Teacher Talk

Teaching bullying prevention effectively matters to the success of any program a school adopts. Relatable content, active student participation, deliberate lesson design, real-world application, and honest assessment all shape whether a curriculum reaches students. Requirements for prevention policies, staff training, and curricula vary by state and district, so follow applicable ...

Dealing with bullying as a teacher starts with a one-on-one conversation with the student who reported it, not with immediate consequences for the student accused. Gather the full picture, bring it to a school team, address the behavior directly, set a written plan for what happens next, then follow up. Back ...

Bully behavior is an aggressive, intentional action that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and typically repeats over time, not every scuffle, one-time argument, or hurt feeling. Schools that dig into the specific behavior rather than labeling every incident "bullying" can develop individualized intervention plans and track whether they're ...

The Daily 5 is a literacy framework built around five independent components: read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work, and work on writing. Developed by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, it teaches students to work independently while the teacher provides small-group and one-on-one instruction, rather than ...

The difference between ISS and OSS is location. In-school suspension keeps a student on campus in a supervised room, still doing assigned work. Out-of-school suspension sends them home for a set number of days. Students usually consider OSS the lighter consequence. The research on behavior outcomes does not support that. After ...

These eight reflection questions for teachers move from your hardest recent decisions to your most successful ones, then to what you can actually control. The author works through them weekly, and the value is in the pattern that emerges across sessions. That's what shifts you from reacting to what hits ...

Teaching manners in the classroom works best as direct instruction, not assumption. Name the manner, model it, practice it, then recognize students who use it. One principal's 13 manners, from kindness and eye contact to telling the truth and taking turns, grew into a schoolwide program of 19 rules taught ...

The best professional development for teachers isn't a single class: it's finding the specific speakers and authors whose ideas still hold up in your own classroom years later. This veteran teacher's list of seven career-changing PD sources includes Todd Whitaker, the Kagans, Rick Wormeli, and Carol Ann Tomlinson, chosen for ...

School culture matters because it can strongly influence whether a teaching strategy takes hold. Culture is the shared set of beliefs and norms behind how a school operates, and research associates it with student achievement, teacher retention, and staff morale. A strategy that cuts against the culture tends to struggle, ...

This column argues that academic pressure on young children now outruns what they are developmentally ready for. That is the author’s concern from 27 years in schools rather than a settled research finding, and the evidence on early academic pressure remains contested. He raises questions instead of offering answers. I wrote ...