Shaped

A community-driven blog supporting educators, building lifelong learners,
and shaping the future of education.* 

Latest Posts

What Is A Community School

Building a Community School: How Local Partnerships Bring Success

What is a community school? The community school model allows schools to establish partnerships with local organizations and businesses for resources to benefit students.

MaryEllen Elia

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Teaching World Languages: The Co-Constructed Feedback Process (Pt. 2)

A Spanish teacher explores the benefits of implementing co-constructed feedback to promote positive classroom relationships.

Jori Greenhill
Spanish Teacher

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Teaching Mindfulness in the Classroom With Early Learners

Begin teaching mindfulness in the classroom with your early learners using this handy primer from a veteran teacher for practicing mindfulness in schools with your students.

Kim Block
Retired Teacher

Best Holiday Books For Kids

The Best Holiday Books for Kids to Celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah

This list of the best holiday books for kids can help you celebrate winter festivities in the classroom. These Hanukkah and Christmas books will also teach your students about religious traditions.

Susan Steinway
Archivist, HMH

Renaissance Lesson Plan

Teaching the Renaissance: World History Lesson Plan and Activities

Use this Renaissance lesson plan and activities for middle school and high school to teach your students about this era of cultural "rebirth" in the 14th to 17th centuries.

Jordan Friedman
Former Shaped Editor

How To Write A Praise Poem

New Wings: Writing Praise Poems in the Classroom

Poet Glenis Redmond says teaching students how to write a praise poem is a great way to dive into metaphors and similes and have them flex their creative muscles.

Glenis Redmond
Poet and Teaching Artist

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Interview: Author Paul Tough on the Complex World of College Admissions

Paul Tough dives into fascinating (and frustrating) discoveries and stories from his research into the complex system of college admissions and higher education.

Caitlin Henault
Senior Communications Associate, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Black Friday Classroom Activity and Lesson Plan: Teaching Math and Money

This Black Friday classroom activity can teach students about spending and budgeting as well as decimals and percentages. The Black Friday lesson plan is appropriate for elementary students.

Shaped Staff

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Teaching World Languages: The Co-Constructed Feedback Process (Pt. 1)

A veteran Spanish teacher shares how to build on a typical interpersonal speaking performance assessment in order to make it easy for others to implement co-constructed feedback in their own classrooms.

Jori Greenhill
Spanish Teacher

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Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Engel v. Vitale and Religion in Schools

Teach your students about a controversial Supreme Court decision in 1952 regarding the role that religion should play in public school classrooms.

Shaped Staff

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Podcast: Future Skills for Fact-Checking Online Fakes

Listen to a podcast on teaching media literacy in the classroom and developing effective media literacy programs in schools, featuring Katy Byron (MediaWise at Poynter) and Erik Palmer (author and former teacher).

Onalee Smith
Shaped Contributor

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How to Use Short Films as a Resource for Teaching World Languages

A Spanish language teacher provides tips for incorporating using short films as authentic, relevant resources in World Languages classes.

Karly Enright
Spanish Teacher

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Wordless Picture Books in the Classroom: Telling Stories Through Illustrations

Wordless picture books can teach kids to gather information from visual clues. These books with no words allow them to move from merely describing what is happening to narrating a story.

Susan Steinway
Archivist, HMH

Kindergarten Math Games And Activities

3 Kindergarten Math Games and Activities for the Classroom

These math activities for kindergarten focus on addition and counting. Use these kindergarten math games for the classroom to show how mathematics is found everywhere in students' world.

Shaped Staff

Teaching Metacognition In The Classroom

Teaching Metacognition in the Classroom: Just Think About It!

By focusing on metacognition in the classroom, students can continually monitor their learning. Teaching metacognition also allows students to apply their most effective learning strategy to the task at hand.

Michael DiSpezio
Author, ScienceFusion and HMH Science Dimensions Programs

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Podcast: Teaching Impeachment and Controversial Issues

Listen to a 15-minute conversation about how teachers can facilitate difficult classroom discussions, particularly considering questions that may arise about the impeachment inquiry currently in the news.

Onalee Smith
Shaped Contributor

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How This Superintendent Saved a School Through University Partnership

Dr. Shaun Nelms, superintendent of Rochester East Upper and Lower Schools, answers questions about how partnering with the University of Rochester saved his school from closure.

Jordan Friedman
Former Shaped Editor

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Developing a Student Exit Slips Strategy for Formative Assessment

By developing an exit slip strategy in the classroom, you can more easily complete a formative assessment of your students' understanding of a given lesson.

Amanda Bratten
Senior Assessment Specialist, Learning Sciences, HMH

*The views expressed in our blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.