Jan 24
After starting the school year with student-led assemblies that didn’t include awards or students of the month, I thought change was upon my school. I wrote a post about how cool it was. That post was quickly followed by another, I Celebrated Too Soon, because right after publishing the celebratory post we had a faculty …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/01/24/healthy-discussing/
Jan 06
Thinking about homework again I’ve heard some of the reasons for giving homework and it boils down to trust. It seems, by the way some teachers talk, that they don’t trust that parents are properly preparing their children. Some teachers worry that parents don’t read to their kids or don’t encourage their kids to read …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/01/06/hw-and-trust/
Jan 04
I’ve written about some of the great training I’ve had on Assessment for Learning (AfL) also known as formative assessment. I’ve gotten some great resources but frankly there is way too much. It’s quite overwhelming to keep up with my everyday work of guiding students along the learning experiences that I’m preparing for them AND …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/01/04/mass-production-feedback/
Dec 27
In Chimacum 8th graders get a full year of Life Science learning experiences. As 6th graders they learned about our neighborhood creek, Chimacum Creek, and tested the water quality. Learning about and taking care of our creek has been a great Science learning experience as well as a service learning project for Chimacum Middle School …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/12/27/fish-trapping/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/07/16/gamifying-my-classes/
Mar 12
I think about student engagement, what we call on-task behavior, a lot. All the time it seems. I’ve written a few blogs on the subject. I wrote What is On Task back in April of 2011, I wrote How Much Socializing Can You Put Up With on August of 2011, I wrote, I’m Bored, So …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/12/student-engagement/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/03/wa-stem-1-5-12-agenda/
Apr 09
What does on-task look like in a 21st century classroom? How do you get your students engaged in learning? I think about the types of learning that take place in my classroom a lot because I don’t know if the things I’m doing actually help my students learn. Is it enough to abolish grades so …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/04/09/what-is-on-task/
Jan 21
This is a post that I wrote when Joe Bower, who teaches middle school aged children in Alberta, Canada, asked me if I would write a guest post on his blog (see it here – Joe has an incredible blog where he writes often about changing education for the better). I jumped at the chance …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/01/21/lessons-ive-learned-from-my-students-blogs/
Oct 17
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/
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