The number of school disruptions due to COVID-19, including school closures early ahead of the holiday break or announcing temporary returns to virtual learning next week, is on the rise – nearing the total number of disruptions recorded in late August, when schools were struggling to reopen against the backdrop of the delta variant. The increased interruptions, as reported by Burbio, which has been tracking school responses to the coronavirus, is due to both increasing…
When the Covid-19 pandemic took off in March, the poet and creator of Poetry 180 Billy Collins started reading a poem every weekday on Facebook Live. The readings—mostly of contemporary poems, peppered with the occasional classic by Shakespeare or John Donne—have been a surprise hit, with 47,000 followers. One woman in Paris left a comment saying that she listens in bed before she goes to sleep, while another in Australia joins with her morning coffee.…
We’ve all heard about the benefits of learning to read quietly and independently. A big part of learning at school is all about reading, but it’s not always easy to find time for more reading at home. Families have busy schedules filled with after-school activities and homework. Plus — let’s be honest — with all the tech at kids’ fingertips and school days already filled with required reading, it can be hard convincing kids that…
Addressing weight with your child is a sensitive matter—you want them to be healthy, but also want them to accept their body. Weight is an incredibly fraught topic as well as an imperfect indicator of health. As parents, a kid’s sudden weight gain can be hard to know how to tackle. The last thing we’d want is to set the stage for poor body image or eating disorders for our children. Here are some tips on…
The vaccination of children ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19 is well under way. California has become the first state to announce that it will add this vaccine to its list of the shots required for all school children, and a handful of districts in 14 states are making similar moves, starting with vaccine mandates for student-athletes to participate in sports. Because almost every child attends school, vaccine mandates have been uniquely effective against diseases like…
If you ask the average person what they learned about poetry in school, they might remember suffering through a few 17th-century English poets, but poetry in the classroom doesn’t have to be stuffy. Modern poetry can give students a chance to be creative, break the rules, and express themselves. In a fun and open environment, students can think of poetry as an art class with words. They can get creative with language, rhyme, and meter;…
Are you willing to spread the holiday cheer this year? Boston Tutoring Services is happy to promote organizations who help people in need. There are plenty of fantastic organizations that give all of us the chance for giving back, and the holidays are always a time of year in which people need some extra help. Times have been tough for all of us this year, but if you are able to help those less fortunate,…
In the wake of the pandemic, which shined a spotlight on the essential nature of early childhood education and care, universal kindergarten is poised to become a reality in California. Championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and several lawmakers, the $2.7 billion universal kindergarten program will be gradually phased in over the next five years, until it includes all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year. Currently, transitional kindergarten, or TK, serves about 100,000 children,…
The importance of teaching living poets can be highlighted by Amanda Gorman. When the young Black poet in a canary yellow coat dazzled audiences at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, high school teacher Melissa Alter Smith was ready. Using a lesson plan from a friend and fellow teacher, she’d prepared her students to watch Amanda Gorman’s performance and analyze her words. Other teachers took notice, too, and additional lesson plans about “The Hill We Climb” circulated…
Heather Bradley is an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she teaches adult ESOL students. When the English language proficiency assessment her program uses moved online several years ago, many of its corresponding course materials also went virtual, making her program’s transition to distance learning less difficult materials-wise. Yet towards the end of their first semester of virtual learning, Bradley began encouraging her students to write their notes…
