The students are the core of what we do, and I think it’s critical that they are also able to be the corps, or body, of what we do. A gifted student wrote an essay for assignment at school, and she gave me permission to share her thoughts about being gifted here. Her essay was […]
Using Jeopardy Labs for Pre-Assessment
In the article about creating a differentiated lesson plan step-by-step, I shared a lesson plan on landforms that used a cloud-based Jeopardy! game as a pre-assessment tool. I thought I would share a little more about how and why I do that. Jeopardylabs.com First, let me introduce you to Jeopardylabs.com. This site allows you to […]
Begin with Highest Level Learner in Mind
There’s a YouTube cooking channel called Chowhound that has a series called “You’re Doing it All Wrong.” They take fundamentals of cooking (mashed potatoes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc.) and show how you’re making them the wrong way. Of course, they show you the right way and then you, too, can make creamy mashed […]
Tips for Going Back to School After a Vacation
Back to School after a Vacation Every year it was the same: spend the last few days of Christmas vacation searching my mind, files, teacher books and the internet for the perfect activity that would get my students back in the groove after vacation. Most of what I’d find would be somewhat silly, like essay […]
Group Work Self-Reflection Questions for Students
Group work self-reflection questions for students are a key factor in effective group work and a best practice for teachers using small groups. When students work in collaborative groups, it’s critical to have self-reflection questions for them to consider when the group work is done or you risk wasting terrific, real data. I’ve written about […]
6 Reasons Why PBIS is a Terrible Idea
I loathe PBIS even more than I loathe Accelerated Reader, and friends, that’s a high bar. Why I think PBIS is a terrible idea To be fair, it’s not just PBIS. It’s all of the same type of behavior management systems that use often elaborate systems to punish and reward behavior in the hopes that […]
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