An award-winning English and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., Larry Ferlazzo is the author of Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, and Building Parent Engagement In Schools.
Teaching
Opinion
Make Learning Relevant by 'Getting to Know Your Students'
Five educators discuss strategies for increasing the relevance of lessons, including by learning student interests and sharing the stories of scientists.
Teaching
Opinion
Teachers Can Make Lessons Relevant by Listening
Four educators share ideas on how to help students see how lessons are relevant to their lives, including by listening, connecting to their experiences, and inviting them to create projects based on their own interests.
Teaching
Opinion
Schools Can 'Reinvent Themselves in the Fall'
Three educators recommend ways that schools can adapt in the fall, such as emphasizing inquiry-based learning and building relationships.
Teaching
Opinion
Schools Should Be 'Community Connecters' When They Reopen
Three educators share what they think school reopening should look like, including making it an opportunity to emphasize literacy and community connections.
Teaching
Opinion
Visions for the Next School Year
Four educators offer suggestions for how to reopen schools in the fall, including highlighting the importance of "outside-of-the-box" thinking and leading with identifying goals first.
Teaching
Opinion
Teachers 'Cannot Stop at Conversations' About Racism
Three educators discuss what teachers can do in response to George Floyd's death, including not stopping at conversations and instead moving to action.
Teaching
Opinion
Four Ways Schools Can Support Teachers to Become 'Actively Anti-Racist'
Three educators share what schools should and should not do to support teachers to become anti-racists, such as lifting up black student voices and bypassing prepackaged "character-building" lessons that don't address racism.
Teaching
Opinion
'The Problem With Kindness': SEL & the Death of George Floyd
Suggestions in the face of George Floyd's death, among them, going beyond social-emotional-learning skills and "know and teach the history of race."
Teaching
Opinion
Six Truths About Racism That White Teachers Must Know
Two educators challenge White teachers to confront "hard truths," including recognizing the role of White privilege and acknowledging their own biases.
Teaching
Opinion
'Educators Must Realize That There Is No Neutral Position on Issues of Racial Justice'
Three educators offer lessons teachers can learn from the death of George Floyd, such as neutrality has no place in the struggle for racial justice and White educators must stop expecting their colleagues of color to do the "heavy lifting."
Teaching
Opinion
'Advice for the Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children'
Two educators offer advice to White teachers, including learning more about restorative practices and focusing on their actions, not their intentions.
Teaching
Opinion
What Educators Should—and Should Not Do—in Response to George Floyd's Death
Two educators offer suggestions on what to do—and not do—in the wake of George Floyd's death, such as learning about the legacy of racism before taking action and not just limiting actions to empty messages of support.
Teaching
Opinion
What Teachers Should Learn From the Death of George Floyd
Two teachers reflect and communicate about what they think educators should learn from the death of George Floyd, including the importance of being anti-racist and challenging White teachers to acknowledge their implicit biases.
Teaching
Opinion
Question 'Structures' & 'Privilege' When Making Fall Reopening Plans
Two educators envision what the fall might look like for schools and specifically call on them to include the voices of all community members in deciding on equitable practices.