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California Teaching Performance Expectations 

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California Teaching Performance Expectations 

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California Common Core Standards for Math

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California Common Core Standards for Math

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Disclaimer: On this page you can find the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts. The standards are temporarily located on this page while we work to address technical challenges with CoreStandards.org. Thank you for your patience and we will share an update on CoreStandards.org when we have one.
English Language Arts Standards English Language Arts Standards (ADA Compliant) Mathematics Standards Mathematics Standards (ADA Compliant)

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Disclaimer: On this page you can find the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts. The standards are temporarily located on this page while we work to address technical challenges with CoreStandards.org. Thank you for your patience and we will share an update on CoreStandards.org when we have one.

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The National Education Association (NEA) is more than 3 million people-educators, students, activists, workers, parents, neighbors, friends-who believe in opportunity for all students and in the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society.

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Informal assessments (also called authentic or alternative) allow teachers to track the ongoing progress of their students regularly and often. While standardized tests measure students at a particular point in the year, ongoing assessments provide continual snapshots of where students are throughout the school year. By using informal assessments, teachers can target students' specific problem areas, adapt instruction, and intervene earlier rather than later.

Ongoing assessments are particularly important for English language learners (ELLs). Standardized tests in English do not usually reflect ELLs' true content knowledge or abilities. Yet informal assessments can provide a more well-rounded picture of their skills, abilities, and ongoing progress. Today's No Child Left Behind legislation requires that meticulous records be kept on the progress of ELLs. Having these records will make it easier when questions of program placement, special services, and grading arise.

There are two commonly used informal methods: performance-based assessment and portfolio assessment. Both methods utilize typical classroom activities to measure progress toward curricular goals and objectives. These activities can be monitored and recorded by teacher observation and student self-assessment.

Performance-based assessments

Performance-based assessments are based on classroom instruction and everyday tasks. You can use performance-based assessments to assess ELLs' language proficiency and academic achievement through oral reports, presentations, demonstrations, written assignments, and portfolios.

These assessments can include both processes (e.g., several drafts of a writing sample) and products (e.g., team projects). You can use scoring rubrics and observation checklists to evaluate and grade your students. These assessment tools can help document your ELLs' growth over a period of time.

Here is a sample language and academic assessment form that you can complete on a monthly basis to learn about the overall academic and English proficiency progress of your ELLs. If there is an ESL or resource teacher at school assisting your ELLs, you can share this assessment of the ELL's progress during the past month.

When using performance-based assessments, it is important to establish clear and fair criteria from the beginning. It might be helpful to develop these criteria in conjunction with other teachers or specialists at your school. Performance-based assessments promote a wide range of responses and do not typically produce one single, correct answer. Therefore, evaluation of student performances and products must be based on teacher judgment, using the criteria specified for each task. Here is a sample oral scoring rubric.

You can also develop assessment (and instructional) activities that are geared to your ELLs' current level of English proficiency. Performance-based assessment activities can concentrate on oral communication and/or reading. Here are examples of commonly-used activity types designed for assessing speaking or reading:

Reading with partners

Retelling stories

Role playing

Giving descriptions or instructions using visual or written prompts

Oral reporting to the whole class

Telling a story by using a sequence of three or more pictures

Completing dialogue or conversation through written prompts

Debating, either one-on-one or taking turns in small groups

Brainstorming

Completing incomplete stories

Playing games

When using performance-based assessments with beginner and intermediate English proficiency level ELLs, it is best to assess no more than three items at a time. For example, in one role play activity, you might assess ELLs' abilities to:

1. Respond to "what" and "where" questions

2. Ask for or respond to clarification

3. Read addresses or telephone numbers

Portfolio assessments

Portfolios are practical ways of assessing student work throughout the entire year. With this method, you can systematically collect descriptive records of a variety of student work over time that reflects growth toward the achievement of specific curricular objectives. Portfolios include information, sample work, and evaluations that serve as indicators for student performance. By documenting student performance over time, portfolios are a better way to crosscheck student progress than just one measure alone. Portfolios can include:

Samples of written student work, such as stories, completed forms, exercise sheets, and descriptions

Drawings representing student content knowledge and proficiencies

Tapes of oral work, such as role-playing, presentations, or an oral account of a trip

Teacher descriptions of student accomplishments, such as performance on oral tasks

Formal test data, checklists, and rating sheets

Checklists or summary sheets of tasks and performances in the student's portfolio can help you make instructional decisions and report consistently and reliably. Checklists can also help you collect the same kind of data for each student. In this way you can assess both the progress of one student and of the class as a whole. This sample math development checklist is an example of how you can organize your data collection for each ELL.

