HNM WF2113136 HNM Brand 2025 Blog Header 520x540

Teaching Unscripted

A Heinemann blog for curious educators.

Latest Posts

5 Strategies to Help Kids with Fluency

Kylene Beers offers 5 ways teachers can help students improve fluency.

Mathanxietyhs

Outlining some of the symptoms of math anxiety, looking at likely causes, and discussing specific strategies for helping reduce, if not entirely eliminate, these anxieties in students.

Blog Header May 2026 Writing Must Be Taught

There's a difference between assigning writing and teaching it. When we assign writing, we give students a task and hope they write something of merit. When we teach writing, we give them the knowledge, the strategies, and the supported practice they need to grow as writers over time.

Summerinstitutebanner

K-8 teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, and curriculum specialists who want to strengthen their writing curriculums. This institute is designed to support you in enhancing and revising your instructional approach to teaching writing to maximize the conditions for student engagement and increase achievement.

Taw26

Use code THANKYOU26 for 30% off + free shipping on all professional books for Teacher Appreciation Week. Valid May 4-29. Check post for details and book lists.

Jagowholebook1

No one becomes an avid reader on a diet of text tidbits. Practicing reading skills on paragraph-long excerpts lacks authenticity; it is absent of purpose apart from “doing school.” Books are more than tools for teaching children how to read. They are the reason to read.

Aimorethananswermachine

Many young people encounter AI as a means of finishing their work or finding answers, but that kind of surface-level use limits both curiosity and growth. Model ways they can use AI as something they can shape, challenge, and learn from to challenge this idea.

Wholebookreadingintro

The literacy crisis is more than "kids aren't reading!" Let's explore why and how we can get them back to whole books. Featuring new posts from Carol Jago, Penny Kittle, Marilyn Pryle, and more. Excerpts from previous titles by Kelly Gallagher, Tom Newkirk, Stephanie Affinito, and more.

Buildingbackgroundknowledgemedialiteracy

Explicitly teaching media literacy skills can lead to improvements in critical thinking about bias and misinformation in messages, and an understanding that people interpret media in different ways

5 Ways to Enrich Your Classroom With Poetry

Shared reading of poetry from an enlarged, illustrated chart makes it possible for children to "read" a much more complex text than they could independently.

Discover the Reading Workshop Model and Why It Works

See how reading workshop can improve student engagement and comprehension while supporting standards—through predictable routines, authentic texts, and responsive instruction.

Whattravelspoemrodriguez

R. Joseph Rodríguez finds inspiration for writing poetry everywhere. He shares his poem 'heartdrumming' with students to annotate and discuss.

Bringing History to Life Through Reading and Inquiry

Explore the American History Series and see how it supports meaningful literacy instruction.

Imaginenewgrading

Free of the constraints of grading, what authentic assignments and assessments might be possible? What is your richest vision for the work students might do in your classroom?

Selfmanagementpcc

Self-Management is a skill that everyone needs to learn and continue to practice. Time spent regulating yourself and your students is always worth it!

Ntbtbooklist

The Not This But That series are accessible and actionable teaching books that dissect common existing teaching practices and offer effective, research-based and classroom-tested methods across disciplines.

Traumaresponsivepedagogy

Trauma-responsive schools understand the prevalence and impact of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in students and school staff, and respond by changing policies, practices, and procedures to reduce the impact of past ACEs and trauma and also to prevent them in the future. Watch Arlène Casimir explain.

Whatteacherscancontrol

When the problems in education feel structural or overwhelming, it is easy to believe that meaningful impact requires systemic disruption or visible resistance. What you do control are the intentional choices you make in the classroom and how students experience learning in your presence.

Teaching Unscripted™ is a trademark of Heinemann, a division of Greenwood Publishing Group.