Students at Work

Effective learning sparks curiosity. It is an active process, and learning should serve students across disciplines and endure over time. In my class, I want students to master content, but I also want them to learn how to learn. This includes explicitly establishing time management skills, organizational skills, effective written and verbal communication skills, and study skills. It also includes learning about responsibility, self- confidence, integrity, and treating others with respect and kindness.

With my students, I use several creative instructional structures and varied assessment methods intended to increase motivation and confidence through the successful completion of challenging tasks and initiatives. I want my students to be excited, engaged, active, and involved in class, and I believe in the power of adapting to an unexpected, teachable moment.

Students at Work 2021

Currently, I employ a gradual release method of instruction as well as inquiry-based and flipped learning through the use of our classroom homepage. My instructional routines are based on a reading and writing workshop model that allows for modeling, shared reading and writing, guided practice, small group work such as guided reading or comprehension focus groups, individual reading and writing conferences, and individual practice.

Any learning task should require students to apply background knowledge to new content, and should include critical thinking, analysis, and an opportunity for students to creatively demonstrate what they know. Students should be able to connect what they know to new concepts to develop new understanding. When planning for lessons, I consider the following:

  1. Primary learning objective (standards-based)

  2. Big ideas and essential questions based on CCSS learning progressions

  3. Instructional approach based on the interests, needs, and learning styles of my students

  4. Content

  5. Skills and strategies

  6. Real-world application

  7. Personal development of students

Assessment Philosophy

I want my students to work diligently towards goals and to have a way to set goals, measure progress, and reflect on the process of learning. I also want my students' grades/marks and frequent feedback to be truly reflective of what they know, have accomplished, and are able to demonstrate. Further, assessment should be ongoing, consistent, and cumulative.

The process of learning is valuable, and so I monitor individual student growth as measured against him or herself. I like to use baseline data from several sources to assess need, ongoing formative assessments to guide instruction and formative/benchmark assessments to gauge mastery of skills and strategies/learning targets and goals. I don’t expect all students to learn at the same time, at the same pace, or in the same way, which is why I use assessment before, during, and after teaching to truly provide my students' individual needs and to ensure student growth.

Frequently Used Assessment Tools

Running Records, reading responses, annotated text/notes, projects, Google Forms, KaHoot, Today's Meet, Padlet, the question feature on Google Classroom, daily checklists, anecdotal notes, historical data, MAP, common assessments, Pear Deck, Quizizz, Nearpod

Instructional Methods & Structures

  • Digital workflow: Cavas-LMS, Classroom homepage, GAFE, Google Classroom

  • Guided Reading

  • Book clubs

  • Socrative circles

  • Thematic units

  • Student reflection

  • Team and character building activities and challenges

  • Audio-visual presentation teams: Adobe Voice/Slate, Explain Everything, Storehouse, KeyNote

  • Fish-bowl activities and discussion

  • Debates

  • Poetry slams

  • Sorting and trend-based categorizing

  • Text analysis, response, and verbal/digital discussion

  • Graphic organizers and sentence stems

  • Mentor programs with elementary students

  • Letter writing campaigns: companies, athletes, and authors

  • LitFit: Independent reading program and book purchasing system

  • Gamification

  • Partnerships: local politicians, board members, administrators, business leaders

  • Publication projects: poetry magazines, short stories, picture books, wordless books,

  • Time-lining

  • DBQ

  • Speeches

  • TED Talks

  • Podcasts

  • Reader’s theater

  • Digital assessment tools: Google Forms, Socrative, Kahoot, EdPuzzle, Google Docs