3rd Grade Reading teacher Katie Bannon from PS 110 in New York explains how she validates student responses with meaningful feedback when their responses are not quite on track. Rather than saying "no, thats not right", she comments on the response and then poses additional questions to guide their thinking. Katie also shares that she focuses on improving her questioning which she says takes practice, and she tries to avoid questions that elicit a yes or no response.

Students will learn how to graph linear equations using slope-intercept form. To do this, they will graph a line with their bodies using a giant coordinate plane created on the classroom floor. Students will also practice graphing similar equations to improve on the skill.

Janelle Jacksons classroom is observed by teacher evaluator Barbara VanDenberg. She suggests Ms. Jackson try pushing her students to work in groups and new questioning strategies. Watch the changes as Ms. J puts these suggestions in action.

In this five part series, see all the pieces that come together for guided reading in Jenna Ogiers classroom. Students learn to work independently and rotate through stations, while Ms. Ogier meets with small groups of students and delivers a lesson at their level.

In this five part series, see all the pieces that come together for guided reading in Jenna Ogiers classroom. Students learn to work independently and rotate through stations, while Ms. Ogier meets with small groups of students and delivers a lesson at their level.

In this five part series, see all the pieces that come together for guided reading in Jenna Ogiers classroom. Students learn to work independently and rotate through stations, while Ms. Ogier meets with small groups of students and delivers a lesson at their level.

In this five part series, see all the pieces that come together for guided reading in Jenna Ogiers classroom. Students learn to work independently and rotate through stations, while Ms. Ogier meets with small groups of students and delivers a lesson at their level.

In this five part series, see all the pieces that come together for guided reading in Jenna Ogiers classroom. Students learn to work independently and rotate through stations, while Ms. Ogier meets with small groups of students and delivers a lesson at their level.

In this lesson, 6th grade teacher Lawrence Perretto blends STEM and Project Based Learning by having his students construct model homes to explore how thermal energy moves. Students use iPads and thermometers to gather data about their model homes and determine how to make their homes more energy efficient. Lawrence gives his students a variety of materials to construct insulation with. After insulating their model homes, students conduct more thermal testing. Lawrence concludes the lesson by asking students reflection questions about what they learned through this project.

Hillary Mills uses a series of hands-on activities to engage and excite her students to learn new scientific concepts. Using fossils, buckets of sand, rocks, pennies and timeline cards, she covers in short order everything from geologic terminology to how isotopes break down over time. This fast-paced small group activity is deceptively simple yet packed with learning

A 12-minute video shows a 9th grade classroom where students are discussing similar triangles with their teacher and how they can be used to estimate measures in real life. They go outside to test their ideas by estimating the measure of a flagpole using meter sticks, a mirror, paper, and a pencil. There is worksheet included for your students to use to do the same.

This video demonstrates how to engage students in active participation during classroom discourse.

Teacher David Pretos classroom is visited by teacher evaluator Renee OLeary. She suggests he work on engaging students by making lessons more active and communicating class goals more specifically. Watch him take her advice and put it into action.

Building a culture of respect while still challenging students to share their voices requires thoughtful and careful facilitation by the teacher. Urban Academy teachers discuss the roles they play across subject areas to develop this respect in their school and how consistency across disciplines helps to establish respect among students. Three guiding principles come out of the teachers' reflection that foster a culture of respect. Teachers do not allow personal attacks, asking students to instead 'attack' ideas instead of people. In facilitating discussions, teachers avoid questions with 'right/wrong' answers, recognizing the value of all students' responses, and arbitrate fairly so that students trust teachers to manage sometimes controversial subjects fairly.

In an effort to promote deeper analysis and understanding of multiple viewpoints, Urban Academy teachers discuss the conscious decisions they make to promote this type of discussion. The group reflects on how they structure discussions to highlight different perspectives and also rephrase and restate student comments to heighten differences in opinions and to draw out additional responses. In reacting and responding to these differences, students participate in a deeper analysis.

Using an inquiry based approach has a profound effect on the depth and complexity of classroom discussions. In this video, students share how this is different than what they've previously experienced and we see teacher, Avram Barlowe, use primary source documents to drive discussions about freedom as it existed during Reconstruction following the Civil War. Recognizing that these documents describe both daily life and larger political and social ideas, Avram expects that the discussion will focus on both elements but will be largely driven by student comments and reactions to each text. In preparation for this inquiry based approach, Avram shares how he develops many questions that may never be used and must be ready to use students' comments and questions to facilitate the resulting discussion. Even though he knows ahead of time that there are specific issues that should be explored, he does not come into the discussion with specific answers or outcome for these issues. Avram sees the text as a vehicle in which the students can explore ideas that interest them and requires that students use multiple documents to challenge their thinking and extend their understanding of differing perspectives. In this way, students are prepared to not only discuss these ideas in this informal setting but are also prepared to read analytically and write about these ideas, considering multiple perspectives.

Supporting participation from all students is a challenging part of every teacher's practice. Discussing the different ways in which they support and encourage quieter students, Urban Academy teachers share ideas and reflect on the different ways in which students participate in learning. They recognize that different students participate in different ways and at different times but also make conscious decisions to support those who are not actively sharing ideas with the class. We see this happen with one student, Ebony, who was reluctant to share ideas but gains confidence through one-on-one coaching with her teacher, Sheila Kosoff. To support building this confidence, teachers discuss planning discussions outside of class and organizing smaller group discussions before bringing the whole class together.

Four teachers at Urban Academy Laboratory High School talk about how they use the inquiry approach in their teaching. History teacher Adam Grumbach talks about how using the inquiry model is a helpful strategy for teaching students of mixed abilities while History teacher Avram Barlowe discusses how the inquiry model is enriched by diverse participants. As students are shown having an inquiry-based discussion, we see evidence of different points of view and the importance of having these discussions in the context of the classroom. Adam shares the significance of having discussions with students from diverse backgrounds and diverse viewpoints and points out that this has as much educational value as more traditional learning opportunities. At the close of the video, four components of the inquiry approach are identified: it promotes a diversity of voices, it creates opportunities for students to share opinions, it teaches students how to use evidence and builds students' confidence.

This is a three minute video of Monique LaCour's elementary classroom in Oakland, CA.  The objective of the lesson is to support academic conversations utilizing sentence frames.  It will look at why sentence frames are an effective strategy for English Language Learners.  It illustrates how sentence frames can empower students and make learning come to life.

A video to wach to support/and process how teachers are teaching counting to young children