Formative assessment is probably one of the most important pieces of good instruction. It allows you to know where you’re students are, which ones need extra help and which ones can work ahead or need an extension. Without formative assessment you are instructing for yourself and not the learners, because if you don’t know where they are, you can’t possibly get … Read More
How the First Five Minutes Can Save Your Lesson Plan
There are a lot of factors that go into the success or failure of any lesson plan. Your students, activities, management, planning, formative assessment, available resources, and probably 1,000 more things I’m not thinking of at the moment. One thing has helped me improve the success rate of my lessons is the first 5 minutes. I have created a simple … Read More
3 Ways To Remove Fear From your Classroom
Most of us have seen or experienced the traditional archaic model of education where a lesson is taught, notes are taken, quizzes or worksheets are handed out and grades are given. While this model works for some students, there are many students that completely shut down in this process. This process of judgement and single chances creates an immense amount … Read More
Stop Making Excuses, and Start Making Changes.
Ok… so let me just start by saying, I am an educator and I have a never-ending amount of respect for the teaching profession and the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that goes into every day you step foot in your classroom. Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and above all, under-appreciated. When our students fail, it’s our fault. When they succeed, it’s … Read More
5 Changes That Saved My Teaching Career
I had the most difficult and challenging year of my life in the classroom last year. I had a ton of management issues, low student performance, and basically anything else that could go wrong went wrong. After a year like that, I knew I had two options: look for another line of work (like Burger King, for example), or … Read More
