Icebreakers that Rock 23Jul2015 by Jennifer Gonzalez Too many icebreakers require students to take massive social risks with people they barely know. Or they don’t really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy. Here are three that are actually good.
3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive 1Apr2015 by Zaretta Hammond Google “culturally responsive teaching” and you can find a dozen videos of well-meaning teachers leading some call-and-response chant about exponents or rapping about the Boston Tea Party while students sit back and giggle.
7 Easy Ways to Support Student Writing in Any Content Area 6Mar2015 by Jennifer Gonzalez It’s not all that complicated, and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming, either. You don’t need an English degree to get really good at helping students build writing proficiency in your content area.
Could You Teach Without Grades? 20Feb2015 by Jennifer Gonzalez There’s a new movement of teachers who are giving up traditional grading and finding different ways to measure student learning. Starr Sackstein is at the front of the pack, and in a new podcast episode, she tells me how it all works.
Meet the Single Point Rubric 4Feb2015 by Jennifer Gonzalez The practice of using single point rubrics is slowly but surely catching on. Try one for yourself and let us see it!
In Praise of Think-Pair-Share 13Jan2015 by Jennifer Gonzalez Celebrating Think-Pair-Share, the Little Strategy That Could, and sharing some best practices for making it work for you.
Are You Really Connecting with Your Students? 17Dec2014 by Jennifer Gonzalez James Sturtevant’s book, You’ve Gotta Connect, is full of practical, actionable advice and tools to strengthen the quality of your connection with students.
Should You Give Timed Math Tests? 26Nov2014 by Jennifer Gonzalez A homeschooling mom gives her son timed math tests, but they cause him some anxiety. Should she stop? What does the research say about timed math tests?
How to Teach an Inductive Learning Lesson 17Sep2014 by Jennifer Gonzalez Instead of saying, “Here is the knowledge; now go practice it,” inductive learning says, “Here are some objects, some data, some artifacts, some experiences…what knowledge can we gain from them?”
