A few weeks ago, I was searching for some information on the E-LA Common Core. One site immediately caught my attention because the first thing it said was, “Steal thee tools.” I took a look and found the information to be very helpful. The tools are put out by a non-profit called Student Achievement Partners. [...]

Around here, we love fall. The crisp air, football tailgaters, and stunning colors really float our boats. Most of all, however, we love conferences. Put us in a windowless, cement-floored exhibit hall or turn us loose with a group of teachers in a meeting room, and we’re in heaven. We love rubbing elbows with other [...]

Spirits were high among the social studies brethren gathered in Washington D.C. for this year’s annual National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference. TCI was represented throughout the conference with how-to sessions, a pre-conference workshop focused on technology, a group of from Arlington Public Schools middle school students doing TCI lessons, a luncheon demonstration [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be at the Kentucky Council for the Social Studies (http://kcss.org).  While sitting around talking with teachers and discussing our practice, we came on the subject of “great teaching” and “great teachers.”  It struck me, that great teaching and great teachers can not be described with [...]

Many teachers who have heard of www.twitter.com think it’s kind of silly.  Most news regarding Twitter relates to some  Hollywood star or starlet sharing their most recent doings.  Certainly, there is much to the notion that it’s a wasteland of status updates.  For educators though, Twitter can be a great resource for ideas and support.  [...]

Ever wonder why group work doesn’t always work? Or why students are reticent to share ideas during class discussion?   Often we expect students to magically have the interpersonal skills necessary for higher-level cooperative learning activities. But part of our job is to teach, model, and reinforce these skills so that students with various learning styles can [...]

I’ll be the first to admit I hate icebreakers when I’m half asleep during an early morning summer staff development session. But I’ll also admit they usually wake me up and get me to interact with other teachers even though I’m not quite feeling up to snuff. So when I started using icebreakers and team [...]

On Sunday, 250 teachers and administrators will arrive here in northern California for TCI’s 2010 Leadership Conference. We affectionately refer to the conference as the “crown jewel” of our events. This year is no exception. Conference participants have more than 80 enrichment sessions to choose from that offer content ranging from introductory sessions for beginners to more [...]