[Weekly EdNews Round Up] How to Talk with Kids About Terrible Things

No one knows better than educators about the importance of staying up-to-date. In Edmentum’s Weekly News Round Up, you’ll find the latest and most interesting education news, all in one place.

It can be hard to talk with your students when terrible things occur, like following the recent tragedy in the Parkland, Florida community. But as a teacher, you have the power to empathize with your students about what they are feeling and try to help them cope with the uncertainty. Check out headlines that touch on this and more in this week’s EdNews Round Up.

How to Talk with Kids About Terrible Things
MindShift
For the more than 3,000 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Wednesday’s mass shooting was terrifying and life-changing. But what of the tens of millions of other children, in schools across the country, who have since heard about what happened and now struggle with their own feelings of fear, confusion and uncertainty?

A Math Class That Makes Tax Season Easier
The Atlantic
Appeal to high-school students whose next step is not college but the workforce with a real-world substitute for the standard Algebra 2 curriculum, where students learn algebra by way of lessons on paying student loans, making budgets, doing taxes, and using credit cards.

Being an English-Language Learner Is Hard. Here Are 5 Ways Teachers Can Make It Easier
Education Week Teacher
There are plenty of hard things about school for all kids. Too many tests, too much sitting, too little recess. But for English learners, there is an added layer of difficulty. The constant effort to understand and make yourself understood can be exhausting.

How to Use YouTube Video Essays in the Classroom
MindShift
YouTube has its own celebrities, culture, norms, and memes and has even given rise to the dreaded “YouTube voice.” But what one author finds particularly fascinating is that YouTube has its own genres and types of videos. One of these — the video essay — is something they think can be a great tool for media-literacy education.

Teaching the Winter Olympics Across the Curriculum, With Help from The New York Times
The New York Times
For two weeks this month, the world's attention is focused on Pyeongchang, South Korea, to marvel at the incredible athletics performed at the 2018 Winter Olympics. In this teaching resource, The New York Times suggests a variety of ways teachers across subjects --- from English language arts to science and social studies --- can turn these Olympics into opportunities for learning.

Why Even Young Students Benefit from Connecting Globally
MindShift
From comparing similarities and differences via Skype, to writing for a worldwide audience, we connect and invite the world to learn with us and to help us learn. Discover how using technology in the classroom to make global connections is helpful to young learners.