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School closures have exposed deep inequities in education. An article on KQED’s Mind/Shift shares principles of culturally responsive instruction that educators can use during remote instruction. Strategies include deepening background knowledge, cultivating cognitive routines, and building word wealth.

If you are looking for ways to engage students in writing and analysis, try passion blogging, a form of writing founded on what students know and care about. An article in Edutopia describes how students can explore their interests to develop literary analysis skills. It outlines ways to help students reflect on their interests, read and write about them, and then provide feedback to peers on their writing.

Have you ever asked students about their day and heard “fine” or received a shoulder shrug in response? This article from the National AfterSchool Association stresses the importance of engaging in dialogue about student experiences (despite what appears to be a lack of student interest). The article also lists 25 different ways that educators can ask youth about their day.

Food deserts are areas in the United States where it is difficult to access affordable or good-quality fresh food, a phenomenon that can contribute to obesity and other diet-related illnesses. Food Deserts: Causes, Consequences and Solutions, a lesson from Teaching Tolerance, helps students learn more about the causes, consequences, and locations of food deserts. In addition to determining whether their community is in a food desert, students have the opportunity to design solutions to this challenge. This interdisciplinary lesson can serve students in middle school and high school and touches on areas of social studies, economics, and science and health.

Food offers a way for students to engage in interdisciplinary learning, with topics ranging from the history of trade, the science of how food is grown, and the cultural role of food. This blog post from Education Week describes how one middle school explored the question: “What can we learn about the world by looking at our food?” The blog post lists a range of activities that the students completed and also links to several books and resources that educators can use.

Helping students feel connected to their own learning can boost engagement and achievement. This article from Edutopia outlines simple practices that educators can integrate into instruction to spark students’ curiosity and strengthen engagement. Strategies include asking more in-depth questions, introducing controversy, and encouraging collaboration.

Learning how to manage money to make smart saving and spending decisions is a critical skill. Yet many people don’t know enough to be financially stable. This Click & Go Training from the U.S. Department of Education’s You for Youth website provides financial literacy lessons and activities for both adults and youth. In addition to lessons for different audiences and ages, the training has handouts for key terms, planning activities across age groups, engaging families, aligning with standards, and working with partners.

Having a cohesive community can create a positive educational environment, but it doesn’t always happen naturally. This article from PBS Teachers Lounge outlines 10 ways that educators can build classroom community. Ideas include asking students to define community, providing opportunities for students to share their feelings, and inviting members from the broader community to engage with students.

Although project-based learning provides an engaging way for students to learn, projects don’t always go as planned. This article from Edutopia describes what happens when a project doesn’t go as planned. Stressing the importance of reflection, benchmarks, and persistence, the authors point out that students can still master content when a project fails. They also stress that teachers can learn something too from these experiences.

Project-based learning offers an interactive way for students to master skills and engage in their community. This article in The Hechinger Report summarizes some of the data related to one school’s work in project-based learning. School leaders found that students who participated in project-based learning were more engaged and made more interdisciplinary connections than peers who did not participate in project-based learning. They also found that these students performed as well on the state math test as their peers and outperformed them in English language arts.