Powerful Learning strategies focuses on three drivers: Strategic Instruction, Authentic Engagement, and Connecting and Contributing.
Using Student Choice to Support Motivation Chase Nordengren, author of Step into Student Goal Setting book, writes ‘no matter how your classroom is designed or how much authority you exercise over students, they always retain the most important decision: the choice to engage in learning.’ It got my attention. Many educators face this dilemma of how to engage students in learning. My question is...
Introduction To build better rubrics, it needs to be high quality. According to Karin Hess, author of “6 Key Questions to Better Rubrics”, 3 important qualities of a better rubric are: Describe learning expectations Frame actionable feedback to advance student learning Accurately evaluate student progress over time Creating a better rubric is more than slapping expectations on a...
Focus on Learning Introduction To build commitment to learning in students, you need buy-in from students and staff with school vision, values, and goals. School functioning as Professional Learning Communities uses their mission, vision, values, and goals as successful businesses use Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal (BHAG). Jim Collins (2001), author of Good to Great. states, “a BHAG is “a huge...
Learning Something New Learning Something New Defined Learning something new or inquiry-based learning is about triggering curiosity and tailoring your curriculum to what your students are interested in. Heather Wolpert-Gawron, author of the article “What the Heck is Inquiry-Based Learning?“. notes Inquiry-Based Learning puts a new perspective on an age-old topic. Wolpert-Gawron...
Introduction Have you ever faced this struggle: should I focus on academic content or boost social emotional character development? I am sure educators have encountered this dilemma many times, including myself. With no guidance on the topic, it is hard to know how to teach it to students. I have been thinking about social emotional learning for some time. I came across an article “Making...
Voice and Choice Voice and Choice are the two core tenets of Student-Center-Learning, according to Christa Green and Christopher Harrington, authors of the “How Implementing Voice and Choice Can Improve Student Engagement” article. Green and Harrington explore voice and choice in depth “to understand why implementing Student-Centered principles into the learning environment can...
The Building Blocks of Project-Based Learning Lesson Plan Check List for PBL Jennifer Pieratt, author of Project-Based Learning: Assessment and Other Dirty Words, provided some tips to help you integrate assessment best practices into your projects, while also helping you uphold rigor and student engagement: Start With The End In Mind Build Your Rubric Rows Benchmark Deliverables Calendar It Out...
Introduction True student ownership begins when the teacher looks at assessment from the point of view of the student. That is assessment for learning. Robert Crowe and Jane Kenney define the student’s ability to understand when they are learning and struggling, as assessment. It directly relates to the learning as determined in the curriculum, and to the strategies as determined in...
Effective Instructional Practices In today’s changing school environment, it is important to ensure students learn. Learning is a process that needs good teaching methods that fit each student’s needs. This blog post will talk about instructional practices. It will show why they matter for creating a good learning environment. Also, it will share simple strategies that teachers can...
Effective Instruction Classroom Choas. According to the article “The Elements of Effective Instruction” by the Great Schools Partnership, five key elements of instructional practice work hand in hand to boost student engagement, ultimately leading to enhanced student outcomes and achievements. These elements also lay the groundwork for encouraging students to take ownership of their...
What Students Know and Do Curriculum Crowe and Kennedy describe curriculum as what students are expected to know and do by the end of a lesson, unit, or course. It all starts with grasping the essential content and skills that learners should master. The standards shaped by curriculum and learning objectives derived from state expectations provide a solid foundation for educational goals...
Student Ownership Student ownership is defined as a mindset, according to Robert Crowe and Jane Kennedy, authors of Developing Student Ownership Supporting Students to Own Their Learning through the use of Strategic Learning Practices. Authors describe students with an ownership mindset who know they have the authority, capacity, and responsibility to own their learning. The Look and Sound of...
Two Key Components Rigor Two Components in Path to Rigor The Path to Rigor has two components-complexity and autonomy. This is according to authors Carla Moore, Michael D Toth, and Robert J Marzano, The Essentials for Standards-Driven Classrooms. Complexity, authors define, is the cognitive load required by the standard. There are four levels in Marzano’s taxonomy: Retrieval, comprehension...
What is Student Engagement? Introduction Strengthen student engagement, author Dr. Richard D Jones, is based on Engagement-Based Learning and Teaching. It is an approach that provides the foundation for developing and strengthening student engagement and the learning process. Dr. Jones built the foundation through specific principles, habits, skills and strategies. There are three domains of...
Standards Based Planning Process includes planning lessons and units built on standards, and creating assessments that measure student progress toward standards.
Thinking Tool Kit Thinking Tools Promote Higher Literacy Thinking tools are cognitive strategies, including planning and goal-setting, tapping prior knowledge, making connections, forming interpretations, reflecting, and evaluating that experienced readers and writers used to construct meaning from and with texts according to Carol Booth Olson, author of Thinking Tools for Young Readers and...