ELL News Headlines

Quick learning "pulse checks" during and after lessons can be a powerful way to "improve and enhance student learning," says veteran teacher and author Jay McTighe. Designed to assess students' understanding of concepts or their ability to apply new skills, formative assessments can also inform next instructional steps.

Inside classroom 148, a gleeful Alyce Hartman was telling the tale of three musicians: a squirrel cradling a guitar, a grizzly bear plucking a bass, and a chicken strumming a banjo. Storytime with students is among the hallmarks of Birdie’s Bookmobile, a pop-up literacy initiative launched in 2022 by Hartman.

Engagement is a key ingredient in the recipe of learner success. If you're a teacher, it’s the difference between building student skills and knowledge and having to go back and explain everything again. Engagement is just as important for educators who work outside of the classroom, like national park rangers, because keeping visitors involved in a learning experience that is noncompulsory is no small feat. In honor of National Park Week, here are three unique engagement strategies to try in your classroom that come directly from "America's Best Idea."

How many migrant students are enrolled in Chicago Public Schools? The exact number is hard to pin down. The district says about 8,900 migrant students are currently attending local schools, according to CPS data. But that number climbs to more than 17,000 when using the Illinois State Board of Education’s definition for students eligible for the Immigrant Education Program — students born outside the U.S. who started attending school in this country in the past three years are categorized in this group.

Thousands of migrant children, some bused to Colorado from Texas, have helped stave off enrollment-related cuts, but now some schools are running out of space and teachers are growing fatigued.

Observation, exploration, and discovery are three main skills that young children (kindergarten to second grade) generally develop when they interact with their surroundings. Some children prefer to take time to observe the environment before moving around to explore, while others choose to immediately start actively discovering the wonders within the environment. Nurturing an environment that ignites curiosity and facilitates exploration, therefore, is paramount.

Staff and students at Yates Elementary in Schenectady, N.Y., rarely end a conversation without uttering two words: "Choose Kind." The phrase, written on signs throughout the school and spoken at the end of daily loudspeaker announcements, has become a motto for staff and students after nearly a decade of implementing social-emotional learning, which teaches students how to manage their emotions, cultivate healthy relationships, and foster empathy.

From poems about planets and trees to poems about LGBTQIA+ heroes, young readers from elementary through high school will find something to enjoy here. Share these titles for National Poetry Month and all year long.

We collected simple ideas for teachers and students to educate, empower, and build a connection with nature so that they may be inspired to respect it and protect it. Classrooms can be the perfect greenhouse to grow future stewards of the environment.

Whether it be through internships or opportunities to speak with representatives, do community service, or propose new school policies, real-world civics activities make what students learn in social studies “much more tangible and meaningful,” according to Spencer Burrows, a secondary school equity and civic engagement coordinator.