In addition, here are a few ways that your ELLs can have an active role in the portfolio process:

Students can select samples of their work and reflect on their own growth over time.

You can meet with ELLs to develop their goals and standards, such as with this sample writing criteria chart.

Together with students, you can set tangible, realistic improvement goals for future projects.

Students - as a class, in groups, or individually - can create their own rubrics.

Assessing content knowledge

ELLs need to learn grade level academic content even though they are still in the process of learning English. Even if ELLs are at the beginning or intermediate stages of English language development, you can still use their thinking ability and challenge them with content knowledge activities. ELLs need your help to exercise their critical thinking skills - such as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation - in order to succeed in school during all stages of English language development.

It is possible to assess ELLs' understanding of math, science, social studies, and other content areas somewhat independently of their level of English proficiency. The following assessment techniques can help you adapt assessments to reduce English language difficulties while you assess ELLs' actual content knowledge. These techniques can be used separately or simultaneously as needed.

Scaffolding assessments allow ELLs to demonstrate their content knowledge through exhibits or projects, drawings, and graphic organizers. Consider giving ELLs extra time to complete these tasks, or to give short responses.

Differentiated scoring scores content knowledge separately from language proficiency. To score content knowledge, look at how well ELLs understand key concepts, how accurate their responses are, and how well they demonstrate the processes they use to come up with responses.

You can use a content area progress form with the above techniques to rate your ELLs' overall content achievement in class. You will need separate forms for math, science, and social studies performance.

It is important to note that if students are being instructed in content in one language (e.g., English), they should not be assessed on that content in another language, even if it is their native language.

For more information on assessing ELLs in general, visit the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory (LAB) website.

Read about assessing fluency.

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Using Informal Assessments for English Language Learners

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Informal assessments (also called authentic or alternative) allow teachers to track the ongoing progress of their students regularly and often. While standardized tests measure students at a particular point in the year, ongoing assessments provide continual snapshots of where students are throughout the school year.

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Strategies for Meeting All Students' Needs

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Strategies for Meeting All Students' Needs

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Whether you're a special education teacher or not, you likely teach students who are on the autism spectrum or who have learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety disorders, or emotional disabilities.

Differentiating instruction for such students can be challenging. But as an urban middle school teacher with more than 30 years of experience, I've identified some strategies that increase the chances that we're meeting all students' needs on a daily basis.

Collaborate with colleagues. I currently work with a teacher team that is well-synchronized when it comes to serving diverse learners.

As a learning disabilities teacher, I ensure that, from day one, all teachers are familiar with our 6th grade students' individualized education plans (IEPs) and necessary modifications.

Two sections of students in our grade are co-taught by special education faculty and content-specific teachers. Our paraprofessional and I alternate each day between the two sections. We move from class to class alongside our students, carrying binders with copies of all student materials so that we can co-teach alongside our colleagues.

Throughout the year, I co-plan with teachers, discussing tests, quizzes, projects and just day-to-day routines. We work on progress reports, reflect on our teaching strategies, and share concerns about students who may be struggling.

Cultivate consistency. For some of our 6th grade students, the shift to middle school is their first experience with "changing classes" throughout the day. Some consistency across classes can be helpful for students who have IEPs and those who simply need familiar routines and structure.

In each class, the general education teacher posts an agenda for the day on the board. And all classes begin with some kind of opportunity for students to review material or make the bridge to a new topic. A "science starter," for example, might require students to describe what phase of the moon occurs during a solar eclipse, or math class may begin with a quick problem that asks students to translate fractions into decimals. This provides all students with the opportunity to connect the class with previous learning.

The homework, posted on the board, is always explained verbally and accompanied by reminders to "take out your agendas and copy this down." Co-teachers circulate the classroom to ensure each student is copying information correctly.

We use common policies and procedures across classes. For example, if students forget to turn in major projects or take tests when they are absent, they'll find an "IOU" task listed on the blackboard.

