Tag: standards

Talking About Grading with Larry Ferlazzo

Just recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed once again by Larry Ferlazzo for his amazing BAM Radio Network show, Classroom Q and A. Larry also shared a written commentary I wrote for his EdWeek column that goes with the show on Grading. My commentary focused on gamifying the grading process to make it …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/10/08/talking-about-grading-with-larry-ferlazzo/

NGSS and Enjoying Science

The Science and Engineering Practices

I just read this article on Mindshift, Will New Standards Improve Elementary Science Education, and it made me think of something we teachers talk about often, the natural curiosity that kids come to school with when they first enter school. Something about the way traditional schooling is done to children strips that natural curiosity. In …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/07/11/ngss-and-enjoying-science/

Success Secrets

If you subscribe to Dan Pink’s email updates, his From the Desk on Daniel Pink, then you came across this Jeff Bezos memo that Dan shared on May 15. (Jeff Bezos is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Amazon in case you didn’t know.) I agreed with Dan that Jeff’s memo was totally worth reading. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/05/29/success-secrets/

Response to the Biggest Challenge Science Teachers Face

Just out on Larry Ferlazzo’s EdWeek Blog, Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, is the response to the question about the biggest challenge facing Science Teachers. Last week I shared a link to Larry’s BAM Radio show where I got to share my thoughts on the topic and here’s a link to the follow-up EdWeek blog …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/11/14/response-to-the-biggest-challenge-science-teachers-face/

What is STEM?

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This has worried teachers of the arts and the humanities because at face value it seems to exclude those disciplines. I don’t know it was meant to at first since the STEM fields were competing against the others at a time when our country wanted …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/10/18/what-is-stem-2/

The Core Shifts the Way We Teach

The Common Core English Language Arts (CCSS ELA) standards were developed to provide our kids a relevant, engaging, rigorous education. At the heart of the standards are three major shifts to the way we teach our students. This year I have been fortunate enough to have one of the bloggers on our state’s CoreLaborate blog. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/07/08/the-core-shifts-the-way-we-teach/

Are Standards Bad?

Multiple Choice Testing Tips

What Made Standards Evil? I get it. Ever since No Child Left Behind, education reform has taken a turn for the worst. The mere mention of privatization, vouchers clouded under the guise of choice, charter schools, testing every kid, in every grade level, multiple times, and then making curriculum to prepare kids for the tests …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/02/17/are-standards-bad/

WA Core Advocates

Just this past weekend I attended a Common Core English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) training put together by the Washington Core Advocates from Achieve the Core Student Achievement Partners. Because of my work with the OSPP I was invited to attend this fantastic training. I had the choice of going to the Math training or the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/01/13/wa-core-advocates/

Grading to Inform

There’s a lot of discussion around grading and specifically how traditional grading falls short of informing how well students are doing in a class. Letter grades and percentages do not inform students and their parents as to how well they are learning the material. That one final letter or final percentage includes way too much …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/07/27/grading-to-inform/