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Positive Phone Calls to Parents is Like Money in the Bank!
By Rita Platt & Maria Gjovig How many times have you tried calling a parent only to find that they won’t answer? It shouldn’t surprise you. So often the calls parents get from schools are negative....
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High/Low Books to Engage Reluctant Readers from 4th Grade Through High School
By Rita Platt If we want reluctant readers to read we have to give them books they want to read. That means helping them find interesting, engaging, books that are within their reading level but don’t...
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Engaging African American Boys with High Quality Literature
By Rita Platt The suggestions below are great books for everyone. This post, however, puts the lens on readers who are African American boys. If we give our students books that they want to read and...
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If You Need it, Get it! Do-It-Yourself Professional Development in the 21st...
By Rita Platt In my work as a teacher-leader, I often hear teachers lament that they need more training on various methods, strategies, ideas, and initiatives before they feel prepared to teach using...
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Once Around the Bunny’s Ear: Shoe-Tying as a Metaphor for All that is Possible
By Rita Platt “I did it!” “Come watch me!” “I’ll never learn how to do it!” “Will you show me one more time?” “Can I practice again?” These were just a few of the comments I heard from the 60-some-odd...
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CBMs with a Twist: Reading is About More Than the Speed
By Rita Platt Today in almost every elementary school in every state in America, teachers are required (or at least highly encouraged) to use curriculum based measures (CBMs) at least three times a...
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Let’s Talk About It! Facilitating Whole-Class Discussions
By Rita Platt Students love to talk. With a new emphasis on speaking and listening ushered in by the Common Core State Standards, teachers must learn to harness this social drive and use it to pull...
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Goal Setting, A Simple Lesson Sequence
By Rita Platt Teaching students to set and meet goals is a skill that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives. As the teacher-librarian for nearly 400 of the most wonderful children in...
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CBM3D: Using CBMs for Quick Assessment of Progress in English Language...
By Rita Platt & John Wolfe Today in almost every elementary school in America, teachers are required (or at least highly encouraged) to use curriculum based measures (CBMs) at least three times a...
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All Are Welcome Here! Quick, Cultural Connections to Content Instruction for...
John Wolfe with Rita Platt “Culturally responsive teaching” or “culturally relevant instructional practices” are hot topics in ESL teaching. We value this and applaud the many text-based resources that...
View ArticleThe Ripples of Rudeness
So, this isn’t a “real” post. It’s an email I sent to the wonderful staff at my all-time favorite school. But, I really like it, so I’m sharing it. So there. (Sorry. That was kinda rude.) Dear Friends,...
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A Simple Summer Reading Experiment That Just Might Work….
Dear WTWL Readers, 8 Let me lay a truth bomb on you. I didn’t write this as a blog post. I write a lot. But, these days I rarely have time to post on my beloved We Teach, We Learn site. This is the...
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