Redo procedures: One of the most effective strategies I’ve found in my classroom is just the phrase “Try again.” If a student ran to get in line, I respond, “We walk in the classroom. Go back and try again.” If the whole class is too loud coming to the carpet for a read-aloud, I’ll say, “That was not an appropriate noise level. Everyone go back to their desks.” I’ll select a few students to model if needed, then I can even ask, “What did everyone notice?” and we can discuss the few things I’m looking for. Then, I ask everyone, “Let’s try again. Show me how to come to the carpet.” The more you do this and take the time to repeat procedures and try again, the fewer times you’ll have to do it. I have also found that trying again prevents some arguments or disagreements with me over unfair treatment (someone did the same thing yesterday and you didn’t say anything!) because my expectations are very clear even if I miss something every once in a while.
• Echo back instructions: While students should be listening to you, we know they do not always do that. It can help to have students echo back a specific direction such as where this paper gets placed, where to put something away, when it’s due, or what page they should be on. This way students who were not listening as intently will hear it loud and clear. Even if they ask you, you can ask them to think about what the class said out loud.
• Write down essential instructions: I have a section of my board at the front of the classroom where I write a summary of directions. This helps students know where to look. While it takes those students who struggle to know what to do several weeks to get into the habit of looking there, it does eventually help a lot. I finally start seeing all students look at the board when they get confused by the end of the first quarter, and I notice that I am answering far fewer questions about what to do next, what their options are, and so on. If you teach early readers, consider using visuals with the numbers 1 and 2 next to it so they know first I do this, then I do this.

6. Problem: A few students pull your attention away or are constantly seeking connection

Strategies: Positive Behavior Plan, Lunch Bunch, Mentor, Buddy Readers/Helpers

• Positive behavior plan for individuals: An individual behavior plan is good if you have 1-2 students that really require a ton of energy from you. The idea behind this is that you will set up an agreement between you and the student that if they meet ______ expectations then you will give them ____ reward. A couple of tips would be to ensure that the student knows exactly what you’re looking for and you have clear goals (not perfect student goals but manageable goals within the reach of this student), to have a motivating reward, and to start small. You can and should increase the goal as the student is meeting goals. The best ways I’ve found to track behavior plans are beads on a pipe cleaner or stickers on a chart. A special education teacher at your school may be able to help you create a plan or another classroom teacher who has used one successfully. I write more about how to create an individual behavior plan on my personal blog here if you are interested.
• Whole class behavior plan: If a decent handful of students are creating daily disruptions for you, then you can set a goal as a class with rewards built in. I’ve used beads on a pipe cleaner with the whole class before if there were just too many kids who needed constant attention and reminders from me. They get a bead each time I catch them doing something well. Then, whenever they get to 30 beads they can choose a prize (fancy sticker, fidget, bag of chips, whatever). Checklists on desks can be helpful to implement whole class. I used to see it as a bit of a failure when I tried one thing and it stopped working, but now I don’t. I just readjust and introduce a new strategy to the class. It helps to try a few different small things. The past few years I’ve used the game Kerplunk at the end of the year. Each time the class does great we pull a stick and when all the marbles fall, we draw a reward from a pile such as a virtual field trip or outdoor game or extra indoor recess. It is not something I’m interested in doing throughout the whole year, but for particularly busy seasons where it’s hard to focus, this type of motivation can be helpful.
• Lunch bunch: Often students really are seeking connection and attention. Having a lunch bunch can help. Let them invite a couple of friends and spend time with you in the classroom. I used to avoid this because I’m naturally introverted and need recharging time to myself, but I found that this was a good strategy even for me. It helped me have a positive relationship with a student outside of an academic setting and gave me energy instead of draining it.
• Mentor: If your school or community has a mentorship program, see if you can have parents, community members, and other teachers be mentors to students who need someone to talk to and require more interaction. There is only so much attention you can give an individual student, so see if there’s a structure set up where someone can come in. High school students might be a great option as mentors for elementary students.
• Buddy readers/helpers: I have had groups of students where I felt they needed interaction with others to develop certain skills. When older students buddy read with younger students, it actually is proven to help the older student even more than the younger student. The act of teaching how to read to a younger student can build confidence, fluency, and increase motivation and skills. I’ve had a buddy classroom a few times where we connected with another grade level. Older students would read with younger students in purposeful partnerships that I created with the other teacher. Both classes loved having a buddy. It also built excellent community school-wide because students recognized each other and students were able to interact with another teacher in a meaningful way. I’ve had a small group of students be reading buddies before. You might think it’s best to choose stronger older readers to support the younger students, but it really helps the older students, so choosing readers who actually need to work on their reading skills can be the best fit. One year with a difficult class I had them take turns supporting in a special education classroom with one teacher who knew those students. These 12-year-olds ended up practicing a lot of kindness and humility in that other space. They became more compassionate and loved helping in another classroom. It taught them skills that I could not just by talking to them about behavior.

7. Problem: Other students are frustrated

Strategies: Sharing Emotions, Quiet Times, Calm Classroom

• Empower students to share how it affects them: I let other students share how they feel when someone/a group of someone’s is not meeting expectations. I might share honestly that I feel frustrated right now when I can’t finish the lesson. Then, I might ask anyone if they would like to share an I feel … statement. I did not use to do this because it felt like I would just be blaming a student or shaming them,  but I think it was helpful for some students to understand the impact of their behavior on others. Try to model the “I feel…” statement in a calm voice for students to set the expectation that this is a productive sharing time and not a complaining time. “I feel [emotion ] when [description of action occurring]. While some particular students may wish that others made no noise at all or never touched them on accident, that’s unrealistic. There is, however, a range of control each child has, and they can work within their own range of control. I talk to kids 1-1 about that in behavior conferences, too.
• Quiet time: I have a 10-minute quiet time in my classroom every day. This is often midday after lunch or recess or specials classes depending on my schedule that year. Students can read, draw, play with play dough. It might double as a snack time or time to catch up on unfinished work depending on the time of day. It’s a choice time and if students can handle the freedom, then I allow them to move in the classroom to read in the library or sit somewhere else. This time is essential for me, too. It gives me a chance to check in with a student if needed, solve a peer conflict, input a couple grades, sort some papers, or check my email. I love this 10 minutes and have gotten so used to having it. Students also understand the idea of “quiet time” and can do it if I suddenly get called out of the classroom for a moment or my meeting goes long and the sub needed an extra activity.
• Calm classroom: There are many ways to create a Calm Classroom. Here is one article with some ideas you might find helpful. One of my favorite ways to infuse calm is by playing quiet music or using the site Noisli which plays different sounds such as fireplace or ocean waves.

8. Problem: Need more space and activity

Strategies: Get Outside, Brain Breaks, Flexible Seating/Standing

• Get outside: If there is a space on your school grounds to get outdoors, this is a great way for students to burn energy, express themselves, and learn about their world without you having to put as much energy towards anything. You will need to set up parameters, boundaries, and expectations, but once students are out, often the activity will be far more exciting and engaging than if it had been indoors. Some activities might include writing outdoors, monitoring plants, doing a mindful search for something (ex. living vs nonliving things), measuring objects, taking notes on the weather, growing plants, reading outside, observing forces such as push/pull, and so much more. Here is a Truth for Teachers article that talks more about teaching outdoors.
• Brain breaks: My second graders love YouTube videos that are indoor obstacle course runs. Coach Corey Martin is a favorite in my classroom, but there are tons of other videos. Go Noodle is a popular site with many dances. With older students, a 5-minute free choice time to just talk might be what they desire most. I like to share drawing videos from Art for Kids Hub which can be applicable to a wider range of ages. I previously mentioned the Yoga4Classrooms cards. I have found older students to be more engaged with the visualization exercises from that deck.
• Flexible seating/standing: Even in tight classrooms, there’s often some space available for students to sit in a different location (on a floor, bean bag, stool, fuzzy bathroom rug, etc.) or stand at a tall table. Flexible seating doesn’t have to be fancy; just having a different option other than a desk can be quite liberating for many students and offer movement.

