As our understanding of the human mind gets more sophisticated and nuanced, we're learning how to identify neurodivergence, how to appreciate it, and how to help those who fit under that umbrella navigate the world better. In this episode I'm joined by Emily Kircher-Morris and Amanda Morin, authors of the new book Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools. The book offers all kinds of specific guidance that will help teachers reshape their classrooms into places that offer flexible options for students with a wide range of "wiring." In today's episode, they'll share four actionable changes you can make right now to begin that reshaping.

Thanks to Boclips Classroom and Brisk Teaching for sponsoring this episode.

To read a full transcript of this episode and get links to all the resources we talk about, visit cultofpedagogy.com/neurodiversity-affirming/.

As you move through your career, you'll discover new ways of doing things that you're excited about — so excited that you want to share them with colleagues and convince them to try them, too. But trained professionals aren't always open to changing the way they work, and we don't want to come off as the know-it-all telling everyone what to do. So the most effective way to share a new idea is to talk about it in terms of "I."

-------------------

Thanks to Grouper for sponsoring this EduTip!

You can find full written versions of these tips at cultofpedagogy.com/edutips.

------------------

To become skilled readers, our students need reading instruction in all of their classes, not just English language arts. But if other subject-area teachers don't know how to support readers, how can they do this? In this episode, literacy expert Jen Serravallo walks us through the steps of a close reading lesson, one of nine re-usable lesson structures she offers in her new book, Teaching Reading Across the Day. By the time you're done with this episode, you'll be able to teach a close reading lesson yourself.

Thanks to Wix Tomorrow and Brisk Teaching for sponsoring this episode.

To read a transcript of this episode, links to Jen's book, and a video of Jen teaching a close reading lesson, visit cultofpedagogy.com/pod and choose episode 242.