The topic of teacher evaluations often stirs a mix of anxiety and debate among educators. I feel the stress and anxiety in classrooms all around the country. While these assessments aim to measure teaching effectiveness, they tend to (more often than we’d all like to admit) promote a culture of “performance” lessons—special classes designed to impress school leaders. This raises … Read More
Using Videos To Communicate with Stakeholders
TL;DR: Using videos to communicate with stakeholders is an underused tool that provides many benefits! You can record and edit videos easily on your smartphone, and share with stakeholders by posting on your LMS, social media, or even sending a letter with a QR code link to the file. Don’t spend too much time making your videos perfect; just be … Read More
Instruction in the New Normal
TL;DR: To prepare for any scenario, materials, lessons, and activities should be accessible to students anywhere and anytime. Teachers should create non-time dependent instructional plans that flow from one learning environment to another. Utilizing mastery and standards based grading to focus on targeted objectives provide a pathway to success. Things Are Different Now. No matter how you look at education … Read More
Inquiry Focused Classrooms
TL;DR: An introduction to inquiry-focused classrooms. 3 simple questions educators can ask to determine the inquiry level in their classroom. Quick suggestions to increase inquiry in the classroom. What’s an Inquiry-Focused Classroom? While the term “inquiry” is pretty popular in education, I think sometimes it gets a bit overcomplicated. Inquiry learning can be a powerful tool that supports many other … Read More
Growing Your PLN Through Podcasting
In This Post: The benefits of having a wide Professional Learning Network, or PLN. Ways podcasts can help build your PLN as a listener, guest, or host! In my work with teachers across the country, something that constantly comes up is how to effectively grow your “PLN” or “Professional Learning Network”. More than ever this has become a staple in … Read More