Poetry is a mindfulness practice for award-winning author and poet Clint Smith, but as a young person, Smith felt that poetry wasn’t for people like him. Smith said that teaching poetry can feel intimidating when presented as if it’s a “geometric proof or a code that students are supposed to unlock.” He recommends that teachers instead emphasize that no interpretation is wrong. Online resources for teaching poetry can show young learners “that there are poets…
This article on climate change is a repost from KQED. Are you a kid — or do you know a kid — who is learning about climate change? It can be hard to know where to start. So we made a guide about how it’s changing the planet and how to deal with the big feelings you might have when you hear about it. Click here to print a paper version of this comic at home or…
Wearing an effortless smile and a crisp, gray suit with a cloth lapel flower, Tommy Nalls Jr. projects confidence. Which is the point. In a ballroom full of job candidates, no one wants to dance with a desperate partner. And, as badly as his district needs teachers, Nalls doesn’t want just any teacher. “They have to have this certain grit, that certain fight,” says Nalls, director of recruitment for Jackson Public Schools, in Mississippi’s capital…
There are many fun activities for families to enjoy in the Boston area over April vacation. Check out our list of activities and events happening around Boston in April 2023. Have a great break! Family Concert: Music, Magic, and More When: Saturday 4/15/2023, 12:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. Where: Boston Symphony Hall Age: kids, teens, adults Cost: $20 Bring the whole family to Symphony Hall for this fun and engaging concert series, designed to encourage…
There’s no ironclad proof that sports build character. The results of a meta-analysis on the connection between athletics and character development make that clear: “Forty years of research, conducted by more than 20 researchers studying tens of thousands of athletes and non- athletes from youth, high schools, collegiate and Olympic levels, simply does not support the notion of sport as a character-building activity, particularly as it applies to sportsmanship behaviors and moral reasoning ability.” It’s…
Many migrants, especially unaccompanied youth, face uncertain paths in detention and after their release in local communities. Schools are often the first and sometimes the only places they can turn for resources. Research shows that everyday educators have been left to deal with the aftermath of recent political charades, as well as a broken immigrant system, racialized immigration surveillance, deplorable detention facility conditions, and lack of access to educational and social resources for young people.…
When we think about the school library as a place where reading communities begin and are nurtured, we have to remember that a school is a place where many students do not inherently feel welcome. Historically speaking, school systems have sometimes been an instrumental part of systems of colonization and indoctrination, and culturally relevant libraries are not something everyone has access to. The tendency to demonize the unique parts of us that make us individuals,…
New research from Boston University’s Wheelock Education Policy Center finds that teacher diversity increased in Massachusetts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The racial and ethnic diversity of teachers hired for the 2020-2021 Massachusetts school year increased. This was particularly true in schools serving the state’s highest concentrations of Black and Latinx students, where roughly 41% of newly hired teachers were people of color. These increases combined with lower turnover among Black and Latinx teachers resulted in…
Voting is one of the primary ways we participate in our democracy, but it can be hard to know how to talk to kids about voting, especially during a contentious election season. Election Day is a great opportunity to help your kids understand how our country works—and to talk about the values you believe in (no matter who you’re casting your ballot for). Wondering how to get started? Try these seven tips for kicking off…
We live in a society where care of young and old is increasingly segregated, with very limited opportunity for the two age groups to interact. If we just thought a little more socially, however, these book end generations could become great resources for each other. All we need to do is put them in the same place for care. In a recent S4C documentary, six nursery children were introduced to an adult day care facility.…
