As a middle school writing teacher, it is hard to find the balance of providing enough support for your students and not stifling their natural ability to write. It would be easy to provide all students with step by step instructions on how to write in response to their reading or how to form an […]
Walking the Tight Line of Writing Instruction Read More »
If we can’t answer this for our students and for ourselves as teachers, then we are shooting aimlessly everyday in our classrooms hoping that we will hit on something that students will need later. Kinda a big risk, don’t you think? What if you could know that what you are doing in the classroom will
What is school for in 2012? Read More »
Although I am a huge advocate for digital literacy, what I do not advocate is how that looks in your classroom. I can tell you how it worked in one of my classrooms with one group of students and one school context, but that’s not your classroom and not your context. I can provide examples
Would this work for you? Read More »
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Gamers understand to make a successful game, they need to do the following: Design the game with the user in mind. Provide continuous feedback. Make it challenging enough that the user is interested, but not impossible that they will quit in frustration. (Flow theory) Work with an end
Who are schools users? Read More »
Communicating with someone is never easy whether we are face to face or communicating through a screen. Communication is one of the most important things we do everyday. It’s done formally through great teaching practices, emails and one on one conversations we have with parents and professional conversations with colleagues. Formal communication is a part
Avoiding Miscommunication Read More »
I have to admit that I often forget about #edchat on Tuesdays nights, but as I check Twitter I always check in on what people are talking about. I found this jewel last night from one of my favorite authors, Kylene Beers: Let’s stop hiding behind “best practice” label. We’re often behind in ed because
Look Up. Look Out. Read More »
I don’t know if you saw this conversation yesterday via Twitter, but there are apparently states that are offering scholarship money for students to graduate early from high school. The participants say that the incentive of offering money motivates parents and students to work harder to get their students finished with high school earlier. Is
I was driving home last night and I noticed that the stars were especially bright. When I looked out, I found the Big Dipper, one of the only constellation I remember from my 5th grade science class, but it was on its tip. I can’t remember ever seeing it straight up and down. Now I
The Big Dipper Tipped Read More »
As a middle school history and technology teacher, I found a huge disconnect between what my student were expected to do as readers and what they could do. I don’t mean that they were lazy. If anything my 5th graders were going above and beyond what I was asking them to do, so what happened?
Parrots or Individuals? Read More »
The most powerful case for change in schools is the story of teachers who have changed and have seen students succeed: More recently, I have tried to not only simulate the real world, but give students opportunities in the real world. I often describe it in simple terms as moving to real-real, instead of fake-real (mock trials, case
Teachers Do Change Read More »
