Archived Marshall Memos
PDF Format
Word Format
– Shaping the U.S. history curriculum in a contentious time
– Understanding young children’s emotional mindset
– Zaretta Hammond on harnessing students’ curiosity
– Getting students fully engaged in the feedback process
– Regrets about smartphones and social media – and proposed solutions
– Giving schools more control over negative social media
– Ways to call out cellphone rudeness
– Daily independent reading time
– Children’s books about birds
– Common myths debunked
– Multiple layers of cousins explained
– Cognitive biases visually displayed
PDF Format
Word Format
– Humility 101
– A novel way for teachers to get to know students
– Fifth graders use a hackathon to tackle a real-life environmental issue
– Teaching with an understanding of the bilingual brain
– Key precursors to success in Algebra I
– Comparing student essays written with and without AI support
– College admissions essays – what makes a difference
– Award-winning children’s books
– Social studies trade books for young people
PDF Format
Word Format
– Shadowing students in a New York secondary school
– Should we use ChatGPT to make literature accessible to students?
– A high-school English teacher creates a unit on disabilities
– What counselors tell students about going to college
– Timothy Shanahan on benchmark ELA testing
– Early boy/girl proficiency gaps in math
– Asking smart questions
– Data on LGBTQ students’ perceptions
– Recommended children’s books and graphic novels
PDF Format
Word Format
– Looking beyond reading and math scores to measure school quality
– The role of background knowledge in learning math
– How to get past the problem of cheating in the AI era
– An analysis of college recommendation letters written by counselors
– A study of grading practices in Chicago high schools
– The dearth of role models for boys
– Ten “micro habits” for a better day at work
– Recommended children’s and young adult books
– A video on educational innovations
PDF Format
Word Format
– ChatGPT is great – until it isn’t
– Advice as we start year three with GenAI
– Beyond cellphone bans: how to instill tech wisdom in teens
– Teaching adolescents how to manage their emotions under pressure
– Does advanced work in high school prepare students for college?
– An alternative to beginning-of-the-year bulletin boards
– The difference home visits can make
– A tribute to Tom Lehrer
– An infographic comparing parents’ and teens’ biggest concerns
PDF Format
Word Format
– Jigsaw learning – how well does it work?
– The key elements of assessment for learning
– What deliberate practice looks like
– Leaders focusing on what they can control and influence
– The case for having students read whole books
– Looking at ADHD as a personality trait
– Using ChatGPT to create a sub plan in ten minutes
– Meetings that aren’t a waste of time
– An introduction to algospeak
– Recommended monster books
– Free online math materials
PDF Format
Google Doc Format
1. Social class divergence in the “post-literate” world
2. GenAI shifting from “butler” to thought partner to sparring partner
3. Using ChatGPT for conversation practice learning a language
4. Daniel Willingham on one way to prevent GenAI cheating
5. Low participation in an online tutoring program in California
6. Effective use of rubric self-assessment in a 7th-grade language class
7. Family games to develop students’ social-emotional skills
8. Does looping affect student behavior?
9. A cost-benefit analysis of the reading program Descubriendo la Lectura
10. Recommended children’s nonfiction books on challenging topics
PDF Format
Google Doc Format
1. Words of wisdom from veteran principals
2. Dealing with four reasons leaders aren’t better at delegating
3. Does the literary canon need to be refreshed?
4. An instructional coach tries to create a bond with a teacher
5. Teacher agency, gatekeeping, and the “critical race theory” debate
6. Hard-copy versus digital reading – does it make a difference?
7. A U.K. schoolteacher’s advice to colleagues
PDF Format
Google Doc Format
1. How should supervisors follow up after short classroom visits?
2. The role of “super-facilitators” on teams
3. Courage 101
4. Instructional coaches working smart with GenAI
5. Using students’ writing as exemplars for classmates
6. Better strategies for third graders as they solve math word problems
7. Defusing anger: what works and what doesn’t
8. Don’ts and do’s for leadership coaches
PDF Format
Google Doc Format
1. Handling the transition from middle to high school
2. Should middle schools have recess?
3. Dealing with microaggressions in the workplace
4. A different kind of special education classroom in Nebraska
5. Classroom desk arrangements for a variety of teaching goals
6. Jennifer Gonzalez on answering student questions with a question
7. Timothy Shanahan on boosting middle-school reading skills
8. The power of a brief social-belonging intervention
9. AI to the rescue in a strategic planning impasse
10. Leaders setting limits on personal friendships
11. Short items: A video on venting anger
PDF Format
Word Format
– After phonics, what is the science of reading?
