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Skill + Confidence = WIN!
As a teacher in the nineties, the focus in our classrooms was self esteem. Self esteem is important and I have done my fair share of helping others believe in themselves. But like many initiatives,...
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What's in a Name?
CommonCore Standards … College and Career Readiness Standards … Corporate takeover of our schools … evil incarnate … the greatest change in education in the past 9,000 years …Over the past two...
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Procedures Are Not Enough
My husband asked me to return something to a local craft store recently. Upon arriving at the store I handed the clerk my receipt, which she promptly allowed the computer to scan. The computer beeped...
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Calculators or No Calculators: That Is the Question
I was recently contacted by an instructional coach from a school district where I work regularly. She and her teachers were working on math units aligned to common core. They were trying to determine...
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Keeping Learning Learning 'Afloat' in a Time of Limited Resources
Even with limited resources, effective educators keep learning ‘afloat’ through the Common Core, free technology tools, school resources, community members, and a little ingenuity to ensure that rigor...
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Sparking Conversations with PhotoSpark
A repost from my original website: http://choosing2learn.com Sparking conversations is something that doesn’t come naturally for everyone. In fact, as I look at my four children, several of them love...
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The One Thing I Want My Grandchildren’s Teachers to Know About Reading
The One Thing I Want My Grandchildren’s Teachers to Know About ReadingOn a blustery, cool, March morning in 2005, my first grandchild, Evie, arrived. Naturally I was elated with the prospect of...
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Literacy strategies and book sites for Social Studies
Feeling a bit uneasy about how to respond to the Common Core Literacy Standards for History / Government? Struggling with what that looks like? Need a few ideas and suggestions for integrating reading...
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Common Coring the River
Common Coring the RiverBy Robi Alstrom Between softball tournaments, changing jobs, and house shopping, little time remained for family vacation this past summer. We had planned to do a little camping,...
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Using the New Kansas Early Learning Standards to Make Every Moment Matter
by Carianne Short As I look at the draft of the NEW Kansas Early Learning Standards I can’t help but notice that they are well aligned with the common core standards, provide achievable benchmarks for...
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Motivating for Mastery: it starts with a simple question
So you want your students to master your class content faster? What teacher doesn't?Here's my proposal:Have less drill and practice (I'm looking at you, worksheet wranglers and you,...
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Perseverance, Effort, and Success
The last couple of weeks I have spent a good deal of time in school districts working with teachers and building leaders to improve teaching and learning. In each instance, we have spent time...
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Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Harvey Dent’s Thoughts on ‘Smarter’ Assessments
In the year 1989, I was just a kid, and Batman was practically a god. This was largely due to the fact that the movie directed by Tim Burton—starring Michael Keaton as the Caped-Crusader and Jack...
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CGI and the Common Core: How Do They Connect?
Recently I attended the Kansas Association of Teachers of Mathematics Conference. While at KATM, I presented Cognitively Guided Instruction and the Common Core: How do they Connect? I began the...
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Comparing Fractions in the Common Core
How did you learn to compare fractions? I learned to find a common denominator or change them to a decimal. Have you thought about other ways? Consider how the understanding of a unit fraction can...
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Common Core and Their Future
I recently watched a Tennessee high school senior present to his Board of Education why the common core standards are not appropriate for schooling and it brought up some emotions and thoughts that...
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Critical Transformations and the CCSS
Carol Ann Tomlinson, well known for her work with Differentiated Instruction, tells a story about teaching grammar to 12-year-olds. Concerned one day in class that a particular girl was unresponsive...
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iPad Apps and the C4 Framework for Social Studies
I spent most of the day today talking iPads with K-12 teachers in all contents. But I have to admit - my favorite part of the day was the two hours spent with social studies teachers.We chatted about a...
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Teaching Students to ACE Your Questions
The Common Core State Standards have placed a renewed emphasis on using evidence. Anchor Standard #1 for Reading requires students to “. . . cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to...
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Digitally Relevant Literacy Instruction for the 21st Century
It was only my fifth year or so of teaching when I first heard myself say…“Kids today are different!” I was startled to hear it come out of my mouth, since this was a phrase that I had—until that...
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