This is a really good thread.

In an era of concerns about learning loss, teachers have enough on their hands without being asked to become counselors, too.
A glimpse of the culture around this issue in the UK:
Every reference to SEL in curriculum is not about some unique social-emotional curriculum.

I like the approaches that bring social skills (how to respectfully disagree with someone, collaboration skills, etc) into academics. For example, in a Socratic Seminar.

More:
IMHO, a social-emotional skill-building mixed into the academics = healthy.

Effectiveness of stand-alone SEL curricula = unclear at best.

Schools being asked to shoulder the current mental health burden = highly problematic.

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More from @karenvaites

30 Nov
“It was just a happy accident — in the last 2 weeks, the 2 most popular curricula in the US received the 2 lowest ratings for quality.”

… just as we arrived in @SalemSchoolsk12, where they’d dropped one.

Appreciated chance to share with @DustinLucaSN.

salemnews.com/news/salem-cur… Image
.@katecarbone2 on the teacher feedback that drove the change…

And the “curriculum renaissance” that has yielded better choices for districts: Image
If you don’t know how and why background knowledge matters to reading comprehension, it’s Must-Know Info.

Learn more here:

eduvaites.org/2018/11/14/ess… Image
Read 6 tweets
30 Nov
Ridiculous.

It seems important to say that it’s a fringe movement – and when you get into the details, it seems politically-motivated.

Still, it’s a nuisance in districts using the best curricula in the country. So, we need to talk about it.
Most of the parent advocacy I see comes from a very different place.

Exhibits A-C in this morning’s thread.

👇👇👇
Read 5 tweets
29 Nov
The early anecdotal word on Omicron.

Reports out of South Africa, Israel, and Italy are consistent RE severity of symptoms.
Italy below.

While it’ll apparently take 2 weeks to have a good read on this variant, these early signs are reassuring.
Keep calm, and avoid the usual suspects on Twitter.

Sound advice.
Read 5 tweets
28 Nov
Brown study: 'children born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic.'

Masks cited as a probable culprit.

So far, only reported in a British publication.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…
It will be interesting to see whether other outlets report on the study.

One of the most shocking things about pandemic discourse has been the denial that masking could be harming kids’ development.

Even if you believe it’s necessary, we should be able to talk abt downsides.
For the zillionth time, we see that the effects are inequitably distributed.

💔
Read 8 tweets
13 Nov
I spent my week in Massachusetts, which is Balanced Literacy Territory, meeting amazing educators shifting away from BL.

LOTS to say about that…

But let’s start with a look at the market share of the lowest-rated curricula for elementary ELA.

#CurriculumMattersMA Image
First, a fun fact:

Massachusetts is the only state to publish info on the curriculum used in each district. Find it here: google.com/maps/d/u/0/vie…

HT @MASchoolsK12. 👏

It’s such valuable info that you’d think every state would do this! The other 49 do not. Image
I spent time with the map, which shows the curricula used in 177 of 404 districts in MA. So, it’s a partial sample.

I found 55 districts that use Reading Workshop / Units of Study, including “top” districts like Brookline.

Summary:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
#CurriculumMattersMA Image
Read 17 tweets
21 Mar
Never forget that most educators have reopened schools without a bunch of drama.

All teachers are not their unions.

In fact, Ed’s are increasingly talking in ways very divorced from their unions’ positions.

A good example here. 😍🙏🏼
And...

👀 Image
Read 5 tweets

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