9. Problem: Impact from home

Strategies: Communicating Needs to Parents

• Talking points: One point of frustration and difficulty can be communicating with parents. I have found the site Talking Points to be enormously helpful for students with home languages other than English. Here is their site https://talkingpts.org/ where you can create a free teacher account. This is a translation service that translates to 150+ languages. While not perfect, I’ve found it to be a pretty good translation. Families can communicate with the teacher by using a text feature on a phone or using the app. Sometimes we as educators don’t want to overburden parents who might already have a lot on their plate or aren’t sure how to communicate misbehavior in a way that builds rapport. This service can make it really easy to stay in communication with parents in a way that’s at their fingertips. It can truly help that family-school partnership stay strong.
• Sleep: Sometimes students are just tired even if they appear hyper. Ask students casually about when they go to sleep and when they get up. You can discuss their schedules and with older students you can even problem-solve together. Some parents may not be aware that their child isn’t getting the sleep they really need due to work schedules. Instead of jumping to criticism, start with curiosity. You might be able to educate parents on the importance of sleep and let them know that their child is tired and not doing well because of it.
• Screen time: While we as educators can’t dictate to parents what to do in their homes, we can provide resources to them and educate parents on the negative impact of screen time and the developing brain. Parents love their kids and want to make the best choices for them. As a teacher, I have used their digital citizenship curriculum to teach students about how to be a good digital citizen; these are age-appropriate lessons that are ready to use and can give students the strategies they need to set their own boundaries. They also have a parent toolkit for early childhood (ages 0-8) and a wealth of articles for all ages across topics such as screen time, cell phones, and social media. We do have some influence, and we can use that to support healthy habits.
• Social workers and other professionals: I know that different schools have varying amounts of access to counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists. The wellness team, as they call themselves at my school, can be an excellent support system for you and can help communicate. They might be able to have a lunch bunch with students, do a 6-week-long intervention and give you strategies to implement, come discuss some ideas with your whole class, or just be a listening ear and sounding board.

10. Problem: You’re personally overburdened

Strategies: Seek Support and Advocate for Yourself, Mindfulness, Give Yourself Credit, Positive Closing Meetings

• Get support: Advocate for yourself. If that means asking a counselor 5 times to talk to the same kid until they finally clear their schedule and make it happen, do that. If it means going to your administrator and asking them to observe something, come to a parent conference, or pay for a resource you really need, be ready to propose your solution to them and ask for what you need. If you still don’t get support where you are after asking directly and being solution-oriented, maybe it’s time to find other administrative support in a different school or district.
• Embrace resources provided/free resources: While I’ve listed several resources throughout this article, I recommend focusing on one framework vs. pulling from a million places. It can be overwhelming to go in too many different directions or get too many resources. Start with one website or framework that appeals to you and go from there. That one resource will likely give you a ton to work with. It may not make sense for you to try a particular program or resource because it requires training that you don’t have and can’t pay for or it requires more time than you can offer. Almost every paid program out there has some free resources associated with it. Use what you can and if you end up wanting the resources or professional development that requires more funding, you can look into scholarships and grants and ways to make that happen. If your school has already picked one particular program, lean into that and try to make it work. The resources are there for you and hopefully a support system of other people who are also trying it out.
• Positive closing meetings: I had been doing closing meetings intermittently in my classroom for years. I often liked to have a reflection question to discuss or a “highlight of the day.” My teammate did “peaks and pits” at closing meetings. A peak is something that went well and a pit is something you wish was better. I have also used “rose, thorn, and bud” where a rose is a positive thing that happened, a thorn is something that wasn’t good, and a bud is something you’re looking forward to. I used to do “thank you’s” in my class where I put one popcorn kernel in a jar for each example that someone could give for being helpful or kind or supportive that day. They could also notice a kind act that someone else did for another person. They could also point out that the whole class did well with an activity or transition throughout the day and I would put one popcorn kernel for each person in the class (ex. 27). These closing meetings are such a nice way to end the day as an elementary teacher. If I taught middle school, I might do them at the end of the week only. I am often surprised by students when they say they “have no pit” or “My peak is that we had a good day as a class.” My first reaction might be to think, “But you were so cranky this morning” or “The class was so loud in math!” Their interpretation is that the day was great and they literally can’t think of anything to complain about. Why can’t I take that interpretation to heart as well?! I can embrace that mindset. Even if I feel tired or a little annoyed about one part of our day, if everyone in the class is listing how positive their day was, I should take some credit for that. I helped our class function and flow. It’s important for us to end on a positive note; it personally gives me fuel for another day.
• Mindfulness: I mentioned mindful strategies for students, but you can also use mindfulness for yourself. In Angela’s new daily encouragement podcast she offers weekly mindful moments. There are lots of meditation and mindful moments online for free through YouTube. There are podcasts dedicated to this practice. Headspace and Calm are both apps that offer mindfulness and meditation strategies.

Finally, give yourself credit

I see posts on Facebook about how teachers are stressed out with the expectation for students to make a year’s growth in reading and math and how impossible that feels, yet these teachers who are saying they’re not doing enough are also saying in the same breath that most of their class DID make a year’s growth. So are you truly not doing enough? You are honestly succeeding. That is what success looks like.

Trying different strategies and adapting to student needs is a success. You made it through another year or another day with a group of students with hugely diverse needs, and you taught them so well that despite their challenges they learned a whole year’s worth of material. If you’re thinking that you wish you could have done more or you wish you could have done better at this one thing or many things. You are right. Of course, hypothetically you could have done more or done better at something, but in reality, it wasn’t possible.

You did what you could do. Look at what you DID. You are amazing. You have done enough, and you are enough.

The post 10 common problems and layered strategies for supporting dysregulated students appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

It was December of 2022, and I walked into a staff room to talk to a colleague, Kate, about an assignment. What I found instead were my colleagues Kate and James playing with magic: ChatGPT, an AI playground in its first stages.

Kate showed James this otherworldly site, and James tested how the AI was answering questions with intriguing bias depending on the type of question (“What’s the best way to stop terrorists?” vs. “How to bring peace to the Middle East”). Kate started explaining to me with startling calm how you could write an entire essay on ChatGPT with sources. She showed me. I curled into a ball on the staff room couch in an existential crisis.

She had a day ahead of me in thinking this through, and she attempted to assuage my fears. All I could see in my head was the play-by-play of every dystopian novel and movie I knew. You might still be there.

I hope that, by the end of this article, you will be less afraid of the apocalyptic implications (which I will still attempt to address). Instead, I hope that you will feel more prepared with how to address AI in your classroom. I also hope that you will have a healthy awareness of its presence in your students’ lives already rather than turning a blind eye.

