Talking roles are discussion jobs that rotate among students in a small discussion group. Each role has a clear purpose and a set of sentence starters that help students speak with confidence. The roles give quieter students a clear entry point, encourages active listening and builds accountability.

Nature journaling not only boosts students’ attention, sense of well-being and joy, but also strengthens their scientific, mathematical and critical-thinking skills. 


Queens high school teacher Amy Matthusen explains ways to center students in creating evaluative criteria to help deepen learning.

Big Apple Award winner and Bronx special education teacher Benjamin Jones encourages his fellow educators to use artificial intelligence software to quickly and simply alter or adjust curriculum to meet the needs of all learners, including students with disabilities and English language learners.


Social studies teacher and Big Apple Award fellow Jay Maqsood discusses the merits of concept mapping to help students better retain and synthesize complex information and sets of data points.