It was me and two other English teachers. We about had a knock-down-drag-out with a teaching guru visiting our district who told us in no uncertain terms: RUBRICS ARE BAD. We were told that the rubrics were slayers of creativity, that they stunted our students, and moreover, they were for Read more…
So you make a template–with instructions repeated on the template–and they still get confused. I mean, I thought portfolios could have been smooth sailing if I could have just shared a template on on Adobe Spark or Blogger or VoiceThread. I thought Google Slides might FINALLY be able to offer that perfect mix of customization Read more…
They will be here in two weeks. They do speak English, but it is not their first language. They may have traveled to the U.S. before, they may not. One thing is for sure. They have never seen anything quite like Gaston County. It’s as true for our community as Read more…
Badges help my students keep up with their progress–and they like them. But keeping up with badges usually means extra work for me: I’ve made spreadsheets and rubrics, had students submit evidence to earn badges on Google Sites, Livebinders, and Blogger, with links on ForAllRubrics, Seesaw, and Google Classroom. I needed to simplify. So Read more…
I thought we had an understanding. You can use the T-word or WordReference on practice assignments, as long as you put what you look up in bold (or CAPS if it’s a Blogger comment or something that doesn’t allow formatting). And keep it under 10% of what you’re writing. And for interpretive Read more…
“I thought it was really cool, it gave me something to strive for.” “I feel like they are an effective way to let the student know how they are doing.” “I like these because it helps me see my growth.” “They are great because I feel like I learned something.” Read more…
Teaching with interactive notebooks has made me very intentional about how and what I teach. It makes me consider what belongs in a reference resource for a class with no textbook. It makes me break down information into one-page bites and figure out the most direct ways to represent that information. Read more…
#1 – My kids are amazing. They can do so much with the language in Spanish II!#2 – My tasks are a little off level-wise. But my kids are amazing anyway.#3 – AAPPL rubrics are also amazing. I have been extremely satisfied with my decision to switch to Integrated Performance Assessment format Read more…
Switching to proficiency-based evaluation, one of my biggest problems was understanding the breakdown of the different levels and what tasks are actually appropriate for each. Back in the day, I would require paragraphs on Spanish I tests because I thought that’s what rigor meant, not because students had demonstrated readiness Read more…
Students need to be able to access assignments and grades. They need to be able to monitor their progress and locate resources to help them advance. They need information to come to them, something to simplify their responsibilities–not add to them. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a single platform out Read more…