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Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Teaching Opinion

Teachers Share Their Best Advice—in 6 Words or Less

By Larry Ferlazzo — April 30, 2025 2 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
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Today’s post is the latest installment in a multiyear series in which ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog offer advice—in six words or less—about teaching to other ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog. Some have more than one set of those pearls of wisdom:

For 16 years, Diana Laufenberg taught 7-12 grades social studies in Wisconsin, Kansas, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. She currently serves as the executive director and lead teacher for Inquiry Schools:

Do not take yourself too seriously.
Create awesomeness and share it prolifically.

Melanie Battles, Ph.D., is a founding consultant of Scholars for the Soul: An Educational Solutions Firm, and has over a decade of experience working in education as a K-12 literacy educator, college adjunct faculty member, instructional coach, and educational consultant:

Without courage, all else will fail.
Authentic connections require the authentic you.

Emily Machado, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of early-childhood education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Know children are powerful and capable.
Pronounce each child’s preferred name correctly.

Emilie McKiernan-Mullins is in her 17th year teaching in Louisville, Ky., and is a mother to two kids:

Perfect is nice; good is enough.
Your students deserve 'I’m sorry' sometimes.

Stephanie Smith Budhai, Ph.D., is a faculty member in the School of Education at the University of Delaware:

Complacency has no place in education.
Ed tech must be utilized with intentionally.

Sheniqua Johnson has been an educator for 16 years and is currently the elementary language-acquisition coordinator in a North Texas school district:

Reach ALL students by differentiating instruction.
Facilitate learning instead of delivering instruction.

Kit Golan () is the secondary mathematics consultant for the Center for Mathematics Achievement at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.:

Put your oxygen mask on first.
Identify and build on student assets.

Keisha Rembert is the author of The Antiracist English Language Arts Classroom, a doctoral student, and an assistant professor/DEI coordinator for teacher preparation at National Louis University:

Field trips aren’t fluff. Schedule them.
Cultivate Black boys' intellect and spirit.

Andrea Terrero Gabbadon is an author, scholar, and teacher educator:

Interrogate personal assumptions about student motivation.
Piquing curiosity renders the impossible, possible.

Chandra Shaw has more than 25 years of experience in education, as a teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach, and now a literacy consultant at one of her state’s regional service centers:

They’re kids. Never take 'it' personally.
Giving students grace doesn’t equal weakness.

Thanks to everybody for contributing their thoughts!

They answered this question:

are very popular. In six words, please share teacher-related advice you would offer other ÌÇÐ͝Âþvlog.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via . And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 13 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list here.

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The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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