A Teacher’s Thoughts

What do students think about when they think about assessment? They may list off the variety of projects, tests and quizzes they face throughout the school year. When asked what their goals are for assessment I bet the answer is something along the lines of “to get a good grade”. This is a closed door [...]

I spent a good deal of time in middle school staring out the windows, often despite the redirections of my teachers to focus on my work. There wasn’t much to look at so if teachers said I wouldn’t learn anything staring outside they were probably right. My classroom now is different. If a kid wants [...]

Those of you who read my blog know that I teach middle school science but I also teach some adult education computer classes for our career and technical center. I’ve been at it now for four years and it is hard not to appreciate the courage some of my students have to come to these [...]

Assignment: Prepare a brief introduction to our school. What makes our school unique? What makes us special? Then come up with two good questions for Astronaut, Clay Anderson. We were asked today during a short flash meeting with Diane Hammond if we would participate in a meeting this Monday with Clay Anderson and six other [...]

I’ve been giving Vicki Davis’ idea of a students as pro learners some thought lately. In a previous post I asked what can I do to allow students to become “pro learners” of science? This is a great question and one that can be applied across disciplines. I think it is so great because it [...]