The Resources You Loved in 2020

December 18, 2020

We can all agree 2020 was a difficult year. But it did bring many opportunities for change, and Students at the Center has been here to offer a guiding hand. We hope you’ve found at least one thing to help you build a more resilient, equitable future for your classrooms and schools.

Here are your top 10 posts, which were some of the most helpful and inspiring resources and posts from Students at the Center this year.

Based upon four principles of student-centered learning and the strategies outlined in Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Educationthe following list of resources was compiled to support educators serving our nation’s students, especially those who are traditionally marginalized.

There isn’t just one right way to measure progress, particularly when educators are designing and adapting implementations to fit local contexts. However, this three-step guide explores universal best practices to measuring progress when personalizing learning.

Whether learning occurs in brick-and-mortar schools or in virtual environments, student engagement drives an impressive array of student outcomes. Explore an overview of the research on engagement alongside actionable practices that are appropriate, effective and equitable.

Members of the district-supported Southwest High School’s Student Board of Education are all students of color, and most are immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Congo and the Caribbean. They are regional student leaders doing the work of developing policy to make their school more equitable.

This list of curated resources is here to help educators keep kids engaged and excited about learning, supported by their peers and their families, connected with their communities and the wider world so they, and we, come out of this experience strengthened rather than depleted.

While there is still a way to maintain student-centered teaching and learning in virtual environments, educators will need support to do so. This toolkit provides links to high-quality resources meant to help educators who are tackling many new challenges in 2020.

This toolkit is designed to help school practitioners measure, understand and reflect upon the extent of student-centered learning in high schools. It enables data collection through surveys and other measures and from a range of participants, including district and school leaders, instructional staff and high school students.

There are ways to leverage technology to make the teaching and learning process meaningful.  For instance, we often learn best when we learn socially, so prioritizing interaction in remote learning can accelerate and invigorate the connections learners need to make when we try something new.

When students are connected to each other, their teachers, and the community in ways that lift up rather than marginalize their authenticity, they gain a sense of belonging. This, in turn, promotes their desire to learn from others, to take academic risks and to try new things.

This article explores ways to transform the operation of school libraries during closures due to COVID-19. The authors offer tips on how to maintain access to resources, engage students, and support school staff. This article was written specifically for librarians of middle schools and high schools.

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