Separating the Facts from the Myths in the Competency-Based High School Transcript
This article discusses many misconceptions about competency-based transcripts. As more schools and districts move towards mastery-based assessment systems, transcripts must capture student learning in a fuller way. However, many families, students, and members of the community have concerns that these new transcripts will be hard to read or hurt students’ chances of getting into college.… Read More ›
Let Teens Lead in Makerspaces
This article shares ideas and techniques to let students take ownership of a school’s makerspace in order to develop engagement and personalized learning in a library setting. Letting teens take charge of how they use the materials and the space will change the role of the educator, or librarian to become a guide to help students take… Read More ›
Creating a Student Centered Choir Classroom
It happens at every concert. I mentally recite all of the cues and gestures that I need to remember. The stress surmounts moments before my choir takes the stage with thoughts of “what if they don’t follow my crescendo here” or “I hope they listen for that key change.” And then in the performance, the… Read More ›
Student-Centered Planning
This article explores the importance of planning instruction tailored to students’ needs and interests. The author asserts that learners’ involvement begins with how inviting the lesson appears to them. This is influenced by their: readiness, interests, and learning preferences. When planning a lesson, teachers should considers all of these and make sure the lesson appeals to,… Read More ›
Cult of Pedagogy
This website, created by an ELA teacher and pre-service professor, is dedicated to creating a community of teachers to support each others efforts to improve practice. It features a blog, podcast, videos, and online pd. The blog, which is the main focus of the site, can be searched by topic area or explored through three sections:… Read More ›
Using Cooperative Learning to Increase Engagement and Understanding in Mathematics
Do you ever feel that your students aren’t engaged enough in the content you are currently teaching? As if the material is going right over their heads? That you’re trying your best to make your material is relevant, interactive and fun, but it still doesn’t seem to click? I, like many other math educators, have… Read More ›
Youth Leading Youth and Transforming Education
GripTape is an organization that lets go. We let go of the common notion that young people are only capable of certain things. We let go of the fear that young people may not care. Working with an organization that has so much faith in young people, such as myself, has given me so much… Read More ›
How Giving Students Feedback Through Video Instead of Text Can Foster Better Understanding
This article describes how several teachers have shifted from providing written to video feedback for students. Ongoing feedback is an important part of formative assessment. This article looks at the advantages of using video to deliver this feedback and provides links to websites and tools for teachers who would like to get started. This assessment… Read More ›
Paper Tweets Build SEL Skills
In this article, an ELA teacher shares a strategy that can be used to build positive classroom culture and SEL skills or applied as a formative assessment technique. The author shares how she used the structure of twitter to engage students in a public written conversation, creating a “paper twitter board” on her classroom wall.… Read More ›
School Counselors: An Integral Part of School Change
If students are the heart of education, then school counselors are undoubtedly the ears. Counselors listen to students and work to empower them. This means counselors are core to helping students understand their agency in life and in learning, as well as developing their social and emotional skills. As schools plan for student-centered shifts in… Read More ›
How Podcasts Can Improve Literacy
This article, written by a veteran educator, describes how podcasts can be used as a strategy to boost literacy. This teacher found that listening to podcasts and ready transcripts helped English Language Learners is his class, and that all his students benefited. Bringing podcasts and transcripts into the classroom is also an easy and low-cost… Read More ›
Case Study: Lindsay High School Transforms Learning for English Language Learners with Personalized, Competency-Based Education in California
This article features Lindsay High School, which implemented a competency-based education model that focuses on advancing student mastery and student agency. In addition, this resource contains the links to a series of blogs that highlight different promising practices for teaching and learning for ELLs. Each case study addresses core principles for next-generation learning for ELL… Read More ›