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As the new school year is officially in full swing and the initial excitement of the first weeks has faded, one of the most important concerns on many educators’ minds is how to keep students motivated. Over the Labor Read More …
I’ve been an admirer of Starr Sackstein and her work for a long time. She’s been a beacon for years on moving away from grading and moving toward a focus on self-directed learning. She has made real movements in pedagogy and Read More …
By Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Bena Kallick, and Allison Zmuda Part Three in a Four-Part Series Assessment needs to change as we know it. COVID19 has illuminated the necessity for this change so that our students become increasingly more self-directed and Read More …
Personalizing the learning for students doesn’t mean an instructional free-for-all. On the contrary, personalized learning demands structure such as frameworks to ensure effective instruction while students have access to authentic, meaningful experiences. Conferring/conferencing can provide that structure when teaching and Read More …
In an unprecedented move, the president announced on March 20 that standardized testing requirements for states will not be enforced for the current academic year. This means teachers won’t have to spend instructional time on standardized test preparation. At countless Read More …
Disillusioned It’s a bittersweet sting. After brainstorming and modeling, students begin drafting their thoughts. We’re minutes in and the question enters: “Can you take a look at this and let me know how I’m doing?” Don’t get me wrong, I Read More …
As an advocate for personalized learning, my perspective is simple: I’m constantly looking for ways to foster learner agency and put students at the center of the learning. To that end, this is the story of a recent experiment with Read More …
By Jamie Dicks and Julianna Traxler It was two weeks before the school year began, and we were making about 1,248 decisions about how the school year would go and what preparations we would need to make for the upcoming Read More …
Conferencing yielded the best papers I have read in years. When I sat down to “grade” the final papers a few weeks ago, I didn’t need several red pens, as I found there were few errors. I didn’t give hours Read More …
This is my 5th year using student portfolios in the classroom. Student portfolios can have many different purposes and structures based on what the end goal of the portfolio is. I have to be honest that my use of the Read More …