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What makes professional development effective? This article details some lessons that have been learned around the world. One key idea is that context always matters: "Effective professional development should include the entire social context in which teachers exist, allowing them to reflect on and change not only their individual practices, but whole school communities."

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Research shows that having precise words for what we are feeling, rather than "I'm angry" or "I'm upset" can help us manage and regulate our emotions. Many of us can relate all too well to the made-up term "disonophous anger" (anger brought about by simultaneous loud sounds)! Our students may need help expressing emotional granularity as well. How can we help them recognize their emotions in higher definition?

Cooking experiences don't always go to plan. There is much to learn from failure in the kitchen and in the classroom, and it's good to be able to laugh about our less than perfect endeavors. As Ariel Sacks says in this Education Week article, "being wrong is my best teacher."

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Every part of a project-based learning experiences requires thought, care, and a willingness to reflect. In this article, teachers reflect on an experience students had with an audience that was supposed to be authentic, but wasn't really. "I realized that while students need practice making their voices heard, adults need practice listening to them: Preparing adults for children is just as important as the reverse."

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While assessment gets all the press, we often misunderstand effective feedback for learning. When feedback is predominantly negative, studies have shown that it can discourage student effort and achievement. In my experience, the only thing I knew is that I hated public speaking and I would do anything possible to get out of it. As a teacher, most of the time it is easy to give encouraging, positive feedback.

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Placing children in classrooms based nearly exclusively on their birthdays doesn't do justice to the different rates of development and readiness that children and adolescents experience. In this article, Nancy Mann Jackson highlights some schools that are doing it differently (including one school - Parker - that was a stop on our #EngagingSchools tour!)

Students are individuals who care about different things. It stands to reason (and is backed up by research) that students who have choices about the work they do (and how they demonstrate their knowledge) find work more meaningful and engaging. In this excerpt from Just Ask Us: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement, Heather Wolpert-Gawron urges us to listen to our students: "In a system that can be a flood of top down, let your classroom be one that allows voices to trickle up."

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We loved this article about creating strong relationships among all the adults in a building. School leaders can help to create the environments that allow the relationships among educators in the building to thrive. "More important than the influence leaders earn is the fabric of influence they help the members of their organization weave among themselves."

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Students are better able to tackle difficult situations and problems when they have had an opportunity to develop and practice skills such as asking good questions, taking other perspectives, and considering nuance and complexity. As teachers, we should not avoid difficult questions, but rather help students develop the skills they need to seek out information, weigh facts, and evaluate arguments.

It's difficult to pull just one great quote from an interview with Cornelius Minor (@MisterMinor), but this one is in the running: "Our work isn’t just teaching nouns and adjectives, but it’s ensuring that students have powerful lives and that they’re understood." Mr. Minor's new book is called We Got This, and we couldn't recommend it more highly.

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We know that schools can be busy, loud, anxiety-producing places. Students (and teachers) need time and space to be quiet and reflective. As the author states, "taking time to listen to one’s own breath and the natural sounds of the classroom or environment can help students push aside chatter, become centered, and make space for thought."