Miriam Plotinsky
@mirplo.bsky.social
Author, ELA supervisor in MCPS, and forever fan of all things peanut butter. Opinions my own!
Your grading pile may feel like a chain that’s dragging you down. 📄⛓️ @mirplo.bsky.social shares grading advice that reduces stress, gives students guidance *and* changes the way assessments push your class forward. #Assessment #EduSky
The Endless Pile: How to Mitigate Grading Woes
By reserving grades for work that truly measures progress and using feedback for everything else, teachers can reduce stress and give students clear guidance for growth.
edutopia.org
“Our instructional decisions are strongest when they are informed by multiple data points: what students both say and write, how they apply ideas over time, what formative assessments reveal, and how learning transfers beyond a single activity,” @mirplo.bsky.social writes. ⬇️ #assessment #EduSky
Working to See the Full Picture
By intentionally seeking multiple perspectives and testing assumptions, teachers can position themselves to make decisions that expand learning opportunities for students.
edutopia.org
Some big news today! So grateful and excited to lead and support literacy and ELA in my district.
What happens when a lesson you teach looks great on paper but falls flat in practice? Let me know if you’ve ever leaned on a colleague to help with this problem, and how it turned out. Just a little something I’m working on for @edutopia.org!
It’s finally here! Many thanks to @solutiontree.bsky.social for publishing my FIFTH book!
Hi #EduSky! I’m writing an article for @edutopia.org about the benefits of having a teacher friend in the building. Please message me if you have thoughts or stories to share about colleagues who have lifted you up!
When life gives you lemons… 🍋 If you’re heading into teacher training this summer, @mirplo.bsky.social has a recipe for making lemonade. #TeacherPD #ProfessionalDevelopment
Do We Have To?: Making the Most of Summer Training
Even mandated professional learning sessions can be worthwhile if you focus on connecting them to your own problems of practice.
edutopia.org
Whether you’re a novice or a veteran, interviewing for a teaching job can feel like a high-stakes test! @mirplo.bsky.social shares tips to ace it. 💯 #EduSky
How to Ace a Teaching Job Interview
Whether you’re a novice or a veteran, interviews can feel like high-stakes tests, so it’s important to make a plan and then stick to it.
edutopia.org
It’s hiring season! If you’re feeling stressed about an upcoming teacher interview and need a few strategies for success, give my latest article in @edutopia.org a read! www.edutopia.org/article/how-...
How to Ace a Teaching Job Interview
Whether you’re a novice or a veteran, interviews can feel like high-stakes tests, so it’s important to make a plan and then stick to it.
edutopia.org
Are composition notebooks old-fashioned? Maybe—but they work. 📓 For @mirplo.bsky.social’s students, they “became such a staple for writing down random ideas and thoughts that students began filling several a year and sharing more thoughts with one another.” #EduSky
‘Is This Anything?’
These low-stakes writing activities can be used across content areas to help high school students recognize that their ideas have value.
edutopia.org
”Students often dismiss their own thinking before sharing it with others,” writes @mirplo.bsky.social. These strategies guide students to generate a lot of ideas, and encourage them to see those ideas as worthwhile. 💡 #EduSky
‘Is This Anything?’
These low-stakes writing activities can be used across content areas to help high school students recognize that their ideas have value.
edutopia.org
"The best antidote to hurrying is intentional pause." @mirplo.bsky.social via @edutopia.org www.edutopia.org/article/how-...
How to Avoid Rushing—a Pitfall for Even the Most Experienced Teachers
There are always too many standards to meet and assignments to grade. These strategies can help you reject haste in favor of care and clarity.
edutopia.org
In some ways, rushing may be a bigger problem as teachers become more experienced, @mirplo.bsky.social writes—they realize how much more they could do to improve student learning. 🏃 Here are some strategies to help. #EduSky
How to Avoid Rushing—a Pitfall for Even the Most Experienced Teachers
There are always too many standards to meet and assignments to grade. These strategies can help you reject haste in favor of care and clarity.
edutopia.org
More from @mirplo.bsky.social about empowering students to develop an academic identity: https://edut.to/4teJqhb
It’s natural to feel frustrated when you’ve worked hard to craft an engaging lesson and a student says they’re bored. The good news is, usually they mean something else. @mirplo.bsky.social has ideas for supporting these students! 💡 #EduSky
‘I’m Bored’: The Dreaded Student Complaint
The key to not taking it personally is investigating the cause—the student may not be challenged by the work, or may not understand the work. There are strategies for overcoming these and other…
edutopia.org
Teachers tell students about growth mindset, but as @mirplo.bsky.social writes, “it’s harder to apply that same thinking to ourselves. But teachers do make errors, and they often follow familiar patterns.” 🪴 #EduSky
6 Common Teacher Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them
From rushing through prep to misjudging students’ readiness for a task to teaching the way they were taught, experienced teachers talk about some of the mistakes they’ve made.
edutopia.org
Each anecdote in this @edutopia.org piece by @mirplo.bsky.social about learning from our mistakes in the classroom links to some specific strategy or resource. One of the anecdotes is my own 😊 www.edutopia.org/article/comm...