– Convincing students of the retrieval effect’s power
– Daniel Willingham on dealing with cellphone distraction
– Helping students with anxiety learning a language
– How to get authentic student writing in the age of GenAI
– Self-deprecating spirals – and how to rethink them
– The annual PDK poll
– Looking back to high school, books that stood out
PDF Format
Word Format
– Ideas for parents dealing with their teens’ cellphones and social media
– How to think about and teach writing in the age of GenAI
– Not throwing students in the deep end with project-based learning
– “Selling” math by making it authentic and exciting
– Real-world math problem solving
– Teaching geography concepts to fifth graders
– Dealing with hurtful and harmful words in schools
– Evaluating film clips for social studies classes
– Orchestrating students’ attention
– Mentor texts to inspire elementary students’ writing
– The Cat in the Hat helping young children with conceptual STEM
PDF Format
Word Format
– When helping students is not helpful
– Using GenAI for real learning, not shallow fluency
– Did the winner of an essay contest cheat with AI?
– Six research insights about homework
– Why it’s better to ask how than why
– Timothy Shanahan on the role of pictures in reading
– Telling your school’s story
– Picture books about climate change
– Online access to the National Parks
PDF Format
Word Format
– A tribute to Jane Goodall
– A tribute to David Berliner
– Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey on getting the science of reading right
– Oral assessments and exams in the age of GenAI
– Students interview a chatbot of Jay Gatsby
– When leaders should be transparent and what they should hold in
– The impact of teachers with a growth mindset in Chile
– A study of school absences in England
– Recommended graphic novels about history
- Award-winning New Jersey teachers on classroom management
- Leadership that persuades good teachers to stay
- Supporting students in ethical and effective use of GenAI
- Not ignoring learning disabilities in Asian-American students
- Spelling as an important lever for literacy
- An experiment with repeated reading in fourth grade
- Comparing the quality of kindergarten science materials
- Short item: GenAI explained
- Rethinking homework
- The power of sharing students’ math thinking with the class
- Using concept maps to organize, visualize, and reinforce learning
- Supporting students with anxiety disorder
- Tough love with anxious students
- Timothy Shanahan on the purpose of running records
- How to conduct an effective one-on-one meeting
- Toward reliable “Consumer Reports” for curriculum materials
- How to disagree constructively
- When to use AI and when humans must do the work
- Building Thinking Classrooms – the research base
- Timothy Shanahan on using grade-level texts
- Using multi-classroom observations to spark collective efficacy
- How do single-sex schools affect students’ future attitudes?
- What GenAI can and cannot do
- U.S. teachers’ unappreciated patriotism
- Building thinking classrooms in elementary science
- How to get high-school students reading more closely
- Using – and misusing – elementary reading assessments
- The science of reading and equity
- Reflecting on key principles of adult learning
- Prevention 101
- Comparing virtual and brick-and-mortar charter high schools
- Promoting positive self-talk in kids
- Helping introverted teachers and students flourish
- Making the most of GenAI’s potential
- Generative AI in historical perspective
- How principals can maximize communication
- A basic flaw in the 2014 Heggerty phonemic awareness curriculum
- The compounding effect of chronic absenteeism in elementary schools
- Discernment 101
- Zaretta Hammond on building student ownership for learning
- Deliberate practice – the key to better performance
- Thoughts on how teachers can deal with GenAI
- Crafting assessments that prevent AI cheating
- Using AI to give students immediate feedback on performance tasks
- A one-page chart for student accommodations
- Tips for winning grants from DonorsChoose
- Bad and good interview questions
- How much are teachers shaped by where they teach?
- Don’t try to fix neurodivergent teachers; fix the system
- Integrating music into high-school history classes
- Using student talk to scaffold student writing
- Benefits and concerns in an urban debate league
- Thoughts about teasing
- What is the impact of inclusion on achievement and attendance?
- Short item: Getting parents to act on a child’s poor attendance
- What happens when teachers disagree with a mandated curriculum?
- Teachers experiment with alternative endings to Animal Farm
- Orchestrating authentic student writing in the age of AI
- Can GenAI foster more-creative, connected, and caring schools?
- Timothy Shanahan on students reading challenging texts
- Pushing back on the “culture of poverty” narrative
- A revised definition of dyslexia
- Mindsets associated with cheating and not cheating in school
- What can we do for “languishing” teens?