Reasons not to ban GPT in the classroom

#1 AI is everywhere already

Arguably, as of early 2023 (which might be too broad considering how quickly things are changing), the most prominent version of artificial intelligence that our students have heard about is Tesla’s self-driving car tech (which has been in the news for both ethical considerations and car wrecks). The most prominent AI program used by students might be ChatGPT, but also might be SnapChat’s “My AI” chatbot (embedded into the app), Chat AI (advertised as an AI Chatbot and Essay Writer Bot), or Wonder (an AI Art Generator competing with the popular WOMBO Dream AI Art Generator app).

These are just the top apps in the Apple App Store. This doesn’t include Google Chrome independent extensions like Quillbot, described in its overview as a “Grammar Checker, Paraphrasing Tool & Summarizer.” The more popular Grammarly announced the launch of GrammarlyGo, an “on-demand, contextually aware assistant powered by generative AI,” in March of 2023.

#2 The positive potential is staggering

Initially, I reacted to ChatGPT with trepidation. My students don’t need to know how to write now. Writing and research standards need to get rewritten overnight. The entire white-collar workforce is in jeopardy. English teachers may as well quit. *insert dramatics here* 

However, after talking with Kate, reading about AI, and considering the implications with my staff and our English Task Force for 2023, I’m leaning on the side of hope, landing somewhere in the zone of curiosity.

The potential of AI is staggering. Several staff members at my school have likened it to the introduction of the internet as a research tool for high school students in the 90s. Initially, teachers entrenched in traditional teaching were outraged at the prospect of students skipping library day in favor of a few searches on a computer; journalists predicted that computers would never replace aspects of the traditional classroom (such as this Newsweek article from 1995). It appears that computers are not only alive and well; they are also, seemingly, alive.

However, AI has tremendous potential to reflect the darkness in humanity much like the internet. Microsoft’s Tay was taken down after only a day on Twitter as other Twitter users taught it to be racist and xenophobic in March of 2016.

AI can do a bit more than simply find your sources, though; it can search for them, filter them by any number of considerations (without paywalls), and write a full essay using all the sources with MLA in-text citations. That may sound terrifying, but it’s only as terrifying as our lack of guidance for our students. If they see AI as not only a tool with transparency but as a source, it changes how AI fits into school. I’ll explain more on this later but for now…

#3 You can “protect” your classroom (kind of…)

If you’re still in the camp of “No AI in my class” (whether by choice or by your school’s policy for the next school year), you can somewhat do that.

First, you will have to define AI and explain your AI policy in your class syllabi and in the first weeks of school. Have documentation of your policy but also announce flexibility in your policy based on AI developments.

Our English task force drafted a statement that supported a) teacher’s right to decide AI use in their classroom, b) seeing AI as a tool, c) using certain standards under Common Core to support expectations of students using their own writing only if we are assessing it traditionally, and d) using the process-of-writing standard in CC to support students learning how to use AI (i.e. ChatGPT) well. We also noted that, at the time of writing it, ChatGPT was only available legally for ages 18 and up (it was lowered to 13 on March 14 2023), so at the time, we couldn’t use it as a classroom tool. Now, we can (with parent permission), but this is a fast-evolving situation that requires vigilance.

Second, you can try to clean up on the assessment end if you’re still concerned that AI-generated content is in your students’ papers (which might be clear simply because of our usual teacher check-ins, drafting, etc.). Your usual teacher extensions that have helped you see plagiarism or cheating on Google docs are still helpful pieces to the puzzle (like the Docs extension Draftback or checking a document’s edit history). Certain tools have been created specifically to help people identify AI-generated content. The plagiarism checker Turnitin has developed a filter in its similarity report that notes the percentage of AI-generated phrases with 99% accuracy. Another colleague, P, recommended Copyleaks which doesn’t require a login like Turnitin.

However, there are limitations to using AI detectors. Google Translated material, for example, flags as AI-generated content. A student at my school once submitted a paper they initially wrote in another language for another class; the teacher’s AI checker flagged it as 100% AI-generated because of the translation.

This should be a larger theme of AI use but also tech in general: take it as a tool in conjunction with your judgment, not as gospel. Human bias is interwoven into AI with our coding, word processing, and even search results.

Another option is to switch your writing back to paper as well as changing your assessment parameters, but I caution you to consider the following:

• Does switching back to paper remove a layer of potential learning or skill display that you were previously assessing? Consider your learning goals, standards, etc.
• What are you teaching your students about how to navigate the world by removing the option for “safe” interaction with a new tool under a teacher’s supervision? (This might sound pointed but unintentionally so.)

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program released a statement on AI that was later published in The NY Times. Dr Matthew Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice at IB, explains that IB would not be banning AI because “that is the wrong way to deal with innovation.” He also explains that “Like spell-checkers, translation software, and calculators, we must accept that it is going to become part of our everyday lives, and so we must adapt and transform education so students can use these new AI tools ethically and effectively.”

#4 You can teach your students to use it and to use it well

If you are open to using AI in your classroom but don’t know where to start, Glanville has some pointers. He turns his attention to the kinds of learning we should be teaching our students these three things in regard to AI:

Teach how to ask the right questions and refine requests

We should be reinforcing what we teach with internet searches (like using Boolean operators, for example) but with a focus on mode (AI format of requests that can build on each other in full sentences) and learning from data that doesn’t match the request.

Teach how to identify and respond to bias in writing

As previously mentioned, AI is programmed using human input, from human coding to the internet (note that some AI programs don’t use the internet past a certain time, ChatGPT being an example- it stops around 2021 in its accuracy, according to the home page). Our students should be taught how to learn about material and text well enough that they can catch when authorial bias (or even downright false data) gets included.

For example, a colleague and I tested ChatGPT’s ability to find nuance in its explanations by asking it about our school’s history. Our school has multiple campuses, and ChatGPT combined the facts of each campus’s founding into one contradictory paragraph. It was easy to see that we would have to refine the request in a few more steps to get it to note the difference.

Teach how to “think around” problems with creativity and critical thinking

Figuring out how to get ChatGPT to note the differences between each campus’s founding in my request from the previous paragraph might be tricky, but it’s very similar to what teachers already do with Boolean phrases in internet searches as well as sources in general. Get your students to consider the following:

• What is wrong about this answer?
• What is this answer not including?
• What perspective is missing in this text?
• How can I widen or narrow my inquiry to include what I am missing?

One school policy key from Dr. Glanville’s statement is this: the IB program is considering AI a source as well as a tool. If a Math teacher has a calculator section and a “no calculator” section on their test, they are assessing how students do when other tools are enabling deeper or faster work. We can do the same with AI; we can have assessments where students can draft with AI (an “Open-to-AI” assignment rather than a “No-AI” one). We can have students create outlines for research papers using AI but require different parts of the critical thinking work without it, suggests my colleague Kate. Teachers are already aware that assessments don’t always invite learning but rather can skip over some of the critical thinking process. Brett Vogelsinger, a member of The National Council of Teachers of English, posed a few questions teachers should consider in teaching their students how to use AI in his article ”Inviting Artificial Intelligence with Curiosity”:

• What is valuable about human writing–both for the reader and the writer–that AI cannot replicate? How will I express and demonstrate this to students?
• How might AI be used as an insightful, knowledgeable, and blazingly efficient conference partner or tutor?
• When is it important for a first draft to be exclusively human-created, and when is it valuable to jumpstart a draft with AI assistance?
• How can this technology help students acquire more practice in the interesting, difficult, and meaningful work of revision by streamlining first drafts?

