RN Bookmark

On airplanes, they tell you to secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others. You’re only able to help another person if you have enough air for yourself. This advice can be applied metaphorically to any situation in life—and it’s the kind of advice that is especially difficult for teachers to follow. Teachers are the ultimate helpers. Without hesitation, they’ll set aside their own needs to help a student or colleague in need. So how do they avoid running out of oxygen? For many teachers, the answer is S-U-M-M-E-R. Read more

To look into the eyes of a young person and see that he or she is struggling is difficult for anyone—but it’s especially difficult for the child’s parents. Students who struggle with reading often feel frustrated, tired, sad, angry, embarrassed, and a whole host of other emotions. The parents of these students often feel many of these same things. Many want to help their children but don’t know where to start. “What if I don’t have a background in education?” “What if I don’t have enough hours in my day?” “I know nothing about literacy instruction—what if my efforts to help end up confusing the child even more?” “There are so many programs claiming to help struggling readers—how will I choose the best one?” These are just a few of the many questions that can overwhelm a struggling reader’s parents. To these parents, our answer is simply: Let us help. Read more

How do you think your students are doing on their summer reading lists so far? It’s fun to imagine them leaned up against a shady tree with a good classic, isn’t it? (A teacher can dream!) Wouldn’t you love that kind of lazy day? Who’s to say you can’t have one—or several? Summer reading is important for teachers too. And usually, after a busy school year, it’s quite a treat. Read more

Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking mindset research has been all the rage in education circles for a number of years now. Her research shows that students with growth mindsets—those who welcome a challenge and believe they can improve with effort—perform better than students with fixed mindsets who tend to avoid difficult tasks and who believe certain traits, like intelligence, can’t be grown.

Teachers can help nurture the growth mindset, and many have made it a priority to do so in their classrooms. But what, exactly, does this look like? Many people understand Dweck’s research to mean we should encourage and praise effort, not outcomes. But this understanding, Dweck says in a recent interview in The Atlantic, misses the mark. Read more

Plenty of research confirms that schools with positive climates, in which the students have strong social-emotional skills, are ideal learning environments. Teachers and parents don’t need research to believe this—it’s common sense that when people are shown kindness as opposed to hostility, they’re far more apt to succeed in school and beyond. Read more

Yet another school year is drawing to a close, which means it’s time for our annual State of the Blog address. Each year, we highlight the Top 10 RN Bookmark posts from August through May. This is a great way for teachers to catch up on salient content they may have missed during the hustle and bustle of the school year. It’s also a great way for us to learn what resonates most with our readers, so that we can offer you more of this content in the future. Read more

A large, nationally representative survey recently conducted by Scholastic found that 94% of preK through Grade 12 teachers and principals believe students should have time for independent reading. Most teachers believe that, when students are given the time to read and enjoy books of their choice, engagement increases and a greater love of reading is fostered. However, just 36% of teachers say they actually set aside this time every day. In classrooms where independent reading does occur, students read for an average of 22 minutes. Read more

Though we’ve had a very good year, I have some ideas for making things even better next year. (Don’t all of us teachers begin to think of next year even before the current year ends?) Read more

If your students’ parents are anything like me, they’re currently trying to figure out how to avoid a summer full of that dreaded declaration: “I’m bored!” Some parents intend to sign their children up for ALL THE THINGS in order to eliminate the possibility of boredom altogether. Is this a good idea? Read more

Congratulations, Portia P. from Timonium, MD, on being named Read Naturally's Star of the Month for April, 2017. Portia is a fourth-grade student at Harford Day School. Read more