Governor Kathy Hochul has unveiled a comprehensive initiative, the ‘Back to Basics’ plan, to boost reading proficiency in New York and address the critical need for foundational skills in students. This proposal, a component of her 2024 State of the State address, focuses on transitioning the state’s education system to evidence-based best practices. In an […]

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By Lauren Davenport and Marie Southwell Just Read: A few years ago, on a visit to the library, a wonderful teacher I knew, Mr. Andrew Cedermark, was in the shared campus library with one of his classes. We had a history of talking shop and collaborating even though we work in separate schools, so when […]

The post Reading Rights: Do I Have To or Can I Please: The Right to “Just Read” appeared first on The Educators Room.

There is no doubt that the neglect of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – better known as STEM in educational circles – has come at our own peril. Our students’ achievement in mathematics is surely not where other Americans expect it to be, and the comfort of anyone saying “I hate math” is embarrassing. As […]

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As educators, we are responsible for cultivating an inclusive learning environment that values and celebrates diversity. One powerful way to achieve this is by providing students with a diverse reading list that exposes them to different cultures, experiences, and perspectives. Here is a reading list specifically curated for your eleventh-grade summer reading list. Each book […]

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Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! As an English language arts teacher of many, many years, poetry has always been one of my favorite subjects to teach my students. Poetry brings out the best in students’ language abilities and challenges them to write in a way […]

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Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! My students began to get a little “off” as the second semester approached in my classroom. Off task, off behaviorally, off academically – call it what you will, but they were not the cooperative, attentive fourth graders I had […]

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Books Are Meant to Be Discussed, Not Banned Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Last summer, I served on the jury of my first murder trial. We heard all kinds of griping testimony, viewed extensive forensic evidence, and witnessed dramatic outbursts from the defense lawyer, […]

The post We Put “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Trial appeared first on The Educators Room.

Diverse Classroom Library: Our classroom libraries are in trouble. Just as more teachers are learning that their libraries need books that reflect their student populations, they also have to fight policies at the district and state levels that ban many of these same books from their libraries. Florida, for example, is banning certain materials in classroom libraries […]

The post Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here’s How to Set It Up. appeared first on The Educators Room.

Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I remember the first time I questioned whether a student paper was actually theirs. In an age before advanced plagiarism checkers, a colleague suggested that I Google a key phrase from the paper. I put the phrase in quotation […]

The post I’m a High School English Teacher. I’m Not Scared of ChatGPT appeared first on The Educators Room.

Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I remember sending my son to his first day of school with his new glasses. My anxiety was high, worrying about what the other students would say to him and how their comments would make him feel. Would they […]

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