Tag: education

All the conversations happening about literacy learning and the science of reading definitely encourage teachers and schools to look carefully at their instructional practices—and, often, to explore new ones that help kids. One of these is the sound wall. Check out these fantastic resources to get you started using one in your classroom.

What is a sound wall?

This student resource shows the 44 phonemes (sounds) in the English language. It includes consonant sounds and vowel sounds and the various ways to spell each sound.

How is a sound wall different from a word wall?

A sound wall is not a word wall. These two resources are different because:

• To use a word wall, one must be able to read the words, so kids often need teacher help. A sound wall encourages independent use. It helps kids progress from what they can do—say sounds—to what they are learning to do—spell

by Drew Perkins, Director of TeachThought PD

Inquiry is one of my passions. In fact, I view it as a sort of superpower that enables us to navigate the kinds of diverse set of scenarios and problems that our modern world continually throws our way. That’s why all of our work with schools and teachers is through the lens of inquiry. To take it a step further, that’s why the TeachThought PD project-based learning model starts with and emphasizes what we call, ‘Rich Inquiry‘ as a lever to unlock deeper learning and critical thinking.

Because inquiry is such an important feature in our project-based learning workshops and support, participating teachers engage in multiple inquiry exercises and activities that we believe are impactful tools both in and outside of PBL. We want to model best practice so we invite workshop participants to enter into the learning process at

Have you ever been in the middle of delivering a great lesson that’s full of important information only to look out and realize none of your students are taking notes? It’s not surprising—many kids these days expect handouts or other materials they can refer back to later. But taking notes is actually a pretty important skill for kids to learn. Here’s why, along with some note-taking strategies they should try.

Why are good note-taking strategies important?

Study after study has shown the importance of actively taking notes rather than passively reading a handout later on. The act of writing engages different parts of the brain, forging new pathways that help students retain information in long-term memory.

What’s more, the studies show that the more detailed the notes, the better. And using different note-taking strategies helps too. In some cases, a general outline can be effective. But when you want students

by Terry Heick

Before the ideas, let me preface this by acknowledging that many of these–if not most–aren’t feasible in most classrooms and schools.

I taught for years and tried to shoehorn ideas like this into my teaching, and it was rewarding but exhausting and ultimately resulted in my becoming a pariah in my own school/district. I didn’t intend on ‘not being a team player,’ but that’s exactly how ideas like these look to–well, to some people. I’ll leave it at that. (See also Teaching Disruptively.)

Since I’m not going to explain how to accomplish these kinds of shifts (that’d be a book), though, I do refer to some of the posts I’ve created over the years that elaborate on some of these ideas. The purpose of this post, then, is to vaguely sketch the possible characteristics of an innovative classroom.

You may disagree strongly with every single one,