Picture books can help students rebuild motivation and engagement in writing as they return to school after a break. Books such as "One Boy Watching," "Tiny, Perfect Things," and "Little Tree" offer lessons in observation, precise language and personal growth. Teachers can use these books for various writing activities, such as scavenger hunts, self-reflection and sensory detail tracking, to enhance students' writing skills and creativity.

About 150 students from 24 high schools in Cook County, Ill., are training to become election judges as part of the "Defenders of DA'mocracy" program, a pilot initiative by County Clerk Monica Gordon. The program allows students to run early voting polling places on their campuses for one day in February, aiming to increase civic engagement among youth.

You can discover a key truth about leadership by looking in the mirror, writes Paul Thornton, who says the human body reveals that "excellence comes from integration, not isolated traits." Each part of our body, such as the brain's ability to strategize, the eyes' ability for vision, the heart's ability to fuel passion and the voice's ability to speak with clarity and conviction, all work as a unified whole, writes Thornton, who urges leaders to focus on parts that need development.

With four generations working together in the office using slang such as the Baby Boomer's "bummer," Generation X's "lame," Millennials' "lit" and Generation Z's "rizz," it's easy to talk past one another, writes Cheryl Robinson, who advises leaders to stay current on such words and respond to their meaning without repeating the slang. "In multigenerational teams, effective communication is less about speaking everyone's language and more about understanding it," Robinson writes.

Students from Spain Park High School in Hoover, Ala., have partnered with United Ability to design and build custom electric vehicles for children with disabilities. The project, supported by a Toshiba grant, has students using advanced engineering skills to modify cars, teaching students the real-world impact of engineering.

The settlement between Character.AI and plaintiffs highlights ongoing concerns about the impact of AI chatbots on teen mental health. The lawsuits alleged that the chatbots contributed to mental health crises and suicides by fostering inappropriate relationships and failing to provide adequate safety measures, especially in the case of a teenager who died by suicide after engaging with the chatbot.

Follow Tony Frontier's framework to help teachers and students adapt to AI tools that are no longer optional but unavoidable. Read more on the ISTE+ASCD Blog.

In the latest issue of EL magazine, expert educators and columnists Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey explore how teachers’ roles in assessment change for the better when students learn to evaluate their own work.

US District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. approved a joint motion by Louisiana and the Trump administration to throw out a 1967 desegregation lawsuit involving the state's DeSoto Parish schools, marking the second such case to be dismissed recently. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill praised the move, saying it returns control to local schools, while civil rights groups argue the orders are still necessary to combat racial discrimination.

A study in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that teens who slept in on weekends had a lower risk of depression, compared with those who did not. Researchers said a healthy weekday sleep duration of eight to 10 hours was ideal for reducing symptoms of depression, but letting teens catch up on sleep may be protective if they cannot get enough sleep during the week.