What Ashton Kutcher says about education reform
Actor Ashton Kutcher discussed education reform, drawing on his experiences as a student and a business investor, during his keynote discussion at ASCD Empower 19. Kutcher encouraged school leaders to let students engage in purposeful, project-based work that matters to them.
Full Story: EdSurge
New teacher: Make SEL a daily practice
Teachers who may be relatively close to their high-school students in age can try to support their social and emotional needs, even as teachers maintain professional boundaries, writes Michael Boyd, a new high-school physics teacher. In this blog post, Boyd shares several ways he incorporates SEL into the curriculum, including a daily check-in so students can talk about their successes and challenges.
Full Story: Edutopia online
Teachers: Students’ emotions linked to academics
Seventy-nine percent of educators in 15 countries say students’ emotional well-being is tied to their academic success, according to a survey commissioned by Microsoft and produced by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit. They survey also found that data-gathering and analytics tools, as well as online games and virtual assistants, can be used by teachers to help improve students’ well-being.
Full Story: T.H.E. Journal
Opinion: Strategies to boost reading proficiency
Some schools in Pennsylvania are focusing on reforming literacy instruction to help boost the number of students reading proficiently by end of third grade, writes Penny Nixon of the Universal Companies charter school network. Nixon shares how the schools overhauled instruction, including putting a greater focus on phonics and getting buy-in from principals.
Full Story: The Hechinger Report
Teacher offers ways to engage students in reading
There are no “quick fixes,” but teachers can work to encourage students to read on their own, writes Jarred Amato, a high-school English teacher in Tennessee. Amato, who launched a national literacy program, shares 13 strategies that educators can adopt to transform literacy.
Full Story: Education Dive
Audrey Altmann is an editorial assistant at SmartBrief.
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This “most read” feature reflects the most read items in ASCD SmartBrief from the previous week. Sign up for ASCD SmartBrief to get news like this in your inbox, or check out all of SmartBrief’s education newsletters, covering career and technical education, educational leadership, math education and more.