I had previously written an article on running a classroom community of learners, but I wanted to take a minute to dive deeper into each category. I truly believe that building a classroom community of learners is important. As we are at the close of a school year, summer is a time for teachers to reflect and change things for the upcoming year. Here are some things to consider.

Scenario...

With every new piece of writing feedback, the pony-tailed girl at table two tapped her scuffed shoes under the table as she rushed to implement my suggestions. Soccer-obsessed Camila started the year penning jumbled sentences and nervously avoiding eyes in class. But her commitment to hard work and using feedback quickly rocketed her to the top of the writing class.

Like so many students, Camila offers an important lesson on what it takes to improve: be coachable. For teachers,...

Having taught in an elementary school named after the great Saint himself, I have celebrated many of these days in a haze of green!

The students would come to school dressed in their greenery and my first order of the day was to take a portrait of each student in my class. I used my ‘good camera’ and took some beautiful photos of the students individually, in groups and then as a whole class.

I would digitally create a placemat collage, for each student, using the pictures...