LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

CEU courses open for enrollment

A Crash Course in ESL
Grasp pedagogy, policy and procedure for teaching and working with English language learners. This course provides a concise overview of strategies and best practices for all teachers, administrators, and support staff working with English language learners.
Take this course: Begins April 7.

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Communicating with parents, colleagues, and administrators
Effective communication is often about avoiding problems rather than solving them. These resources on communicating with parents, participating in a mentoring relationship, and working with colleagues and administrators will help you communicate effectively in a number of situations.
Format: bibliography/help
The First Year
Essays on the author's experiences in her first year of teaching: the mistakes she made, what she learned from them, and how she used them to become a better teacher — and how other first-year teachers can, too.
Format: book (multiple pages)
Communicating with parents at the beginning of the year
In The First Year, page 1.3
Start communicating with parents at the beginning of the year, to establish a relationship before you have anything negative to say.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Math for multiple intelligences
How a middle-school math teacher realized she was boring and jump-started her career — and her students — by using thematic planning, emphasizing problem solving, and teaching to multiple intelligences.
Format: series (multiple pages)
Communicating with parents
To communicate successfully with parents, be caring, professional, open, and organized.
By Kathleen Casson.
New Teacher Support
Ok, so it's not all fun and games. Now what? When you decided to become a teacher, what did you think about? If you're like most people, you thought about making a difference in children's lives, about helping them learn, making them think, "touching...
Format: article/help
Helping parents understand
In Math for multiple intelligences, page 5
The more ongoing, positive communication you have with parents, the more they'll be willing to work with you.
By Gretchen Buher.
The end (for now)
In The First Year, page 4.5
I was a first-year teacher, driving to school and thinking about a thousand things I should have done yesterday and a thousand more that required my attention as soon as possible. If I hadn't needed both hands on the steering wheel, I would have started adding...
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Beginning Teacher Success: Online course syllabus
Syllabus for the online course Beginning Teacher Success designed to support beginning teachers with assignments and reading materials to guide and scaffold learning the best teaching practices.
Format: syllabus
If he's in danger of failing, at least three people need to know it
In The First Year, page 4.1
Get in touch with parents to prevent students' failure, not just to report on it.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Effective communication for successful careers
In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.7
In this lesson plan, students consider the elements of effective communication and write an informative or persuasive paper with a particular audience in mind.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts)
By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.
Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools
These articles provide background on Latino immigrants in North Carolina, administrative challenges in binational education, and strategies through which teachers can build on what Latino students bring to their classrooms to create a learning environment that meets the needs of all students.
Format: series (multiple pages)
Our students: Not just ours, and not just students
In The First Year, page 3.7
Often, your difficulties with students will have nothing to do with your actions, your classroom management, or your school.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Using a classroom webpage to communicate with parents
Kathleen Eveleigh keeps her parents involved in her first-grade classroom by integrating a classroom webpage with her daily instruction.
Format: article
By Sydney Brown.
Communicating information and ideas: a philosophy of writing
In Writing for the Web, page 2
Many kinds of writing can be adapted for the web, but it's important to know what you're trying to communicate.
By David Walbert.
Helping Latino students feel comfortable in your classroom
In Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools, page 2.2
Most Latino students have experiences, family backgrounds, and expectations that conflict with the expectations of the American classroom environment. By understanding the expectations of Latino students and their parents, teachers can help them to succeed.
By Sarah Plastino.
Helping students get organized
In The First Year, page 1.4
Tips for helping students keep track of their materials and supplies.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Teach what you love
Stephen Mullaney works as a half-time ESL resource teacher/half-time second grade language arts teacher at Club Boulevard Elementary in Durham. This article focuses on his advice for teachers working with ESL students.
By Sydney Brown.
The challenge of a broken pencil
From dealing with meltdowns to setting a routine, Rhonda Layman shares communication and management strategies for students with autism spectrum disorders.
Format: article
By Waverly Harrell.
Keep it short (but not too short)
In Writing for the Web, page 4
Shorter paragraphs and pages will help make your writing easier to read on the web, but you don't have to sacrifice important content.
Format: article
By David Walbert.