essay about teaching elementary students

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Building Lifelong Writing Skills

Instead of addressing a single piece of writing, elementary teachers can focus on students’ overall abilities and needs.

Are you looking for more effective ways to help your students become stronger writers? Would you love to be able to make the following statements?

“I feel much more capable of identifying student needs in writing and teaching them strategies to use that improve their abilities.”
“I feel as though I have a better understanding of what my students really need.”

These quotes are from educators who were reflecting on their first year teaching a writers’ workshop after working with their colleagues and me throughout the year. Both took the time to dig into some new ideas that helped them change their instructional practices in writing so that they were asking questions and making choices that moved their writers forward.

Prior to this year, these teachers tended to lean toward what many teachers often do—talk to students about what they see in their writing piece at the moment. For example, you may notice that a student isn’t using any elaboration techniques and their sentences or paragraphs are very short and simple. You may look through their piece and then ask the student, “What did that look like?” And then after they tell you, you might say, “OK, why don’t you write that down?”

But consider this: How will this correction or revision, which is based solely on that particular piece, help your student to elaborate well in their next piece? Will they take the strategy of adding details about how something looks and apply it to their writing next time?

In my experience, understanding Lucy Calkins’s idea of how to teach the writer, not the writing, is what we need to help grow writers so that students will apply new strategies in their future work. You want to know your students’ strengths and needs as writers, not just what the current writing piece may need at the moment. Then, and only then, will you provide them with the tools they need to improve their skills as writers.

Here are my tips for helping your writers grow in their abilities by providing them with what they need as writers.

Know your writers

The most important step to building up your writers is knowing them . Know their writing behaviors and ability level. There are three ways to accomplish this.

First, you’ll want to administer and analyze an “on demand” writing piece, a piece of writing that’s written independently in one period of time. As the students are writing, take note of their behaviors and record what you notice—are they engaged, on task, planning, revising, and editing?

Look through each writing piece and take note of the strengths and weaknesses. A rubric would be a helpful tool for this stage of the process. Then look at each piece according to the strands of the rubric and identify where the students stand.

The third way to know your writers is to talk to them. During independent writing time, meet with students and learn how they work. Ask them how they planned their writing piece, why they chose their topic, what they’ll be doing next, etc.

These questions will provide important information about how students think about the writing process, and it’s also an effective way to identify any struggles that students may be having with engagement. If they haven’t spent much time writing, or if you’ve seen them up and about and not writing, this is a simple way to find out why.

Find the ‘base level’ of need

Many times, the first aspect of writing that you notice in a student’s piece is what you choose to work on with the writer. For example, if you notice in one student’s piece that they consistently write only a page or two before moving on to a new topic, you may decide that they need to build their stamina or elaborate more.

There’s often something else beneath what we see in the writing, however, that’s causing the student difficulty. In this case, perhaps they didn’t take any time to plan or rehearse their writing. Missing this step of the writing process would certainly prevent them from knowing what to write, and as a result, they would have only a few ideas to include in their piece.

Teachers need to identify the real reasons for any difficulties their writers may have so that they can identify what they truly need to learn. This is another area where talking to and questioning students will help. As you hear more about a writer’s process and decision-making, you’ll be able to more easily identify their base area of need.

One tool I’ve found to be quite effective for teachers in identifying the base level of need is “The Hierarchy of Writing Goals,” from Jennifer Serravallo’s The Writing Strategies Book : Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers .

Teach the writers what they need

Once you’ve established the students’ areas of need, consider what the next steps might be in those skill areas that will help them to grow as writers. In the above example of the student who wrote only a page or two before starting a new topic, this writer needs techniques for planning out their writing. When they engage in the planning portion of the writing process, they won’t run out of things to include in their piece.

You’ll want to choose a few strategies and teach them one at a time, either within a whole-class mini-lesson, a small group, or a one-on-one conference. One helpful strategy for planning a writing piece is to draw a quick sketch for each step of the story on each page of a booklet. An effective planning strategy for an informational piece would be to use bullet points to establish subtopics.

Be sure the students understand that this is something writers do to help them write more about their topic and that they can use this anytime they’re planning a new piece.

Use language of the writing strategy, not the writing

The example at the beginning of this post of the student not using any elaboration techniques, with the teacher then asking them to write something for the piece that provides more detail, is an illustration of “teaching the writing.” Instead, it would have been better to teach the student a strategy that writers use for elaboration that would be useful for that piece, as well as future pieces.

You might say, “If writers want to help their readers to understand what they’re writing about, they need to elaborate with details. One way to do this as a writer is to include words that tell about how something looks. This will help the reader to visualize what they’re reading, which will be more interesting to them.”

Notice how the language is pointing to what writers do rather than what could or should be in the piece of writing. This language helps teachers to stay focused on the writer’s choices and moves, and it also helps your writers to understand that they make choices as a writer and that these skills can be used anytime they are writing.

Language is a very powerful aspect of “teaching the writer” for both the teacher and the students. The words you use when teaching a strategy will help you gear your instruction toward the writers. When you change your focus to growing your writers for their future and provide them with what they need for writing a new piece independently, you’ll make a much larger impact.

Know your writers, find their base level of need, and teach them strategies using language that focuses on the writer, not the writing. Your writers will be creating strong pieces in no time.

Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

P LANNING, PARAGRAPHING AND POLISHING: FINE-TUNING THE PERFECT ESSAY

Essay writing is an essential skill for every student. Whether writing a particular academic essay (such as persuasive, narrative, descriptive, or expository) or a timed exam essay, the key to getting good at writing is to write. Creating opportunities for our students to engage in extended writing activities will go a long way to helping them improve their skills as scribes.

But, putting the hours in alone will not be enough to attain the highest levels in essay writing. Practice must be meaningful. Once students have a broad overview of how to structure the various types of essays, they are ready to narrow in on the minor details that will enable them to fine-tune their work as a lean vehicle of their thoughts and ideas.

In this article, we will drill down to some aspects that will assist students in taking their essay writing skills up a notch. Many ideas and activities can be integrated into broader lesson plans based on essay writing. Often, though, they will work effectively in isolation – just as athletes isolate physical movements to drill that are relevant to their sport. When these movements become second nature, they can be repeated naturally in the context of the game or in our case, the writing of the essay.

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Planning an essay

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The Boys Scouts’ motto is famously ‘Be Prepared’. It’s a solid motto that can be applied to most aspects of life; essay writing is no different. Given the purpose of an essay is generally to present a logical and reasoned argument, investing time in organising arguments, ideas, and structure would seem to be time well spent.

Given that essays can take a wide range of forms and that we all have our own individual approaches to writing, it stands to reason that there will be no single best approach to the planning stage of essay writing. That said, there are several helpful hints and techniques we can share with our students to help them wrestle their ideas into a writable form. Let’s take a look at a few of the best of these:

BREAK THE QUESTION DOWN: UNDERSTAND YOUR ESSAY TOPIC.

Whether students are tackling an assignment that you have set for them in class or responding to an essay prompt in an exam situation, they should get into the habit of analyzing the nature of the task. To do this, they should unravel the question’s meaning or prompt. Students can practice this in class by responding to various essay titles, questions, and prompts, thereby gaining valuable experience breaking these down.

Have students work in groups to underline and dissect the keywords and phrases and discuss what exactly is being asked of them in the task. Are they being asked to discuss, describe, persuade, or explain? Understanding the exact nature of the task is crucial before going any further in the planning process, never mind the writing process .

BRAINSTORM AND MIND MAP WHAT YOU KNOW:

Once students have understood what the essay task asks them, they should consider what they know about the topic and, often, how they feel about it. When teaching essay writing, we so often emphasize that it is about expressing our opinions on things, but for our younger students what they think about something isn’t always obvious, even to themselves.

Brainstorming and mind-mapping what they know about a topic offers them an opportunity to uncover not just what they already know about a topic, but also gives them a chance to reveal to themselves what they think about the topic. This will help guide them in structuring their research and, later, the essay they will write . When writing an essay in an exam context, this may be the only ‘research’ the student can undertake before the writing, so practicing this will be even more important.

RESEARCH YOUR ESSAY

The previous step above should reveal to students the general direction their research will take. With the ubiquitousness of the internet, gone are the days of students relying on a single well-thumbed encyclopaedia from the school library as their sole authoritative source in their essay. If anything, the real problem for our students today is narrowing down their sources to a manageable number. Students should use the information from the previous step to help here. At this stage, it is important that they:

● Ensure the research material is directly relevant to the essay task

● Record in detail the sources of the information that they will use in their essay

● Engage with the material personally by asking questions and challenging their own biases

● Identify the key points that will be made in their essay

● Group ideas, counterarguments, and opinions together

● Identify the overarching argument they will make in their own essay.

Once these stages have been completed the student is ready to organise their points into a logical order.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of ways for students to organize their points in preparation for writing. They can use graphic organizers , post-it notes, or any number of available writing apps. The important thing for them to consider here is that their points should follow a logical progression. This progression of their argument will be expressed in the form of body paragraphs that will inform the structure of their finished essay.

The number of paragraphs contained in an essay will depend on a number of factors such as word limits, time limits, the complexity of the question etc. Regardless of the essay’s length, students should ensure their essay follows the Rule of Three in that every essay they write contains an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Generally speaking, essay paragraphs will focus on one main idea that is usually expressed in a topic sentence that is followed by a series of supporting sentences that bolster that main idea. The first and final sentences are of the most significance here with the first sentence of a paragraph making the point to the reader and the final sentence of the paragraph making the overall relevance to the essay’s argument crystal clear.

Though students will most likely be familiar with the broad generic structure of essays, it is worth investing time to ensure they have a clear conception of how each part of the essay works, that is, of the exact nature of the task it performs. Let’s review:

Common Essay Structure

Introduction: Provides the reader with context for the essay. It states the broad argument that the essay will make and informs the reader of the writer’s general perspective and approach to the question.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘meat’ of the essay and lay out the argument stated in the introduction point by point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually, the conclusion will restate the central argument while summarising the essay’s main supporting reasons before linking everything back to the original question.

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● Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea

● Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence; students should group similar ideas together to avoid incoherence

● Paragraphs should be denoted consistently; students should choose either to indent or skip a line

● Transition words and phrases such as alternatively , consequently , in contrast should be used to give flow and provide a bridge between paragraphs.

HOW TO EDIT AN ESSAY

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Students shouldn’t expect their essays to emerge from the writing process perfectly formed. Except in exam situations and the like, thorough editing is an essential aspect in the writing process.

Often, students struggle with this aspect of the process the most. After spending hours of effort on planning, research, and writing the first draft, students can be reluctant to go back over the same terrain they have so recently travelled. It is important at this point to give them some helpful guidelines to help them to know what to look out for. The following tips will provide just such help:

One Piece at a Time: There is a lot to look out for in the editing process and often students overlook aspects as they try to juggle too many balls during the process. One effective strategy to combat this is for students to perform a number of rounds of editing with each focusing on a different aspect. For example, the first round could focus on content, the second round on looking out for word repetition (use a thesaurus to help here), with the third attending to spelling and grammar.

Sum It Up: When reviewing the paragraphs they have written, a good starting point is for students to read each paragraph and attempt to sum up its main point in a single line. If this is not possible, their readers will most likely have difficulty following their train of thought too and the paragraph needs to be overhauled.

Let It Breathe: When possible, encourage students to allow some time for their essay to ‘breathe’ before returning to it for editing purposes. This may require some skilful time management on the part of the student, for example, a student rush-writing the night before the deadline does not lend itself to effective editing. Fresh eyes are one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Read It Aloud: This time-tested editing method is a great way for students to identify mistakes and typos in their work. We tend to read things more slowly when reading aloud giving us the time to spot errors. Also, when we read silently our minds can often fill in the gaps or gloss over the mistakes that will become apparent when we read out loud.

Phone a Friend: Peer editing is another great way to identify errors that our brains may miss when reading our own work. Encourage students to partner up for a little ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’.

Use Tech Tools: We need to ensure our students have the mental tools to edit their own work and for this they will need a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. However, there are also a wealth of tech tools such as spellcheck and grammar checks that can offer a great once-over option to catch anything students may have missed in earlier editing rounds.

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Putting the Jewels on Display: While some struggle to edit, others struggle to let go. There comes a point when it is time for students to release their work to the reader. They must learn to relinquish control after the creation is complete. This will be much easier to achieve if the student feels that they have done everything in their control to ensure their essay is representative of the best of their abilities and if they have followed the advice here, they should be confident they have done so.

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ESSAY WRITING video tutorials

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing

February 7, 2016

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For seven years, I was a writing teacher. Yes, I was certified to teach the full spectrum of English language arts—literature, grammar and usage, speech, drama, and so on—but my absolute favorite, the thing I loved doing the most, was teaching students how to write.

Most of the material on this site is directed at all teachers. I look for and put together resources that would appeal to any teacher who teaches any subject. That practice will continue for as long as I keep this up. But over the next year or so, I plan to also share more of what I know about teaching students to write. Although I know many of the people who visit here are not strictly English language arts teachers, my hope is that these posts will provide tons of value to those who are, and to those who teach all subjects, including writing.

So let’s begin with argumentative writing, or persuasive writing, as many of us used to call it. This overview will be most helpful to those who are new to teaching writing, or teachers who have not gotten good results with the approach you have taken up to now. I don’t claim to have the definitive answer on how to do this, but the method I share here worked pretty well for me, and it might do the same for you. If you are an experienced English language arts teacher, you probably already have a system for teaching this skill that you like. Then again, I’m always interested in how other people do the things I can already do; maybe you’re curious like that, too.

Before I start, I should note that what I describe in this post is a fairly formulaic style of essay writing. It’s not exactly the 5-paragraph essay, but it definitely builds on that model. I strongly believe students should be shown how to move past those kinds of structures into a style of writing that’s more natural and fitting to the task and audience, but I also think they should start with something that’s pretty clearly organized.