You should also consider adopting your own AI citing method (there is not a standardized version yet). Some teachers have suggested highlighting AI-generated phrases or going with MLA citation of AI-generated material as a source; however, the Modern Language Association says not to treat AI as an author and to simply note the use of AI with how you use it in a template structure. Keep updated on whether or not the MLA creates a different set if you choose that route.

Teach students how to use artificial intelligence responsibly

#5 It can save you time as a teacher

Remember Teachers Pay Teachers? It’s a wonderful resource for detailed unit plans, cool explanatory posters, and detailed lessons with hyperlinks and sources to boot. However, AI is your best friend if you’re just looking for some discussion starters for your US History Vietnam War unit (guilty as charged).

Schools don’t seem to be banning AI-generated lesson plans because that’s not where bad teaching comes from. Education is a notoriously open-to-sharing-what-works community, and TPT rightfully offers teachers who create detailed work a platform to sell that work if they so choose. We can ask AI to generate parent emails, write report card comments with our comment banks, even create abridged reading schedules for that one classic novel that we know has slow parts (I’m looking at you, Frankenstein…).

Material for the purpose of education does have some freedom with it as opposed to commercial material, and we should see that freedom as a gift ready to use.

Here are a few more examples for how you can use AI in your classroom:

• Draft fake examples of student work to have students practice identifying concepts and research flaws
• Write fake mentor texts for students to proofread (which, Dr. Glanville notes, removes some of the ethical issues with using actual student work examples).
• Create draft test questions (with caution…)
• Create activities for reviewing concepts
• Practice asking AI programs questions together to show thought processes in refining requests
• Have students use AI to reteach themselves concepts in class before you have time to reteach (which could be a game-changer for students who prefer asking questions to learn material)
• Use AI-powered search engines such as Semantic Scholar in research. Semantic Scholar was created by the Allen Institute which is named after the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen.
• People drafted horror stories using Shelley, “the world’s first collaborative AI Horror Writer” in 2016 which has since gone defunct. In the same way, consider using AI to help your students draft other genres of stories and have them practice identifying parts of each story’s arc.

#6: GPT provides an opportunity to learn alongside your students and model how to approach new technology

One more thing: when you use AI, strongly consider telling your students that you’re using it. It will help reinforce transparency around AI rather than secrecy. Modeling works!

I wrote this article while coming back from a vacation with my family, and we discussed AI as I researched. My brother is studying to become a graphic designer, and the prospect of AI invading my brother’s future job feels all too familiar to my mom’s story. My mom’s illustration-based graphic design degree was impractical the day she graduated because her university wasn’t teaching students how to use computer-based design, an already prominent trend. While I don’t argue that students who aren’t taught AI skills will have defunct high school degrees, I do want to prepare my students for an uncertain future to the best of my knowledge. I do not want to shy away from innovation.

Brett Vogelsinger puts it beautifully: “Encountering a new technology alongside our students puts us in a beautiful position to learn beside them. We can leverage our maturity and insight to guide them on using AI ethically, even as we strive to find our own way through the woods.”

There’s one more side to this that I haven’t addressed: the radical, near-utopian help for students with learning needs that AI can bring. For students who already have learning plans, students who know they need resources without the ability to test for learning needs, and for those who don’t even know that have learning needs, imagine the possibilities. Imagine teaching a student who would have needed a push-in aide to guide them through creating an essay outline for your very specific thesis question. Imagine that they can do that work on their own and get to the more difficult pieces with their push-in aide in half the time. That does not sound dystopian to me. That’s possible right now.

As for the apocalyptic fears of AI taking over the world, I think that every generation has had some piece of technology that radically changed their lives.  The Gutenberg Press provided knowledge to masses previously locked out from learning. Electricity provided light in the darkness. Yes, Mein Kampf was published and electricity powered the production of atomic bombs, but all technology is simply a tool. AI is the first tool that can almost look back at us, but for now, let’s teach our students how to open a book, bring light to darkness, and walk into an unknown future with curiosity and hope.

Additional resources

The AI Index: It “tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence” and is sponsored by Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

The American Library Association’s page on AI: You can find it under Center for the Future of Libraries —> Trends. They list links and sources for almost every sentence. The implications’ focus is on how AI might affect library goals but it is a valuable resource for anyone interested.

The Urban Libraries Council’s Press Release on AI: this notes the potential inequities with privacy and data protection for at-risk communities.

Want a done-for-you resource to help you teach students about responsible AI use?

The post Why teachers don’t need to ban ChatGPT or AI tools in the classroom (and what to do instead) appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

– Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori’s quote hangs on my wall at school, reminding me that in all I do, I am striving to create engaged, independent learners who take ownership of their learning. I do what I can to limit the time children are expected to sit and listen for long periods and try to encourage workshops where children can work at their own pace with autonomy and agency. This is when I see my students happiest, and the best learning occurs. But how do you make that happen for a room full of children with different needs? Math Menus are one way that has successfully worked in many of the classrooms I work in as an Instructional Coach.

In the classroom

My school has time every day devoted to Math Skills Block.  Some schools call it WIN time or “What I Need.”  It’s a time when instruction is differentiated to meet the needs of all the learners in the classroom. If you were to walk into a classroom during Skills Block, you would see some children working in small groups with a teacher, classroom aide, or specialist.  Some children may be pulled out of the classroom to receive IEP services.  Others may work independently or with a partner on math menu activities.  The room has a buzz, and people are moving about, working at tables, on computers, or gathering with friends on the floor to play a game together.  Overall, there is a sense of engagement where everyone works on math, but not all in the same way.

Some teachers use math menus with the whole class, and others use them for independent work, as they work with small groups of students for differentiated instruction.  Either way, it is a valuable way for children to practice and have fun with the math skills they are learning by using them in games and other activities.

Creating the menu

When creating a math menu, I always ask, “What skills do I want my students to have more practice with? What games or activities can help them practice these skills? What computer programs would be a valuable use of their time?” Then I gather ideas and organize them on a grid so children can choose between activities they want to do.

Before using the menu with kids, teaching, modeling, and practicing each activity with the whole class is essential to ensure students can work on each task confidently and successfully.  This can be done in small groups or with the entire class.

I always make sure to go over guidelines with students, such as making sure each choice is complete before repeating any of the activities on the menu or differentiating expectations on how many activities each student should complete by the end of the week and which ones are “must do.”  We also discuss which activities should be completed alone and which can be done with a friend.  Having a math folder available for students to keep their incomplete work during the week helps organize student work so children know what still needs to be finished.

Here are some examples:

Math Menus can be designed from simple to complex.  Some teachers just list the work choices on a grid, and others have a more elaborate theme, such as comparing math choices to choices on a restaurant menu with an order to complete them. One thing that most menus have in common is they often include review worksheets, games to play with peers, and time on a math computer game such as IXL, Prodigy, or Dreambox.  Children rotate between these activities to complete their choices within the time frame chosen by the teacher.

Sources for games

An excellent place to find activities for your math menu is in the math curriculum you use with your class.  Many math programs have game components you can teach to the whole class and then use as menu options.  Here are some of my favorite activities and games that I have included on math menus:

Tenzi:  Kids of all ages love this simple dice game and other dice activities.

Loops and Groups:  A simple game to practice multiplication facts.

