It’s an age-old question that has become more pressing in the wake of pandemic-aggravated inequalities: If some of my students are just learning to read English, some read at a 5th-grade level and some are at or above grade level, how do I differentiate instruction for all of them?

Arts programs may be on the chopping block this fall as school principals look for ways to cut costs in the face of Mayor Adams’ school budget cuts. But for many educators, the pandemic has proven that arts instruction is more important than ever.

When I began my teaching career in 2007, more than a quarter of the students at my Queens elementary school were English language learners. Each year, our school seemed to shift its strategy for English as a New Language instruction in a fresh attempt to best serve those students.

With spring in bloom, teachers are exploring creative ways to bring joy into their classrooms during a stressful time. They share some ideas that have worked in their classrooms to help make learning fun.

When I was a high school student, nothing pleased me more than sitting down with a blank planner, color-coding my class assignments and creating a detailed to-do list of tasks I could check off as I completed them.

After a year in which instruction was disrupted by the pandemic, that back-to-basics approach of phonics-based reading instruction may be especially important to help struggling readers take concrete steps toward progress.