Classroom Q and A

In this segment we take a closer look at student engagement and how to do it successfully.

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@larryferlazzo @DrDebbieSilver

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Debbie Silver is an award-winning teacher, an internationally known presenter and humorist, an author of numerous books and educational journal articles, and a passionate advocate for students, teachers, and parents. Dr. Bryan Harris is the Director of Professional Development & Public Relations for the Casa Grande (Arizona) Elementary School District. He is the author of 3 highly-acclaimed books from Routledge and a popular keynote speaker and workshop leader who focuses on the topics of student engagement, classroom management, and brain-based learning.

In this segment we check our understanding of formative assessment and look at tools and strategies for responding to the results.

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Nancy Frey is a professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and teacher-leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College, where she learns from students and teachers every day.

Close reading is a term that is being bandied about frequently these days. In this segment we examine our definitions and understanding of close reading.

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@iChrisLehman

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Christopher Lehman is an international speaker; New York Times bestselling author; and Founding Director of The Educator Collaborative, a think tank and educational consulting organization working to innovate the ways educators learn together. His most recent book, Falling in Love with Close Reading (co-authored with Kate Roberts), explores joyful methods of inspiring complex thinking about texts and life.

In this segment we take a look at the rationale for using high stakes testing and explore other ways to achieve the goal of teacher quality.

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@BenSpielberg @ProfessorJVH

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Julian Vasquez Heilig, Ph.D. Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Director, Doctorate in Educational Leadership California State University Sacramento. A Teach For America alum, Ben Spielberg has taught middle school math and science, worked as a math instructional coach for middle and high school teachers, and served on the Executive Board of the San Jose Teachers Association. His blog, 34justice, covers education and a variety of other social justice issues.

Math is a subject that even many teachers don't enjoy. In this segment we talk with passionate, creative math teachers about how we can make math more engaging.

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@SueOConnellMath

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Dr. Anne M. Collins is the Director of Mathematics at Lesley University. She has taught mathematics at every grade level from primary to graduate school.

Sue O'Connell is the coauthor of Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction, and Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division (Heinemann Publishing Co.). Sue has years of experience as a classroom teacher, instructional specialist, testing coordinator, district school improvement specialist, and university PDS coordinator. She is Director of Quality Teacher Development, providing on-site professional development for schools and school districts across the country.

Race and class are often unspoken issues that teachers must deal with whether we are prepared to or not. Hw can we best manage race and class issues in schools?

Follow: @plthomasEdD @NBCTeacherMommy

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P. L. Thomas, Associate Professor of Education (Furman University), taught high school English in South Carolina before moving to teacher education. He is currently a column editor for English Journal and co-editor of Social Context Reform (Routledge). Ashanti Foster serves as ASCD Emerging Leader and Academic Dean at Oxon Hill Middle School in Prince George's County, Maryland. She is a wife, mother of six and national board certified teacher.

As teachers we encourage our students to read. However, many of us find it difficult to squeeze professional reading into our busy schedules. In this segment we ask for recommendations for busy educators.

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Megan Allen is a National Board Certified teacher and the 2010 Florida Teacher of the Year. She is currently working as a visiting instructor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she is teaching and developing new programs in teacher leadership.

Dr. Jeff Zoul currently serves as Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning with Deerfield Public Schools in Illinois. He is the author of "Improving Your School One week at a Time" and several other books about education. Erin Klein is a Scholastic Top Teacher. MACUL 2014 Teacher of the Year. #EdTech Blogger.#NWP Member. SMART Exemplary Educator. Michigan Reading Association Tech Chair.

Should teachers dress up or dress down? What is the balance between dressing professionally and dressing comfortably? What about jeans, tee shirts, short skirts and sneakers? Our guests weigh in.

Follow: @TeachMoore, @roxannaelden

@larryferlazzo

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Roxanna Elden is a National Board Certified high school teacher, a speaker, and an author. Her book, See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers, is widely used as a tool for teacher training and retention. Renee Moore, NBCT, teaches English at Mississippi Delta Community College. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Moore has co-authored Teaching 2030 (2011) and is profiled in Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead But Don't Leave (2013).

Globalization is now an inescapable reality. In this segment we discuss how how our teaching is changing as a result.

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John Spencer is currently a sixth grade ELL teacher in a low-income urban school in Phoenix, Arizona. He blogs regularly at Education Rethink, writes a column for Kappan magazine and has written several books. Diana Laufenberg is a Nationally Board certified Social Studies teacher currently teaching 7th graders in Flagstaff, AZ. Her work focuses on inquiry-driven, project based teaching and learning that uses the modern tools of the day. @edrethink @dlaufenberg

Common Core requires teachers to push students to read increasingly complex text. What meets the definition of a complex text? What strategies, tools and resources can teachers use to achieve this goal? Today we'll explore these questions.

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Virginia McEnerney is th Executive Director, Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. David Booth is a professor of Literacy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He has written many books on effective reading and writing strategies, on helping boys develop literacy proficiency, and on the arts in education.