Develop a student-centered mindset. Our efforts to boost learning are most effective when we share the same philosophy: It's about the kids, not us.

From the English/language arts teacher to the art teacher, all of us know about students' modifications: "who needs what" for tests, quizzes, classwork, and homework. Most students with learning disabilities (along with many of our English-language learners) use word banks when completing homework, classwork, and tests. For students who have difficulty copying, teachers provide printed copies of all notes, although they expect the students to try note-taking (often a goal in their IEPs). Some readers have access to novels on CDs. In math class, some use math reference sheets, a multiplication chart, and calculator-even on tests.

But a "student-centered mindset" goes beyond initial modifications: We pay close attention to individual students' progress and adjust our approaches throughout the year. If a student is struggling, our response isn't, "Well, that doesn't surprise me!" or "I've done my part-oh well." Instead, it's, "Why is this student struggling and what can we do to help?"

For example, sometimes it turns out that a student hasn't done her work because she needs a less distracting environment or additional guidance in understanding the project. We respond by offering opportunities for her to get an early start on projects and long-term assignments, both during and after school.

Our 6th grade team also made this decision: If any student performs poorly on a test, we analyze the data, then work with him or her individually or in a small group to re-teach the skills and concepts. Then students have the opportunity to retake the test after school or at lunchtime.

Set aside time to focus on study skills and extra support. Most students with IEPs attend a class that focuses on development of organizational and study skills. We also use this time to review concepts and guide students in understanding homework assignments. Because our paraprofessional and I have been observing and supporting students in all of their classes, we can make strategic decisions about how to structure this time.

Use multiple forms of assessment. Tests are never more than 35 to 40 percent of a child's grade (which also includes consideration of classwork, homework, participation/preparation, and projects). This ensures multiple opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways.

Draw on other professionals' expertise. Serving all students effectively requires us to pull in others promptly when students need specialized assistance. We have to be aware of when it's time to do so-and whom to contact. Our team regularly calls on our speech and language therapist, reading teachers, occupational therapist, school psychologist, and guidance counselors to advise us or to work with students on specific issues.

Partner with families. Last, but certainly not least, it's critical to involve families in the process of reaching all students, as some of my Teacher Leaders Network colleagues have been discussing this month at Teaching Ahead. Our 6th grade team's weekly common planning time provides an opportunity for families to meet with us as a group. We're flexible-if a parent or guardian is unable to come into the school, we set up phone meetings, check-ins with the team over email, and/or weekly progress reports.

I work with a great team this year-and I shudder to think that some of you may be reading this and thinking, "Yeah, this would be useful, if I had different (fill in the blank: administrators, colleagues, support staff, planning time)."

I know what you mean-I've been there-but I also think that you can, as Gandhi put it, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Be the one to push for common planning time (and to use it well). Be a dissenting voice when others say a particular student is a failure. Be the one who inspires colleagues to think outside the box about how to support that student. Be a teacher who is committed to helping all students succeed. You are not alone.

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Strategies for Meeting All Students' Needs

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Whether you're a special education teacher or not, you likely teach students who are on the autism spectrum or who have learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety disorders, or emotional disabilities. Differentiating instruction for such students can be challenging.

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Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives

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Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives

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What is Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes and skills that educators set for their students (learning outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently updated to include the following six levels of learning. These 6 levels can be used to structure the learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments of your course. :

1. Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long‐term memory.

2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure for executing, or implementing.

4. Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.

5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.

Like other taxonomies, Bloom's is hierarchical, meaning that learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. You will see Bloom's Taxonomy often displayed as a pyramid graphic to help demonstrate this hierarchy. We have updated this pyramid into a "cake-style" hierarchy to emphasize that each level is built on a foundation of the previous levels.

You may use this graphic for educational or non-profit use if you include a credit for Jessica Shabatura and citation back to this website.
How Bloom's can aid in course design

Bloom's taxonomy is a powerful tool to help develop learning outcomes because it explains the process of learning:

Before you can understand a concept, you must remember it.

To apply a concept you must first understand it.

In order to evaluate a process, you must have analyzed it.

To create an accurate conclusion, you must have completed a thorough evaluation.