Addition Top-It:  This can be played with number cards or dominoes to practice addition facts.

Board Games:  Games are a great way to reinforce math skills while playing with a friend.

Printable Math Games: Here are many printable math games and resources all in one place.

Illustrative Math Games:  Games for all ages sorted by skill and grade level.

Love Maths Games: Minimal materials are needed to play these games, usually just dice or cards.

Chalk Games:  If an adult can bring a small group outside, chalk games are always fun, like this multiplication labyrinth made for friends to hop along.

Assessment

One thing to consider is how you will assess students’ work on their math menus.  After students finish each activity, I ask them to have a teacher in the room initial that square on the menu to show it was completed, and they showed their work to an adult. For any paperwork students finish, I staple it right to the math menu so that at the end of the week, I can look through a child’s work packet and assess understanding by how many activities were completed and the quality of work attached to the menu.

When looking through students’ work, I may group kids by abilities and decide to pull small groups the following week based on skills they need more practice on.  For example, if a group of kids struggled with adding multi-digit numbers, I would pull them together to play a specific game with me the following week and reteach that skill.  The work samples I collect during skills time and the observations from myself and other teachers in the room help me form these groups.  At the end of the week, all work is sent home with a note commenting on how much each child accomplished.  It is an excellent way to communicate with parents and show them what their child is learning in math.

For my record keeping, I take a class list and record a check, check plus (+), or check minus (-)  to track who is completing grade level, above grade level, or below grade level work during math menu time.  Sometimes I will add a one-sentence note with observations from the week for each student.  I don’t always have the time to do this, but when I do, it is a valuable way to collect informal assessments for report cards and parent conferences.  It also helps me plan my instruction for the following week by assessing which skills students are mastering independently and which skills need more instruction.

Benefits of math menus

Using math menus is a great way to make math fun for your students.  Giving them autonomy and choice in their math learning helps them build independence, learn from their peers, and practice needed skills.  It also frees up teachers to pull small groups of students and differentiate review work as needed while the rest of the class works independently.  And it gives teachers time to step back and observe their students at work.  Teachers can pop in and out of groups, have informal math conversations with students, and get an overall sense of who their students are as math learners.  It is informative to watch and see which activities draw their attention and which ones they tend to avoid.  These reflections are valuable information when planning your math curriculum and deciding which activities best engage your students. The best thing about math menus is that they make math time fun!

The post The complete guide to independent math menus appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

And I get why. We spend a ton of time with our students. It’s inevitable that we notice odd bruises, outsized reactions, or a persistent wheezy cough.

But the truth is, we’ve had extremely limited training to deal with concerns beyond education. We simply aren’t qualified, and in my case, it’s not why I became a teacher in the first place. I became a teacher because I love education and kids, and the confluence of those two things inspired me. It still does.

And yet, our students’ home lives, which are sometimes riddled with traumatic events and circumstances, do affect their ability to learn. So I want to suggest, not that you become an ad hoc therapist, but rather that you consider classroom practices that can help your traumatized students learn.

What are ACEs and how do they present in the classroom?

Adverse childhood experiences (also known as ACEs) can have profound and lasting effects. When people experience traumatic events or situations as a young person, such as having an incarcerated parent or experiencing abuse, there are effects, and the effects are sobering. Consider a few:

• Serious chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and cancer
• Mental health conditions
• High-risk behaviors
• Poor social outcomes, such as lower graduation rates and persistent underemployment

You’ve seen the effects of ACEs in your classroom. Students who have had multiple adverse experiences are far more likely to have chronic truancy, repeat grades, behave unpredictably, and fail to make learning gains.

Here are other ways trauma-connected behaviors might show up in your classroom:

Marguerite seems unable to control her body. She never sits at her desk but instead constantly roams your classroom, touching other students and their stuff. 

Joseph seems incapable of showing empathy or compassion. For example, last week, when another student cried because an elderly relative had died, Joseph laughed.

Mikayla freezes when faced with new situations or transitions. Movement between classes, a new activity, or even a simple quiz immobilizes her.

Josh isn’t making any learning gains even though he participates in targeted interventions. A thorough evaluation showed no evidence of a learning disability.

Davon has poor response flexibility, which is the space between impulse and action. The threat of consequences has little effect. He seems unable to pause before acting out. 

As it turns out, though, there is good news. Researchers at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child note that the younger the brain, the less effort is required for that brain to change. You elementary school teachers have so much power to help students quickly overcome trauma. But even we high school teachers can take heart. The brain remains elastic enough to undergo change throughout our lives. It’s not until we reach our 20s that the effort becomes more difficult (although still very much possible).

How to help traumatized students experience success at school

There are four main ways we can help traumatized students be successful in our classrooms—and, at the same time, improve the school climate for all of us.

Technique #1: Coaching behaviors

When faced with unpredictable student behavior, my inclination is to take it personally. I think, Well, if I had a better relationship with this kid or if I’d done a more solid job of establishing classroom routines, Marguerite wouldn’t be wandering around or Davon would stop acting out.

But the truth is, I didn’t cause the trauma. And depending on how long it’s been going on, it may take some time to reverse its effects.

Once I’ve reminded myself that the situation isn’t a personal attack, I can better respond.

It’s important to take a moment or two to consider my own reaction and how it may be contributing to the situation. A good guiding question is, How can I respond in a way that helps the student regulate their behavior, feel more connected to our environment, and disarm all of our fears?

Allowing students to re-do the moment is huge, and that’s where coaching comes in. When Jose kicks desks on the way to the bathroom, consider saying, “Jose, let’s try that again. Show me you can walk to the bathroom without kicking any desks.” Do-overs are an extremely effective way to retrain our brains.

Incorporate compromise into your interactions with traumatized children. I was recently at an incarceration site when a student threw his papers on the floor and told me, with a very colorful vocabulary, that he was declining to participate. I picked up the papers, set them on the corner of his desk, and wrote the answer to the first question on his paper. A few minutes later, I saw the student working. Even though we didn’t talk through a compromise, I demonstrated how to (“I’ll do the first one …”), and it worked.

Compromise conversations can be effective, too, especially when you encourage the student to make the proposal. This gives them a sense of agency and control when their home experiences may have given little of either.

Last, offer students choice — positive choice. A choice between “sit down or get a referral” isn’t really a choice. Plus we know that punishment without a relationship can backfire. Consider, instead, offering a pencil, pen, or marker to complete an assignment. Or, allow a student to choose odd or even numbered problems, select the order of worksheets to complete, where in the classroom they’d like to work, or whether or not they want to partner with another student.

One more word about coaching behaviors … there absolutely are times when a consequence for inappropriate behaviors is the right answer. I would never suggest letting inappropriate behavior go unchecked. The idea is to think about how. Studies tell us that punishment can actually reactive a person’s trauma. That’s the last thing you’d want to do, of course. What works for me is to correct with kindness.

Remember, too, there’s a delicate balance between structure and nurture. Adherence to routines and rules can be very helpful for some students with multiple ACEs, but for others, those very same rules can feel insurmountable.

Technique #2: Emotional regulation strategies

I confess, I’m not great at the coaching behaviors with my students, but I shine with regulation strategies. These are tricks you can arm your students with to help them regulate their own behaviors. I think that’s why I like this group of ideas so much; I can let go of my own monitoring by giving students more agency to attend to their needs.

