Student learning is no accident!
The view from down here. “It all falls on the classroom teacher, it always does” she reminded me. This was my mother. A retired elementary school teacher, who had made it the long haul. In the classroom for her entire career, advocating for kids, mentoring new teachers- reminding me when I express frustration in the system that, I shouldn’t be… Read More
As a student, I always saw September as an opportunity to rewrite my story. I could make a good impression on my new teachers. I would keep better track of my materials and assignments and maybe even be one of those kids that seemed to “have it all together.” These days, I still find myself resolving to do better every… Read More
Lately, I’ve found myself having conversations with many educators who think self-assessment is a good idea… but just aren’t sure about putting it into practice. Consequences of thoughtful self-assessment: 1. Students reflect on their process, performance, actions. 2. Students become more aware of their learning and/ or actions- in the moment!! “Johnny, don’t you ever think before you speak?!?” (which… Read More
How do you capture all of the learning that occurs during discussions, hands-on exploration and collaborative group work? When there is a written product… we know we can collect and correct (ugh)… but that’s not always my first choice. When I collect and correct too much, I lose the ability to catalog and analyze and make instructional decisions based on… Read More
Dear Teachers, Thanks for wanting to jump back in with us as we dig into Assessment in Instruction! This is the last of the 4 challenges- and I know you’ll finish strong! To get started, think about which level you feel most accurately describes your daily teaching experiences… Level 1: There is little or no assessment or monitoring of student… Read More
‘An Environment of Respect & Rapport’… This is an area I find myself discussing quite often with teachers. At least once a week, I have conversations with teachers about how tricky they find this particular domain/ standard to assess. Recently, I attended a presentation about how some teachers and mentors are tackling this very topic. Before we think about how… Read More
Love #2!!Building relationships with kids is more than being nice to them. Here are some ways we can go deeper.
#teachergoals #HackingSchoolDiscipline
Here’s my favorite grouping hack for teachers... I learned this from my favorite math coach at least 10 years ago, and I’ve been using it and sharing it with teachers ever since.
👑1- It looks pretty cool when kids get up to find their group members! They do it silently in my room- like a “silent sort.”
📁2- I drop colored folders on desks around the room so red dots meet in this area, green over here etc.
🤸🏻♀️3- I use this often so students are pros!
🧠Pro Tip- I never put kids into collaborative arrangements until they’ve had time to struggle and think about the material independently. For example, students spend 5minutes jotting notes in the margin of this discussion sheet BEFORE getting into groups. This way, I know everyone has something to share. No one feels on the spot to process the demand of the task, get to know a group and take a risk to share all in the same moment.
🌈Mix it up! I keep students guessing by sometimes asking them to get into rainbow groups instead. This means they need to silently sort into groups with one of each color!
Student learning is NO accident! Teachers do amazing things to create the conditions for students to have AHA moments every day.
👩🏼🔧How do you engineer success during collaborative group work?
Have you laughed REALLY hard lately?? If not, it’s time to call that friend who makes you laugh until you cry! Every. Time. You. Hang. Out. Tag that friend!
😂🤣🤣🤣
6 year olds get it! Set yourself some 6 year old goals and bring back joy.
Help someone else today by making them laugh.
Laugh with some kids. Let them show you how it’s done!
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