However, we don't always start with lower order skills and step all the way through the entire taxonomy for each concept you present in your course. That approach would become tedious-for both you and your students! Instead, start by considering the level of learners in your course:

1. Are lots of your students freshman? Is this an "Introduction to..." course? If so, many your learning outcomes may target the lower order Bloom's skills, because your students are building foundational knowledge. However, even in this situation we would strive to move a few of your outcomes into the applying and analyzing level, but getting too far up in the taxonomy could create frustration and unachievable goals.

2. Are most of your students juniors and seniors? Graduate students? Do your students have a solid foundation in much of the terminology and processes you will be working on your course? If so, then you should not have many remembering and understanding level outcomes. You may need a few, for any radically new concepts specific to your course. However, these advanced students should be able to master higher-order learning objectives. Too many lower level outcomes might cause boredom or apathy.

How Bloom's works with learning outcomes

Fortunately, there are "verb tables" to help identify which action verbs align with each level in Bloom's Taxonomy.

You may notice that some of these verbs on the table are associated with multiple Bloom's Taxonomy levels. These "multilevel-verbs" are actions that could apply to different activities. For example, you could have an outcome that states "At the end of this lesson, students will be able to explain the difference between H2O and OH-." This would be an understanding level outcome. However, if you wanted the students to be able to "... explain the shift in the chemical structure of water throughout its various phases." This would be an analyzing level verb.

Adding to this confusion, you can locate Bloom's verb charts that will list verbs at levels different from what we list below. Just keep in mind that it is the skill, action or activity you will teach using that verb that determines the Bloom's Taxonomy level.

Bloom's Level

Key Verbs (keywords)

Example Learning Outcome

Evaluate
choose, support, relate, determine, defend, judge, grade, compare, contrast, argue, justify, support, convince, select, evaluate.

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to determine whether using conservation of energy or conservation of momentum would be more appropriate for solving a dynamics problem.

Learning outcome examples adapted from, Nelson Baker at Georgia Tech: nelson.baker@pe.gatech.edu
How Bloom's works with Quality Matters

For a course to meet the Quality Matters standards it must have learning outcomes that are measurable. Using a verb table like the one above will help you avoid verbs that cannot be quantified, like: understand, learn, appreciate, or enjoy. Quality Matters also requires that your course assessments (activities, projects, and exams) align with your learning outcomes. For example, if your learning outcome has an application level verb, such as "present", then you cannot demonstrate that your students have mastered that learning outcome by simply having a multiple choice quiz.

Course level and lesson level outcomes

The biggest difference between course and lesson level outcomes is that we don't directly assess course level outcomes. Course level outcomes are just too broad. Instead, we use several lesson level outcomes to demonstrate mastery of one course level outcome. To create good course level outcomes, we need to ask ourselves: "what do I want the students to have mastery of at the end of the course?" Then, after we finalize our course level outcomes, we have to make sure that mastery of all of the lesson level outcomes underneath confirm that a student has mastery of the course level outcome-in other words, if your students can prove (through assessment) that they can do each and every one of the lesson level outcomes in that section, then you as an instructor agree they have mastery of the course level outcome.

How Bloom's works with course level and lesson level outcomes:

Course level outcomes are broad. You may only have 3-5 course level outcomes. They would be difficult to measure directly because they overarch the topics of your entire course.

Lesson level outcomes are what we use to demonstrate that a student has mastery of the course level outcomes. We do this by building lesson level outcomes that build toward the course level outcome. For example, a student might need to demonstrate mastery of 8 lesson level outcomes in order to demonstrate mastery of one course level outcome.

Because the lesson level outcomes directly support the course level outcomes, they need to build up the Bloom's taxonomy to help your students reach mastery of the course level outcomes. Use Bloom's Taxonomy to make sure that the verbs you choose for your lesson level outcomes build up to the level of the verb that is in the course level outcome. The lesson level verbs can be below or equal to the course level verb, but they CANNOT be higher in level. For example, your course level verb might be an Applying level verb, "illustrate." Your lesson level verbs can be from any Bloom's level that is equal or below this level (applying, understanding, or remembering).

Steps towards writing effective learning outcomes:

1. Make sure there is one measurable verb in each objective.

2. Each outcome needs one verb. Either a student can master the outcome , or they fail to master it. If an outcome has two verbs (say, define and apply), what happens if a student can define, but not apply? Are they demonstrating mastery?

