Student-Centered Learning
Teaching
Opinion
Focus on Meaningful Interactions With Students This Holiday Season
"I know from personal experience (growing up Jewish in a non-Jewish community) that school around this time can feel isolating," writes Ariel Sacks.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
Help Students Toward Reading Complex Texts Independently: No More Training Wheels!
How exactly do we help students to be able to read complex texts on their own? Do we give them texts that are well above their reading levels and apply as much scaffolding as we need to get students through it? Or do we meet readers where they are with more accessible text selections first and build their independent reading skills?
Teaching
Opinion
A Final Tribute to My Greatest Teachers
I learned more from my students about how to--and how not to--treat them and teach them than I learned from education courses, in-service training, books, and teacher evaluations combined.
Teaching
Opinion
Inquiry Based Lessons Require Flexibility (Part 2)
Putting students in charge of their own learning in a project-based environment allows students to truly own what they learn.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Ability Grouping: Better for Students or Easier for Schools?
I never worked harder in or out of the classroom than I did when preparing and presenting two lessons per class. Yet despite my diligence, ability grouping was ineffective, as reflected in students' actions and words: "You are too bogus Coach G. You know Group A is not that smart and Group B is smart, and you separate us so we look dumb. All of us should be in the same group to help each other out."
Families & the Community
Opinion
Building Self-Advocacy and Ownership Through Student-Led Conferences
Student-led conferences clearly establish that while adults are there for support, students are expected to own their own learning
Teaching
CTQ Collaboratory
How to Give Students More Control Over Their Learning
Teachers Carl Draeger and Daniel Wilson offer advice on enhancing your students’ learning by empowering them to make choices and demonstrate progress.
Teaching
Opinion
Four Keys to Effective Classroom Learning Centers
When implemented well, learning centers empower students and accommodate their diverse needs as learners.
Teaching
Opinion
Knowledge vs. Skills: What Should Teachers Target?
With so much information at students' fingertips, teachers should select and plan classroom activities based on what students should be able to do rather than just what they should know.
Assessment
Opinion
Real-Time Data-Driven Instruction
Why wait for test results to use data to drive instruction? Collect data during all academic tasks, and use it to make timely decisions based on students' needs.
Curriculum
Teachers May Be Ceding Too Much Control in Quest for Student-Centered Learning
As ed tech becomes more of a factor in many classrooms, educators have started to wonder about how learning should be directed. That leads to some difficult questions around the future of the teaching profession.
Mathematics
Opinion
Learning by Doing ... and Grappling
I loved my students' reactions after they learned something with little or no help from me. Exhales. Smiles. High-fives. Exclamations ("Man, I got it, Coach G!"). And yes, dancing. (I even joined in when it was "Time for the Percolator.")
Assessment
Opinion
Exit Tickets: Too Little, Too Late
Teachers need to assess students as they're learning, not as they're leaving.
Mathematics
Opinion
Do More for Students by Doing Less for Students
"Great idea, but it'll never work for my students." I hear this a lot when I encourage teachers to engage students in productive struggle rather than try to prevent struggle. I thought it wouldn't work for my students either, but they proved me wrong.