Find joy every day. Your attitude and positive ways of engaging students will brighten the hours you spend with your class. Fill your classroom with positive energy. The site Big Life Journal provides growth mindset ideas and free resources, as well as purchasable materials. Subscribe for free! Display student work that shows each student’s best… Read More »
The four parts remain the same across learning math concepts: Plan and Organize skim and preview tasks breakdown the parts decide how to proceed Self-Monitor check your progress troubleshoot problems ask for help when truly ‘stuck’ Self Reflect assess our strategies Think-Pair-Share-Compare with others Direct Our Own Learning know what we know know what we… Read More »
Metacognition is thinking about our thinking. It’s the driving force behind effective learning for kids from age 3 to high school and advanced learning and on through a productive life. As with growth mindset, it requires us to engage in a healthy struggle as we each develop this valuable life-long tool. We must think about… Read More »
Close Reading is defined as thoughtful, critical analysis of a text to focus on and look at significant information to develop a deep, precise understanding. Close reading requires spending extra time on text. After two initial read-throughs, a third reading is needed to analyze and evaluate the text. Obviously not every text needs to be… Read More »
I recently read an article on edutopia.org, the George Lucas Educational Foundation site, about Brain-based Learning. What follows are some of their thoughts and tips with my two cents added in. Tip #3 All ages of students need positive and constructive feedback rather than praise that says. “That’s nice. I like it.” It’s important to… Read More »
A friendly reminder and chart of student tasks. These help kids take on responsibility while kind of freeing up adults.
The more meaningful the activity, the more engage the students. Connections to their lives and their background of information helps. Allow students to control as much of their learning as possible. That doesn’t mean to make it easy. It means to make it meaning-filled so they use skills they have developed or are in the… Read More »
Over the past few years I’ve written lots of math games for Grades 1-6. It started when I taught math and wanted to provide kids with opportunities to work on various skills on their own or with a partner when they had free time or after they’d completed their assignments. Eventually they became part of… Read More »
Lots happens between kindergarten and third grade: students learn to read and write, develop basic math skills and become independent learners. So, what do these look like?? Here are a few details to look at when deciding if a child is ‘at grade level’. Of course, we all learn at different pacesm, but these are… Read More »
Bloom’s Taxonomy has ordered 6 levels of critical thinking; they build on each other from basic remembering to creating ideas based on learnings. Here are nutshell versions of the skills they introduce and attempt to develop through repeated use. (For more details google Blooom’s Taxonomy and you’ll find more information that you might use in… Read More »