3. Ensure that the verbs in the course level outcome are at least at the highest Bloom's Taxonomy as the highest lesson level outcomes that support it. (Because we can't verify they can evaluate if our lessons only taught them (and assessed) to define.)

4. Strive to keep all your learning outcomes measurable, clear and concise.

When you are ready to write, it can be helpful to list the level of Bloom's next to the verb you choose in parentheses. For example:

Course level outcome 1. (apply) Demonstrate how transportation is a critical link in the supply chain.

1.1. (understand) Discuss the changing global landscape for businesses and other organizations that are driving change in the global environment.

1.2. (apply) Demonstrate the special nature of transportation demand and the influence of transportation on companies and their supply chains operating in a global economy.

This trick will help you quickly see what level verbs you have. It will also let you check that the course level outcome is at least as high of a Bloom's level as any of the lesson level outcomes underneath.

Before you begin constructing your outcomes:

Please read our Learning Outcome : Before and After Examples page.

Additional External Resources:

For a longer list of Bloom's Verbs - TIPS tip: You can also use the "find" function (press: Ctrl-f or command-f on a mac) in your browser to locate specific verbs on this list.

To see how Bloom's can be applied specifically to distance education: Digital Approaches to Bloom's Taxonomy

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Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Outcomes

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Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes and skills that educators set for their students (learning outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently updated to include the following six levels of learning.

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What are examples of strengths in children? Use this list to identify strengths in kids, like character strengths, study strengths, math strengths, and more.

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Identifying and Supporting Homeless Students and Resources

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Identifying and Supporting Homeless Students and Resources

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at risk persons; high risk students; homeless people; foster care

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Identifying and Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness from Pre-School to Post-Secondary Ages | U.S. Department of Education

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This webpage includes information about ED programs that serve homeless children and youth as well as programs in other Federal agencies that serve these young people.

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Teacher Strategies to Promote Learning | Intervention Central

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8. Periodic Review. Once students have mastered a particular academic skill, the instructor will quickly move them on to a more advanced learning objective. However, the teacher should make sure that students retain previously mastered academic skills by periodically having them review that material.

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Universal Design for Learning: Fact Sheet

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Universal Design for Learning: Fact Sheet

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5 Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom

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5 Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom

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Masters in Special Education Degree Program Guide |

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Assistive technology is designed to help students who have learning disabilities. Whether students have physical impairments, dyslexia or cognitive problems, assistive technology can help them to function within the classroom. These tools include any type of equipment or device that helps students to compensate for their learning disabilities. While they are unable to eliminate learning problems entirely, they can help students to capitalize on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Among the most innovative technologies available today, the following five are the most popular.

1. Electronic Worksheets

Students with learning disabilities like dyslexia can use electronic worksheets to complete their assignments. These worksheets help students to line up words, equations and numbers on their assignments. On some of the worksheets, text-to-speech or speech synthesizing technology is even available.

2. Phonetic Spelling Software

For many children with learning disabilities, reading and writing can be a challenge. Phonetic spelling software is designed to automatically convert the student's typing into the word that they intended to write. For alternative reading options, students can always check out audiobooks. With the audiobook, students can follow along in their text and overcome reading difficulties.

3. Talking Calculators

Students who have dyscalculia can benefit greatly from a talking calculator. The gadget makes it easier to check assignments, read numbers and perform calculations. While the talking calculator is a fairly simple tool, it offers an exceptional benefit for students who would otherwise struggle in math classes. Other than talking calculators, students can also check out text-to-voice devices. They function on the same concept of converting written words into an audible track. Students can use these devices to check their spelling or to improve their reading comprehension skills.

4. Variable Speed Recorders

Everyone has a different learning style, and many students struggle with understanding auditory lectures. For these students, a variable speed recorder is an ideal solution. In essence, the student just has to hit record while they are in class. Afterward, the recording can be slowed down or sped up for the student to listen to it again and again. If the pitch of the recording is hard to understand, students can modify the pitch up or down to make their lectures more accessible.

5. Videotaped Social Skills

Autistic children and other children with learning disabilities may struggle to figure out normal social interactions. In the past, the most common way to learn social interactions was to practice them. Unfortunately, many children inadvertently behaved inappropriately as they tried to learn what defined "normal" social interactions. With videotaped social interactions, students can learn important life skills and social behavior without accidentally offending someone. In addition to interpersonal skills, these videos can work for self-help, linguistic, academic and emotional problems as well.

