When I became a New York City public school teacher three years ago, I was shocked to discover our high school didn’t have a newspaper. So this past January, I turned my 11th-grade ELA class into the school’s newsroom.

Students became teachers for a day and led more than 400 parents and guests in 47 hands-on experiments at the fifth annual Science Exploratorium at PS 84 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on May 23.

Do you want to help your students explore their interests and extend their learning beyond a scripted curriculum? Consider trying inquiry-based investigations in your early childhood classroom.

For many people, civics is synonymous with social studies. But the UFT's teacher working group on civics education feel strongly that the lessons of civics are applicable in every classroom.

In my 3rd-grade classroom, my students use thinking maps — which are not graphic organizers! — to represent their ideas. Each type of thinking map connects a basic cognitive skill with a visual representation.


Zenzile DaBreo, a kindergarten teacher at PS/IS 109 in Brooklyn, was honored with the Sanford Teacher Award as the “most inspirational teacher” in New York State. “We only have two rules in my classroom: be respectful and be responsible,” she says.

“Every student should have access to the library and the opportunity to go there,” says says Michael Dodes, a school librarian who now works as a library operations and instructional coordinator in the DOE’s Office of Library Services. “It’s all...

To help my students grow as writers and community members, I teach the art of letter writing to my 2nd-graders.

The Huddle program at PS 107 in Brooklyn helps students in the departmentalized 5th grade share their feelings and problems, work on social skills and play games that foster skill-building and bonding.

PS 446 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, has found that "looping," a model that keeps a teacher with the same group of students for more than one grade, allows educators to become grounding, guiding forces in their students’ lives.