Welcome to the One Thing You Might Try… blog page! Here, you’ll find an archive of each blog featured in this series created by the Stenhouse editors to give teachers a space to voice their ideas. Each One Thing You Might Try… piece features practical teacher-to-teacher ideas, strategies, and tips that are rooted in deeply held beliefs. This page will be updated regularly, so please keep coming back for more ideas!
We are proud to share a new blog series with you called One Thing You Might Try . . . written by teachers who are figuring out teaching and learning in their online or socially distanced classrooms and schools. None of them would claim to be “the expert,” but we think their collective expertise is invaluable.
In this piece, teacher and parent, Grace Choi, gives us some creative ideas on how to help kids enjoy and succeed in reading at home. This is the first installment in the new blog series brought to you from the editors at Stenhouse Publishers, One Thing You Might Try . . .
In this One Thing You Might Try... post, 7th/8th grade English and Social Studies teacher, Jen Vincent, considers how pandemic teaching has affected the way we develop instructional relationships and shares a helpful idea for checking in with students authentically from six feet away.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, first- and second-grade teacher Zak Champagne nudges us to reconsider requiring students to share their ideas and helps us reimagine what it means to participate in the distance learning or socially distanced classroom.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, kindergarten teacher, Katie Keier, offers a few ideas for maintaining the critical aspects of shared reading and writing during virtual learning and creating “Read it again!” moments for young learners—no matter what instructional setting you find yourself in.
In this One Thing You Might Try... post, third-grade teacher Janaki Nagarajan writes about her class’s mini-unit of study on names—and why doing this kind of identity work is more important now than ever.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, first-grade teacher Santasha Dhoot tells the story of her class’s voting rights unit and challenges us to make space for social justice work in our classrooms—whether they are in person or online.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, preschool teacher, Natali Gaxiola, writes about reimagining the early childhood classroom online and the power of building a classroom community that celebrates both students’ home and school lives.
In this One Thing You Might Try... kindergarten teacher, Dawnavyn James, writes about blogging with her young students and how their self-directed use of the comments feature helped them to connect with each other’s ideas.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, teacher and writer, Pernille Ripp, calls us to stay true to what we know is valuable, despite the mounting pressures that seem to continually demand our instructional time and energy—especially during a pandemic.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, K–8 literacy specialist, Gwen Blumberg, shares ideas for building anchor charts as visual scaffolds that can be easily implemented regardless of instructional setting.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog, art educator Paula Liz writes about how her students are using digital art projects to make their voices heard and explore ways to make change in the world.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . post, STEM integration coach, NCCE (Northwestern Council for Computer Education) Learning Specialist, and technology consultant, Victoria Thompson, shares a great technology tool that will invite your learners to share authentically—whether you’re teaching remotely, face-to-face or in a hybrid setting.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog, third-grade teacher, Jennifer Orr, writes about her ongoing journey of letting go of control and shares some tips for making space for student ownership in the classroom.
In this week's One Thing You Might Try . . . post, social studies teacher, Neema Avashia, writes about some critical and practical ways we can connect with students through listening.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, elementary educator, Raven Compton, invites us to redefine rigor in writing workshop and offers us three critical questions we can ask ourselves when planning for rigorous instruction in any content area.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, math coach, Alex Lawrence, shares how she’s taking a strategy learned from online teaching and transitioning it to the in-person classroom.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, Lakeya Omogun tells the story of a small mailbox that had a big impact on students’ willingness to share their ideas and their sense of belonging to the classroom community.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, Susan Vincent, coauthor of Intentional From the Start, shares six practical ways to integrate Elkonin sound boxes into literacy instruction with early readers.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, kindergarten teacher and co-author of Intentional From the Start, Carolyn Helmers, shares how she’s using Wordle as an engaging and meaningful phonics experience for her students.
In this One Thing You Might Try . . . blog post, Alexis Shepard writes about the practice of using wellness checks as a social emotional learning tool.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, Carolyn Helmers, a kindergarten teacher and co-author of Intentional From The Start: Guiding Emergent Readers in Small Groups, shares a powerful way to get started with letter name and sound learning in kindergarten right from the start.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, Christy Thompson, a literacy teacher and co-author of Hands Down, Speak Out, writes about identity interviews as a powerful strategy for getting to know students.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, Wendy Rodrigues Fu writes about the power of child-centered classroom play and the benefits for kids of all ages.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, Andrea Castellano shares the Collaborative Shared Reading Protocol—a shared reading strategy that keeps engaging text and student talk at its center.
In this One Thing You Might Try… blog post, Grace Choi shares her approach to the start of the school day and encourages teachers to swap out the Morning Work in favor of a Morning Choice time full of play, talk, and connection.