6 Common Teacher Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them
From rushing through prep to misjudging students’ readiness for a task to teaching the way they were taught, experienced teachers talk about some of the mistakes they’ve made.
edutopia.org
Everyone makes mistakes—and though teachers may tend to fixate on them, it’s best to learn from them and move on (to other, newer mistakes…). Does anything from @mirplo.bsky.social’s list ring a bell? 🔔 #EduSky
6 Common Teacher Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them
From rushing through prep to misjudging students’ readiness for a task to teaching the way they were taught, experienced teachers talk about some of the mistakes they’ve made.
edutopia.org
Achieving a student-centered instructional model may be challenging, but it is well within the reach of teachers who are dedicated to elevating a culture of shared responsibility for learning. @mirplo.bsky.social growbeyondgrades.org/blog/hover-f...
Getting Started With "Hover-Free" Teaching — Grow Beyond Grades
Achieving a student-centered instructional model may be challenging. Miriam Plotinsky, author of the book Hover-Free Teaching , offers ways that teachers can foster a culture of shared responsibility...
growbeyondgrades.org
Want to share your story? I'm writing an article for @edutopia.org about the memorable mistakes we make in teaching that ultimately pave the way for greater inspiration and success. If you'd like to contribute, message me or comment below!
In the culture of hovering, you're really relying on this grading system to do the management for you. And grades should never be about classroom management. @mirplo.bsky.social growbeyondgrades.org/blog/episode-39-plotinsky
Hover-free Teaching w/Miriam Plotinsky — Grow Beyond Grades
Miriam Plotinsky, author of Teach More, Hover Less , breaks down hover-free teaching, showing how teachers can free themselves from helicopter habits and allow students greater control of their own l...
growbeyondgrades.org
I lean heavily into the notion that to ‘win the people,’ we must include them in every stage of instruction, including what occurs before anyone sets foot in a classroom. @mirplo.bsky.social growbeyondgrades.org/blog/what-engagement-means
Winning the People: What Engagement Really Means — Grow Beyond Grades
How do we move students from the appearance of engagement into something far more meaningful? Miriam Plotinsky argues that to “win the people,” we must include students in every stage of instruction, ...
growbeyondgrades.org
To get out of a vicious cycle, building short but powerful habits over time that transparently show students how they can be successful will yield better results. @mirplo.bsky.social www.growbeyondgrades.org/blog/habit-s...
Habit Stacking Feedback — Grow Beyond Grades
When teachers make incremental changes to their habits around providing feedback over time, the result is that students are able to focus more on growth than on grades. Building habits that show stude...
growbeyondgrades.org
Sometimes you want quiet in the classroom. Other times, you want to hear students talking! 💬 Try these activities from @mirplo.bsky.social to invite participation. #EduSky
3 Strategies to Increase Student Participation
Many teachers report lower levels of participation in the past couple of years. These vocal and nonvocal strategies may get students to contribute in class.
edut.to
According to research on decision making, teachers make 1500 decisions a day. That’s about 3 decisions a minute—so how can you lighten your cognitive load? 🧠 This lesson planning approach from @mirplo.bsky.social can help you avoid burnout *and* improve learning outcomes. #EduSky
Small Steps to Simplify Lessons Can Have a Big Impact in the Classroom
Cognitive overload—when the mental work of a lesson exceeds students’ abilities—can be reduced or avoided, helping to improve learning outcomes.
edut.to
New: HOW CLASSROOM COACHES HELP TEACHERS SUCCEED. Great coaching isn’t about authority—it’s about empathy, trust, clear goals and shared growth. When done well, it strengthens teachers, students, and schools, writes @mirplo.bsky.social. #edusky #educoach #T2Tchat www.middleweb.com/52567/how-cl...
The Prepared, Patient, and Persistent Instructional Coach
For instructional coaches to succeed, they need empathy, adaptability, and a toolbox of actionable strategies. Miriam Plotinsky offers keys to being effective.
middleweb.com
If you missed my webinar with @ascdofficial.bsky.social on habit stacking student engagement, check it out here! ascd.org/webinars/bui...
Build the Engagement Ladder: Habit Stacking for Classroom Participation Success
Join us for an important conversation with Miriam Plotinsky as she presents actionable strategies from her latest book, Small but Mighty: How Everyday Habits Add Up to More Manageable and Confident Te
ascd.org
@mirplo.bsky.social outlines a few back-to-school night tweaks to help you build strong partnerships with the people who know students best! edut.to/4lAmdBy #EduSky
Back-to-school night can be more than sharing basic logistics—it’s an opportunity to create a shared love for learning! 📙🧡 @mirplo.bsky.social shares ways to connect with families and open lines of communication for the upcoming year. #EduSky
An Engaging Approach to Back-to-School Night
Teachers have only a few minutes to begin to forge relationships with families. Try sharing classroom logistics in advance to save that time for high-level priorities.
edut.to
