Aug 18
I’ve been getting questions about where to begin if you want to gamify your classes and I thought I’d share some of what has worked for me here. To begin I just want to say that gamification can happen without spending any money. I think the most important aspect of gamification be a change in …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/18/gamification-where-to-begin/
Aug 14
I will start off by saying that I have been having an enjoyable summer. Even after spraining both my ankles and being laid out (sprained one and healed it enough to go to the WA state Zombie Run where I sprained the other one on a night run – at least I made it through …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/14/getting-ready-for-school/
Aug 11
I’ve been drawn to the song Am I Wrong? by Nico & Vinz. If you haven’t heard it check it out (here’s the link in case the video doesn’t play): I thought it had to do with true love until I watched Vinz and Nico explain what the song is all about (here’s the link …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/11/one-road-or-many-paths/
Aug 02
Source: TopDegreesOnline.org I didn’t know what to think about the above infographic. I was thinking it was strange how Google and Apple are making changes to education and not the those in the trenches, namely teachers and students. But that seems to be the way it is for education, those with the most money and …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/02/apple-and-google-changing-education/
Jul 27
There’s a lot of discussion around grading and specifically how traditional grading falls short of informing how well students are doing in a class. Letter grades and percentages do not inform students and their parents as to how well they are learning the material. That one final letter or final percentage includes way too much …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/07/27/grading-to-inform/
Jul 26
In the Marzano Research Laboratory online course I’m taking on Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading a distinction was made between Rubrics and what are known as Proficiency Scales. I have to admit that I’m having a difficult time understanding the difference between the two. Honestly, they both seem like rubrics to me! This blog post …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/07/26/proficiency-scales-vs-rubrics/
Jul 21
I’m taking an online course, Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading, from the Marzano Research Laboratory, and it’s reinforcing what I’ve believed about how subjective it is to grade and score kids on their learning. As teachers we strive to assess our students’learning as accurately as possible. The truth is that an A in my class …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/07/21/the-inaccuracy-of-tests/
Jul 20
After retweeting this Science Teacher’s blog post on Twitter about sharing standards with Science students I had this conversation with David Grossman: Letting Students in on the Secret | Science Teacher In Training #scichat #afl http://t.co/ALfC9NqScC — Alfonso Gonzalez (@educatoral) June 21, 2014 @educatoral Sometimes I want students to discover the concept like a …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/07/20/sharing-learning-expectations-2/
Jun 18
I’ve been reflecting on my first attempt at using a commercial off the shelf (CoTS) game in class for student learning, in this case World of Warcraft (WoW). I took a risk and tried to use the power of WoW to leverage some Science learning, in this case classification of living things. There are many …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/06/18/gbl-with-wow/
Jun 05
The week of May 19th six of the ten middle school teachers from my school went to Camp David Jr with our 8th grade students for an Olympic Odyssey outdoor learning experience. It was a fantastic week! Part of our outdoor experience is some hiking. There are some incredibly beautiful places to hike in WA …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/06/05/alone-in-the-middle/
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I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