So here’s how I teach argumentative essay writing.

Step 1: Watch How It’s Done

One of the most effective ways to improve student writing is to show them mentor texts, examples of excellent writing within the genre students are about to attempt themselves. Ideally, this writing would come from real publications and not be fabricated by me in order to embody the form I’m looking for. Although most experts on writing instruction employ some kind of mentor text study, the person I learned it from best was Katie Wood Ray in her book Study Driven (links to the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon ).

Since I want the writing to be high quality and the subject matter to be high interest, I might choose pieces like Jessica Lahey’s Students Who Lose Recess Are the Ones Who Need it Most and David Bulley’s School Suspensions Don’t Work .

I would have students read these texts, compare them, and find places where the authors used evidence to back up their assertions. I would ask students which author they feel did the best job of influencing the reader, and what suggestions they would make to improve the writing. I would also ask them to notice things like stories, facts and statistics, and other things the authors use to develop their ideas. Later, as students work on their own pieces, I would likely return to these pieces to show students how to execute certain writing moves.

Step 2: Informal Argument, Freestyle

Although many students might need more practice in writing an effective argument, many of them are excellent at arguing in person. To help them make this connection, I would have them do some informal debate on easy, high-interest topics. An activity like This or That (one of the classroom icebreakers I talked about last year) would be perfect here: I read a statement like “Women have the same opportunities in life as men.” Students who agree with the statement move to one side of the room, and those who disagree move to the other side. Then they take turns explaining why they are standing in that position. This ultimately looks a little bit like a debate, as students from either side tend to defend their position to those on the other side.

Every class of students I have ever had, from middle school to college, has loved loved LOVED this activity. It’s so simple, it gets them out of their seats, and for a unit on argument, it’s an easy way to get them thinking about how the art of argument is something they practice all the time.

Step 3: Informal Argument, Not so Freestyle

Once students have argued without the support of any kind of research or text, I would set up a second debate; this time with more structure and more time to research ahead of time. I would pose a different question, supply students with a few articles that would provide ammunition for either side, then give them time to read the articles and find the evidence they need.

Next, we’d have a Philosophical Chairs debate (learn about this in my discussion strategies post), which is very similar to “This or That,” except students use textual evidence to back up their points, and there are a few more rules. Here they are still doing verbal argument, but the experience should make them more likely to appreciate the value of evidence when trying to persuade.

Before leaving this step, I would have students transfer their thoughts from the discussion they just had into something that looks like the opening paragraph of a written argument: A statement of their point of view, plus three reasons to support that point of view. This lays the groundwork for what’s to come.

Step 4: Introduction of the Performance Assessment

Next I would show students their major assignment, the performance assessment that they will work on for the next few weeks. What does this look like? It’s generally a written prompt that describes the task, plus the rubric I will use to score their final product.

Anytime I give students a major writing assignment, I let them see these documents very early on. In my experience, I’ve found that students appreciate having a clear picture of what’s expected of them when beginning a writing assignment. At this time, I also show them a model of a piece of writing that meets the requirements of the assignment. Unlike the mentor texts we read on day 1, this sample would be something teacher-created (or an excellent student model from a previous year) to fit the parameters of the assignment.

Step 5: Building the Base

Before letting students loose to start working on their essays, I make sure they have a solid plan for writing. I would devote at least one more class period to having students consider their topic for the essay, drafting a thesis statement, and planning the main points of their essay in a graphic organizer.

I would also begin writing my own essay on a different topic. This has been my number one strategy for teaching students how to become better writers. Using a document camera or overhead projector, I start from scratch, thinking out loud and scribbling down my thoughts as they come. When students see how messy the process can be, it becomes less intimidating for them. They begin to understand how to take the thoughts that are stirring around in your head and turn them into something that makes sense in writing.

For some students, this early stage might take a few more days, and that’s fine: I would rather spend more time getting it right at the pre-writing stage than have a student go off willy-nilly, draft a full essay, then realize they need to start over. Meanwhile, students who have their plans in order will be allowed to move on to the next step.

Step 6: Writer’s Workshop

The next seven to ten days would be spent in writer’s workshop, where I would start class with a mini-lesson about a particular aspect of craft. I would show them how to choose credible, relevant evidence, how to skillfully weave evidence into an argument, how to consider the needs of an audience, and how to correctly cite sources. Once each mini-lesson was done, I would then give students the rest of the period to work independently on their writing. During this time, I would move around the room, helping students solve problems and offering feedback on whatever part of the piece they are working on. I would encourage students to share their work with peers and give feedback at all stages of the writing process.

If I wanted to make the unit even more student-centered, I would provide the mini-lessons in written or video format and let students work through them at their own pace, without me teaching them. (To learn more about this approach, read this post on self-paced learning ).

As students begin to complete their essays, the mini-lessons would focus more on matters of style and usage. I almost never bother talking about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage until students have a draft that’s pretty close to done. Only then do we start fixing the smaller mistakes.

Step 7: Final Assessment

Finally, the finished essays are handed in for a grade. At this point, I’m pretty familiar with each student’s writing and have given them verbal (and sometimes written) feedback throughout the unit; that’s why I make the writer’s workshop phase last so long. I don’t really want students handing in work until they are pretty sure they’ve met the requirements to the best of their ability. I also don’t necessarily see “final copies” as final; if a student hands in an essay that’s still really lacking in some key areas, I will arrange to have that student revise it and resubmit for a higher grade.

So that’s it. If you haven’t had a lot of success teaching students to write persuasively, and if the approach outlined here is different from what you’ve been doing, give it a try. And let’s keep talking: Use the comments section below to share your techniques or ask questions about the most effective ways to teach argumentative writing.

Want this unit ready-made?

If you’re a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you’d like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including mini-lessons, sample essays, and a library of high-interest online articles to use for gathering evidence, take a look at my Argumentative Writing unit. Just click on the image below and you’ll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what’s included.

What to Read Next

essay about teaching elementary students

Categories: Instruction , Podcast

Tags: English language arts , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , teaching strategies

58 Comments

This is useful information. In teaching persuasive speaking/writing I have found Monroe’s Motivated sequence very useful and productive. It is a classic model that immediately gives a solid structure for students.

Thanks for the recommendation, Bill. I will have to look into that! Here’s a link to more information on Monroe’s Motivated sequence, for anyone who wants to learn more: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/MonroeMotivatedSequence.htm

What other sites do you recommend for teacher use on providing effective organizational structure in argumentative writing? As a K-12 Curriculum Director, I find that when teachers connect with and understand the organizational structure, they are more effective in their teaching/delivery.

Hey Jessica, in addition to the steps outlined here, you might want to check out Jenn’s post on graphic organizers . Graphic organizers are a great tool that you can use in any phase of a lesson. Using them as a prewrite can help students visualize the argument and organize their thoughts. There’s a link in that post to the Graphic Organizer Multi-Pack that Jenn has for sale on her Teachers Pay Teachers site, which includes two versions of a graphic organizer you can use specifically for argument organization. Otherwise, if there’s something else you had in mind, let us know and we can help you out. Thanks!

Dear Jennifer Gonzalez,

You are generous with your gift of lighting the path… I hardly ever write (never before) , but I must today… THANK YOU… THANK YOU….THANK YOU… mostly for reading your great teachings… So your valuable teachings will even be easy to benefit all the smart people facing challenge of having to deal with adhd…

I am not a teacher… but forever a student…someone who studied English as 2nd language, with a science degree & adhd…

You truly are making a difference in our World…

Thanks so much, Rita! I know Jenn will appreciate this — I’ll be sure to share with her!

Love it! Its simple and very fruitful . I can feel how dedicated you are! Thanks alot Jen

Great examples of resources that students would find interesting. I enjoyed reading your article. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks!

You’re welcome, Sheryl!

Students need to be writing all the time about a broad range of topics, but I love the focus here on argumentative writing because if you choose the model writing texts correctly, you can really get the kids engaged in the process and in how they can use this writing in real-world situations!

I agree, Laura. I think an occasional tight focus on one genre can help them grow leaps and bounds in the skills specific to that type of writing. Later, in less structured situations, they can then call on those skills when that kind of thinking is required.

This is really helpful! I used it today and put the recess article in a Google Doc and had the kids identify anecdotal, statistic, and ‘other’ types of evidence by highlighting them in three different colors. It worked well! Tomorrow we’ll discuss which of the different types of evidence are most convincing and why.

Love that, Shanna! Thanks for sharing that extra layer.

Greetings Ms. Gonzales. I was wondering if you had any ideas to help students develop the cons/against side of their argument within their writing? Please advise. Thanks.

Hi Michael,

Considering audience and counterarguments are an important part of the argumentative writing process. In the Argumentative Writing unit Jenn includes specific mini-lessons that teach kids how, when and where to include opposing views in their writing. In the meantime, here’s a video that might also be helpful.

Hi, Thank you very much for sharing your ideas. I want to share also the ideas in the article ‘Already Experts: Showing Students How Much They Know about Writing and Reading Arguments’ by Angela Petit and Edna Soto…they explain a really nice activity to introduce argumentative writing. I have applied it many times and my students not only love it but also display a very clear pattern as the results in the activity are quite similar every time. I hope you like it.

Lorena Perez

I’d like to thank you you for this excellence resource. It’s a wonderful addition to the informative content that Jennifer has shared.

What do you use for a prize?

I looked at the unit, and it looks and sounds great. The description says there are 4 topics. Can you tell me the topics before I purchase? We start argument in 5th grade, and I want to make sure the topics are different from those they’ve done the last 5 years before purchasing. Thanks!

Hi Carrie! If you go to the product page on TPT and open up the preview, you’ll see the four topics on the 4th page in more detail, but here they are: Social Networking in School (should social media sites be blocked in school?), Cell Phones in Class, Junk Food in School, and Single-Sex Education (i.e., genders separated). Does that help?

I teach 6th grade English in a single gendered (all-girls) class. We just finished an argument piece but I will definitely cycle back your ideas when we revisit argumentation. Thanks for the fabulous resources!

Glad to hear it, Madelyn!

I’m not a writing teacher and honestly haven’t been taught on how to teach writing. I’m a history teacher. I read this and found it helpful but have questions. First I noticed that amount of time dedicated to the task in terms of days. My questions are how long is a class period? I have my students for about 45 minutes. I also saw you mentioned in the part about self-paced learning that mini-lessons could be written or video format. I love these ideas. Any thoughts on how to do this with almost no technology in the room and low readers to non-readers? I’m trying to figure out how to balance teaching a content class while also teaching the common core skills. Thank you for any consideration to my questions.

Hey Jones, To me, a class period is anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour; definitely varies from school to school. As for the question about doing self-paced with very little tech? I think binders with written mini-lessons could work well, as well as a single computer station or tablet hooked up to a class set of videos. Obviously you’d need to be more diligent about rotating students in and out of these stations, but it’s an option at least. You might also give students access to the videos through computers in other locations at school (like the library) and give them passes to watch. The thing about self-paced learning, as you may have seen in the self-paced post , is that if students need extra teacher support (as you might find with low readers or non-readers), they would spend more one-on-one time with the teacher, while the higher-level students would be permitted to move more quickly on their own. Does that help?

My primary goal for next semester is to increase academic discussion and make connections from discussion to writing, so I love how you launch this unit with lessons like Philosophical Chairs. I am curious, however, what is the benefit of the informal argument before the not-so-informal argument? My students often struggle to listen to one another, so I’m wondering if I should start with the more formal, structured version. Or, am I overthinking the management? Thanks so much for input.

Yikes! So sorry your question slipped through, and we’re just now getting to this, Sarah. The main advantage of having kids first engage in informal debate is that it helps them get into an argumentative mindset and begin to appreciate the value of using research to support their claims. If you’ve purchased the unit, you can read more about this in the Overview.

My 6th graders are progressing through their argumentative essay. I’m providing mini lessons along the way that target where most students are in their essay. Your suggestions will be used. I’ve chosen to keep most writing in class and was happy to read that you scheduled a lot of class time for the writing. Students need to feel comfortable knowing that writing is a craft and needs to evolve over time. I think more will get done in class and it is especially important for the struggling writers to have peers and the teacher around while they write. Something that I had students do that they liked was to have them sit in like-topic groups to create a shared document where they curated information that MIGHT be helpful along the way. By the end of the essay, all will use a fantastic add-on called GradeProof which helps to eliminate most of the basic and silly errors that 6th graders make.

Debbi! I LOVE the idea of a shared, curated collection of resources! That is absolutely fantastic! Are you using a Google Doc for this? Other curation tools you might consider are Padlet and Elink .

thanks v much for all this information

Love this! What do you take as grades in the meantime? Throughout this 2 week stretch?

Ideally, you wouldn’t need to take grades at all, waiting until the final paper is done to give one grade. If your school requires more frequent grades, you could assign small point values for getting the incremental steps done: So in Step 3 (when students have to write a paragraph stating their point of view) you could take points for that. During the writer’s workshop phase, you might give points for completion of a rough draft and participation points for peer review (ideally, they’d get some kind of feedback on the quality of feedback they give to one another). Another option would be to just give a small, holistic grade for each week based on the overall integrity of their work–are they staying on task? Making small improvements to their writing each day? Taking advantage of the resources? If students are working diligently through the process, that should be enough. But again, the assessment (grades) should really come from that final written product, and if everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing during the workshop phase, most students should have pretty good scores on that final product. Does that help?

Awesome Step 2! Teaching mostly teenagers in Northern Australia I find students’ verbal arguments are much more finely honed than their written work.

To assist with “building the base” I’ve always found sentence starters an essential entry point for struggling students. We have started using the ‘PEARL’ method for analytical and persuasive writing.

If it helps here a free scaffold for the method:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Paragraph-Scaffold-PEEL-to-PEARL-3370676

Thanks again,

Thank you for sharing this additional resource! It’s excellent!

