As this school year draws to a close, we would like to thank you each for your ongoing support and commitment to the continual growth of both your students and yourselves. We appreciate you and honor the impact you have had to positively influence the lives of so many students this year and beyond. We'll be taking off July for the newsletter, but look forward to connecting with you all in August. In the meantime, we wish you a restful and fulfilling summer - you deserve it!

This month features a memorable interview with the Thinking Skills legend, Art Costa. The Skillful Teacher authors, Jon Saphier and Mary Ann Haley-Speca join Art in a journey through his path (via NASA no less) to making his impact on teacher cognition.

Our Instructional Corner highlights the work of Evelyn Ford-Connors on how to use teacher talk as a powerful learning tool. You can join her this summer for further exploration.

Our blogs from the past academic year are linked below for your summer reading pleasure, and be sure to check out the call for work samples for a chance to be featured in the eighth edition of The Skillful Teacher.

Jon Saphier and Mary Ann Haley-Speca are hard at work on the eighth edition of The Skillful Teacher, and they want to hear from you!

Since its first publication in 1979, The Skillful Teacher has been "rightfully regarded as 'the Bible' of classroom practice. No other single source provides such a thorough treatment of the multiple factors involved in effective teaching" (Jay McTighe) Your input is critical to helping educators gain insight into what effective teaching looks like in practice.

The authors are looking for updated examples from you - the experts. Everything from examples of assessment tools, to Criteria for Success, to your use of technology - anything that you have used to bring all your students to high levels of achievement. Click here for more details.

If selected, your work will appear in The Skillful Teacher, Eighth Edition due out in 2024.

Step into almost any classroom, and the first thing you’ll hear is the hum of voices – the talk – of teachers and students working together. In fact, one of the most valuable, but overlooked, tools in a teacher’s instructional repertoire IS the talk, because that’s where teachers’ instruction comes to life. As Wilkinson and Son (2011) observe, language provides both “the context and the vehicle for learning,” and effective teachers understand how to make strategic use of that language – the talk – as an instructional tool to shape learning opportunities for their students.

So - how can teachers leverage their talk as an instructional tool and create more opportunities for students to build new knowledge during instructional discussions?

Join Evelyn Ford-Connors this summer to explore the roles of teacher talk and classroom discourse as tools to strengthen instruction and actively engage students in learning.

This comes from the Foreword I wrote for Shelley’s invaluable new book, Implementing Social-Emotional Learning: Insights from Districts’ Success and Setbacks (Rowman and Littlefield). In six case studies he shows how to avoid the errors that compromise implementation and how to do it well and sustainably. He includes the challenging middle and high school levels. If you want effective SEL for your students, this book is a must.



Also be sure to check out my interview with Shelley here.

- Jon

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