Here’s a copy of a letter I just wrote and emailed to my legislators regarding their upcoming vote on ESSB 5748, which would tie our student’s standardized test scores to our teacher evaluation. We can hold students accountable and track and report their learning without standardized testing. We can graduate students from high school without …
Category: Ed News
These blogs have to do with education as a whole. I write about different topics concerning ed reform and educating our 21st century youth.
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/03/26/do-not-tie-test-scores-to-teacher-evaluation/
Dec 29
The C’s Revisited
After reading Bill Ferriter’s post NEW SLIDE: SKILLS MATTER MORE THAN TOOLS I began to reflect on the skills my students are gaining as they work and learn in my Science classes. Students have access to technology in my classroom just as they have access to pencil, paper and textbooks in other classes. The tech …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/29/the-cs-revisited/
Dec 27
Holding Students Accountable
As if in response to my Relationships or Taskmaster post, the Smart Classroom Management blog published the following post called Are You Afraid to Hold Students Accountable? It’s definitely worth a read as they make a valid point. According to Smart Classroom Management following your classroom management plan is the best way to hold students …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/27/holding-students-accountable/
Dec 11
Relationships or Taskmaster
I struggle with this every, single year. The balance between being a taskmaster and building relationships with students. One way to think of classroom management, according to Lee Canter (Assertive Discipline) is that dealing with kids is like working with your bank account. Building relationships with kids can be seen as depositing money into your …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/11/relationships-or-taskmaster/
Dec 10
Navigating Systems for Students
This past May and just recently in November I was fortunate to be able to present a session at two wonderful leadership conferences for newly certified National Board Certified Teachers or NBCTs. Washington state’s Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession or CSTP invited me to show some of the ways that I was sharing what …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/10/navigating-systems-for-students/
Dec 08
Personalized Learning
I found this cool infographic on personalized learning: Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/08/personalized-learning/
Nov 14
PBIS & Acknowledging Students
I had a most enlightening conversation with my advisory group about rewarding, I mean acknowledging, students. Our school is now a PBIS school and part of our efforts to reward positive behavior includes teachers giving slips of paper to students when we catch them engaging in positive behaviors. The slips of paper have the traits …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/11/14/pbis-acknowledging-students/
Oct 22
PBIS and Rewards
After wondering if I was being hypocritical for denouncing the use of rewards systems to encourage positive behaviors from kids yet using experience points and badges in my gamified classroom I had the following Twitter conversation helping me think through PBIS and the use of rewards. This issue, which researchers like Alfie Kohn, make seem …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/10/22/pbis-and-rewards/
Oct 20
Am I a Hypocrite?
Sometimes I feel like hypocrite when I denounce extrinsic rewards. I’ve been vocal at my school about my discomfort rewarding students for things they should be doing. Things that many of them do anyways. We even abolished our monthly awards ceremonies and student of the month award ceremonies last year. But now we have become …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/10/20/am-i-a-hypocrite/
Sep 26
Help Following Directions!
Readers, I need your help, advice or let me know if this happens elsewhere. I recently wrote about my dilemma with either talking too much or letting students work independently to the point where they struggle. I have this preliminary assignment to get my students blogging. Students can access the assignment with written directions using …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/26/help-following-directions/
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I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
Mr. G’s Hobbies