I’ve been scouring the interwebs looking for some real advice on how I can help my struggling 9th grader write better. I can write. Since it comes naturally for me, I have a hard time breaking it down into such tiny steps that he can begin to feel less overwhelmed. I LOVE the pre-writing ideas here. My son is a fabulous arguer. I need to help him use those powers for the good of his writing skills. Do you have a suggestion on what I else I can be using for my homeschooled son? Or what you may have that could work well for home use?

Hi Melinda,

You might be interested in taking a look at Jenn’s Argumentative Writing unit which she mentions at the end of the post . Hope this helps!

Mam it would be good if you could post some steps of different writing and some samples as well so it can be useful for the students.

Hi Aalia! My name is Holly, and I work as a Customer Experience Manager for Cult of Pedagogy. It just so happens that in the near future, Jenn is going to release a narrative writing unit, so keep an eye out for that! As far as samples, the argumentative writing unit has example essays included, and I’m sure the narrative unit will as well. But, to find the examples, you have to purchase the unit from Teachers Pay Teachers.

I just want to say that this helped me tremendously in teaching argument to 8th Graders this past school year, which is a huge concept on their state testing in April. I felt like they were very prepared, and they really enjoyed the verbal part of it, too! I have already implemented these methods into my unit plan for argument for my 11th grade class this year. Thank you so much for posting all of these things! : )

-Josee` Vaughn

I’m so glad to hear it, Josee!!

Love your blog! It is one of the best ones.

I am petrified of writing. I am teaching grade 8 in September and would love some suggestions as I start planning for the year. Thanks!

This is genius! I can’t wait to get started tomorrow teaching argument. It’s always something that I have struggled with, and I’ve been teaching for 18 years. I have a class of 31 students, mostly boys, several with IEPs. The self-paced mini-lessons will help tremendously.

So glad you liked it, Britney!

My students will begin the journey into persuasion and argument next week and your post cemented much of my thinking around how to facilitate the journey towards effective, enthusiastic argumentative writing.

I use your rubrics often to outline task expectations for my students and the feedback from them is how useful breaking every task into steps can be as they are learning new concepts.

Additionally, we made the leap into blogging as a grade at https://mrsdsroadrunners.edublogs.org/2019/01/04/your-future/ It feels much like trying to learn to change a tire while the car is speeding down the highway. Reading your posts over the past years was a factor in embracing the authentic audience. Thank You! Trish

I love reading and listening to your always helpful tips, tricks, and advice! I was wondering if you had any thoughts on creative and engaging ways to have students share their persuasive writing? My 6th students are just finishing up our persuasive writing where we read the book “Oh, Rats” by Albert Marrin and used the information gathered to craft a persuasive piece to either eliminate or protect rats and other than just reading their pieces to one another, I have been trying to think of more creative ways to share. I thought about having a debate but (un)fortunately all my kids are so sweet and are on the same side of the argument – Protect the Rats! Any ideas?

Hi Kiley! Thanks for the positive feedback! So glad to hear that you are finding value in Cult of Pedagogy! Here are a few suggestions that you may be interested in trying with your students:

-A gallery walk: Students could do this virtually if their writing is stored online or hard copies of their writing. Here are some different ways that you could use gallery walks: Enliven Class Discussions With Gallery Walks

-Students could give each other feedback using a tech tool like Flipgrid . You could assign students to small groups or give them accountability partners. In Flipgrid, you could have students sharing back and forth about their writing and their opinions.

I hope this helps!

I love the idea of mentor texts for all of these reading and writing concepts. I saw a great one on Twitter with one text and it demonstrated 5-6 reasons to start a paragraph, all in two pages of a book! Is there a location that would have suggestions/lists of mentor texts for these areas? Paragraphs, sentences, voice, persuasive writing, expository writing, etc. It seems like we could share this info, save each other some work, and curate a great collection of mentor text for English Language Arts teachers. Maybe it already exists?

Hi Maureen,

Here are some great resources that you may find helpful:

Craft Lessons Second Edition: Teaching Writing K-8 Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts and Mentor Texts, 2nd edition: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-6

Thanks so much! I’ll definitely look into these.

I love the steps for planning an argumentative essay writing. When we return from Christmas break, we will begin starting a unit on argumentative writing. I will definitely use the steps. I especially love Step #2. As a 6th grade teacher, my students love to argue. This would set the stage of what argumentative essay involves. Thanks for sharing.

So glad to hear this, Gwen. Thanks for letting us know!

Great orientation, dear Jennifer. The step-by-step carefully planned pedagogical perspectives have surely added in the information repository of many.

Hi Jennifer,

I hope you are well. I apologise for the incorrect spelling in the previous post.

Thank you very much for introducing this effective instruction for teaching argumentative writing. I am the first year PhD student at Newcastle University, UK. My PhD research project aims to investigate teaching argumentative writing to Chinese university students. I am interested in the Argumentative Writing unit you have designed and would like to buy it. I would like to see the preview of this book before deciding to purchase it. I clicked on the image BUT the font of the preview is so small and cannot see the content clearly. I am wondering whether it could be possible for you to email me a detailed preview of what’s included. I would highly appreciate if you could help me with this.

Thank you very much in advance. Looking forward to your reply.

Take care and all the very best, Chang

Hi Chang! Jenn’s Argumentative Writing Unit is actually a teaching unit geared toward grades 7-12 with lessons, activities, etc. If you click here click here to view the actual product, you can click on the green ‘View Preview’ button to see a pretty detailed preview of what’s offered. Once you open the preview, there is the option to zoom in so you can see what the actual pages of the unit are like. I hope this helps!

Great Content!

Another teacher showed me one of your posts, and now I’ve read a dozen of them. With teaching students to argue, have you ever used the “What’s going on in this picture?” https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture?module=inline I used it last year and thought it was a non-threatening way to introduce learners to using evidence to be persuasive since there was no text.

I used to do something like this to help kids learn how to make inferences. Hadn’t thought of it from a persuasive standpoint. Interesting.

this is a very interesting topic, thanks!

Hi! I’m a teacher too! I was looking for inspiration and I found your article and thought you might find this online free tool interesting that helps make all students participate meaningfully and engage in a topic. https://www.kialo-edu.com/

This tool is great for student collaboration and to teach argumentative writing in an innovative way. I hope this helps!

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Teaching opinion writing tips and activities.

Today, you’re going to get a bunch of teaching opinion writing tips. I’m going to what best practices I think you can follow. I hope that you’re going to walk away with a clear understanding of what is expected when teaching this standard. I also hope you walk away with some fun ideas and activities to add to your lesson plans! All of the images you see below (except for the read-alouds) are part of my ELA writing units. The links to all grade levels are at the bottom!

Let’s dive into the opinion writing standards

Common Core writing domain focuses on three big types of writing: informative, narrative, and today’s topic OPINION WRITING! It begins kindergarten and each year, gets progressively more in depth and detailed. Here is a look at K-5’s expectations for opinion writing, according to Common Core.

Kinder: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is.. .).
1st: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion and provide some sense of closure.
2nd: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because , and , also ) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
3rd: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. (a- Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.) (b- Provide reasons that support the opinion.) (c- Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because , therefore , since , for example ) to connect opinion and reasons.) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section.)
4th: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (a- Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.) (b- Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.) (c- Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance , in order to , in addition ).) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.)

Outline of how to teach opinion writing…

What is opinion writing?
How do I state an opinion?
Supporting your opinion
Introductions explicit teaching
Conclusions explicit teaching
Provide lots of practice

If you teach opinion writing broken up in parts like this, your students can focus on each part. That way, they can get a true grasp of what each piece requires and how to write it.

Load up on Mentor Texts

Every single part of this blog post will include mentor texts. Each time you teach your students about a component of opinion writing, use a strong example! Mentor texts are great because students can see what they’re learning in engaging or familiar books. Then, it can help them with their own practice. Each of the book links below are affiliate links to Amazon.

Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty
My Teacher for President by Kay Winters
The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini
I Wanna New Room by Karen Kaufman Orloff
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Red is Best by Kathy Stinson
Earrings by Judith Viorst
Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin

First, teach WHAT Opinion Writing is

When you begin your opinion writing unit, you of course need to start with teaching them what it is. You will be showing them the framework of an opinion writing piece. First, create an anchor chart (or use one provided to you in my ELA units). Then, as you explore texts, examples, and activities, you can refer back to this anchor chart to teach opinion writing framework.

Now, it’s time to get the students talking. Give them an engaging partner talk game, such as Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up or Mix-Pair-Share. When they’re with a partner, ask them questions about the actual framework. Ask them the purposes of each component. This will help strengthen their writing when it’s time to start writing independently.

After that, you can start showing them real-world examples. Start with read-alouds and mentor texts. See if students can identify the introduction, opinion sentence, support, and conclusion. Then, give them examples that aren’t tied to a picture book. Above, you see two different activities. One of them asks students to put a puzzle together of sample sentences for each component. The other is a cut-and-glue activity where they have to sort sample sentences. (Links to all resources are at the bottom of the blog post.)

Stating an Opinion

Next, it’s time to simply teach them how to state an opinion. If you’re in kinder or first grade, you may have to take a step back and teach what an opinion is and how it’s different from a fact. But… once that’s determined, you can start teaching opinion sentences.

Make a class anchor chart or display a stem poster in your classroom. This will help trigger their ability to form an opinion sentence. Then, give them a few engaging partner activities. For example, the image above shows a partner game where students are shown an Opinion Stem chart and one picture topic card at a time. They will form an opinion sentence about that topic using a different stem each time.

It’s also important to teach your writers the difference between strong and weak opinion sentences. There is a big difference between “I like pizza” and “Pizza is my favorite dinner”. One way to practice this is to have students sort different sample sentences into the strong and weak categories.

Then, it’s time to let them practice! Try using one of the templates in the ELA unit like the one shown above. It gives students a collection of sentence stems and a topic. They will have to form an opinion sentence using a mixture of all these options!

Dive deeper with reasons

Once you get into second, third, fourth grade (and above), you’re going to be required to teach students how to support their opinion. The big thing that can really help is just the word ‘why’. This helps trigger students to think of the reasons behind their opinion. Once they get to 2nd grade, they have to be able to give reasons why they like or dislike something. Try using an opinion writing anchor chart explaining support.

Now that you’ve taught your students HOW to support their reasons, it’s time to practice. Give them lots of opportunities to try supporting opinions with reasons. There are two activities shown in the image above. First, you have a picture card with an opinion sentence. Students will work with a partner to try to create a strong reason to support this opinion. Next, there is an opinion sentence strip that students will draw and try to create a strong support.

Move onto INTRODUCTIONS when teaching opinion writing

One of the biggest pieces to teaching opinion writing is the introduction. This is the hook. This is where your students are going to try to draw their audience in. First, teach introductions explicitly using an anchor chart or poster from my ELA units. Then, choose one or two mentor texts to show how they’ve used introductions to hook their readers.

It’s a great idea to show students what a strong introduction looks like with modeling. Another way is to give them a matching activity where they have to read introduction sentences and sort them.

Here is another game example for students to participate in. They will match three cards together. First, they will match the topic card and a sample introduction. Then, they will match a strong opinion sentence to follow up their introduction sentence. While playing this game, students can get a strong sense of what an introduction paragraph will look like in a multi-paragraph paper.

Finish up with CONCLUSIONS

Next, you’ll teach conclusions explicitly. Just like you did with introductions, conclusions need to start with an anchor chart or discussion of a poster. Students can learn conclusion stems, reasons for conclusions, and why they’re used. After teaching opinion writing conclusions explicitly, show students examples with mentor texts from the list above. Read one or two mentor texts and discuss what conclusions were used.

Give your students lots of practice with writing conclusions. Hands-on writing activities and matching games are two ways to give them practice singling out conclusions. Above, you see a flip book. They will fold and snip along the dotted edges. Under each flap, students will write an example of each type of conclusion (such as final facts, repeated opinions, personal experiences, and offering a suggestion.

Provide lots of opportunities to practice!

In my ELA units, I also offer 3-4 final writing pieces. They’re presented as lesson plans, so you can still walk students through these steps. First, they’ll be presented with their prompt. The prompt shown above asks which living condition would be worse: Arctic or desert. Then, the steps of the lesson plans walk students through brainstorming, pre-writing, and drafting their papers.

Finally, you’ve taught all the pieces of your opinion writing unit. Therefore, it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Once you teach students to write an opinion piece from start to finish, give them different prompts to write about in their journals. Or they could even write about these as a final opinion writing piece! Choose high-interest and engaging topics for students to write about.

Are you ready for your Opinion Writing resources?

Interested in Free Graphic Organizers for Your Writing Unit?

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5 Ways to Exercise Essay Writing for Elementary Students

Few skills are as critical to educational success as essay writing for elementary students, and kids can get a leg up on their craft by exercising their skills in a variety of ways. Learning the basics through simple practices ensures that children understand what makes an essay effective and successful, and prepares them for further development in high school, college and beyond.

Below are five ways that will foster growth and aptitude in essay writing for elementary school students.

The allure of choice

A great way to encourage enthusiastic essay writing is by allowing kids their individual choice of a book assignment for a literary-style piece, or letting them choose an inspiring idea, either from a list or from their imaginations, for a narrative assignment. Following format and structure is still important, but the freedom students have in covering a topic of their choice may result in excellent work.

A question and answer period

Critical thinking is essential for long-term success in any field, especially writing. Teachers can help students develop this skill by hosting a question-and-answer period after students have read a book or written an essay and read it aloud to the class. Promoting confidence in the writer is also crucial. The questions students ask advance critical thinking about point of view, comprehension and analysis, which strengthen the author’s abilities for every type of essay, including expository, narrative and comparative.

Independent proofreading

Learning how to revise work is a process that takes years to master. One excellent way of teaching proofreading and revision command is returning essays after a few days so students may rework them for a second grade. A fresh look, with or without suggestions for improvement, often reveals the flaws missed on the first draft.

