By Elizabeth A. Harris, The New York Times (from March 23, 2018)
Kat Sullivan was on a plane to Orlando, Fla., in February when she watched "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" for the first time, a movie about a woman who puts pressure on the local police to find her daughter's killer by renting out a series of giant advertising signs. That, Ms. Sullivan thought, was a good idea.
Read more

By Eboo Patel, Inside Higher Ed (from April 3, 2018)
"Dad, why is everybody white?"
"Dad, why is everybody white?"
"Dad, why is everybody white?
That's my 10-year-old son on our spring break trip last week. The first observation came on our tour of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the second in the dining room area of the Embassy Suites hotel in Louisville, and the third at Mammoth Caves, a national park in between those two cities. He probably said it a half dozen more times during the trip, I just don't remember exactly where.
Read more

By Emily Deruy, The Atlantic (from September 13, 2016)
Google the definition of play and the first thing that pops up is this: "[To] engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose." Jack Shonkoff, the director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, finds that language supremely frustrating.
Read more

By Alex Beard, The Guardian (from April 5, 2018)
Deb Roy and Rupal Patel pulled into their driveway on a fine July day in 2005 with the beaming smiles and sleep-deprived glow common to all first-time parents. Pausing in the hallway of their Boston home for Grandpa to snap a photo, they chattered happily over the precious newborn son swaddled between them.
Read more

By Marc Tracy, The New York Times (from March 30, 2018)
Washington - A few hundred high school basketball fans packed the stands or stood on the indoor track that rings the court at the Sidwell Friends School gymnasium on a Friday night in February. It was nearly time for Sidwell's playoff game against its archrival, Maret School.
Read more

By Leah Shafer, Usable Knowledge (from February 9, 2016)
If you ask any college instructor or high school English teacher which part of her job is the most time-consuming, says Nancy Sommers, you'll hear the same answer across the board: "Responding to my students' writing." "Reading my students' writing." "Grading my students' writing."
Read more

By Harold O. Levy with Peg Tyre, The New York Times (from April 7, 2018)
This time of year, there's a lot of optimism in the air about college. As acceptance notices come in, it seems like the smartest, hardest-working young people with the greatest potential are being matched to institutions of higher learning that will prepare them for success and promote a free and open society. We might conclude that colleges are greasing the gears of social mobility, which have slowed as of late.
Read more

By Abby Ellin, The New York Times (from April 5, 2018)
The class was supposed to be temporary, a quick dive into the link between literature and anthropology. The professors had no idea if students would even come. It wasn't mandatory, they wouldn't get credit and it was taking place at night. Friday night.
Read more

By Kyle Spencer, The New York Times (from April 4, 2018)
On a recent Sunday, Bari Hillman, who works during the week as a clinical psychologist at a New York mental health clinic, was perched at a clear, plastic desk inside a 16-year-old's Manhattan bedroom, her shoeless feet resting on a fluffy white rug. Dr. Hillman was helping a private school sophomore manage her outsize worry over a long-term writing project. The student had taped the project outline on the wall above the desk, at Dr. Hillman's prodding. It was designed to serve both as a reminder that the project was due, and an empowering indicator of progress.
Read more

By Tim Herrera, The New York Times (from April 8, 2018)
Two weeks ago in this newsletter we talked about why it's difficult to hear negative feedback. One of the main reasons is that most of us are awful at delivering negative feedback, so it becomes a vicious, self-reinforcing circle that trains us to avoid what would make us better at work and in life.
Read more

By Suzie Boss, Edutopia (from March 14, 2018)
With packed schedules, piles of grading, and the endless pressure to prep for tomorrow, it's no wonder many teachers spend little time outside their own classrooms. But some schools have realized that when teachers have regular, structured opportunities to learn together, good ideas are more likely to travel from one classroom to the next.
Read more

By Daniel H. Pink, Pinkcast (from February 16, 2018)
The research comes from "Breaking the cycle of mistrust: Wise interventions to provide critical feedback across the racial divide," which appeared in the April 2014 edition of the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Read more

Usable Knowledge (from March 11, 2018)
With a student walkout called for March 14 and national protests on March 24 and April 20 (along with many local actions), educators are grappling with how to respond — both personally and professionally. We've searched out guidance and credible resources to help answer eight common questions that educators have right now.
Read more

By Kaiser Health News, NBC News (from March 26, 2018)
The students wait eagerly for their teachers to turn their backs. That's their cue to reach quietly for a small, sleek device they can easily conceal in their palms. It resembles a flash drive, but instead of computer files, this device stores nicotine.
Read more

By Emelina Minero, Edutopia (from March 2, 2018)
To get a sense of the best practices in contemporary school design, we interviewed four of the top K–12 architecture firms in the U.S.: Fanning Howey, Corgan, Perkins+Will, and Huckabee. Collectively, the companies bill hundreds of millions of dollars in work annually, and have built or renovated thousands of schools throughout the country and around the globe.
Read more