In Part 2 of her article on conferencing with student writers, teacher-author Marilyn Pryle tells how she manages multiple conferences with each student during a class period. The key: give students small manageable tasks they can do on their own.
Moving beyond the five myths of rigor to incorporate true instructional rigor in the classroom is critical in light of the Common Core, says expert Barbara Blackburn, who advocates scaffolding and differentiation to help all students achieve more.
Working Draft / Writing assessment
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 01/15/2014 · Last modified 12/11/2019
MiddleWeb’s ELA blogger Kevin Hodgson is “almost loathe to admit it,” but offers kudos to his state education officials for creating a meaningful resource to help analyze student writing in the context of both classroom and high stakes assessments.
Our chief guideline is the same for articles, book reviews and interviews: Tell our visitors what YOU would want to know if you were the reader, not the writer, and you are looking for ideas, practical tips, inspiration and collegiality.
Reviewer Linda Biondi likes everything about the new edition of Jeff Wilhelm’s popular book on improving comprehension by “thinking aloud.” Lots of examples from the classroom, a DVD with teachers using the strategies in class, and it’s CCSS-aligned.
Teach Smart by PJ Caposey and Todd Whitaker lays out an easy to use guide for how to help each teacher get better at the craft, says reviewer Stephanie Rosch. The short book includes “real life examples of classrooms, practical strategies for any grade level, and black line masters for some of the strategies.”
Reviewer Linda Biondi says Aimee Buckner’s new Nonfiction Notebooks “has been my friend, companion, teacher, and guide as I begin to navigate a new curriculum,” taking the angst out of teaching informational writing and replacing it with confidence.
In her new book Teaching in High Gear, middle school teacher Marsha Ratzel describes a transformational journey, marked by a gradual shift toward student-driven learning and energized by a global network of collaborators. In this excerpt, Marsha describes how her development of a “coaching mode” helped students become more self-reliant learners.
For the 2013 EduBlog Awards we’re defining “best” as among the “especially interesting & attention-worthy.”
Media literacy consultant Frank W. Baker considers some of the ways that media arts intersect with STEM and present STEAM learning opportunities.