Essentially, your goal with regulation strategies is to help students create a tiny self-distraction. This gives them to space to calm down, re-focus, or simply take a breather.

Examples include listening to music through headphones, doodling, taking a few deep breaths, running a quick errand for you, coloring, or doing a puzzle. These are not meant to last a long time. These are quick activities that can give a student a moment to get it together.

Over time, your traumatized students might be able to reach for these self-monitoring strategies on their own. That’s the magic of self-regulation strategies … they can free you from having to constantly monitor issues that feel unrelated to teaching.

Keep in mind, regulation strategies are not meant to replace classroom work. If Damien insists on coloring instead of completing his lab report, it’s time to back up to some of those coaching behaviors we talked about earlier. Compromise might be just the ticket.

Technique #3: Engagement practices

The number one question I get from teachers is how to be more engaging. The teachers in my community are constantly looking for ways to engage their kids that are fresh and effective, especially in this current climate of incessant testing.

I tell you this to say, engagement strategies are good for all of our kids, not just ones who’ve had past trauma. This is a win. Using engagement strategies is likely something you already do, but there are particular ones that can be especially helpful for our traumatized students.

Two easy ones to incorporate with zero preparation are eye contact and voice quality. Students suffering from the effects of ACEs do well with quieter voices, spoken to them from a close range rather than from across the room. Similarly, sitting down next to a student or squatting down to their eye level reduces their anxiety. This is called behavior matching and research shows, it lowers a student’s heart rate and stress.

Also consider adding games and playfulness into your routines, especially with older students who may not have experienced these at home. Even something as simple as a riddle of the day can help a student with unease. When a student is laughing, their defenses drop and they don’t feel afraid.

All of these engagement strategies create a slight increase in dopamine. That’s the feel-good chemical our brains release when they’re relaxed and happy. And we all know, relaxed and happy brains are brains that are ready to learn.

Technique #4: Instructional ideas

Good news! The instructional ideas that will help your kids with ACEs will help all of your students. The difference is that the efforts described here have been known to be especially effective for students dealing with the effects of trauma.

Traumatized students frequently experience overwhelm. This overwhelm results in fight (misbehavior), flight (avoidance, shut-down), or freeze (brain unable to learn) responses. The best way you can combat this overwhelm is through chunking. And I do mean chunk everything.

Break down every aspect of your lessons into bite-size pieces. This is where you want to be thinking about the order of instruction in your lessons and gradual release for student practice. If these ideas are unfamiliar to you, set up some time to work the instructional coach on your campus.

Be sure you are also making your expectations for student work clear. Model exactly what you’re looking for when you engage in whole or small-group instruction. Provide anchor papers and sample work. Even providing partially completed assignments for your overwhelmed students can be extremely helpful and encouraging as you gradually move them to more independent work.

Clear expectations are critical for students with ACEs. The research tells us that these particular kids struggle with “gray” areas or instructions that leave them guessing. Concrete, black-and-white examples and clear directions set them up for success.

One more thing to consider … kids who have experienced challenging backgrounds may be completely unfamiliar with effective study practices. Explicitly teach these study habits (in very small chunks!):

• Time management
• Organization
• Note-taking
• Memorization tricks
• Goal setting
• Active listening
• Testing tips

Final thoughts

It may feel like having to get crafty with our students who have unpredictable behavior, extreme emotions, or frustrating learning issues is just one more thing on our already very overloaded plates. I fully acknowledge we are asked to do too much.

Perhaps, though, incorporating just one or two of these ideas into your teaching practice might actually reduce your workload. As you provide a safe learning environment for your students who have experienced trauma, the amount of time you spend re-teaching or correcting will likely decrease.

For more information about ACEs and toxic response, check out Nadine Burke Harris’s book The Deepest Well (2018). Also, consider screening Paper Tigers (2015) with your colleagues. This documentary follows six high school students over the course of a year as they participate in a trauma-sensitive program.

Last word, and perhaps the most important one of all: be sure you are attending to your own needs through this process. Working with traumatized students can be, well, traumatizing. Build yourself a support system and self-care practices that ensure your own good health. As one of my favorite teachers frequently reminds me, “Take good care of you.”

The post 4 trauma-informed approaches that help kids with ACEs (and benefit your entire class!) appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

I can relate.

When I taught 6th grade, at times I had English learners with limited literacy in their home language or English, and I also had students who were reading above grade level by years and interested in Young Adult literature. That is a huge span of reading levels, but they are all emotionally 6th graders. They typically watch the same tv shows and movies, are interested in the same pop culture trends, are curious about the same current events in the news, and are obsessed with the same YouTubers or TikTok trends.

Most books are written in such a way that they are geared towards the typical aged reader for that level. This works for the “average” reader, but teachers know that classrooms do not merely comprise grade-level readers.

While I would personally say the task of curating a classroom library has been easier as a 2nd-grade teacher, I still have students spanning kindergarten-4th grade reading levels.

I love my classroom library. It is my pride and joy. So, I have put effort continuously each year I’ve been teaching to gather up more books that are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors to my students, that are highly engaging for book clubs, that are appropriate for all levels of readers. I am an avid reader myself reading 1-3 books per week. While enjoyable, it can be an arduous task to select books for a diverse classroom of readers.

The purpose of this article is to provide a few recommendations for each grade band and give you some tools to support readers within different text bands. I’ll share my recommended lists, including free decodables for students learning to read cvc words, picture books with diverse characters, engaging novels in verse and graphic novels to hook reluctant readers, and more.

Use text bands to broaden a student’s reading “level”

I first heard about text bands at a TCRWP Reunion in New York. The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project promotes a workshop model for reading and writing and has numerous units of study as a curriculum and many resources available for teachers. When I was at a session on reunion day, I heard about using text bands to help select books for readers.

There are certain text levels that are more pivotal turning points than others. Here is an example document of characteristics of different text bands. The levels here refer to guided reading levels. There are multiple ways to level texts and one level does not accurately state everything there is to know about a book. When we look at text bands, though, we can group students within a band together to read for a book club.

For instance, if a classroom has a group of students reading across N, O, P, and Q levels or approximately in that range, they can be grouped together to read, for example, a text labeled as P. The N and O-level students may need some scaffolding and support, but the students can still be reading within the same text band since those book levels are grouped better together due to the characteristics of that level of the text.

If a student is reaching within their text band (at the lower end of the text band) then they may need some extra check-ins with the teacher or stop and think post-it notes planned ahead in their book. This will help the student reach for that more difficult text while still being within a zone of proximal development. Consider how you can work within a range of reading levels for each student versus only one cut-and-dry number or letter designation.

I am not a fan of leveled classroom libraries or leveling books with only one measure (Lexile, Guided Reading, etc.). Levels can however help us get information about a book’s characteristics or writing style even though it’s not going to tell us everything about a book.

A student’s reading level similarly does not tell us everything about a reader. Just because the student’s level J and the book’s level J line up does not mean that that book will be a good fit for that reader. This is another reason why it’s helpful to keep in mind a broader band of options for each reader where they can read within a range of levels. If you want to read more about why I think you should Let Readers Reach you can check that post out.

A word on audio: decoding and comprehension

In this article, I am not going to discuss audiobooks or podcasts. Those are excellent sources for readers, and I am not discouraging them at all. If you’d like to learn more, you can listen to a great interview and Truth for Teachers podcast episode with Angela on Listenwise which details the benefits of integrating listening skills into your classroom.

