Abra Koch points to a hand-drawn map titled "Las Islas Galápagos" and taped to a whiteboard in a classroom

Strategy Share: Employing Map Talks in the Classroom

Maps provide opportunities to look into the experiences of other people and consider what life may be like in other places. They are unique windows onto the rest of the world’s stories. I use Map Talks in my classroom to help my students read the stories that maps offer us and allow them to draw conclusions based on clues from the maps. Continue reading Strategy Share: Employing Map Talks in the Classroom

Strategy Share: Support Classroom Discussion by Incorporating Students’ Culture

Student discourse is a major component of any classroom. Teachers work to create a learning environment that fosters critical thought and provides a safe space for new ideas. There are a wide range of facilitation techniques designed to support classroom discussion, but they don’t always allow students to voice ideas based on their own understanding of the world. When we facilitate dialogue that feels separate from students’ lives, we limit the connections they can build. Continue reading Strategy Share: Support Classroom Discussion by Incorporating Students’ Culture

Womyn’s/ Womxn’s/ Women’s Herstory Month!

March was Womyn’s Herstory Month! Yes, every day is women’s day etc etc.. … and yet, we are also loved celebrating women and putting women (besides ourselves!) even more at the forefront. Full disclosure: We are both huge book people so our list of books about empowered and empowering women could go on for a while. Below are a few fantastic anthologies that we turn to … Continue reading Womyn’s/ Womxn’s/ Women’s Herstory Month!