Video Highlights: Rae shares the importance of teachers in the classroom. Teachers are better than YouTube—they can foster discussion, facilitate reflection, and ensure learning is not only consumed but experienced. Teachers can ask deeper questions and follow up with personalized feedback. [scroll down to keep reading] About Rae Hughart Rae Hughart is a Middle-Level Math Educator in Illinois, the Chief … Read More
3 Tips for High Quality Student Conferences
TL;DR: Make student conferences a part of your unit arc. Give high quality feedback outside of your conferences. Invite students to lead and give them ownership in conversations about their grade. These tips can support the regularity, efficiency and effectiveness, and student ownership of conferences. For the last half of my teaching career, weekly student conferencing has been a staple … Read More
Teach Resilience.
TL;DR: Sometimes there will be a cheering squad behind you and other times there isn’t. When things get tough, resilience is key to getting through. Intentional discomfort is at the top of the hierarchy of resilience. Mindful moments can help us get through situations of intentional discomfort that create resilience. My 2021 WORD continues to be resilience! Why teach resilience? … Read More
Blended Learning: My Fear for the Future
TL;DR: It is important that educators don’t mistake the model of learning in the past year as true blended learning. When blended learning is implemented properly, educator stress levels will decrease and student success levels will increase. I began teaching with a blended learning approach before anybody really knew what it was. I had always been intrigued by flipping my … Read More
Reinventing Student/Teacher Conferencing in 2021
TL;DR: The purpose of conferencing is generally to discuss a student’s strengths and weaknesses. A structure for effective conferencing with large classes is shared. Questions to ask during conferences can include: What are your questions? In what way can I help you? What will you improve on? Unfortunately, while I had some great teachers in the past (both K-12 and post-secondary), … Read More