What motivates students to learn? Researchers tackled this age-old question in a recent meta-analysis of education studies involving nearly 80,000 students. The analysis showed two significant findings. First, teachers hold greater influence than parents in motivating students to learn. Second, students’ motivation to learn depends on meeting three psychological needs: competency, belonging, and autonomy. As ELA teachers, we know the importance of using classroom practices that support these needs. We also know one of the best ways we can motivate students is through choice.

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.” — Dr. Joyce Brothers That pit in your stomach, that flutter of your heart, that frisson down your spine . . . sometimes your body knows things before your brain does. More than odd sensations, these signals from our bodies can actually help us and our students to think. In her new book The Extended Mind, Annie Murphy Paul explores the power of bodily intuition (what psychologists call interoception).

Writing in school poses a unique challenge for ELL students. Beyond the obvious hurdle of using a new language, many ELL students come from oral cultures, so their writing experiences in general may be limited. Now inside English-speaking classrooms, they are expected to write up to grade-level standards while using unfamiliar words and grammar. It should come as no surprise, then, when ELL students are reluctant to write. But you can change that.

Human beings have always been tool users. Fire let us wake little suns; arrowheads gave us talons like eagles; wolfskins sent us out across Ice Age Europe; and language—whether spoken, written, printed, or coded—fueled every innovation since. Our brains require such tools. After all, those three-pound puddings of nerve and fat in our skulls haven’t changed much since we first fashioned arrowheads. In fact, in her new book, The Extended Mind, Annie Murphy Paul argues that we’re probably already using our brains at near-peak capacity. Thinking harder is not the answer.

“How come so many houses here are made with red brick? What animals live in Forest Park? How does the old water tower work? What was that abandoned warehouse near the river used for?” Students in my freshmen composition course are curious about their community. Their surroundings offer a rich tapestry for inquiry, and I want them to dig in and pursue answers. I invite them to do so through a community-based inquiry project that stands in place of a traditional research paper. You can facilitate a similar project to connect students to their community and drive personalized learning.

With Thanksgiving approaching, students seem to be bouncing off the walls. Why not tap into that boundless energy with some fun writing activities? The following activities work especially well for elementary and middle school students. You can adapt them for in-class writing or expand them into larger projects. 1. Origin Stories "Family traditions reveal what you value enough to repeat, and—if done with love—build warm, happy associations." —Daniel Willingham Does your family follow any special Thanksgiving traditions?

We love the title Kelly Boswell chose for the opening chapter of her new book Every Kid a Writer. She called it “The Shrug, the Slump, and the Sharpening of Pencils.” The title is a nod to those all-too-common reactions students have when they are asked to write in class. You have probably witnessed similar scenes in your classroom, as students fiddle in their seats or stare at the ceiling or race for a bathroom pass . . . anything to avoid writing. In her book, Boswell assures us these reactions are normal.

Research has shown students to improve as readers and writers when both skills are taught in tandem.  One way to connect reading and writing in your classroom is through an instructional strategy called Read STOP Write. (STOP stands for Summarize, Text structure, Organize, Plan.) This method helps students identify common text structures when reading and apply the structures to their writing. Educator John Z.

Building an effective argument requires nuanced thinking, logical reasoning, compelling evidence, and strong audience awareness. Because of these complexities, students sometimes struggle with persuasive writing. You can ease their difficulties by introducing scaffolds and minilessons to support their writing process. Start by helping students choose a topic and develop a thesis. How can I help students choose the right topic? A good persuasive writing topic is debatable and holds students’ interests.

Young writers sometimes assume that any thought that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period passes as a complete sentence. But too often the group of words is missing something essential: a subject, a verb, and/or a complete thought.