How to use podcasts in the classroom as a tool for equity and differentiation (with Listenwise)

When we think about reading as comprehension and following a story or synthesizing a main idea, listening is 100% reading; however, we also need to teach students phonemic awareness – how to sound out words, manipulate phonemes/sounds, recognize spelling patterns, how speech and text are connected, etc.

Decoding is a main thread in the world of reading and as teachers, we can’t dismiss this entirely. Therefore, in this post, I’m going to share book recommendations with the idea that students are decoding these words in print and/or decoding while listening to an audiobook concurrently.

In my experience, even readers who are far behind grade level desperately want to read a book in their hands and keep up with their grade level peers. The recommendations I’m sharing are intended to make that experience happen for kids.

Keep in mind that I am grouping grade levels together for ease of skimming for you as the teacher. By all means, look at any grade level and any book; it may be what you were looking for even if it’s not labeled with your particular grade range.

Picture Books

For primary students, picture books can be a great equalizer. While picture books can be great at all grade levels, for independent reading, they tend to be more popular in primary grades.

Many reaching readers will enjoy rereading a text you’ve read aloud in class since they can fill in the gaps they otherwise might have missed independently. I also have found it easier to find picture books with more diverse characters than early reader series. Picture Books also offer rich vocabulary in an accessible package. Here are my favorites.

• Abuela by Arthur Dorros
• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
• An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long (Nonfiction animal series)
• Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
• Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
• Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
• Home is In Between by Mitali Perkins
• Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy (Nonfiction)
• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
• Just Ask! By Sonia Sotomayor
• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner (Nonfiction animal series)
• Powwow Day by Traci Sorell, Madalyn Goodnight
• Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn
• Same, Same, but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki Shaw
• Saturday by Oge Mora
• Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating (Nonfiction)
• The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
• Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto
• What Will You Be? By Yamile Saied Méndez

Decodable Books

For students learning to read, decodable books are those books that can be sounded out easily. They follow predictable phonics patterns and include very few high-frequency trick words/sight words that break rules.

Decodables reinforce word patterns and build confidence in readers. These are essential for students learning to read and are great for those students who need more explicit practice reading word patterns, so they could be used for older students building confidence in reading skills as well.

Decodables for Learning to Read:

• UFLI Toolbox (all free) – also includes lessons in slides to use
• Just Right Readers Decodables e-library (all free)
• Beyond Decodables (all free)
• SPELD SA Decodables (all free)
• UFLI created this Decodable Text Guide which links not only to their decodable passages but to other passages as well from different sites and collections by text feature. Some of the links in the spreadsheet are to reputable companies where you can purchase books (Alphabet Series, Flyleaf, etc.)

Book recommendations by grade level

There are many, many lists out there of which books are the right level for each grade. Below, I am aiming to narrow down that list by doing two things. First, I’m purposely including texts that have more cultural diversity. This is because I find that “Top 10” lists for grade levels and books you may have inherited from retired teachers tend to lack these titles.

Second, I am trying to give you the titles I’ve seen as the most popular among students I’ve taught. That is not to say it will be the same in your context, but I think it’s a good starting point. Also, I am sure that every person reading this will think, “How could you not include THIS book?!” I might have forgotten it or I might just not know about it.

Feel free to add it in the comments! I’d love to hear other recommendations. Also, I can’t list every single book I love in the lists below (although I think I’ve almost tried!)

2nd & 3rd grade Reaching to Read:

• Dav Pilkey Graphic Novels: Mighty Robot, Dogman, Captain Underpants – graphic novels (F series)
• Dragon by Dav Pilkey (F Series)
• Elephant and Piggie Books by Mo Willems (F series)
• Hi Fly Guy! By Tedd Arnold (F Series)
• J.D. the Kid Barber by J. Dillard (J.D. and the Great Barber Battle – F Series)
• Katie Woo Series by Fran Manushkin and Tammie Lyon (Katie Woo Series – F)
• Katie Woo and Pedro Mysteries by Fran Manushkin (F Series)
• Ling and Ting by Grace Lin (F Series)
• Meet Biscuit! (I can read F series) by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories
• Meet Yasmin! by Saadia Faruqi (F Series)
• Pedro’s Mystery Club by Fran Manushkin (Pedro Series – F)
• Princess in Black by Shannon and Dean Hale (F Series)
• Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look (RF Series)
• Sadiq and the Pet Problem by Siman Nuurali (F Feries)
• The Toad: Disgusting Critter Series by Elise Gravel (NF)
• Vivi Loves Science by Kimberly Derting (also available as I Can Read F series)
• Your Friend, Parker by Parker Curry, Jessica Curry (Ready to Read F series)
• Zoey and Sassafras by Asia Citro (Dragons and Marshmallows – 1F Series)

2nd & 3rd grade Strong Readers:

• A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy (F)
• Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish (F Series)
• Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey (F series)
• Gone Fishing by Tamera Will Wissinger (RF, Novel in Verse)
• Matilda by Roald Dahl (F, Fantasy)
• One and Only Ivan (and One and Only Bob) by Katherine Applegate (novels in verse) *also great for reaching readers in secondary if you’re doing a novel in verse or poetry unit
• Precious Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith (RF Series)
• Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (F Series)
• The Witches by Roald Dahl (F, Fantasy)
• The Year of Billy Miller & Billy Miller Makes a Wish by Kevin Henkes (RF series)
• Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland (F Series)

I Survived Series Lauren Tarshis (HF Series) *also great for reaching readers in secondary if you’re doing a historical fiction unit

4th & 5th Grade Reaching to Read:

• Ada Lace on the Case by Emily Calendrelli (F Series)
• Annie Sullivan and the Trial of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert (NF graphic novel)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (F series, lots of visuals)
• Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon (F Series)
• Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows (F Series)
• Jada Jones, Rock Star by Kelly Starling Lyons (F series)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• Franny K. Stein by Jim Benton (F Series)
• My Weird School Series by Dan Gutman (F series, humor)
• Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton (F graphic novel)
• Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales by Nathan Hale (HF series, graphic novel)
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia series) by C.S. Lewis (F series, fantasy)
• What if you had Animal Hair? by Sandra Markle (NF Series)
• Who Is?…What Is?…. Series (ex. Who Was Anne Frank? NF series, biography)
• Who Would Win? by Jerry Pallotta (NF Series)
• Zapato Power Series by Jacqueline Jules (Freddie Ramos Takes Off – F series)

4th & 5th Grade Strong Readers:

• Allies by Alan Gratz (HF; other books by Gratz also are great)
• Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston (Fantasy series)
• A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen (HF; other books by Nielsen are also great)
• Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman (NF graphic novel)
• Big Fat Zombie Goldfish by Mo O’Hara (F Series)
• Crossover by Kwame Alexander (RF, novel in verse)
• Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu, Andres Vera Martinez (graphic novel, NF)
• The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (HF)
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Cinder – 1st book in F series, sci-fi)
• Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell (HF, novel in verse)
• Track Series by Jason Reynolds (novel in verse, F series – Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu)
• Voyagers: Project Alpha by D.J MacHale (1st in F series, sci-fi)

Secondary readers

I am not going to list recommendations for stronger readers for middle and high school since I think those are easier to compile for educators. As students get older, there are two genres in particular that I find helpful to keep engagement up: Novels in Verse and Graphic Novels.

