Following educational trends can sometimes feel like watching fads come and go

—confusing at best and frustrating at worst. But keeping an eye on these trends
can be helpful in addition to completing your professional development
requirements. Many are based on educational research or current events that
can help you support your students more effectively.

We’ve rounded up 10 educational trends and issues you should know about. You
may find one (or several) you want to research in greater depth for your students.
Some, like mindfulness and trauma-informed practices, have long been important
—and they may be even more critical this year. Others, like genius hour and
mastery-based grading, are recently arrived educational trends that may have a
helpful place in your classroom.

1. Mastery-Based Grading
Many teachers are looking for alternatives to letter grading. Some worry that
traditional grading methods do not accurately measure student progress.[1]

Mastery-based grading measures how well students have developed the skills
they learned in class and allows opportunities for resubmission. Ultimately,
students are graded as either having mastered or not mastered a concept rather
than on an A to F scale. In this way, students can continue to practice skills they
haven’t yet mastered and avoid becoming discouraged.[2]

2. Personalized Learning
Over the past few years, the buzz around personalized learning has been on the
rise. Why keep an eye on personalized learning? When a school curriculum is
adaptive to a student’s unique needs, it’s more likely to promote student progress
because each child can move at their right pace.[3] Plus, adaptive software
programs allow teachers to use the same program for all students in their
classroom—including those with learning disabilities.

3. Trauma-Informed Practices
Trauma-informed practices refer to any intervention designed to respond to the
unique needs of children who have experienced trauma. Because more than half
of all children will experience a traumatic event before adulthood, it is essential to
conduct training and implement strategies that support these children.[4]
Teachers and students have all experienced the traumatic effects of the COVID-
19 pandemic, which has raised this particular trend to even higher levels of
discussion than before.

For a more in-depth discussion on trauma-informed practices, check out this

Today.com article where Waterford SVP of Curriculum and Instruction Jenni
Torres describes how she emotionally supported her students in New
Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

4. Genius Hour
Genius Hour is a fairly new educational technique that allows students to work on
self-paced and self-chosen projects for an hour each day.[5] This encourages
students to practice their creativity and independent thinking skills, and they can
also develop a genuine love of learning. If you’re looking for ways to improve
student engagement in your classroom, genius spaces may be a trend to keep
tabs on.

5. Digital Citizenship
For students, digital citizenship is defined as the ability to use technology and the
Internet both effectively and appropriately. Good digital citizenship is increasingly
necessary, but as assignments and lessons traditionally done in person move
online, it’s even more vital for students to build the skills they need to develop a
healthy relationship with digital media.

6. Bite-Sized Learning
Bite-sized learning teaches children specific academic skills with brief, focused
activities. It “takes into account the contemporary demands of learner lifestyles
that might hinder longer periods of focused study and time spent in the
classroom.” [6] In other words, it allows students to learn real skills that build on
each other in convenient, shorter bursts over time instead of all at once in long
classroom lessons or lectures.

If classes continue to be primarily (or even partially) online next year, bite-sized
learning activities may be especially useful. Strategically using brief activities to
teach new skills allows teachers to take into account a student’s capacity for long
and focused lessons from home. Or, if students return to your classroom, this
technique can be useful for making the most of time spent in class.

7. Mindfulness
The practice of mindfulness involves being aware of, and accepting, both the
external world and our internal experiences. By teaching mindfulness in the
classroom, you can help improve students’ response to stress and reduce their
overall stress levels.[7] This can make it useful for social-emotional and mindset
skill lessons, as well as for helping students who are feeling overwhelmed.

8. Brain Break
Brain breaks are short, five- to ten-minute activities—like dancing or standing up
to stretch— that allow students to stay refreshed after focusing in class for a long
period of time. These are most effective when scheduled throughout the school
day. By taking these breaks, students are less likely to feel stressed or anxious,
and they will be better able to focus on their next lesson or task.[8]

9. Experiential Learning
Experiential learning is a strategy that, according to Western Governors
University, allows students to learn and develop skills in a setting outside of the
classroom.[10] For elementary students, options for experiential learning may be
limited. But you can still make the most of this strategy by taking students on field
trips (virtual or otherwise) and providing students with assignments that
encourage them to learn outside of school.

10. STEAM Curriculum

You may be familiar with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)
curriculum and how it prepares students to enter the workforce with practical,
high-demand skills. But adding the arts alongside these subjects (thus creating
STEAM: STEM plus arts) can improve your students’ academic performance.

For example, adding art assignments to science and math lessons can help all
learners understand STEM subjects better. And it improves creativity—a useful
skill for any academic subject.[9] Plus, STEAM curriculum is shown to provide
students with a more well-rounded and practical education than STEM alone.[11]

Source:

1. Long, Cindy. Are Letter Grades Failing Our Students? National Education

Association. August 19, 2015. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-
change/new-from-nea/are-letter-grades-failing-our-students.
2. Westberry, L. Grading for Mastery, Not Mystery. ASCD. July 11, 2019.
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/grading-for-mastery-not-mystery.
3. Pane, J.F., Steiner, E.D., Baird, M.D., Hamilton, L.S., and Pane, J.D. How
Does Personalized Learning Affect Student Achievement? Retrieved from
rand.org: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9994.html.
4. Copeland, W.E., Keeler, G., Angold, A., & Costello, E.J. Traumatic events
and posttraumatic stress in childhood. Archives of General Psychiatry,
2007, 64(5), pp. 577-584.
5. Fink, J.L.W. Genius Hour in the Classroom. Scholastic.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/18-19/genius-hour-in-the-
classroom-/.
6. Blue, J. Little and often: bite-sized learning. Cambridge World of Better
Learning. April 26, 2018.
https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2018/04/26/bite-sized-learning/.
7. Davidson, R. and Lutz, A. Buddha’s brain: neuroplasticity and meditation.
IEEE Signal Process Magazine, 2008, 25(1), pp. 174–176.
8. Morin, A. How brain breaks can help kids with homework frustration.
Understood. https://www.understood.org/articles/en/brain-breaks-what-
you-need-to-know.
9. Hardiman, M.M., JohnBull, R.M., Carran, D.T., and Shelton, A. The effects
of arts-integrated instruction on memory for science content. Trends in
Neuroscience and Education, March 2019, 14, pp. 25-32.
10. Western Governors University Staff. Experiential learning theory.
June 8, 2020. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/experiential-learning-
theory2006.html#close
11. University of Houston. Art could help create a better “STEM”
student.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131203091633.htm.