Variety is the spice

Repeating format and structure exercise rules for writing multiple times may cause students to lose interest. To rouse interest, incorporate the full spectrum of essay styles, narrative, persuasive, comparative and expository in assignments. Writing in each format helps students solidify their understanding.

The value of outlines

Enforcing rules and standards is extremely helpful for unmotivated writers struggling to complete open-ended assignments. Providing examples and requiring outlines for every written project focuses efforts and clarifies expectations. It also streamlines the process of writing and breaks it down into manageable sections. Once kids realize that writing is as much about organization as it is inspiration, they swiftly begin honing their technique.

There are many many tips available that are helpful for teaching elementary students how to effectively write a standard essay. These five suggestions are a great start, with plenty of room to delve further into style, structure, inspiration and tone.

Student Writing Samples and Analysis for Elementary, Middle School, and High School: Complete Collection

How do you bring objectivity to teaching writing? Authentic student writing samples from state writing assessments are an excellent tool that helps teachers bring objectivity to teaching writing. Of course, it sure helps if the writing samples are accompanied by objective analysis, scoring, and commentary. You will find all of that and more on this page!

Many teachers evaluate their students’ writing progress by examining what they can get their students to produce as an end result. They look at what they can get their students to produce in a lesson, and they place great importance on what they can get their students to produce to place on a bulletin board. Certainly, I care about those things, too. But I primarily measure my students’ writing progress by examining and monitoring their independent writing. It’s not about what I can get them to do—it’s about what they do when left to their own devices.

We have three types of independent student writing:

1. daily writing across the curriculum 2. state and district writing assessments 3. independent writing assignments

My purpose here is not to discuss independent student writing, but instead to explain why the following collection of objective, authentic student writing samples are so valuable and helpful. Usually, when we see samples of student writing (other than our own students’ writing), they are polished examples, and we have no idea of what went into creating them. How much time? How many drafts? Who guided the piece of writing? How much guiding? What forms of guidance?

In contrast, we all know exactly how these state writing assessment samples were created; we all know the exact writing situation in which these pieces of writing were created; we all know that no teacher had any influence on any of these pieces of writing once the assignment was given. This writing is what students produced when given plenty of time and left to their own devices.

An Awesome Collection of Released Student-Writing Samples with Analysis and Commentary

I have always linked to valuable collections of resources that I have come across that can help teachers teach writing and achieve success on writing assessments. Here are two of the best:

1. Released Writing Prompts for State Testing

2. State Writing Assessment Tools and Resources : This page contains links to all of these valuable resources from many state writing assessments: 1) released writing prompts, 2) scoring rubrics, 3) anchor papers, scoring commentary, student writing samples, 4) teacher guides and/or test directions, 5) and more!

Below you will find another collection of valuable resources—a collection of released student writing samples. Since creating Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay , I’ve interacted with teachers from all over the country—and even the world. A kind teacher up in Oregon who is using Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay sent me these links. She is thrilled that the number of her students scoring high on the Oregon State Writing Assessment has doubled since she began using the program.

This collection of released student writing samples has five great qualities:

1. It includes writing samples for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

2. It includes scoring analysis for every single essay in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

3. It includes writing samples for four important genres: 1) expository, 2) narrative: personal, 3) narrative: imaginative, and 4) persuasive (starts in grade 5).

4. It includes writing samples for five scoring levels: 1) low, 2) medium-low, 3) medium, 4) medium-high, and 5) high.

5. In total, the collection contains about 325 pages of released student writing samples and scoring analysis!

Here’s the Collection!

Please Note: I used to link to the scoring guide and rubrics, but the files seem to have been moved. Truthfully, they are not necessary at all. Furthermore, you will find links to many excellent Six-Trait rubrics here , including the original Six Traits rubric from Oregon (where it all began).

This collection scores papers using the Six Traits of Writing: 1) Ideas and Content, 2) Organization, 3) Voice, 4) Word Choice, 5) Sentence Fluency, and 6) Conventions. Since the rise of the Common Core, Oregon has used a couple of different scoring models that use different traits, including a few genre-specific traits. However, this collection of student writing samples remains one of the best available.

• Grade 3 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 4 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 5 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 6 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 7 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 8 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

• Grade 9 There aren’t any.

• Grade 10 Student Writing Samples and Scoring Analysis

Common Core Update: 686 Pages of K-12 Common Core Student Writing Samples

Are you interested in 686 pages of K-12 Common Core student writing samples? If you are, be sure to download this awesome collection! To be honest, I was surprised when I clicked on the link and discovered this wonderful bounty.

• In Common: Effective Writing for All Students Collection of All Student Work Samples, K-12

Are You Interested in Paragraphs?

Now that you have your student writing samples, I pose this question to you: Do you want to understand how the best writers and the lowest scoring writers created their paragraphs on those writing samples? If you do, be sure to read the following two resources. The above collection of student writing samples played a role in both of these:

1. Paragraph Length: How the Best Student Writers Create Paragraphs on State Writing Assessments 2. The Ten Stages of Paragraph and Multi-Paragraph Mastery eBook

How to Use These Student Writing Samples to Teach Writing

“Habit #2: Start with the end in mind.” Stephen R. Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Primary Purpose: The primary purpose of these student writing samples is to help teachers become experts in analyzing student writing. Furthermore, these student writing samples help teachers figure out how to begin with the end in mind. Teachers must begin with the end in mind if they want their students’ writing to end up where they want it to be.

Furthermore, teachers can use these student writing samples in the classroom to teach students about creating, analyzing, and evaluating writing. Here are ten ideas to get you started:

1. Choose and print out a few essays and commentary that you want to focus on.

2. Examine the essays and commentary. What are your students doing correctly? What are your students not doing correctly? What do your students need to learn? Read the commentary and make a list of skills that you want to teach your students. Plan out how you are going to teach those skills.

3. Use a Six-Trait rubric go over a number of essays with your students. (You will find links to many different Six-Trait rubrics here .) Teach your students what scorers are looking for. What makes for a high scoring essay and what makes for a low scoring essay? What went right with the high-scoring essays? What went wrong with the low-scoring essays?

4. Create or find a few student-friendly rubrics . Have students score at least a few essays using these rubrics. Make sure your students understand the rubrics, and if you have the time, you may want to have your students help create a simple rubric.

5. Compare and contrast the genres. This activity is a great way to show students different types of writing and different styles. Play the game, “Name the Genre.” What are the qualities and characteristics of the writing genre that you see in the sample essays? How can you tell it is a particular type of writing? (Note: “Name the Genre” is also an effective strategy to use with writing prompts, and in particular, with released writing prompts .)

6. Have students compare and contrast essays that have different scores. Have students compare and contrast essays with the same scores but from different grades levels.

7. Use the low scores to show your students how good their writing is. Use the high scores to show your students where they need to improve.

8. Have students edit or build upon one of the sample essays. Take one of the low scoring essays and have your students transform it into a high scoring essay. You can do this with each genre of writing. Help your students see the similarities and the differences across different types of writing.

9. Demonstrate how neatness matters. Some of the sample essays are messy. Even a few high scoring ones are messy. Discuss how difficult it can be for scorers to fairly assess messy writing. Note: Students will often see messy writing on a decent paper and think that the paper is a low scoring paper. Explain that while rubrics do help prevent this rush to judgment, they do not eliminate it. This exercise also helps illustrate how important rubrics are, and how students must, in one sense, write for the rubric.

10. Show your students how all of the important writing skills that you have been teaching them are found in the high-scoring papers and are missing from the low-scoring papers.

The fastest, most effective way to teach clear, organized paragraph and multi-paragraph writing… Guaranteed!

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How to Teach Your Students to Write an Essay

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Their college life is impossible to imagine without paper work, and that is why it is very important for them to know how to write an essay, an assignment, a dissertation, a composition, etc. So, your task as a teacher is . How to do that? What aspects to pay attention to in order your students could become the best essay writers?

Here you are welcome to find some tips concerning the most important essay aspects to tell your students about. Step by step, you will make it much easier for them to understand the principles of essay writing and their importance for their future practice.

Remember, that an essay is not only about writing skills, but it demonstrates the ability of your students to research as well. So, you task is to teach them to research. That is why try to reject the chosen topics if they are too easy for a student, and you see that it will not take much time to write such a essay.

An essay is not an essay without any research. Explain your students, that it is always better for them to choose a topic they understand well and have an opportunity to make a research on. is important for every student to get, that is why do not forget practicing different research tactics with them: tell in details about the methods they can use to find all the information needed, how to use this info wisely, and what are the best ways to distinguish the important facts.

An essay can not be just a piece of writing about general things everybody knows and understands perfectly. So, teach your students that they should not be in a hurry to write their essays at once they've chosen the topic. Make them

When a student perfectly understands what he writes an essay for, it will be much easier for him to draw the outline and start writing.

For your students to understand what a good piece of writing actually is, just give them some examples of excellent essays. It may be an essay of your former student for example. When they see a sample, your students will have an idea what a good essay should look like.

Use samples to tell students about each element their essays should include. They will perfectly understand what the good introduction is, what an informative body of an essay should look like, and how to make an appropriate conclusion. Moreover, your students will also have an opportunity to see how sentences are built, and what grammar constructions are used in an essay.

Choose some topic and make a list of points your students would need to mention if they wrote an essay on it. Such a technique will give them a better understanding of what and essay is, and .

Make sure that all students perfectly understand the fact they should follow an essay outline, because it will be much easier for them to write this piece of paper. Make it clear to them that every point of the outline should start from a new paragraph. Moreover, the smaller these paragraphs are – the more attractive an essay will look for its readers. It is not very comfortable to read very long paragraphs, as it will be more difficult to get the point in such a way. Eventually, it will be easier for students themselves to compose shorter paragraphs of an essay.

And here comes its most important part that is called an introduction. As a rule, students find it very difficult to write this part of their essay, as they do not know how to start a piece of writing in order to attract readers' attention and tell them shortly about what this essay is about.

It is clear, that an essay will not be good without a proper and attractive beginning, so, your task is to explain this moment to your students. Tell them, that no one will continue reading their essays if they do not make it eye-catchy and clear for a potential reader. Moreover, an essay introduction should be intriguing a bit.

Depending on the topic of an essay, students can start it with a story from their personal experience. This is a good way to grab an attention. Discuss this option with your students, listen to their suggestions. Discussions will help them learn the material better.

Now it is high time for a conclusion, which is not less important than an introduction by the way. It is a real art to finish your in a way your reader would feel good and satisfied with everything he has read.

Tell your students how to conclude their essays appropriately. Explain, that it is not good to abrupt a piece of writing. And do not forget to mention, that a conclusion of their essay should contain a summary if all points they discussed in the body!

To summarize everything mentioned above, we can say that the importance of essay writing skills should not be underestimated. Such skills will help students express their thoughts clearly and write really good and even professional essays and other kinds of paper work during their further study at colleges or universities. Be sure, they will thank you for teaching such a necessary information to them.

. Alex is a copywriter of website and a passionate reader of Stephen King's books.

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Sunday, June 30, 2024

Future Educators

Helping America's Future Teachers

I Want to Become a Teacher Because | My Dream Job Essay

My dream is to become a teacher . If you have this dream, you’re not alone. Here’s a collection of short essays by aspiring teachers. Current and future education students were asked to describe their motivation; what inspires them to succeed at their teacher training studies.

In these 31 student essays, future educators answer the question “I want to become a teacher because …” or “I want to become a teacher to …”. The short student essays are grouped thematically, forming the top reasons to become a teacher.

1. Giving Brings Its Own Rewards

Helping people is the unifying theme as to why students are inspired and motivated to become teachers. Education is a field where you can help young people directly in a personal way; potentially changing their lives for the better. Teaching is more than just a job.

For a significant percentage of education students, the opportunity to be of service provides plenty of motivation to pursue a teaching career. In each Why I Want to Become a Teacher essay here, a future educator explains why teaching is an opportunity to do something meaningful and beneficial.

by Hanna Halliar

If I can make an impact in just one child’s life, I will be able to consider myself successful. That is my motivation. As a future educator, what else would it be?

Every day that is spent in class, the late nights at the library, the endless hours of studying are all just steps getting me closer to the goal. When I am still up at 1 a.m. struggling to keep my eyes open, but only half way through my 6 page paper I remember how excited I am to work with my own students one day.

To me, being a teacher is so much more than the typical response most people have towards education majors. “Oh, you’re going to be a teacher. You know how much you will make?” Yes, I’m aware that I will be making an average of $50,000 a year in Indiana.

To me being a teacher means that I get the opportunity to not only teach my students math, English, and science but to teach life lessons that will stick with them as well. It means walking into school every day being the reason my students look forward to coming to school. It means being surrounded by crafts, books, and music and not being stuck in an office. It means educating our future generation. And if somebody has to do it, it should be somebody who is passionate about it.

So what motivates me to study? It is so simple, it is the kids.

by Savannah Stamates

I lay awake at night and practice my first morning message to my first round of students whom I will not meet for more than a year.

I wonder if I will have hungry children, happy children, or broken children. I wonder if I will be good enough or strong enough to reach those most in need. I wonder if my students will trust me enough to tell me that they are hungry, happy, or scared.

I worry that I will not be strong enough to share their burden or provide a place for peace and learning. I worry that I will misread their actions or their words or miss them reaching out.

So I study, even when I am tired from working two jobs or sick of not being where I want to be. When my time comes to walk into that classroom, my worries and doubts will be silenced by the knowledge I have mastered and the dream I have finally achieved.

by Charity Latchman

Dreams for the future are subjective. They can be based on what we desire. But visionary dreams are not only for us. Imagine asking some of the greatest revolutionaries and pioneers about their dreams. They generally had others in mind. In the famous “I have a Dream” speech, Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr said “we” more than thirty times. Dreams are not for our benefit alone, but to encourage, inspire and benefit others.

