Links to my blogs on grading and homework. Do Grades Help or Hinder Learning? Here’s where it all started for me. In March of 2010 I considered for the first time in my 19 year teaching career to change my grading policy freeing myself of the shackles of 20th century, factory-model, reward-and-punish sorting that is …
59 results for test prep
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/grades-homework/
May 12
Our Race to Somewhere
Tuesday night at 6pm Chimacum Middle School hosted a screening of the movie Race to Nowhere. We had 92 people from our community, our schools, Sequim, and Port Townsend attend the screening and afterward many stayed behind to discuss the movie’s content. Speaking for myself, the movie was amazing. At a few points throughout the …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/05/12/our-race-to-somewhere/
Feb 25
When is Structure Needed?
Back in November I was reflecting on whether or not inquiry can be, or should be, structured. Overall my conclusion was that yes, it can and should, at times, be structured by the teacher. Even with my 8th graders I find that if I don’t structure the activity, project, or lab they don’t take it …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/02/25/when-is-structure-needed/
Jan 22
Sometimes Science Lessons Just Go Wrong
My Science PLC has a few concepts that we have been reviewing with our students in grades 6 – 12 for the past few years. One of those concepts was brought to us by one of our high school teachers because she noticed that her students were having difficulty with conceiving of air as having …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/01/22/sometimes-science-lessons-just-go-wrong/
Dec 18
WA STEM Grant Proposal
My awesome PLC has accepted the challenge of social networking. I shared the WA STEM grant idea and they all jumped on board. So I wrote a proposal and sent it in! I sure hope we get the grant because I think it’s a great project for us to work on. (If you want to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/18/wa-stem-grant-proposal/
Nov 12
Letter to WA State Superintendent of Public Schools
One of our high school teachers wrote a letter to our state’s superintendent of public schools sharing her concerns over the state’s decisions for testing Science this year and next year. I asked her if I could share her letter because the concerns that she raised are so blatant and Maren wrote such a great …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/11/12/letter-to-wa-state-superintendent-of-public-schools/
Oct 17
Ed Reform? Okay.
I’ve never been a fan of teaching to a state test. I don’t mind assessing my students and I think it’s all right if students take common assessments to see how they’re doing. When I start teaching in South Central Los Angeles back in 1991 students were taking the CTBS multiple choice test. Knowing that …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/10/17/ed-reform-okay/
Jun 30
iPads in Science
[See iPads in Science 2 to see what I learned a year later.] I am very fortunate. Of the 19 years I’ve been teaching I’ve gotten at least one grant for 12 of those years; 10 of them have been the last 10 consecutive years. Four years ago I received a couple of Best Buy …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/06/30/ipads-in-science/
Feb 15
How to Motivate Students?
Thanks to @web20classroom, @ShellTerrell, and @tomwhitby for hosting a great session this morning with Alfie Kohn, @alfiekohn (with backchanneling still going on at #kohnlive), where we got to ask questions about grades, homework, standardized testing, the state of education and reform, and teacher preparation. For those of you who are wondering what the @ symbols …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/02/15/how-to-motivate-students/
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