NOTES FROM
The Thoughtful ClassroomTHE THOUGHTFUL CLASSROOM BLOG
How a High School Science Team “Raced” to Raise Student Engagement
by Ella Perini | Contributing Writer | April 4, 2024
Low student engagement is one of the most common challenges that educators across the country face, especially at the secondary levels. Of course, engagement is key to successful learning, because “tuned-out” students don’t think deeply about content, don’t commit to persevering when learning gets tough, and don’t build memories that stick.
Active Meaning Making: How to Make Sure Your School Improvement Plan Is Worth Its Salt
by Rick Fisher, MS | November 7, 2023
At our home, fall means it is time to finally close the pool. As I reflect back on the great times we had this past summer, I also think about some of the struggles I experienced to keep the water crystal clear. The water went from clear to green, back to clear, then cloudy again. I tried this chemical and that chemical with the same result: clear for a few days, then green again. What was missing?
Opening a Window Into Better Professional Learning: How an A-Ha Moment Made our PLCs Stronger
by: Sharon Paver-Nepote, Ed.D. | August 24, 2023
“They knew, but they did not understand. This is why they were not able to transfer their learning and apply it.” As I sit at my desk, preparing for a presentation to a room of educators with a wealth of…
Building a Successful Classroom Foundation
by: Harvey F. Silver | June 1, 2023
Look at these two structures. What’s the difference between the Great Pyramid of Giza, built more than 4,500 years ago, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which started tilting five years after it was built? Clearly, a key…
Aligning TOOLS with The New Classroom Instruction That Works
by: Matthew J. Perini | May 18, 2023
The New Classroom Instruction that Works by Bryan Goodwin and Kristin Rouleau of McREL International is the most up-to-date and rigorous research base in all of education. But did you know that the researchers at McREL have…
Trying a Simple Instructional Tool to Address a Problem of Practice
Using Tools Makes a Difference in Garnering Teacher Support
by: Harvey F. Silver | April 10, 2023
The most adept instructional leaders recognize the importance of gaining teacher buy-in before making any meaningful changes in teachers’ instructional practice….
Better Classroom Discussions: How to Let Students Drive the Learning
by: Harvey F. Silver | September 13, 2022
Visit most classrooms and you will see that one kind of dialogue dominates: recitation. Recitation is a teacher-directed process, where the teacher presents information, incorporates questions to check that students…
How to Accelerate the Learning of New Teachers
by: Harvey F. Silver and Matthew J. Perini | August 8, 2022
”Clearly, the need to prepare a new generation of teachers is critical—especially since many who will be entering the profession this year may have received less training than the previous generation…
Let’s Make it Stick – A Commitment to Deeper Learning
by: Harvey F. Silver | March 17, 2022
Almost exactly two years ago, I was packing my bag and getting ready to go to Los Angeles. Jay McTighe and I had a large pre-conference session at the 2020 ASCD Annual Conference and also a special session on our new book…
Stepping Back to Move Forward: How to Ensure Deep Learning in Challenging Times
by: Harvey F. Silver | January 18, 2022
Do you know the feeling of being stuck in the mud? Wheels spinning, can’t get any traction, unable to move forward . . . The reason I ask is because I recently had a conversation with an educator who shared that this is…
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Integrating Literacy Across the Curriculum: An Easy Way to START
All teachers can create content-rich lessons that simultaneously develop core literacy skills.
by: Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, and Abigail L. Boutz | ASCD Educational Leadership® magazine | December 2023 | Volume 81, Number 4
Developing core literacy skills is crucial for student success, both in school and beyond. Although schools and teachers have been working to achieve this goal for decades, their efforts have not always been successful. This is because the work of building reading and literacy skills…
5 IDEAS for Developing Real-World Thinking Skills
Infusing five processes into assignments can help students hone the skills they’ll need to address complex problems.
by: Harvey F. Silver, Abigail L. Boutz, and Jay McTighe | ASCD Educational Leadership® magazine | May 2022 | Volume 79, Number 8
If we want to prepare our students for this modern world full of unpredictable, complicated problems, we can’t just arm them with information. We must help them become sophisticated and flexible thinkers who can handle whatever challenges come their way…
Learning Loss: Are We Defining the Problem Correctly?
