Debbie Zacarian Interviewed by Houston ISDs Sharpstown High School Stories Project

“Debbie Zacarian sat down with us to talk about how we can better serve English Learners in our latest episode of #ThinkPareShare. Guess what? Deficiency plans are a thing of the past! Teaching to strengths and being culturally and linguistically responsive are paths to a better future. How do we change …

Free Webinar: Responsive Schooling for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Recording available for viewing this webinar, now. It was a pleasure to provide this interactive edWebinar moderated by Carol Chambers Collins of Norton Education. It looks at the big picture in what we teach so that it matches who we teach and is inclusive, responsive, and sustaining for our dynamically diverse student populations. It …

Managing the Residual Trauma of the Abrupt Transition to Remote Learning

Chaunte Garrett with Debbie Zacarian and Michael Silverstone. We’ve all been part of an unplanned global experiment in remote learning during COVID.  For many, the experience was traumatizing and there were millions of school-aged children living with adversity before COVID. Listen to this ASCD BAM radio interview as we discuss …

A SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY: PARTNERING WITH FAMILIES DURING THE PANDEMIC

By Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian Strengthening Community Partnerships As educators, we should celebrate the Herculean shift that we and our students have made from in-person to distance engagement to in-person and repeating this cycle as the crises continues. We know that these transitions and our future success are dependent on …

5 Essential Trauma-Informed Priorities for Remote Learning

By Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes As the COVID-19 pandemic upended communities worldwide, millions of educators moved at warp speed from gathering face-to-face to sheltering at home. In a matter of days, human connection required some type of device or a six-foot distance. Against this backdrop, children continue …

Planning for Online Connection and Collaboration with Primary-Grades Children

Michael Silverstone teaches at Wellan Montessori School, near Boston. With Dr. Debbie Zacarian, he co-wrote Teaching to Empower: Taking Action to Foster Student Agency, Self-Confidence, and Collaboration (ASCD). The following, by Michael, originally appeared on 3/20/2020 in Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo

Among the bigger surprises at the start of the COVID-19 era is how well-prepared we are to work off-site with each other and with administrators. In recent years, at my school, we have collectively created online calendars, collaborated on documents, and become increasingly more reliant on using online formats. Videoconferencing small-group planning meetings is the only new wrinkle. But, after a few of these, once the novelty falls away, there have been more times that we’re able to forget that we’re not in the same room. That’s the good news.

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SUDDENLY TEACHING AND LEARNING FROM HOME DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This was a week of online firsts- jumping into the deep end of our ‘online’ selves in ways familiar and new.  It leads us to a discussion about the virtues of students having a voice and choice in their online learning. experiences. Debbie: I had my first tele-health conference. It was …