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Be sensitive to how diverse cultures deal with conflict. Many citizens of Asian countries avoid open conflict, believing that differences are best worked out quietly. Written exchanges might be preferred over face-to-face conflict resolution.

Clarify expectations. If you put students into groups, for example, explain and model the difference between “helping” and “doing the work for” a partner.

Emphasize a positive environment, not punishment.

Increasing punishment fails to change student behaviors.

earned students’ consent and trust through humor.

When teachers relinquish control (without losing power) to the students, rather than promoting compliance with directives and commands, student engagement levels are likely to increase as a result (Reeve, Jang, Carrell, Jeon, & Barch, 2004). Autonomy support can be implemented by: Welcoming students' opinions and ideas into the flow of the activity Using informational, non-controlling language with students Giving students the time they need to understand and absorb an activity by themselves

When students work effectively with others, their engagement may be amplified as a result (Wentzel, 2009), mostly due to experiencing a sense of connection to others during the activities (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Teacher modeling is one effective method (i.e. the teacher shows how collaboration is done), while avoiding homogeneous groups and grouping by ability, fostering individual accountability by assigning different roles, and evaluating both the student and the group performance also support collaborative learning.

High-quality teacher-student relationships are another critical factor in determining student engagement, especially in the case of difficult students and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Fredricks, 2014). When students form close and caring relationships with their teachers, they are fulfilling their developmental need for a connection with others and a sense of belonging in society (Scales, 1991). Teacher-student relationships can be facilitated by: Caring about students' social and emotional needs Displaying positive attitudes and enthusiasm Increasing one-on-one time with students Treating students fairly Avoiding deception or promise-breaking

When students pursue an activity because they want to learn and understand (i.e. mastery orientations), rather than merely obtain a good grade, look smart, please their parents, or outperform peers (i.e. performance orientations), their engagement is more likely to be full and thorough (Anderman & Patrick, 2012).

students would work with JeffDESIGN over the summer to learn valuable lessons about what it takes to get an idea from concept to production in the real world.

We have adopted the free and fabulous EPICS—Engineering Projects In Community Service—as the heart and soul of our program this year.

I love that the EPICS framework is just that—a framework. It provides a flexible structure I can modify as necessary to suit our processes and needs.

When we are done, we’ll have a powerful, document-driven, human-centered methodology to guide our work in design.

The new school year has gotten off to a good start. We’re creating an entirely new understanding of design thinking in Digital Shop, an amalgam of our shared past experiences and the practices of some of the world’s best design thinking practitioners. It’s ridiculously hard work, alternatively frustrating and exhilarating, but totally worth it.

Develop a key of symbols that you can use in the margins instead of writing in sentences or bullets.

Carol Jago reminds us that it's the students job to correct their errors. In fact, it would be even more powerful for them to identify the errors in the first place using hints provided by you

allow a student to choose the section or numbers they feel best represent their comprehension

This will require students to translate as well, which embeds the lesson even further.

Sometimes, assignments will take a huge leap in quality when students think someone other than their own teacher is seeing them.

Keep the final grade of an assignment as a carrot dangling until the feedback is read, attempted, and proven. Make them solve some of the problems in the assignment based on your feedback, and trade their solutions for access to their score.

You conference; they write.

Stagger due dates for your classes.

Ask them what worked and what didn't. Model your own comfort at criticism and they will work harder at their own.

Too often, administrators leave the classroom and only return with a laptop and a framework. For many of us, leaving the classroom is really only a physical phenomenon because we never really leave. I confess that my flash lessons are motivated, in small part, by my own envy of so many amazing teachers who work in my district. But what I couldn't have counted on was the camaraderie, rapport, and trust that the lessons would create between administrators and teachers.

Ultimately, we need to remind ourselves of that immutable fact, to be as human as possible, and to look for, rather than to abandon, our own "flashes."