Assessment FUN* and Games

*FUN = Focused, Useful, eNgaging

Is the FUN missing in your assessments? Tests may not provoke joy in your students, but these strategies can make assessment more user-friendly than traditional measures. These active assessments are informative, engaging, responsive, support student ownership, and of course, aligned with learning intentions.

SPOT THE FAKE

Choose the real news item from the list and defend your selection:…

When we talk about educating ALL students, our calling is to include the brilliant and the disabled, the rich and the poor, the global citizen and those who remain rooted in the community of origin. Sometimes we have difficulties having conversations about these groups as well. But anecdotal data reveal that it is almost treacherous to open a conversation about race.  Before working to change that, we are called to question our beliefs about race.  What is it? What do we believe about…

What will be the results from the shrinking childhood today's children are experiencing? We hope people will not passively wait and see what the lasting effects will be. We urge educators to begin considering this issue and make proactive decisions. Teachers of the early grades have found themselves responsible for more and more academics and increasingly numbers of schools have limited or eliminated recess as the academic press took hold. Recess and physical education were places…

How can teachers help students develop problem-solving skills when they themselves, even though confronted with an array of problems every day, may need to become better problem solvers? Our experience leads us to conclude that there is an expertise in a certain kind of problem-solving that teachers possess but that broader problem-solving skills are sometimes wanting.There are a few reasons why this happens. One reason may be that teacher preparation programs remain focused on how to…

Helping Students Think outside the Box

Every teacher that wishes to teach his students how to write properly will mostly focus on assigning projects/papers. Teachers give deadlines and students are expected to deliver their projects in time. These academic tasks are extremely challenging for students but even so, teachers still consider necessary to force these tasks on all of their students. They actually believe…

Homework is the best example of how educators can improve the use of practice. No matter whether as an educator or a parent, homework as practice remains a standard that might serves many purposes. Teachers use homework to offer students a chance to reinforce what they have learned and what they complete contributes, most often, to a grade. Parents use homework to see what their children are learning and some use it to become partners in the learning experience. Interesting, if it…

 Schools, their students, teachers and leaders, hold the future of this country in their hands.  Yes, it sounds like hyperbolic, but it is not.  The fiscal environment of education combined with changing demographics over the last decade or so coexisting with expanding career options and economic shifts has led to declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs. As a…

Restorative justice dates back to the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (@1700 B.C.) where it was believed that any crime harmed the whole community. In nursing, it refers to a healing process where the treatment is responsive to an identified need. In classrooms, restorative practices foster a positive school climate and culture empowering students as problem solvers and owners of learning. …

Last week, a retired schoolteacher left a comment on one of my articles, probably the saddest comment I’ve seen.

 He retired after 30 years, then two years later he returned as a substitute. He said that he could feel the additional decline that had taken place in that short time. Another teacher commented by way of explanation: “The…