more of my work
I write on a variety of topics, but all of my articles are about making school a source of meaning, vitality, and community in the lives of students, teachers, educational leaders, and families.
inclusive learning
Which Curriculum Audit Is Best for Your School?
Educational Leadership (ASCD), 2022
Instead of auditing the curriculum “through a DEI lens,” consider four kinds of curriculum audits schools might conduct: diversity audits, inclusion audits, equity audits, and justice audits.
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Physical and Psychological Environments for Every Body
Solution Tree blog, 2021
After I realized that an activity in one of my books has ableist language in its title, I wrote this in an attempt to hold myself accountable and to create learning environments that affirm and empower all students.
A Midsummer Night’s Gender Diversity
Rethinking Schools, 2015
How to use classic texts like A Midsummer Night’s Dream to teach about gender identity and expression.
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Learning for Justice blog, 2017
Instead of discussing current events only on certain days or only in response to traumatic events, let’s help students use the curriculum to understand and act against current injustices.
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Reading and Writing to Learn About Activism
Learning for Justice blog, 2014
Reading and writing about the work of activists helped students realize that they can make change by starting small. Part 2 of a series about an activist memoir unit in 7th grade English.
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Why I'll Never Teach This Powerful Book Again
Learning for Justice blog, 2018
My classes were in the middle of reading a Sherman Alexie classic that spurred deep discussions and powerful writing. Then several women came forward to say #metoo about the author.
empowering students to make school meaningful
Edutopia, 2021
Carefully crafted check-ins can bring middle and high school classes closer together and improve student well-being.
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Learning for Justice blog, 2015
An activity that helps students notice ways to create academic experiences that fit their values.
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Teaching Students to See Each Other
Learning for Justice blog, 2017
Help students notice different ways they’ve positively affected each other as members of a learning community.
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Values-Based Relationships with Devices
HaYidion (Prizmah), 2023
Strategies educators can use to help students use their devices in ways that align with their values.
Values-Based Student Portfolios
Solution Tree blog, 2017
Help students create work portfolios, not based on extrinsic definitions of success, but instead based on what makes school a source of meaning and vitality for them.
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Empowering Students to Connect Field Trips to Their Own Values
Solution Tree blog, 2018
In thinking about field trips, we can ask ourselves, “What important and relevant learning cannot take place at school? Where can it take place?”
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Lessons the Pandemic Can Teach Us About Homework
The Journal of the Progressive Education Network , 2022
Meaningful roles of asynchronous work in inquiry-based, rehearsal-based, and project-based units.
integrating values exploration into academic instruction
Learning for Justice blog, 2014
Students recognize and write about the activist potential in their classmates. Part 4 of a series about an activist memoir unit in 7th grade English.
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Moving from Telling Our Stories to Inviting Stories
AMLE Magazine, 2018
Why and how to move beyond the “big three” types of writing (argumentative, informative, and narrative).
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Beyond the Lone Hero: Relationship-Focused Literary Analysis
Voices from the Middle (NCTE), 2021
When students learn literature, analytical frameworks such as ”coming of age“ and ”hero's journey“ reinforce individualism. Teachers can instead use a relationship-focused framework rooted in functional analytic psychotherapy.
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Motivating Students to Turn the Page on Reading
Kappan Magazine, 2017
Help students find the motivation to read by framing reading as part of living a meaningful life.
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Post-Pandemic Classroom: Reconsidering the Trigger Warning
Independent Ideas blog (NAIS), 2021
Empower students to choose whether, why, and how they approach psychological challenges and curricular opportunities in the classroom.
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How Our Word Choices Can Empower Our Students
Kappan Magazine, 2018
The way we phrase our comments on student work or home reports can help them grow as learners and as people.
family engagement
Navigating Tough Conversations On Curriculum
Educational Leadership (ASCD), 2023
Understanding the reasons behind curriculum challenges can help educators foster more collaborative discussions with families and community members.
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Empowering Conversations About Schoolwork with Your Child
The Review (Parents League of New York), 2022
For parents to help their children amplify their sense of satisfaction, increase the likelihood that they’ll learn from the process, and bring their values to future endeavors within and beyond school.
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Using ‘Know, Wonder, Learn’ to Broaden Students’ Learning
Edutopia, 2021
In “community KWL,” students ask their families what they know, wonder, and have learned about a topic to spark more questions to investigate.
compassionate discipline
Addressing the Suffering Underneath
Educational Leadership (ASCD), 2021
Make the disciplinary process more equitable and effective by applying the elements of compassion: recognizing the suffering underneath the misbehavior, feeling motivated to help the student who is suffering, and taking action to alleviate the suffering in the present and prevent it in the future.
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Learning for Justice, 2015
How teachers can heal after their students must withdraw from school.
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“Playing Teacher” Gets in the Way of Teaching
Learning for Justice blog, 2014
Instead of reverting to a “teacher voice” or other ways of asserting power and avoiding authentic connections with students, we can use cognitive defusion to help refocus on teaching by our values.
designing professional development
Accounting for Vulnerability in Peer-to-Peer PD
Educational Leadership (ASCD), 2021
How leaders can empower teachers to share their expertise with their colleagues, even when it’s uncomfortable, in the service of their values.
Kappan Magazine, 2020
How educators benefit when they seek professional learning outside the field of education.
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PD Diversity: Too Much and Not Enough
Kappan Magazine, 2014
How to design DEI-focused professional development that goes deeper and has concrete outcomes.
Systems and Heaps: Aligning Professional Development to School Values
Independent School, 2014
How to organize faculty meetings into meaningful professional development “units” that reflect the values of the school.
© Lauren Porosoff, 2024. All rights reserved.