Learning disabilities can manifest in a variety of different ways. From mild disabilities to debilitating problems, these disabilities affect the student's ability to learn and take part in a classroom. Unfairly stigmatized in popular culture, it is now possible to use technology to overcome many learning disabilities. From offering students ways to slow down the lecture to providing talking calculators, these technological devices are able to meet the student's unique needs. With help, students can become the competent, exceptional individuals that they already have the potential to be.

See also: 50 Most Affordable Private Non-Profit Schools for a Master's in Special Education Program 2015

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5 Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom

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Assistive technology is designed to help students who have learning disabilities. Whether students have physical impairments, dyslexia or cognitive problems, assistive technology can help them to function within the classroom. These tools include any type of equipment or device that helps students to compensate for their learning disabilities.

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For the Teachers: Instructional Strategies

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For the Teachers: Instructional Strategies

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Teaching and Learning Resources / Instructional Approaches

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Edutopia: 19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies

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Edutopia: 19 Big and Small Classroom Management Strategies

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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The National Education Association (NEA) is more than 3 million people-educators, students, activists, workers, parents, neighbors, friends-who believe in opportunity for all students and in the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society.

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Teacher Vision: Classroom Management Strategies

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Teacher Vision: Classroom Management Strategies

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16 Classroom Management Techniques You Need for Your Classroom

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How do you manage student behavior? Having a strategic plan based on the type of behavior is key. Managing disruptive behavior is critical to creating an effective learning environment for your students. Learn how to improve behavior in your classroom today with these 16 management techniques and strategies.

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Strategies for Good Classroom Management

My biceps don't bulge and my hair is blond. Intimidation is not my weapon. I am a veteran teacher with 17 years of experience. I have taught senior auto mechanics Shakespeare. In addition to high school students, I have taught middle school students who have had ADHD, students who had parents in jail and students with their own parole officers.

In the real world, students come from all walks of life. They all have problems, and some do not deal well with stress or conflict. I care about my students, but the number one reason they come to school is to learn. They are tested to make sure that I taught them the Ohio English Language Arts Standards, so order must be kept in the classroom.

Of course, students know the classroom rules and school rules. The boundaries are set before work begins. Not all strategies work with every student.
Five Top Strategies to Keep Students Learning in a Calm Classroom Environment
Strategy #5 - Keep the lesson moving.If you have a forty-five minute period, plan three different activities. Try to get them up out of their seats at least once during the class period. Those students with pent up energy will thank you for it.

Strategy #4 - Don't lecture for the whole period. Students who are actively engaged in a learning activity are generally not disrupting the class. Hands-on activities work great for vivacious classrooms.

Strategy #3 - Talk to your students.If you see them in the hall, in the cafeteria or at the grocery store, ask them how they are. If you see a student in the local newspaper, congratulate them. If they do something nice, tell them that you appreciate their kindness. This lets them know that you really do care about them.

Strategy #2 - When students are being disruptive by talking, poking, pulling or crumpling paper, go stand by them. This works best with boys. I have taught from the back of the room by the orneriest boys. This sends them a direct message to stop what they are doing. Most of the time they stop and get back to work.

Strategy #1 - When you have stood by the student, talked to the student and kept them busy with lessons, and they still are disruptive, take them in the hallway. Ask them, "Are you OK?" It has been my experience that they crumble and tell you that they had a fight with their parents, didn't get up on time or are having other issues. If they are defiant, send them on to the principal.In the last five years, I have sent very few kids to the principal's office for classroom disruptions.

Kids are kids. If they are not actively engaged in the lesson, they will become actively engaged in something else - disruptive behavior. Try these five strategies to keep them learning.

This post is part of the series: Classroom Mangagement Tips

These articles all center on ways to help a teacher develop classroom management skills. Tips range from behavior management to management of work and parents.

1. Top Five Classroom Management Strategies - They Really Work

2. How to Deal with Missing Assignments

3. How to Deal with Angry Parents

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My biceps don't bulge and my hair is blond. Intimidation is not my weapon. I am a veteran teacher with 17 years of experience. I have taught senior auto mechanics Shakespeare. In addition to high school students, I have taught middle school students who have had ADHD, students who had parents in jail and students with their own parole officers.

