transformED
It's May. It's spring in Colorado. My 6th graders are starting to sound, smell, and act like ... 7th graders. Sunshine and storms trade places depending on the day, so outdoor recess is not a given. Energy is high and motivation is a struggle. Summer is just around the corner and weeks, days, and hours away. Many instructional hours away.
Hey John,
Last week, I got the opportunity to attend the 2nd annual NSTA Conference on STEM. For those unaware, STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, shorthand for trying to get kids interested in technical fields.
I don't have a ton of time to write today -- I've spent the past week teaching and learning alongside of some really progressive thinkers in Australia -- so I figured I'd share a few handouts that I've been using in class this year to teach nonfiction reading skills in my sixth grade science classroom.
Debates continue to swirl over the use of student test scores—and any number of statistical models—to assess which teachers are effective or not. Fueled by the priorities of the U.S. Department of Education (including its Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waiver rules), 40 states are now using some form of value-added (VA)1 or student growth (SG)2 models in their new teacher evaluation systems.
It seems to me that too many educational reformers are simply terrified about a zombie horde of so-called ineffective teachers shambling toward our city’s children, moaning, “Brains!” It seems to me that the National Council on Teacher Quality may be falling into t
I just spent a glorious day at the Mississippi NBCT Summit on the campus of the University of Mississippi.
The highlight of the summit was a pinning ceremony for many of this year's Mississippi teachers who achieved Board Certification, which included a husband and wife team!
The summit also featured NBPTS President Ron Thorpe, as well as State Senator Gary Tollison, chair of the MS Senate Education Committee. I was part of a panel that responded to Thorpe's remarks and offered our own take on the future of teaching in Mississippi.
Are we creating a worthy enough future for education?
Late last week, I wrote a piece titled How Testing Will Change What I Teach Next Year. In it, I detail the 48 DAYS that I spent teaching high level skills -- things like interpreting nonfiction text, evaluating the reliability of online sources, and building new knowledge through collaborative dialogue -- that are in my curriculum but that WON'T be covered on the new high-stakes multiple choice tests that our state is using to evaluate teache
I've posted this entry over at EdWeek on the Teaching Ahead blog series about the current debate over whether schools should be preparing all students for college, or should some be prepared to go directly into the workplace, or to other training?
