Kelly and Penny Kittle host a daily conversation about teaching and learning during these challenging times—often featuring special guests. Look for a new digital talk daily and join the conversation via Flipgrid and Padlet.

By SLJ Staff

James Patterson has done it again. The bestselling author announced today that he is giving $2.5 million to help teachers build their classroom libraries.

Over a six-year partnership with Scholastic Book Clubs, Patterson has gifted $8.5 million to school and classroom libraries. The just-announced donation brings that total to $11 million.

“Parents are more appreciative of teachers right now perhaps more than ever. In the past month of homeschooling, teachers have become heroes to many, who are seeing just what it takes to teach kids day in and day out,” says Patterson.

By Dr. Manuel Rustin

Among the litany of concerns and uncertainties we face as educators during this time of crisis, what to do about students’ grades need not be one of them. Give them all A’s.

Flexible, humanizing distance learning should of course continue. I’m doing all that I can to make sure my history students are still building their historical thinking skills and mastering the content. But no matter how this distance learning experience turns out, every school that regularly assigns letter grades to students should give them A’s when this academic year closes. That’s what my students will get.

It took me awhile to get here and I thank fellow educator and history teacher extraordinaire Leo Glazé for helping me see the equity and efficacy in giving all of our students A’s. I knew when I began this sudden challenge of distance learning that it’d be impossible to grade my students fairly. How could I really know whether everyone had the tools, space, time, and clarity of mind to engage in my classwork during a global pandemic?