Recently I graduated from California Baptist University with a degree in English literature. During my studies, I was cared for my disabled mother. She was a religious studies professor who inculcated me with a diligent and steadfast approach to schoolwork. Managing the role of caregiver with university studies was challenging. But the goal to become a teacher kept me going. Approaching graduation, my mother was diagnosed with throat cancer. She didn’t worry about herself as much as you might expect but kept pushing me to finish the final paper in the program.

With her encouragement, my faith, and a burning desire to teach English literature, I graduated. My motivation comes from wanting to help, to encourage, and to inspire others. Teaching is an act of giving that has its own rewards. Life’s trials bring ups and downs. But we must always strive to attain our dreams, especially when others are central to them.

by Katheryn England

As a high school senior, many people assume I’m prepared for college and know what I want to study after graduation. These assumptions cause me to experience moments of self-doubt. Then I re-evaluate what I want for myself, and what it is that keeps me working towards my dreams. Through the goals I’ve set for myself, I can maintain focus, move past my self-doubt and succeed. By focusing on my goals, I can make a difference in the world directly around me.

A goal I have in my life is to be an elementary teacher, also known as an early childhood teacher. As a teacher, I can share the knowledge I’ve gained to leave behind a better future for our world .

Last year, I had the opportunity to work alongside a previous elementary teacher and mentor of mine. I’d visit her classroom daily, and taught lessons alongside her or independently. Uniquely, they were the opening act in my high school’s original winter play. They read first-hand from our scripts and learned what happens behind the scenes. Showing a new part of the world to the youth of my community has motivated me to pursue my dreams.

Remembering this experience and the positive influence I had on those students helps me overcome self-doubt and stay focused on my goals. Thanks to the goals I’ve set for my life, I not only can find purpose for my efforts, but find the will to be confident in whatever choices I make.

by Emma Lillard-Geiser

I have always known that I would become two things: a mother and a teacher. What I didn’t know is that I would become the mother before the teacher. Having a child that depends on me is what fuels my desire to succeed in life. When I get frustrated with my studies I take a deep breath, look at my daughter, and know that I have reason to persevere. I know that one hour of studying will give me hours with my daughter as soon as I am done.

My mother is a teacher and growing up I cherished learning from her. She had knowledge that I admired and I quickly realized that I had to spend my whole life learning. I love to learn, to have that light go off in my head when it all just clicks.

I cannot wait to see that light in the eyes of my daughter and my future students. For every thing that I learn, is another thing I can teach someone else. It isn’t easy to study when you have a small child to take care of but I know that my education will provide me with the ability to take care of her for the rest of our lives.

2. Help Disadvantaged Students

Students are disadvantaged for many reasons, whether it’s because of a handicap, where they live, economic disadvantage or a language barrier.

Future educators may want to become teachers so they can make a difference in the lives of students who face extra learning challenges. This special interest often comes from the future teacher’s own experience, either personally or involving people they’ve known.

by Ian T Thomason

While attending the University of Minnesota-Mankato, I have aspirations of becoming a Special Education Teacher. Becoming a Special Education Teacher and helping students who have a need for extra help and students who are having troubles with everyday life are things that I dream of doing. I was in their shoes once and know how difficult it is to deal with everyday life and how nice it was have a teacher to talk to.

Becoming a Special Education Teacher is my ultimate goal and, when difficult times arise, I have to remind myself of the children out there who have it potentially worse than I. When I remember this, I also think back to all of the support that I had from my parents, family members, and teachers. I also know that there are lots of children who don’t have this type of support and, if I can be there for them, that would make my career choice all the more worth it.

My Special Education degree is something more than just a degree for me. It is a degree that allows me to help children improve their education. I realize that children are our future and that their minds are terrible things to waste. So, instead of wasting their minds, why not put our best foot forward to educate them? My dream is to help kids realize their full potential, promote education and a brighter future for every child.

by Katherine

Motivation allows you to persist through difficult circumstances. Mine comes from a desire to grow into an instructor who is able to make a difference to many children’s lives.

In elementary school, I actually was a special education student. I’ve had to work hard most days of my life to achieve anything. I could not have succeeded without the support of some absolutely amazing teachers. Now I desire to take on that supporting role for as many students as I can reach.

When a class or an assignment I don’t want to do come up, I think of what motivates me. And the motivation is children. Many students feel powerless about their education, just like I did. I could be a teacher who turns their education around, providing vital support and motivation to succeed at their studies. Ultimately, everyone motivates themselves by one way or another. My motivation comes from the pure desire to help future students.

by Robbie Watson

My road to graduate school has been a long one. I studied religion and culture in undergrad, interested in the material, yet not sure how I would apply it later. Yet I found places, got involved in community and international development, engaged with different cultures, and now feel I use my degree every day.

For over two years I worked alongside Congolese refugees in Rwanda, developing educational opportunities for youths who could not finish secondary school in the underfunded camps. It is these refugees, young and old, the students, the teachers, their passion and vision for a better future that has driven me to seek out more education for myself. I remember how they would pay from their families’ meager funds to attend classes led by volunteer teachers. When finances were against them, or time, or family obligations, or the dire depression of the camp life itself, or even government officials were against them, still those students attended, still those teachers taught.

It is their example of perseverance towards a goal against all odds that inspires me now. I think of them often, think of the friends they were, are still. And I think of how that passion is in me now, to better understand education so that I might better educate, and thus equip such downtrodden communities to work for transformation themselves. I work not only for myself, and am motivated by the potential in those students and educators, which is also in me, and in others like them.

by Natalie Pelayo

I’m a young Latino woman working towards the goal of earning a bachelor degree in bilingual education. On occasions, I feel a slowing in my motivation. But, every time it happens, I think about the goal and that pushes me to move forward.

Looking back to a middle school class I attended, there was a boy who never really participated. He sat in his hoodie, looking down to his desk. Only after trying to talk with him, I discovered he spoke with broken English and a thick Spanish accent. It seemed as if no-one in our class actually knew that he struggled to understand what was being taught because it was presented in English.

By his manner, it was apparent that he had already accepted a dismal fate. Past teachers may have been unable to communicate with him. Eventually, he’d become demoralized. Thinking about the disadvantages he had to endure provides ongoing motivation to study hard.

I aim to become a bilingual elementary school teacher to support young Spanish-speaking children. As a teacher, I’ll be able to show them that they can succeed. Children need not grow up thinking they’re incapable of learning due to a language barrier. I’ll keep working towards my goal to help ensure teaching is inclusive of all children, no matter their first language.

by Abigail Young

I am an American citizen, but my whole life I have lived in Cameroon, Africa. I have been blessed with an enormous amount of opportunities and a great education at a private international school.

Every day I have seen children and teenagers around me who do not get the same education or have the same possibilities of a “bright” future. I see schools that are forced to have three children share a small table, paper, and pens. I have seen a badly lit room with poor roofs and walls made from bricks. Even in my school there are numerous Cameroonians, my friends, and classmates that do not have the same chances at a higher level education, although they work just as hard.

When I study, I study hard because I do not want to let this chance and opportunity go to waste. I study because I have been undeservedly blessed to be able to go the United States for a high education with better chances at getting scholarship money. I study my hardest because it is my dream that I may come back and make a difference in countries like Africa with poor education systems . It should be a right for children to be able to learn like I have. Therefore, because of this mindset, I am driven to study not just out of thankfulness for my circumstances, but also in hope that I may be able to give other children a better chance, and a greater reason to study.

3. Helping Many People Is Achievable in Teaching

A powerful source of motivation for some education students is the potential to touch and positively impact the lives of many people. Education is a field of consequence and that’s a good reason for wanting to join the teaching profession.

Over the course of a long career, a classroom teacher may help shape the learning experience of hundreds or even thousands of students. In policy roles, educators can affect millions of people.

by Rachel Bayly

Through high school I worked as a teacher at a daycare. When I left for college I said goodbye to a lot of people, including my students. All summer I had woken up at five in the morning to go to work and wait for them to arrive and put a smile on my face. Those kids motivated me to keep waking up and working hard, and leaving them was not easy.

The thing that made that goodbye worth it, the reason that I keep pushing through this tying chapter of my life is that I am determined to improve early childhood education in the United States .

I want to be a positive force in the lives of as many children as I possibly can, and I plan on doing that by improving standards and policies for early childhood education and making it more affordable.

Every week I write in my planner, “I will make a difference” and one way that I will change the lives of children and families. On days that I find myself asking, “why am I here?” “why am I going into debt, paying to be stressed out all the time?” I think of my students. I read my “I will make a difference” statements.

I remember that some children out there are stuck in low quality child care centers, they will never reach their full potential, and they need help. I keep working hard everyday so that I can help those children.

by Megan Burns

My ultimate goal is to change the lives of people. Studying to be a teacher is hard. All of the classes that are required, all of the practicums, and all of the time spent just to become a teacher is stressful, but the thought of being able to help just one person changes everything.

It takes one person to be a light in someone’s life. It take one person to be a helping hand. It takes one person to change an unmotivated, broken life, and make it brand new. Qualified teachers are those people. We motivate students to do their best, we guide students to success when no one else will, and we are always available to listen. One teacher can change the lives of thousands of students. That is my motivation.

I know that after college, I will be a teacher, a guider, a counselor, and a friend to so many students. No matter how many bad days I have or how many times I want to quit, I just think of what is to come in the future. I can be that change this world needs, even if its in a small high school classroom. It just takes one person.

by Victoria Shoemkaer

My dream is to make a difference in the life of children.

To make them excited about learning.
To make it fun the way it used to be when they were younger.
To show them that someone cares about them and wants to see them succeed.
To show that they are much more that a test score or a number.
To believe in them so much, that I do not let them get discouraged from chasing their dreams.
To showing them that everyone fails and it’s your recovery that determines what happens next.
To sacrifice myself to gives them more opportunities for success.
To encourage students to succeed in and out of the classroom for the betterment of themselves and the community.
To inspire them to change the world, because they can.
To help them transform into caring and compassionate adults who are ready to conquer the word, but remember where they came from.
To teach them to do good in the world because anyone can accomplish doing well.

Most importantly, my dream is to make children feel like their voice is important and valued and that they are loved more than they know.

4. Lives Can Be Improved by Dedicated Instructors

Teaching a subject such as Math or English is the everyday task of a teacher. But our prospective teachers see a greater purpose in their training and career path.

The daily motivation to teach doesn’t come from the superficial advantages of a teaching career, such as great job security or extra vacation time. Here are stories by future educators who want to go beyond the curriculum and improve people’s lives all round.

by Savannah Luree Weverka

Teachers are the ones who ignited my love for learning and there is not a day that goes by when I do not challenge myself to a personal goal of lifelong learning.

My mother is a teacher, so I was a student educated in an institution filled with support and a home that also supported education. I recall many teacher “get-togethers” and Husker parties where an informal invitation led to my presence.

Due to all of this support and interaction received throughout my elementary and high school career, Elementary Education continues to be at the top of my career choices. And now, as a senior looking forward to graduating from high school, teachers remain my role models .

In considering a focus in Elementary Education, I now realize that many teachers not only teach children eight hours of the day, but become doctors for scraped knees, dictionaries for challenging words, mediators between students, and parents away from home.

Now, as I am taking the steps to make my dream come true I hope to make school an escape to free their minds and expand their knowledge. I want to share my love of learning with my students.

by Aaron Banta

Since I was younger, I have had the dream of becoming a history teacher at the high school level. The reason I am striving for this career is thanks to a teacher I had. They held such a passion for history and taught it so well that it made me want to keep learning everything I could about it.

In college, I have had to work multiple jobs and attend school full-time. I would wake up early in the morning and not get home until late at night. The one thing that kept me on top of my studying and work was the dream I have; to be able to teach history and express my love for it by teaching the next generation. I strive to impact their lives for the better just like mine was.

Being able to pass my courses and get a degree and teaching credentials is the first main goal I am striving for. But being able to have a positive impact on students I have will be an even greater goal that I want to accomplish. I am hoping to guide them through their study of my favorite subject so I can teach them about the world and help them just like my teacher had helped me.

by Chelsea Rogers

At USC Upstate, I am studying to be a Secondary Education Mathematics teacher. The math courses are not easy and the education courses pushes you to challenge yourself. The thought of being a future teacher is what motivates me to keep pushing.

Although I do not know any of my students, they are precious to me and I believe it is my job to change their lives for the better. Teaching math is my job, but looking beyond my content and into the wellbeing of my students is my passion.

The question I always ask myself is how can I teach students who may not trust me? I have to establish a connection with each student so that they will see I care about them academically, physically, and emotionally. Once students see that you care about them in these areas, it becomes easier to teach them and they are willing to perform to the best of their ability because they know their teacher supports them 100 percent. Being a great teacher is what motivates me to continue striving for my degree.

by Micayla Watroba

One plus one is two. Phone is pronounced with an F sound. 60 divided by 15 is 4. An essay typically has five paragraphs. I know all these things because I went to school. I also had teachers that helped me understand it even when I didn’t get the same opportunities as everyone else.

See, when I was in first grade I was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia. This made school very hard. I was either out of school so often that I missed entire chapters or I was bullied so badly that I couldn’t focus because I was so scared. Having cancer also made it hard for my mom and dad to pay for food and rent much less after school activities and tutoring. I grew up knowing that there were some things that were just not in reach for us.

For as bad as I had it, I can’t imagine having to live on the streets, going hungry, or even being taught in a language I don’t know.

My dream is to be the teacher that makes sure that every student gets an education that helps them succeed. I want to make sure that my students not only enjoy being at school but feel safe while there. My students will know that it doesn’t matter where they came from or what background they came from. I am going to be there and I will not leave them behind. This is my dream.