by: Harvey F. Silver and Jay McTighe | May 17, 2021
Let’s stop trying to “make up the distance” by teaching more content faster and instead use this opportunity to lay strong foundations that will propel our future efforts. How we define a problem has a lot to…
3 Strategies for Promoting Deep Learning Virtually
by: Matthew J. Perini, Harvey F. Silver, and Jay McTighe | ASCD EXPRESS | December 10, 2020 (Volume 16, Issue 7)
Learning is learning, whether it occurs in a classroom, at a library, or within a virtual environment. But regardless of the venue, learning can…
Instructional Shifts to Support Deep Learning
by: Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver | ASCD Educational Leadership | September 2020 (Volume 78, Number 1)
Do you want to promote deep and lasting learning? Of course you do. All educators want their students to learn deeply and well. And yet evidence shows that such…
Transform Homework into Home Learning
by: Harvey F. Silver and Matthew J. Perini | ASCD EXPRESS | August 27, 2020 (Volume 15, Issue 24)
Far too often, students view any schoolwork that they need to do at home as an imposition—something to get through, or worse, avoid completely. This age-old problem has…
How to Turn Note-Haters into Note-Creators (Window Notes)
by: Matthew J. Perini | McREL Blog | June 13, 2019
Imagine asking hundreds of students and adults to share their unfiltered thoughts and feelings about taking notes in school. What do you think you’d get back? It turns out…
Making Lessons Memorable: Designing from Two Perspectives
by: Harvey F. Silver and Susan Kreisman | ASCD EXPRESS | August 9, 2018 (Volume 13, Issue 23)
What do we want students to learn? What do we want them to remember—tomorrow? Next month? Next year? Clearly, we cannot separate learning from memory. Ensuring that what…
Effective Communication Needs Common Language and Goals
by: Lindsay Vieira and Dean Auriemma | ASCD EXPRESS | April 9, 2015
Where has the magic gone? In my travels as an education consultant, I have worked with hundreds of educators in hundreds of schools who are doing hundreds of great things on any given day. The…
Helping Students Climb the Common Core Staircase
by: Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini | ASCD Educational Leadership | March 1, 2014 (Volume 71, Number 6)
To prepare students for demanding assessments, we need to teach them how to examine and refine their own work. What’s one way to reflect on the challenge…
Tips for Engaging Students in Scientific Thinking
by: Claudia M. Geocaris, Rochelle Green | ASCD EXPRESS | July 18, 2013 (Volume 8, Issue 21)
“I hate science. We never DO anything!” We often hear this lament from students, and if their science classes amount to lectures, textbooks, and worksheets, who can blame…
Reading for Meaning
by: Harvey F. Silver, R. Thomas Dewing, and Matthew J. Perini | ASCD EXPRESS | December 6, 2012 (Volume 8, Issue 5)
Reading for Meaning is a research-based strategy that helps all readers build the skills that proficient readers use to make sense of challenging…
The Balancing Acts of Teacher Evaluation
by: Cindy Weber | ASCD Educational Leadership | November 2012 (Volume 70, Number 3)
In creating evaluation systems that promote teacher growth, school leaders must attend to three challenges. Sometimes, when you’re handed a new, many-sided responsibility, it’s…
Team Check-Up: Use 4 Goals to Assess a Professional Learning Community’s Effectiveness
by: Daniel R. Moirao, Susan C. Morris, Victor Klein, and Joyce W. Jackson | Learning Forward Journal of Staff Development (currently The Learning Professional) | June 2012
Informed by their work in schools across the country, four coaches and trainers from The…
The Eight Cs of Engagement: How Learning Styles and Instructional Design Increase Student Commitment to Learning
by: Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, and Robert J. Marzano (editor) | On Excellence in Teaching (Publisher: Solution Tree) | September 10, 2009
Every day, in every one of the United States’ 14,000 plus school districts and in the majority of our 3 million plus…
Creating a Differentiated Mathematics Classroom
by: Richard W. Strong, Edward J. Thomas, Matthew J. Perini, and Harvey F. Silver | ASCD Educational Leadership | February 2004 (Volume 61, Number 5)
Recognizing different mathematical learning styles and adapting differentiated teaching strategies can facilitate…
Boredom and Its Opposite
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, and Greg Tuculescu | ASCD Educational Leadership | September 2003 (Volume 61, Number 1)
An understanding of natural human interests gives teachers tools for overcoming students’ reluctance to…
Making Students as Important as Standards
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, and Matthew J. Perini | ASCD Educational Leadership | November 2001 (Volume 59, Number 3)
Educators can align curriculum, instruction, and assessment with both standards and students in mind so that standards serve teaching…
Keeping It Simple and Deep
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, Matthew J. Perini, and Basho, Issa, Onitsura | ASCD Educational Leadership | March 1999 (Volume 56, Number 6)
What do Japanese haiku have to do with innovative school reform? More than you might think.
Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences
by: Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. Perini | ASCD Educational Leadership | September 1997 (Volume 55, Number 1)
What does it mean to express kinesthetic intelligence in an interpersonal way? Integrating styles and intelligences can help children…
Strengthening Student Engagement: What Do Students Want (and What Really Motivates Them)?
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, and Amy Robinson | ASCD Educational Leadership | September 1995 (Volume 53, Number 1)
Where has the magic gone? In my travels as an education consultant, I have worked with hundreds of educators in hundreds of schools who are…
Integrating Teaching Strategies and Thinking Styles with Elements of Effective Instruction
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, and J. Robert Hanson | ASCD Educational Leadership | May 1985 (Volume 42, Number 8)
Educators are increasingly concerned about enhancing student thinking but not yet sure about the best way to do it. . . . The question is:…
Thoughtful Education: Staff Development for the 1990s
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, J. Robert Hanson, Robert J. Marzano, Pat Wolfe, R. Thomas Dewing, and Wende Brock | ASCD Educational Leadership | February 1990 (Volume 47, Number 5)
For a group of staff developers, working together to create a framework to…
New Strategies, New Visions
by: Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, J. Robert Hanson | ASCD Educational Leadership | October 1986 (Volume 44, Number 2)
Skillful teachers use a variety of strategies to meet the demands of diverse students, content, and goals.