- Advice for young people who are using generative AI
- Using GenAI to plan for primary-grade intervention lessons
- Complete sentences: a starting point for proficient writing
- The case for students memorizing key facts – and how they can do it
- What we capture – and lose – with all the photos and videos we take
- Think, ink, pair, share
- Supporting middle- and high-school students who read below level
- This year’s most important educational research findings
- Seven ways memory can play tricks on us
- Thinking differently about rigor in classrooms
- Black girls’ sense of belonging in middle-school math classes
- Easing into a new school week
- Why is spelling not part of most universal dyslexia screeners?
- Beware of superficial indicators of student engagement
- A constructive approach to regrets in the middle of the school year
- Tapping the (sometimes hidden) potential of neurodiverse leaders
- Advice for when an organization’s founder rides into the sunset
- Words of wisdom for novice teachers of mathematics
- Inferencing – a vital skill for beginning readers
- Respecting boundaries in a boundary-critical profession
- Low-key mindfulness exercises
- How to ask for feedback
- The best children’s books of 2025
- Short item: An infographic on humanity in motion
- Are smarter people happier, and if not, why not?
- Dealing with the emotional demands of teaching
- Three school practices that help new teachers stick around
- Instructional leadership and schoolwide systems
- Integrating key components of early reading instruction
- Is the LETRS program better than other literacy PD?
- Grant opportunities for school libraries
- Recommended tech tools
- A driven educator reflects on Gen Z’s approach
- Angela Duckworth on the fallacy of willpower
- Emotional regulation 101
- A California school works on shifting from grades to growth
- A Texas school’s framework for addressing well-being
- Supporting students who have experienced trauma
- A school head and his son discuss artificial intelligence
- Books and ideas to boost students’ writing
- Getting students to do the most important work in class
- Literacy skills for the 21st century
- A strategy to get middle-school students reading good novels
- Should students memorize facts when they can just Google them?
- How general education teachers can support English learners
- A daily leadership team huddle
- Keys to the school success of African-American boys
- Stop blaming single-parent families for low achievement
- What makes tutoring effective
- Using GenAI as a butler, a thinking partner, and a sparring partner
2. A vision for effective schools in the age of AI
3. Phonics, structured literacy, and comprehensive literacy
4. Timothy Shanahan on when to start teaching reading
5. Unpacking Tier 3 science words so students understand
6. Using students’ everyday knowledge in math assessments
7. Onboarding a newly hired administrator
8. How to handle a meeting on problematic student behavior
- Focusing on student learning during classroom observations
- Institutional “architecture” that fosters effective teaching and learning
- The critical importance of a coherent K-12 curriculum sequence
- The best use of primary source documents in history classes
- What does real student engagement look like?
- Tween and teen graphic novels about mental health
- Seven principles for teaching and learning
- Can the boy-girl reading gap be closed?
- The troubling impact of GenAI on young people’s social skills
- A college English teacher goes full low-tech
- Bronx and Brooklyn teachers experiment with an AI platform
- Suggestions for talking with parents and guardians about homework
- The epidemic of online teen gambling
- A different take on daily leadership huddles
- A book about U.S. curriculum culture wars
- When faced with a tough dilemma, dial some friends
- Short item: Free classroom videos and lesson plans
-
- Intervention – how to make it count
- Differentiating with GenAI
- Rethinking one-to-one paraprofessional support of students
- English learners (ELs) and career and technical education (CTE)
- Math coaching for teachers isn’t optional, it’s foundational
- Broadening students’ idea of what it means to be good at science
- What is the best size for student groups?
- Why is class size a relatively weak factor in student achievement?
- Why tutoring wasn’t effective in Nashville
- How to improve meetings
- Recommended children’s picture books
- What technology can do and what human teachers must do
- Leaders with the qualities of good followers
- Effective schools that sustain success over time
- Following up when formative assessments reveal student confusion
- Should teachers simplify math vocabulary for students?
- Does AI translation mean we don’t need to learn other languages?
- At what level does student absenteeism become problematic?
- When a leader should hit the pause button
- Fun math activities for students and their families
- Recommended young adult Indigenous literature
- Short item: An AI spoof on historical figures in hum-drum modern situations
Google Doc Format
- What rowing can tell us about school improvement
- How some beat-the-odds schools sustain their success
- Teaching early reading as a “reciprocal cycle”
- Unchecked technology has failed us; we need relational intelligence
- What happens when a student’s phone buzzes
- What “warm demanders” do
- How teachers can work within today’s curriculum constraints
- A video with seven insights on teaching and learning