5. Promote Lifelong Learning in Young People

What inspires some people to become teachers is the power to set young people on the right education path. Helping children to have good early experiences and embrace the learning process can profoundly enhance someone’s life. The potential for transformative early development applies to handicapped and disadvantaged kids as much as anyone.

by Lesley Martinez-Silva

I aspire to make a difference in others’ lives through education. I’m studying to be an elementary school teacher because I believe that children can achieve so much more if they learn early of their potential.

Education has always been my priority. My parents always stressed the importance of obtaining an education, having missed that opportunity themselves. My parents taught me as a child that schooling was vital to success in life. Truly, that lesson has been the most important in my path to college. I don’t think I would’ve made it this far had I not taken my education seriously.

I want to teach others about the importance of education so they too can prosper. Everything I’m learning at university is important for my future career and, if I don’t study it, I’m failing my future students. Every child deserves the best education available and I should strive to be the best educator possible to provide that for them. When balancing academics, work, and my social life, it can get challenging to keep going. But, with the future of children’s education in my hands, I always get back on track.

by Brianna Rivers

One of my goals is to become a teacher and work in an public elementary school within the greater Boston area (possibly my own elementary school). I want to be a teacher because I enjoy working with children and I know how important teachers are in children’s lives. I plan on receiving my Bachelor’s degree for Early Childhood Education and my Master’s degree in Special Education.

I want to major in Early Childhood Education because early education is significant for children and is a building block for their future in learning . I also want to major in Special Education because I believe all children should receive equal learning opportunities as well as equal treatment (meaning an inclusive environment, etc).

I think all of my experiences have a positive impact on myself because I am learning more about what it takes to be a teacher and what it takes to be a good teacher. My experiences also have a positive impact on the children and adults I work with. I offer a helping hand to the teachers and a friendly face to the children.

I plan to continue to work hard and take advantage of learning opportunities to achieve both of my goals. Being a teacher is my desire and I will stop at nothing to be a great teacher one day.

by Jennamarie Moody

When I close my eyes, I picture myself in a school located in an urban setting, teaching a classroom of diverse yet alike students. These students are in the second grade, meaning that they are impressionable yet vulnerable to their environment whether this means at home, at school, or in their greater community.

Some of these students don’t speak English as their first language, and some come from low-income households that can limit their educational experiences outside of the classroom. And yet, no matter what differences these students bring to the table, their uniqueness flows throughout the classroom in such a positive energy that embraces, respects, and promotes learning. This is the goal I am working towards; the goal to inspire our youth to become self-advocates for their learning .

Opportunities for equal educational experiences may not exist, however the beauty lies in the growth of love young students can develop as they are challenged in the classroom to question their surroundings. I plan to make a difference in the lives of the children I meet along the way, and to create a safe learning environment.

Although the tests for certification and studies can be difficult, my passion for education and dedication to shaping the lives of my students is what keeps me going. The end goal is to nurture the development of my students to become active and engaged participants in society, and that is what I intend to do completely.

by Julie Anderson

My long-time goal has been to become a teacher, and this year I’m in a class called Teachers for Tomorrow, where I get to shadow a kindergarten teacher. Working with her and the students has increased my interest in children with special needs.

From here on out, I want to support my students in academics and other parts of their lives so I can help them learn, grow, and succeed. I know that children need a strong start to their school career because the first few years of school are crucial; this is when students begin to love or hate learning itself. Whether or not children enjoy school, they deserve to appreciate learning. Students who love learning will always want to improve themselves.

I will make an effort to provide a loving environment where each child can prosper. However, for students with special needs, this task becomes even harder to accomplish because traditional classrooms are usually set up for non-disabled students. While I know I can’t “save” every student I teach, and some of them will still hate learning, at least I can start them off right.

When I’m swamped with schoolwork, I will imagine my future students and how I could influence their lives. Even though not all of my college classes will relate to my major, forming a habit of working hard in college will help me to succeed as a future teacher.

6. Teachers Are Excellent Role Models

The experience of being helped and transformed by a good teacher leaves a lasting impression. Teaching is considered a noble profession for good reasons.

Some education students are motivated to become a teacher to emulate their own role models. They want to provide the same kind of service they once received. An added reason for pursuing a teaching career is to be a role model to younger people outside the classroom, including one’s own children.

by Teresa Pillifant

My first day – well, more like first semester- of my freshman year in high school was the hardest semester of my whole school career. Usually the kind of student who loves school, I found myself getting stomach aches in the morning and dreading school with my whole being. I was new to the school, and the number of students was overwhelming.

It seemed like there was no relief, except for my first hour Spanish class. Having no friends, I would always arrive at my first hour class early. As this pattern continued, my Spanish teacher and I developed a relationship. My teacher started giving me books to read, asking my opinion on what we should do in class and just talked to me in general about life. Through my teacher’s support, I grew to find my place in the school and became more confident.

Her kind words and actions inspired me to become a teacher myself. Now, whenever school or life gets difficult, I think of my freshmen year Spanish teacher and how she inspired me. I want to do what she did for me for my future students. Whether it be a difficult test or a challenging class, my goal of making a difference in a student’s life keeps me going.

by Mo Cabiles

The world we live in is hard, unsteady and ruthless. We see this everyday in the harshness of homelessness, to social media screaming for justice. What motivates me to continue on is that I have felt the bitter cold bite of homelessness. I know what it’s like to not have enough to eat and to be scared of what will happen next.

I am fortunate to no longer be in those situations but that, by no means, is an indicator that it will all now come easy. As an adult learner and your “non-traditional” student, there are other obstacles I must overcome. From transportation to childcare or education application mastery to APA formatting, the many roadblocks I tackle both large and small are what I consider to be my victories.

I’ve seen what having a higher education can do for someone and I want that for myself and that of my daughters. I strive to be a good example for them , to show them that, regardless of social standing and unforeseeable circumstances, if they work hard and put their best effort forward, they can achieve their dreams.

My dream is to obtain my Masters in Education with an emphasis in counseling. I want to be an academic advisor or guidance counselor. I’ve seen so many youths attempt community college and fail because they fell through the cracks. These students need to realize their potential and I want to help them achieve that and to be their cheerleader.

by Gia Sophia Sarris

In every school I’ve ever attended, experienced teachers were there to support and inspire me. I have looked up to these people ever since I was in elementary school, and they have had an immense and positive impact on my life and my view of the world. My fondness for these people [educators] has led me to aspire to become a teacher.

I want to “pay it forward” and improve the lives of children and teenagers who grow up struggling as I did, or in any way for that matter. I want to make a difference in their lives and let them know that they are not alone with their problems.

This is what motivates me to study hard. Becoming a teacher, I believe, will help me fulfill my purpose in life, which I think is to create happiness and ease the burdens of others. I feel that children and teenagers need this especially, because they are struggling to understand the world and their place in it. I study hard for their sake.

by Jennifer Wolfert

From elementary school to my first year at college, I struggled to establish a dream for myself. Trying to figure out what career I wanted to pursue as successful adult always filled me with anxiety. I had spent multiple years in special education and left with a low academic self-esteem. So, after high school I attended Bucks County Community College in search for more time. Still I made no progress. Then I decided to change my outlook. I stopped asking “what do I want to do?” and started asking “who do I want to be?”. That’s when my dream took shape.

The educators that I met during my time at community college were my inspiration. They are brilliant, hardworking people with a passion for their specialty that I had never seen before. Their belief in hard work was infectious. School began to fill me with excited anticipation and my grades improved. I started to believe that if I worked hard enough then I could be like them and inspire others like they had inspired me.

At the end of my second year attending community college, I accomplished a task that had previously racked me with fear. I applied to Temple University as a Secondary English Education major. I have now completed my second semester at Temple and earned my first 4.0 GPA. In time, I am confident that I will be able to accomplish my dream. I will become the passionate and inspiring educator that my younger self never had.

by Jenyfer Pegg

My entire life has been filled with discouragement. I grew up in a household where I was constantly told “No”. I was told my ideas were stupid and would not work. In my junior year of high school, my teachers and counselors started talking about college and sending in applications to different places. At that point, I knew I was not going. I came from a poor family and I knew we could never have money for something like college.

But I went on college visits, I listened to people speak about their college, and I was set. I had a lot of things pushing me, except the one thing I really wanted, my family. No one in my family has gone to college, and when I told my mother, she was shocked. She told me she just wanted me out of the house.

When I came to school, I realized I wanted to teach high school. I want to make an actual difference in someone else’s life. My family has taken the same road for years, and I’m not going down that road. I won’t live paycheck to paycheck like my mom, I will be a person that others will look up to.

I’m going to do something worthwhile, and I will work harder than anyone else if it gets me there. I’ve seen what my life will be like without school and motivation and there is absolutely no way I’m going down that road. I’ve got bigger plans.

7. Unlock the Success Potential of Students

Educators want to help students in every way they can but, for some future teachers, the focus is on helping students soar. That child in front of you in the classroom might grow up to do great things for society, raise a strong family, or just be happy and fulfilled.

Whatever the potential of a pupil, a teacher’s job is to help unlock talents and remove any barriers to future success.

by Tamara Vega

The thing that motivates me the most is the thought of having my own classroom someday. I want to be the teacher that changes a child’s life, inspires them to set high goals for themselves and encourages them to reach it.

College can be so hard at times and I get really anxious and scared. I worry about not passing my classes and exams, I worry about not getting my degree. Despite that I do not give up because I have to do this and I want to do this.

I cannot see myself doing anything else besides teaching, I have never been this passionate about something. I want to graduate and get my degree. I’d love to look at it and say, “I worked hard for this and I earned it”.

The idea that the students in my classroom could grow up to cure cancer, or become president, pretty much anything they want, brings me so much excitement. I want to be the teacher that they remember, the one who helped them realize their dream and who gave them the knowledge needed to reach it.

Be the teacher that I needed as a child but unfortunately never had. That is what gets me through all the stress and anxiety, I know in my heart that all the studying I’m doing right now will be worth it in the end.

by Nicole Gongora

The dream of success motivates me to study – not my success, my future students’ success. I push myself through the rough spots for them.

I was a lost child in high school; I didn’t know how to apply to college, let alone afford it. No child should have to experience that. As a future educator, I am committed to helping my students succeed, achieve more, and continue onto higher education. Every child should be given the opportunity to showcase their strengths and follow their dreams.

College was never a dream for me; it was a far off, unattainable fantasy. I met some inspiring teachers in high school who encouraged me to change my life and who helped me to thrive. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

I plan to work at a low-income school similar to the one I attended. These types of schools are the ones who lack resources. I will serve as a resource to my students and I hope to be an inspiration to them. In turn, I hope they become kind, respectful adults. I want them to see the virtue in helping others and I hope they will serve others in their future careers. I want to be the teacher they remember. I want to be the teacher that helped them succeed.

I’ll feel successful as a teacher if my students are successful in attaining their goals. If one student decides to achieve more then I will have lived out my dream.

by Madison Sherrill

I’ve decided to become a teacher because I want to show the value of compassion and diversity.

As I begin college this upcoming fall, my main motivation is the students. While I haven’t even met them yet, they inspire me to persist in my classes and stay optimistic. My classroom will support innovative thinking and celebrate each student’s individuality.

As a classroom teacher, I want to encourage and positively influence the next generation. They should know that they can be successful and achieve what they aspire to become while making the world better. By teaching the value of inclusiveness and the power of kindness, my students may turn out to be visionary thinkers and leading members of society.

by Alicia Costin

I am returning to school after taking a few years off. After graduating from California Lutheran University with my BS in Mathematics, I wanted to land a job with benefits and begin my “adult life”.

While it took me a few months to find my current job, is it just that; a job. I have benefits, a full-time schedule, weekends and holidays off, but am I happy? Is this what I want to do as a career for the rest of my life? I have asked myself this question a few times and the answer is always the same; no.

My dream is to become a teacher and help motivate and encourage students to do their best in their studies and in life. It is my dream to do what I was meant to do; shape young minds and help future generations.

When things become difficult during my graduate program, I know to keep pushing, thriving, and studying hard so that, when I do become a teacher, I can use this as a positive story to shape their way of life. I landed a job outside of college, however now it is time for me to land my career.

Who taught the first teacher, what can i do with a master’s in education, why teaching is still a good career choice, how to become a homeschool teacher.

Grades 6-12
School Leaders

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Teaching the Photo Essay

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

Your students, if they’re anything like mine, love to communicate through images—photos on Instagram , GIFs shared in a text, photo stories on Snapchat. And yet, so much of our conversation in school revolves around words. Understanding text is critical to students’ success now and in the future. But do we also help students identify, read and understand images in order to become literate in the visual language that is all around us? The photo essay can be a great middle or high school assignment that will have strong appeal and grow your students’ writing skills.

What Is a Photo Essay?

For those who aren’t familiar with the term “photo essay,” have no fear. A photo essay, in its simplest form, is a series of pictures that evokes an emotion, presents an idea or helps tell a story. You’ve been exposed to photo essays for your entire life—possibly without even knowing it. For example, you may have seen Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother:

An iconic image of the Great Depression, this picture, along with Lange’s other gripping photos, helped Americans better understand the effects of poverty in California as well as across the nation. Migrant Mother is one of countless photographs that helped persuade, influence or engage viewers in ways that text alone could not.

Photo essays can feature text through articles and descriptions, or they can stand alone with simple captions to give context. The versatility of photo essays has helped the medium become a part of our culture for centuries, from the American Civil War to modern environmental disasters like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. This versatility is also what makes the photo essay a great educational asset in classrooms today; teachers can use them in any content area. Math students can use them to show a geometric concept in real life. Science students can document a chemistry process at home. Auto students can photograph the technique—and joys and frustrations—of learning a new procedure.

So, where does a teacher begin? Read further for tips and ideas for making photo essays a part of your teaching toolbox.

