We are up to the fifth question of last week’s #mschat and this one deals with motivation. The question of motivating students is another one that is near and dear to my heart and I was pretty excited when I found out it was going to be part of the #mschat. Now that I am […]
Read more "How are students motivated if behavior is not part of the grade?"This post is the fourth in a series of reflection posts from last week’s #mschat on Twitter. When the fourth question came up in #mschat, I immediately rushed to the conclusion that the ‘behaviors’ in question were negative ones. Behaviors such as yelling, disruption of other students’ work, falling asleep, defiance, aggression and/or anger towards […]
Read more "Should behaviors be included a grade? Why or Why not?"Before I start with my reflection today I want to begin with a comparison from Carnegie Mellon University Eberly School for Education’s definition of summative assessment. I’m putting this at the top of this post for anyone to refer back to and compare some of my thoughts and Twitter posts by #mschat participants. Why Carnegie […]
Read more "What is the Role of Summative Assessment with regard to grading?"My reflection on #MSchat Question 2: So yesterday I started writing about my expanded thoughts and ideas of #mschat on Twitter thursday night. The chat focused on grading and some of the issues that teachers are forced to think about (but might not always). It was my original intention to write about all six questions in […]
Read more "What is the role of formative assessment with regard to grading?"Grading has been a hot topic recently. I was in a Twitter chat last night (#mschat) that focused the entire hour on some of the issues and concerns about teacher grading policies. Since my office has construction workers cutting a hole in my exterior wall today, I’m not going to be able to write that […]
Read more "What is the purpose of grading?"Yesterday I was writing about the amount of work that teachers bring home with them and how it is adversely affecting them to the point of causing, or at least contributing to, teacher burnout. I feel compelled today to expand on that conversation and provide some deeper inquiry and insight to my thoughts. You can […]
Read more "Why taking grading home with you is part of a much bigger problem."Teachers have this nasty habit of not being able to stop thinking about their work. Even during the holidays you might see a teacher at a Thanksgiving dinner steering the conversation to what they are currently doing in class to ask for input from those around the table. You might even see that same teacher […]
Read more "Why you should leave your work at school at least twice a week."If you are new to teaching, you’ve probably had dozens of veteran teachers tell you that having your daily agenda posted in a highly visible place is essential to having regular success in your class. They’re right, you know. An agenda board is not just for your students to have a reference point for the […]
Read more "Agendas in the classroom. Use them."Most teachers have encountered a class that starts off a bit rambunctious and needs some extra convincing to get down to business. I have seen a whole host of different techniques over the years that have all worked to varying degrees of success. Usually it depends on the teacher in question but often the tactic employed has just […]
Read more "How to get a classrooms’ attention."Teachers as a whole, are generally considered to be prompt, fastidious perfectionists that are maniacal about the inner workings of their classrooms. Some teachers feel the compulsion to arrive at work at the crack of dawn and settle in and begin preparing lesson plans, photocopying, and classroom organization hours before the first student walks into […]
Read more "Why teachers should get to school early."
peter spiegel 