Graphic Novels offer picture support for students and can be rigorous for comprehension still. Novels in Verse allow students to read a book that feels big or “grown-up” while still offering bite-sized lines to read. These also tend to get to the essence of a story more quickly which can be engaging for readers. You can read more about why I love graphic novels here & novels in verse here.

Authors

In addition, here are a few authors I’d highly recommend for approachable and engaging books:

• Elizabeth Acevedo
• Kwame Alexander
• Don Brown
• Joseph Bruchac
• Matt de la Pena
• Alexandra Diaz
• Alan Gratz
• Thanhha Lai
• Jason Reynolds
• Angie Thomas
• Padma Venkatraman
• Jacqueline Woodson

More Accessible Texts for 6th & 7th & 8th Grade:

• A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (NF)
• Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon (NF, biograph, graphic novel)
• Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy by Seymour Reit (HF)
• Booked by Kwame Alexander (RF, novel in verse)
• City of Ember by Jeanne du Prau (F series, dystopian)
• Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown (NF graphic novel)
• El Deafo by Cece Bell (F graphic novel)
• False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (F series, Fantasy)
• Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson (F, dystopian)
• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (F series, The Underland Chronicles)
• Hidden by Helen Frost (RF, novel in verse)
• Holes by Louis Sachar (RF novel)
• House Arrest by K.A. Holt (RF, novel in verse)
• Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (F, novel in verse)
• I Survived Series Lauren Tarshis (NF Series)
• Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina (RF)
• Miles Morales: Spider Man by Jason Reynolds (F, fantasy)
• New Kid by Jerry Craft (F, graphic novel)
• Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas by Jim Ottavani and Maris Wicks (NF graphic novel)
• Refugee by Alan Gratz (HF)
• Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturn (NF graphic novel)
• Save Me a Seat by by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan (RF)
• Taking Sides by Gary Soto (RF)
• Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown (NF graphic novel)
• The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya (RF)
• The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown (NF graphic novel)
• The Thief of Always by Clive Barker (F, fantasy)
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (F, mystery)
• Trapped in a Video Game by Dustin Brady and Jesse Brady (F Series)

More Accessible Texts for 9th – 12th Grades:

• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds (F)
• A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman (RF, novel in verse)
• Brief Histories of Everyday Objects by Andy Warner (NF graphic novel)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (novel in verse, memoir)
• Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham (HF, RF – two timelines)
• Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle (NF graphic novel)
• Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai (F)
• Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (novel in verse, RF)
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (F, novel in verse)
• March: Book One (and Two and Three) by John Lewis (NF graphic novel)
• Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya (RF)
• Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rex Ogle (modern Little Women graphic novel)
• Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend by Luca Caioli (NF)
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga (RF, novel in verse)
• Overturned by Lamar Giles (F)
• Santiago’s Road Home by Alexandra Diaz (RF)
• Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children by Kath Shackleton (NF graphic novel)
• The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater (NF)
• The Disappearing Spoon and other true tales of rivalry, adventure, and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements by Sam Kean (NF)
• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (RF, novel in verse)
• The Unwanted: Stories of Syrian Refugees by Don Brown (NF graphic novel)
• T-Minus: The Race to the Moon by Jim Ottavani (NF graphic novel)

If you teach High School English, I also recommend Betsy Potash from Now Spark Creativity for lots of ideas. Some of her posts about choice reading include “What To Do When a Student Says I Hate Reading”; “Got Reluctant Readers? There’s help”; “How to Match Readers with Books”.

Where to find more appropriately-mature books

It would be ideal for us to read every single book we put in front of students but that is impossible. It’s not a goal we could ever achieve. Apart from taking advice and recommendations from fellow educators, another great resource is Common Sense Media.

This website is great for educators as they’re scanning books to see if it’s appropriate for students. The site rates positive messages, positive role models, diverse representation, violence and scariness, sex, romance, and nudity, language, products and purchases, and drinking, drugs, and smoking for each title.

Common Sense Media is also great for parents and has meaningful information for them. I find that parents sometimes enjoy their child reading a “challenging” book but they don’t necessarily realize all the mature aspects that go into that novel.

Final tips on using hi-lo texts and text bands

1. Equity not equality

You will not be able to spend equal time with each reader or writer. This is not only unrealistic to expect but also not beneficial to all students. If a student is confident in reading and writing, sometimes they just need the time to practice those same skills and become fluent.

Also, not every student will get the same level of enjoyment out of your class. You’re aiming to give students what they need within the constraints of your time and energy, not create an identical experience and level of enjoyment for every student.

2. Opportunities, not perfection

Your goal is not to make sure that every student has the perfect book for them all the time; your goal is to provide reading opportunities that are within a reasonable range for each student. Your goal is to set students up for success in reading, but you cannot make the stars align for every book and every unit for every kid.

There will still be books kids don’t like; that’s just life. I personally sought to get kids to LOVE at least one book in my class so much that they raved about it at home and school. That one really positive experience can propel growth in multiple areas.

3. Use themes to tie a classroom together

Whenever I am in a unit that is centered around a genre (nonfiction text features, literary nonfiction picture books, science fiction and fantasy, historical fiction, etc.), I try to find books that are appropriate for different leveled readers within each genre.

What I typically do if everyone is reading in a book club is create a google form with book trailers or at least images of books. Each question is a duplicate. The first question they select their first choice, the second they select their second choice, and the third they select their third choice. I also have the books out physically to flip through.

I personally found that students are excellent at selecting books that are appropriate for themselves, but even if they reach too high or too low, I can usually find one of their top 3 choices that lines up with my assessment of their skill. After a book club unit, the books are available for independent reading, so they are not cut off from their first choice in any case.

If a student really wants to read something, I’ll have an honest conversation with them that it might be hard, so they’ll have to put in extra time and energy to keep up with the group. If they think they can do it, great; if that makes them nervous, I tell them it’s a “not right now” book. It’s something they can try later.

4. Set up a positive climate towards all books

Some of the things I did that seemed to support my reaching readers were to read aloud different types of books. When I finished reading aloud a picture book, I’d raise it up asking who would like to read it. The more I did this, the more popular it became to read picture books. I would create book clubs for just graphic novels and just novels in verse towards the beginning of the year to establish that these were real genres with lots of options that I valued.

5. Privacy matters

Even as young as 2nd grade, I notice students who are struggling become self-conscious about their reading abilities. They deserve some discretion on your part. Group them with students who need the same skill work so they feel on par with peers. Give them opportunities to listen to you read aloud from a popular series that on-grade-level readers are experiencing. Then, they may be able to reread that book again on their own.

Give them hidden differentiation where everyone has the same type of decodable book/same genre or worksheet or word work choice board but they might have different activities, an easier text, or different words to choose from. If you have an older student working on primary activities such as letter and sound matching, word sorts, or books that look geared towards very young readers, let them work in a quiet, private corner or in the hallway.

Just a little move might make them feel more at ease to work on their skills in confidence. I write about a few more of these strategies in my blog post, “How I teach reading to a class that spans 7+ grade levels.”

18 manageable ways to differentiate when kids have gaps in their learning

I hope this article gave you some resources for building up your classroom library and/or selecting books for book clubs for students that will be both age and level appropriate. This is not meant to be comprehensive, but I hope that some of these ideas will support you. I know that finding engaging books for struggling secondary readers was a huge challenge for me, and the more we share as educators, the more opportunities our readers have to thrive.

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