Start With Photos

Introducing photo essays as a means of changing lives and changing society can hook student interest in the medium. Begin by simply showing pictures and letting students discuss their reactions. Consider this famous photo of the field at Antietam during the Civil War. Share some of the photos from this collection from CNN of 25 of the Most Iconic Photograph s or this list of 50 Influential Photographs That Changed Our World .

Each of these photographs stirs emotion and sends our minds searching for answers. As a warm-up assignment or series of assignments, have students choose (or assign randomly) a photograph to write about. What’s the story? Why did this happen? Who was involved?

DIY Photographs

Before giving a formal photo essay assignment, give students an opportunity to practice and receive feedback. Consider presenting students with several open-ended, ungraded challenges like “For class tomorrow, take a photo that depicts ‘Struggle.’” Other possible photo topics: chaos, frustration, friendship, school. Have students email you their photo homework and share it as a slideshow. Talk about the images. Do they convey the theme?

You can give examples or suggestions; however, giving too many examples and requirements can narrow students’ creativity. The purpose of this trial run is to generate conversation and introduce students to thinking like photographers, so don’t worry if the photos aren’t what you had in mind; it’s about getting feedback on what the student had in mind.

Technique 101

Even though the goal of a photo essay is to influence and create discussion, there is still benefit in giving students a crash course on simple photography concepts. Don’t feel like you have to teach a master-level course on dark-room development. Even a simple overview on the “Rule of Thirds” and the importance of perspective can be enough to help students create intentional, visually stirring photographs.

You can teach these ideas directly or have students do the work by researching on their own. They have most likely seen hundreds of movies, advertisements and photos, so these lessons are simply labeling what they’ve already experienced. Having some knowledge of composition will not only help students improve their visual literacy, it will also help empower them to take photos of their own.

Choose Your Purpose

Are students telling their own stories of their neighborhoods or their families? Are they addressing a social issue or making an argument through their images and text? A photo essay could be a great assignment in science to document a process or focus on nature.

If you are just getting started, start out small: Have students create a short photo essay (two to five images) to present a topic, process or idea you have been focusing on in class. Here’s a Photo Essay Planning Guide to share with your students.

With pictures becoming a dominant medium in our image-filled world, it’s not a question of if we should give students practice and feedback with visual literacy, it’s a question of how . Photo essays are a simple, engaging way to start. So, what’s your plan?

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Best Practice on Making Learning Relevant, From Teachers

Today’s post is the third in a series on how teachers can structure lessons so that students see them as relevant to their lives.

‘Guiding Questions’

Whitney Emke, the associate director of communications for EL Education , is a former special educator. She is a first-generation college student who spent five years in the foster care system and is passionate about the power of education to disrupt intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence:

“How can we keep guns from falling into the wrong hands?” “How healthy am I?”

“What are stereotypes? How do they create problems for people?”

“Why do I need to wear a seatbelt? What style of seatbelt protects me best?”

Questions matter ; that’s why all good learning expeditions begin with guiding questions like those.

Those questions frame inquiry into a topic and lead students to an enduring understanding of broader issues and fundamental concepts within and across disciplines. More importantly, though, they provide or offer an opportunity to explore the “so what?” and the “who cares?” for students, enabling them to find relevance and connect to lessons, projects, and case studies while seeing the big picture of their learning.

Students answer those questions and others by conducting research and fieldwork, gathering and reflecting on data, and talking to relevant experts while practicing rigorous, grade-level academic standards in real-world contexts. This long-term, interdisciplinary learning experience is known as a learning expedition . It is the signature structure of EL Education’s expeditionary learning model, which can be instrumental in making learning more relevant to students’ lives.

Creating learning experiences grounded in asking culturally responsive questions can have transformative outcomes for students.

Educators foster a deep understanding of self and others by intentionally designing lessons that explore and celebrate students’ identities, diverse perspectives, and unique backgrounds. This approach cultivates empathy, compassion, and an appreciation for the richness of cultural diversity. As students delve into topics that reflect their lives, peers, and communities, they develop a sense of belonging and become active participants in their own learning.

Equally important?

As they explore topics that don’t reflect their own lived experiences but rather reflect the diverse lived experiences of people worldwide, students increase their cultural competence and ability to navigate complex global issues with empathy and humility. By answering these culturally responsive questions, students are empowered to become engaged citizens, equipped to contribute positively to their communities and create a more inclusive and equitable society.

At Midtown Academy in Baltimore, middle schoolers were once asked, How can we keep guns from falling into the wrong hands?

This was a profoundly relevant question for residents of a city with the second-highest rate of gun-related deaths in the United States in 2020.

It was also the basis of “Gun Violence and the Right to Bear Arms: Linking the Foundations of American Government to Our Community Today,” a model learning expedition written by Whitney Ward, a former educator at Midtown Academy, with support from EL Education school coach Jaime Stone.

Midtown students spent weeks conducting case studies comparing gun laws from colonial America to the present day and gun violence in Baltimore compared with other major cities. From there, they organized a series of guest lectures from community advocates and experts like the police commissioner, a crime reporter from a local newspaper, and a district court judge. Their learning expedition culminated with a public screening of a podcast they created. Students invited the community for a conversation about gun violence and a memorial featuring student work for those impacted by it.

Jean Hurst—a longtime expeditioner and curriculum designer —believes that a public culmination of learning like this and the sense of responsibility it instills in students are vital to their character development. She says students who engage in real-world, consequential expeditionary learning “aren’t waiting to grow up, to become adults, to get jobs . … They’re already active citizens who understand that they have a responsibility to share their research and the solutions they have uncovered or designed” with their community and the world.

Expeditionary learning and learning expeditions ignite relevance, engagement, and purpose in students’ lives. By merging real-world experiences with academics, educators cultivate meaningful learning that connects to students’ interests and communities. This approach develops essential skills like problem-solving, communication, and empathy, which are vital for success. Moreover, it empowers students to recognize the links between education and the world, motivating them to shape their learning journey and contribute to their communities.

By embracing expeditionary learning, educators can design relevant learning experiences that equip students for academic success and fulfilling lives of active citizenship that begin right now.

‘Provide Choice’

Valerie King is a spirited educator who champions relevancy for her young learners to promote their awareness that they can have world-changing agency. Valerie’s first book Make it Relevant: Strategies to Nurture, Develop and Inspire Young Learners (Scholastic) was published in February 2022:

Do you remember your teachers? I do. I often find it challenging to recall the lessons, entirely, but what remains vivid in my memory is the relevance of the small moments where my teachers were instrumental in providing encouragement, comfort, or tempering, even if the context was challenging.

From Mrs. McDonald tirelessly searching the shelves of the kindergarten workroom to find me something to read, to Miss Hill allowing our class to vote on the shaggy rug for the front of the classroom (we insisted on purple!), and even the occasion when I signed my father’s name on a social studies test in Mrs. Compton’s class—each of these experiences stands out as a testament to the relevant space my teachers created for me.

As education professionals, we have a responsibility to be both cognitively and emotionally relevant to our learners. According to Webster’s, relevance means “being closely connected or appropriate.” While this definition captures the essence of relevance, it lacks the impact that educators need to establish with learners. Educators need to think about the big picture, not just specific lessons, and how they can make a significant impact on their learners. In today’s world, where information is readily available, teachers are no longer the sole keepers of knowledge. Therefore, educators must establish relevance with students for learning to be valuable.

With today’s rapidly changing world, traditional methods of teaching may no longer resonate with students who live in a world that is vastly different from the one their teachers grew up in. As such, it’s crucial for educators to find ways to make their lesson plans relevant to their students. Here are tips on how to achieve that:

1. Understand your students

A robust classroom community is founded upon relationships that foster implicit understanding and must be established, nurtured, and treasured by the teacher. This interdependent, community-driven approach to building relationships sets the stage for the teacher to cultivate a positive, inclusive environment that allows for spontaneity. In our classrooms, we must value a natural appreciation of interdependence, warm demands, belief, trust, and the possibility of failure.

2. Make connections to the real world

When students can see the connection between what they’re learning and how it applies to their lives, they are more likely to be engaged in the material. Similarly, when teachers model the connections, learners begin to make their own connections. Creating authentic learning experiences is a challenging endeavor, but the impact they have on students is profound. Service-learning projects and design-innovation challenges are examples of such experiences. Teachers play a crucial role in curating resources that align with learning objectives and are relevant to the world around us.

3. Let them talk

The importance of social interaction among students cannot be understated, particularly those moments when we simply listen without speaking. It can be tempting to silence our students, but we should remember that the questions they ask provide valuable insight into their priorities. When we allow ideas to flow freely in the classroom, we help our students learn to ask thoughtful questions, discern what is appropriate to discuss, defend their beliefs, and engage in meaningful debate. Allowing students to express themselves without imposing our own views on them is key. In fact, often children can be excellent role models for how to respectfully share differing opinions or ideas. By avoiding silencing our students, we encourage the development of student voice as a valuable virtue.

4. Provide choice

Giving students the opportunity to choose what they learn, how they learn, or what they produce from their learning allows them to pursue their interests and passions, making the material more relevant to them. Sometimes, the smallest choices lead to the biggest buy-in. Consider choice seating, choice partners, choice text, and choice tasks and products as a path to relevancy with learners.

It might appear paradoxical to rely on lessons centered on relevance, given how rapidly significant themes in our world change. However, when we consider the combined impact of understanding our students, connecting the material to a real-world context, embracing social discourse, and providing choice, our classrooms become environments where learners recognize the value of being relevant to their lives.

‘Build Relationships’

Samantha Holquist, Ph.D., is a senior research scientist at ChildTrends. Tameka Porter, Ph.D., is an affiliate scholar from George Mason University. We collaborate with researchers, practitioners, and students to explore culturally responsive classroom methods in P-20 spaces:

The past three years have offered ample evidence of the impact that engagement has on students. Virtual education systems kept schools operational during the early days of the pandemic, giving many students a new sense of autonomy but with limited hands-on learning experiences or opportunities to bond with both teachers and peers.

To understand how we can better support student engagement in middle and high schools as students returned to classrooms following the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with over 200 students and 50 teachers from across the United States. We asked questions about what engagement looks like to them as well as supports for and barriers to engagement.

While data collection and analysis are ongoing, preliminary findings show that students and teachers agree that students are more engaged when lessons are directly connected to the real world or feel more relevant to students’ lives. This finding is not necessarily surprising, as previous research has shown that making lessons more relevant to students’ lives increases student engagement.

Based on preliminary findings from the conversations with students and teachers, we identified three tips for making lessons more relevant to students’ lives:

Get to know yourself. Teachers expressed that taking the time to develop a clearer sense of their own self-identity helped them better understand how they related to and built lessons for their students. By reflecting on your multiple identities , roles, personal values, and characteristics, you can understand how your lived experiences and perceptions may impact the ways in which you speak with your students, create your lesson plans, deliver instruction, and receive feedback. By understanding yourself and the ways in which you enter your classroom , you can build stronger positive relationships with your students and better understand their interests.

Build relationships with your students. Students stated that they were less likely to share information about themselves when they didn’t have a relationship with their teacher. For example, when teachers asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and students did not have a relationship with the teacher, students would say they did not know because they did not feel that the teacher would care about their response. Positive relationships help students feel more comfortable to share their interests and future aspirations with teachers. These insights are necessary for teachers to make lessons more relevant to students’ lives.

Create connections within lessons to students’ interests and future aspirations. After learning about students’ interest and future aspirations, teachers can begin to adjust lessons to create connections to students’ interests and future aspirations, which in turn makes lessons more relevant to students’ lives. It is important to ensure adjustments made to lessons are open-ended enough to engage students with diverse interests and aspirations. These open-ended adjustments may include (a) incorporating choice into lesson activities, where students get to choose to explore a lesson across different interests and aspirations relevant to them, or (b) develop group-based lesson activities where students with different interests and aspirations can work together to explore a lesson.

Finally, one of the best ways to make lessons more relevant to students is to ask them directly. Giving students the opportunity to provide input on and lead what and how they’re learning gives them a sense of control and ownership of their learning experience. Finding small ways to be responsive to student feedback and make feasible and reasonable adjustments to lessons could mean the difference between an engaged learner and one simply present.

Thanks to Whitney, Valerie, Samantha, and Tameka for contributing their thoughts!

Today’s guests answered this question:

What are ways to make lessons more “relevant” to students’ lives?

In Part One , Meagan W. Taylor, Tonia Gibson, and Alexis Wiggins shared their ideas.

In Part Two , Georgina Rivera, Kelly Gallagher, and Mike Kaechele answered the same question.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on X formerly known as Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email . And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 12 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list here .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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The Evolution of Technology in the Classroom

Technology has always been at the forefront of human education. From the days of carving figures on rock walls to today, when most students are equipped with several portable technological devices at any given time, technology continues to push educational capabilities to new levels. In looking at where educational methods and tools have come from to where they are going in the future, technology’s importance in the classroom is evident now more than ever.

A History of Classroom Technology: The Primitive Classroom

In the Colonial years, wooden paddles with printed lessons, called Horn-Books, were used to assist students in learning verses. Over 200 years later, in 1870, technology advanced to include the Magic Lantern, a primitive version of a slide projector that projected images printed on glass plates. By the time World War I ended, around 8,000 lantern slides were circulating through the Chicago public school system. By the time the Chalkboard came around in 1890, followed by the pencil in 1900, it was clear that students were hungry for more advanced educational tools.

Radio in the 1920s sparked an entirely new wave of learning; on-air classes began popping up for any student within listening range.
Next came the overhead projector in 1930, followed by the ballpoint pen in 1940 and headphones in 1950.
Videotapes arrived on the scene in 1951, creating a new and exciting method of instruction.
The Skinner Teaching Machine produced a combined system of teaching and testing, providing reinforcement for correct answers so that the student can move on to the next lesson.
The photocopier (1959) and handheld calculator (1972) entered the classrooms next, allowing for mass production of material on the fly and quick mathematical calculations.
The Scantron system of testing, introduced by Michael Sokolski n 1972, allowed educators to grade tests more quickly and efficiently.

