Tag / Topic: Curriculum and Instruction

How to Integrate Growth Mindset Messages Into Every Part of Math Class

This article discusses the research around teaching and learning mathematics conducted by Catherine Good, a professor who studies social psychology and growth mindset. Good found that growth mindset—the idea that one can improve understanding and performance by building neural pathways through repeated work—is especially important for students studying math. Teaching growth mindset may protect against stereotype threat—the perception… Read More ›

Fire Up Your Class With Student-Interest Surveys

This practical article gives advice on how to keep content fresh and relevant and nurture student voice in the classroom. The author, an experienced teacher, suggests that the best way to stay up to date with students’ interests and motivations is to ask students and ask them often. To gather feedback, she suggests free online… Read More ›

Facing History and Ourselves

Facing History and Ourselves’s shares innovative approaches to civics, social studies, humanities, and language arts education, designed to increase student engagement and achievement while teaching students about bigotry and hatred. The educator resources database includes lesson and unit plans, collections of primary source documents and images, and multimedia resources on topics such as: Race in… Read More ›

Effective (Teacher-Centered) Coaching

This blog, written by a math teacher and coach, and a member of the Better Math Teaching Network, discusses the importance of coaching for teachers in order to drive student success in math. The blog–a reflective essay of sorts– creates a compelling argument and call to action to transform math classrooms. The author discusses learner-centered models… Read More ›

Why ‘Unlearning’ Old Habits Is An Essential Step For Innovation

This article explores Beaver Country Day School, a private 6-12 school in Massachusetts’, experience with the idea of “unlearning”– creating new ways to think in the face of established practices. Using both large and small scale examples, like grading models and teacher’s instruction, the article explores what it really takes to change habits in a school.… Read More ›

Informing Progress Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects

This report and accompanying research brief, written by the RAND Corporation and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, synthesizes findings from a study of the personalized learning (PL) practices at schools in the  Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC)’s Breakthrough School Models program. Researchers identified the PL strategies used and implementation challenges faced by these schools… Read More ›

New Hampshire Teachers Build New Ways to Measure Deeper Learning

This article explores the successes of a pilot group of New Hampshire districts, as they move from standardized testing to a more performance-based assessment system. New Hampshire is at the forefront of moving schools to a competency-based model, and the article highlights the advantages for students and educators. The author shares classroom examples of project-based… Read More ›

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

This paper illustrates the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use, and integrate, as they begin their journey toward student-centered learning. It also addresses how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals,… Read More ›

Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive

This report looks at the importance of building strong relationships to create a thriving student-centered culture. It includes an overview of the Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework which defines the elements of an effective relationship, as well as the actions and dispositions adults should display, written from the student perspective. It examines results from a 2016… Read More ›

Training Teachers for Competency-Based Learning Classrooms

This article, written by the founder of Matchbook Learning, a non-profit charter school operator in Detroit and Newark, shares best practices for designing teacher professional learning to support a competency-based model. He discusses how they created effective teacher trainings based on three design principals that mirror the competency-based experiences they want to provide students: Deliver training through a… Read More ›

A Practical Guide to Personalization in a Standards-Based World

Often standards in education are seen as a roadblock to personalization. This article offers practical strategies for using essential questions to address standards and create personalization, with examples from varying grade levels and subjects. The author feels essential questions can provide more meaningful and personalized ways to connect students to the content. The article includes specific… Read More ›