As the State Regents Exams draw close, it’s time to start teaching to the test if you haven’t already.
Those who don’t fall into the trap of test prep turn their noses up arguing that students should have learned the skills to pass an exam without ever having seen the likes of it before. The rest of us realize that with students entering 9th grade on a 5th grade reading level, two years is not enough time to get them ready to pass an 11th grade Literacy exam cold.
As 2010 begins, I know that many of us are scrambling to keep (or come up with) our New Year’s Resolutions. I think the extra long lines for the treadmill at the gym and the empty shelves of bagged salad at the grocery store speak for themselves.
This year I realized that there are two obvious problems with my resolutions.
1. They are horribly general. They don’t really name any specific behavior or situations.
2. They lack a plan. (And you know I love a good color-coded plan!)
I’ve always used Google maps for last minute directions, but I just recently discovered how to tap into its virtual field trip potential.
Turns out, you can literally get IN the map. It’s a phenomenal way to explore with your students (or on your own!). Just pick a location you’re learning about, scout it out before hand and let loose.
It’s time to say goodbye to an A for effort, no matter what your subject.
Many current music educators grew up in a time when being in an ensemble was solely about playing the music for the next concert. I personally cannot recall ever doing a worksheet or any real music theory work while in high school.
It seemed that all I had to do to get an “A” was come to my lessons, play at the concerts, and otherwise stay out of trouble. Outside practice was expected but not enforced. I did not realize until many years later that this method of teaching had set me up for years of mediocrity and frustration.
Dr. Mora shares her experience fighting to get bilingual education accepted across the map, as someone who’s been with the struggle from the beginning.
This semester, I’m trying out a new project for my writing class. I’m inviting my students to start a blog about anything they want (within reason) in an attempt to get them excited (or at least relaxed) about writing.
I’d love to get some feedback from anyone who’s tried out blogs in the classroom…
Provide a one-two sentence explaining why that adjective best describes Larry’s performance.
Does this sound familiar?
Say goodbye to cookie-cutter curriculum and its predictable approach for all students.
Say hello to the Mobius Response Model that lets your students’ learning needs lead the way for differentiation and gifted education.
The Mobius Response Model (MRM) represents a creative structure for responding to individual students’ learning needs. It offers a user-friendly metaphor for effective gifted education by focusing on and connecting four critical foundational points for teaching and appropriately differentiated learning: (A) planning, (B) assessment, (C) programming, and (D) learning environment.
Every teacher has those times when you need five minutes to take attendance, talk to a colleague, answer a call from the office or fill in when a lesson finishes earlier than expected.
Dabbleboard is a free basic Web 2.0 tool – part of the read-write web, meaning that you can read the website and also add to it, or write on the page. This site is a combination of a mindmapping tool, a collaborative tool, and an easy-to-learn online whiteboard.
Here are some ideas to get you started using Dabbleboard in the classroom – both for instruction and for student projects.
Hopefully, at this point, your year is chugging along nicely. You and your friends have settled into your routine and you’re off! It’s time to learn!
So what happens when you’ve been so engrossed in your teaching that it’s suddenly five minutes before the end of the day, you have a million odds and ends to take care of and nobody has their backpack yet? (Hint: the answer is not “freak out.”) This is the time that you truly need to rely on your little friends to help you get it all done.
Now, most of you probably already have a few classroom jobs posted and in full swing. Bravo! My challenge to you is to create even more jobs. Yes, more jobs! Our little friends love to help – sometimes to the point where them asking how they can help actually becomes less than helpful. At one point, I had a system where every single child in my class had some sort of responsibility each week.
While teachers and classrooms are doing everything they can to differentiate and personalize instruction for every student, policy-makers are focusing on creating uniform standards across the map. Are these seemingly divergent paths moving in the right direction?
As a trend or hot topic in education, common or “national” standards have always been one of those ideas that resurface every few years. This time, they seem to be gaining momentum.
My question to you is: what are you looking for deals on? We’ll track down your favorites and get you a discount. Just ask!
Please share any recommendations you have in the comments section! Thanks for visiting the site and for your help 🙂
I had a conversation recently with a colleague of mine who asked one of her AP Biology students why they didn’t seem to care about passing the class. The surprising response is an indictment of what we’re doing to our kids in today’s “high-stakes” public school environment. This student said that he doesn’t care because somebody’s got to flip burgers.
Someone has got to flip burgers. What a sad commentary for a high school student to make. Here’s a student who sees the futility of his schooling. Here’s a student who is so disconnected from the fantasy of public education to the reality of the world. Maybe he’s lucky that he “gets it” in that he knows that public school is never going to give him the tools to meet the challenges facing him after graduation. Maybe he already knows that what you learn in school has no relationship to what you need after graduation. And I know he’s not in the minority.
Too many of our kids find school mind numbing with little connection to their lives. Far too many of our kids are conditioned like Pavlovian dogs to take state mandated tests based on state mandated curricula that have little or no value after graduation. And then we complain that high school graduates have lost the ability to do critical thinking.
Eduindex News 
You must be logged in to post a comment.