The pre-computer years were formative in the choices made for computers in the years following. Immediate response-type systems (video, calculator, Scantron) had become necessary, and quick production of teaching materials, using the photocopier, had become a standard. The U.S. Department of Education reports that high school enrollment was only 10% in 1900, but by 1992 had expanded to 95%. The number of students in college in 1930 was around 1 million, but by 2012 had grown to a record 21.6 million. Teachers needed new methods of instruction and testing, and students were looking for new ways to communicate, study, and learn.

The Entrance and Significance of Personal Computers

Although the first computers were developed in the ‘30s, everyday-use computers were introduced in the ‘80s. The first portable computer, in 1981, weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. When IBM introduced its first personal computer in 1981, the educational world knew that it was on the verge of greatness. Time magazine named The Computer its “ Man of the Year ” in 1982, and aptly so: the foundation of immediate learning capabilities had been laid. Time declared, “it is the end result of a technological revolution that has been in the making for four decades and is now, quite literally, hitting home.”

Toshiba released its first mass-market consumer laptop in 1985 (the T1100), and Apple’s infamous Mac (which later evolved into the Powerbook) was available starting in 1984.
In 1990, The World Wide Web was given life when a British researcher developed Hyper Text Markup Language, or HTML, and when the National Science Foundation (NSF) removed restrictions on the commercial use of the Internet in 1993, the world exploded into a frenzy of newfound research and communication methods.
The first Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) were released by Apple Computer Inc. in 1993, and with that, computers were a part of every day, if not every moment. By 2009, 97% of classrooms had one or more computers , and 93% of classroom computers had Internet access. For every 5 students, there was one computer. Instructors stated that 40% of students used computers often in their educational methods, in addition to interactive whiteboards and digital cameras. College students nowadays are rarely without some form of computer technology: 83% own a laptop, and over 50% have a Smartphone.

The Future of Technology in the Classroom

It seems like years since MySpace, first introduced in 2003, Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2007) have changed both the communication and business worlds. Instant connectivity has branched out from merely a tool of personal communication, to a platform for educational instruction and outreach. Social media is now being recognized as an accepted form of instruction in some instances, and groups such as Scholastic Teachers provide excellent support and tips for instructors. Many instructors use social media to communicate directly with their students, or to form forum-style groups for students to communicate with each other, and the method seems to be proving valuable in providing one-on-one attention to student’s questions and concerns.

With the classroom having already evolved into a hotbed of technological advances, what can the future possibly hold that could further educational proficiencies even more?

Biometrics, a technology that recognizes people based on certain physical or behavioral traits, is on the technological horizon. The science will be used to recognize the physical and emotional disposition of students in the classroom, altering course material to tailor to each individual’s needs based on biometric signals.
A second up-and-coming technology is Augmented Reality (AR) glasses , rumored to be on Google’s release list, and this technology could be a whole new world for education. AR Glasses (or even contact lenses) will layer data on top of what we naturally see, to allow for a real-world learning experience. For example, a student wearing AR Glasses could potentially sit at his desk and have a conversation with Thomas Edison about invention. It was Edison, after all, who said that “Books will soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.”
Multi-touch surfaces are commonly used through equipment such as the iPhone, but the technology could become more relevant to education through entirely multi-touch surfaces, such as desks or workstations. This could allow students to collaborate with other students, even those around the world, and videos and other virtual tools could be streamed directly to the surface.

Educators and the Evolution of Technology in the Classroom

With the evolution of technology, educational capabilities are growing and changing every day. The Internet is a vast electronic library of information, and both research and instruction can be achieved through a click of the mouse. With these advances come new responsibilities to the instructor and therefore increase the value of a Master of Science in Education in Learning Design and Technology. As technology advances, an educator’s abilities will grow by leaps and bounds, and without the knowledge of these changes and capabilities, an instructor has a good chance of being left behind.

A career in education requires hard work and dedication, but, for the diligent educator, can prove very rewarding. For those who are serious about success in the education field, staying well-informed of current and changing technologies is imperative. As the world of technology evolves, the learning environment, both on-campus and online, will equally progress, and the need for teachers who are educated in technology and design will continue to grow.

Learn more about the online MSEd in Learning Design and Technology at Purdue University today and help redefine the way in which individuals learn. Call (877) 497-5851 to speak with an admissions advisor or to request more information.

DOI: 10.56741/ijlree.v2i03.337
Corpus ID: 270693602

The Effectiveness of Realistic Mathematics Education on Learning Outcomes and Critical Thinking for Elementary School Students

Aida Nur Widiana , M. Sintawati , G. Abdurrahman
Published in International Journal of… 12 August 2023
Education, Mathematics
International Journal of Learning Reformation in Elementary Education

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Multiplying math success

By Jenny Recktenwald

Elementary Math Specialist Endorsement boosts performance in teachers and students

She heightened her own math teaching with the college’s Elementary Math Specialist (EMS) endorsement – the state’s only program designed for elementary teachers to broaden their depth of knowledge in mathematics beyond the elementary preparation program.

EMS “completers,” as they are called, can use the endorsement to enhance their careers as a coach/mentor, teacher leader/coordinator, teacher of multiple classes of elementary students, teacher of special groups of students (remedial, enrichment), curriculum specialist or curriculum coordinator. Participants can complete the program as a standalone endorsement or combine the EMS with an MEd in Teacher Leadership or Rank I program.

The largest group ever earned the endorsement in May 2024, thanks to financial support from the Graham Elementary Math Specialist (GEMS) Scholarship and the Kentucky Department of Education’s Math Achievement Fund, both of which supported the professional learning of math coaches and included enrollment in the EMS program.

“It gave me the confidence to take on a leadership role within my school...” - Karima Badouan

Led by Professor Jennifer Bay-Williams and Assistant Professor Kate Marin, the EMS certification uses a cohort model and gives practicing teachers a community of peers they can turn to with questions and problems of practice.

“EMS completers distinguish themselves as a local expert and serve as mentors in informal ways, get asked to be the math leads in their grade or school or get selected to become a leader for a region of the school district,” Bay-Williams said. “The last two JCPS elementary math district leads have been EMS completers.”

Badouan, a GEMS Scholar, completed the program in 2024. “It gave me the confidence to take on a leadership role within my school as the academic instructional coach and gave me the tools I needed to spread the content knowledge and best teaching practices throughout my school and district.”

Kindergarten teacher Alyssa Jones and 4th-5th grade math teacher Dana Gahafer, both at Portland Elementary School, completed the EMS endorsement together to raise the bar for math education at their school. Both said they were drawn by the opportunity to learn from an expert of Bay-Williams’ caliber.

“I have completely changed who I am as a math teacher,” Gahafer said. “I talk less and listen more to my students. I let them lead their math learning by knowing the standards, and see where they are and what approach is going to be best for them. We focus on that math does not have to be done one way but rather in a way that makes sense to them.”

“I have completely changed who I am as a math teacher. I talk less and listen more to my students.” - Dana Gahafer

Jones said they are putting the EMS experience into practice in multiple ways. “Our goal is to create a school-wide Math Pact to ensure that students are using common language and strategies across all grade levels and see how our work will positively impact students building wide.”

Marin noted that the KDE’s support of the program demonstrates the state’s confidence in the college’s leadership in math coaching and continued professional learning for elementary teachers of mathematics.

“This is an outstanding professional learning experience for elementary teachers,” Marin said. “They leave so much better prepared to teach math and support others who are teaching elementary students.”

Couple supports innovation in math education with GEMS Scholarship

In their respective careers in medicine and nursing, Dr. Lyle and Linda Graham recognized that their foundational math education laid the groundwork for their professional endeavors. The Grahams are longtime supporters involved with the Office of Community Engagement, which works with units across the university in identifying ways to collaborate with community partners in mutually beneficial ways. They knew many local students were struggling with math proficiency, particularly due to the COVID learning loss.

Discussion among Henry Cunningham, UofL’s director of community engagement; Jennifer Bay-Williams, professor of math education and EMS program coordinator; and the Grahams led to the creation of the Graham Elementary Math Specialist (GEMS) Scholarship — a generous fund that supports Jefferson County Public Schools teachers and the improvement of mathematics teaching in JCPS.

The scholarship provides $6,000 per participant and with the College’s 25% graduate tuition reduction per credit hour, more than two-thirds of the cost is covered for each participating student.

Dr. Graham, a math major as an undergraduate, was energized by the new methods and best practices embedded in the EMS curriculum.

“Seeing [GEMS Scholars’] enthusiasm and excitement about how well this is working made a real impression on me,” he said.

The Grahams make a point to meet and hear from GEMS scholars about their experience, which confirms for them that their support is making an impact.

“Several of them told us without the scholarship they wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Linda Graham. “Knowing that, we feel very fortunate to be able to provide this support.”

“This scholarship provided me with the opportunity to engage in this important work and learn from phenomenal math leaders Jenny Bay-Williams and Kate Marin,” said Karima Badouan, a GEMS Scholar and academic instructional coach at Minors Lane Elementary School. “The GEMS program has also been a great networking experience as I have been able to learn from fantastic teacher leaders within JCPS.”

To learn more about supporting the Elementary Math Specialist program, contact Henry Cunningham at [email protected] . For information about participating, contact Jennifer-Bay Williams at [email protected] .

More CEHD News

About the College of Education and Human Development:

Founded in 1968, the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is a vibrant community that prepares students for leadership in a variety of metropolitan settings including schools, public and private corporations, and governmental agencies.

CEHD embraces the University's mission to advance the intellectual, cultural, and economic development of our diverse communities and citizens. Our commitment to student success is unparalleled as we promote the highest levels of learning and social, emotional, and physical health and well-being for all children, individuals, and families.

Newark Board of Education

Newark public schools offers summer programs 2024 to all students.

Newark, NJ — Newark Public Schools is excited to announce a robust lineup of Summer Programs 2024 designed to engage and educate students of all ages and backgrounds. From elementary through high school, there's something for everyone, including Newark students who were not enrolled in a District School during the academic year.

For elementary students, the offerings include the K-Ready Kindergarten Bootcamp and Summer Achieve. These programs aim to enhance foundational skills and prepare young learners for the next academic year. There is also the High School Academy: Summer Jump-Start Program, which is a great opportunity for 7th & 8th graders to learn about the various academies and Career and Technical Education programs offered in our High Schools.

Meanwhile, high school students can take advantage of the Summer Bridge Program that provides rising 9th grade students with an immersive educational experience that will expose them to the school’s community and culture, provide them an opportunity to meet faculty and staff, and offer insight into the expectations and demands of high school. There is also the High School Acceleration Program, Newcomers High School Summer Program, and the CTE Summer Future Business Leaders Program, which offers insights into various industries and career paths.

"We are committed to providing enriching opportunities that support academic growth and personal development," said Superintendent León. "Our Summer Programs 2024 are designed not only to accelerate learning but also to inspire creativity and exploration."

The District also offers specialized programs such as the Extended Year School and the English Plus Programs, which cater to both elementary and high school Special Education and English language learning students, respectively.

Beyond academics, students can participate in various enrichment programs including Summer Quest, High School Enrichment, Summer STEM Academy, Summer Sports Camps, High School Visual Arts Academy, Summer Visual & Performing Arts Academy, and the High School Musical Theater Program. These initiatives encourage students to pursue their passions and discover new interests in a supportive and stimulating environment. "We encourage all families to explore the exciting opportunities available through our summer programs," said Board President Council. "Whether your child is interested in academics, arts, sports, or career exploration, there's a program that will satisfy their curiosity and help them thrive."

The District is also thrilled to announce that our Summer Program was selected to advance to the site visit round of the 2024 Summer Learning Award review process! Our program’s exceptional quality impressed the reviewers, securing our place as a finalist this year. The names of the finalists will be announced during National Summer Learning Week , July 15-19 , and the winners will be featured at the National Summer Learning Association’s Annual Conference in Washington D.C., November 11-13, 2024.

Summer Programs 2024 begin on June 27th and run through August 2nd. For more information about the programs please visit NPS Summer Programs 2024 . Don't miss out on this chance to make the most of your summer break!

About Newark Public Schools

The Newark Public Schools is the largest school district in New Jersey and dates back to 1676. The District currently enrolls over 39,000 students in 63 schools. After more than two decades of state operation and upon return to local control in 2018, the District has opened nine new schools under Superintendent León’s leadership with an additional portfolio of new options to be announced in the coming months and years. The Newark Board of Education serves as a beacon of educational excellence, dedicated to nurturing the potential of every student. With a commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and fostering a love for learning, the District continues to shape future generations and make a positive impact within the community.

For media inquiries, please contact: Nancy J. Deering, Acting Communications Director ndeering@ null nps.k12.nj.us

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Provide daily time for students to write. Recommendation 2. Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes. Recommendation 2a. Teach students the writing process. 1. Teach students strategies for the various components of the writing process. 2. Gradually release writing responsibility from the teacher to the student. 3.
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Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for common roadblocks. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence. This guide is geared toward teachers, literacy coaches, and other educators who want to improve the writing of their elementary students. 1. Provide daily time for students to write.
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Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers. EDUCATOR'S PRACTICE GUIDE WHAT WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers. NCEE 2012-4058 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. Evidence on. Assisting Students to Use Strategies for Writing (Recommendation 2a, Steps 1 and 3) Supported by . fourteen studies
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This practice guide offers educators specific, evidence-based recommendations that address the challenge of teaching writing in elementary school. The guide provides four recommendations: provide daily time for student writing; teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes; teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing and word ...
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These are really helpful for triggering ideas in struggling writers. Often times a student will say, "I don't know what to write about," and a sentence starter can help guide them with their writing. 4. Writing Warm-up. Writing warm-ups are great to help students get their creative juices flowing.
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