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Building A Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Building A Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Why building a culturally responsive classroom matters for the success of ALL students

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Have you ever watched a movie with the sound off? If you were lucky, you could perhaps grasp the plot, but a lot of the details were lost so you probably didn't enjoy or relate to the film as much as you could have if you had been able to hear it.

Being in a classroom that does not take into consideration the various identities of its students means some students aren't able to fully engage with the content even with the best teaching practices. This inability to fully engage hurts these students.

When this happens, every student in the class loses out. Culturally responsive classrooms help all students because the practices of such a classroom expand all students' views of the world and broaden their cultural understandings.

I have taught AVID, a college readiness class, for eight years at a large suburban middle school in Hawaiʻi. Through these years teaching students from multiple backgrounds, I have found there are few ways to go about creating a culturally responsive classroom.

Probably the most important step, is to step back and carefully examine your own biases and stereotypes. If you want to take it a step further, you can ask your students to tell if you're biased in some ways and try to truly hear them out. Students can help you identify your implicit bias, which you aren't even aware that you hold.

For example, one of my students told me that I don't select boys to hand out papers or stamp planners. The comment really surprised me because I didn't even know I never called on boys to help me with these tasks. The thing is, I had not even considered that this might be something a student would notice.

I thought about why I was doing this. I examined my own stereotype that girls are helpers and more agreeable and eager to take on tasks than boys. I have since allowed students to volunteer to do these tasks.

Another student pointed out that I say, "Listen up, boys and girls," when I want to get their attention or that at times I'd have them get into gendered groupings. "But what if we don't fit in either category?" the student questioned me.

I realized I wasn't taking into account my non-binary, intersex, or transgender students when I gave only two options for gender so I've made a conscious effort to say, "Students" when I address the class. So now when I want to separate them into two groups, I avoid saying "boys vs girls." I choose something arbitrary like the color of their shoes.

Some dos and don'ts for building culturally responsive classrooms:

Other actions you might try are getting to know your students' cultures and families, facilitating learning by allowing student choice, using different cultural references throughout lessons, and teaching social justice and code switching.

I've seen a shift in my students since I've made an effort to have a more culturally responsive classroom. I see more engagement from all my students. My room has become a place where students feel like, no matter who they are, it's normal and accepted to be themselves.

Do you have strategies that you've found successful in creating a culturally responsive and inclusive classroom? Share them below-I'd love to hear them!

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Building A Culturally Responsive Classroom - Achieve the Core Aligned Materials

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Have you ever watched a movie with the sound off? If you were lucky, you could perhaps grasp the plot, but a lot of the details were lost so you probably didn't enjoy or relate to the film as much as you could have if you had been able to hear it.

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Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) 

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Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) 

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If a child doesn't know how to read, we teach.
If a child doesn't know how to swim, we teach.
If a child doesn't know how to multiply, we teach.
If a child doesn't know how to drive, we teach.
If a child doesn't know how to behave, we... teach? ...punish?
Why can't we finish the last sentence as automatically as we do the others?

It's happened so often that it's almost a cliche. Students - whose entire purpose is to learn - are punished for not knowing how to behave, rather than being taught appropriate behavior.

Fortunately, attitudes toward misbehavior in the educational setting are changing. There are more than 131,000 schools ( public and private) in the US, and each of them is unique in terms of school culture and climate. In each of these schools, there are students who struggle with appropriate behavior. Teaching positive and appropriate behavior, instead of punishing misbehavior, is the goal of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, or PBIS. But what is PBIS?

What is PBIS - a Definition

In 1997, an amendment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) included the language, " Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports," which described methods used to identify and support desired behaviors in the school setting.

The educational research community has been developing and studying Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) ever since. PBIS seeks to reduce or eliminate poor behavior schoolwide through the encouragement of positive behaviors.

Improving School Climate

The goal of PBIS is to create a positive school climate, in which students learn and grow. However, school climate can vary widely from school to school. A number of factors affect school climate, including school location, neighborhood culture, instructional methods, student diversity, and school administration.

Changing school climate may seem like a daunting task. Employing the PBIS framework can make the task more manageable. The key to an effective PBIS implementation is an " all-in " mentality among teachers and administrators in a school. For PBIS to produce positive change in a school's climate, it needs to be employed schoolwide and with consistency.

School climate has bearing on attendance rates, academic achievement, and graduation rates. Regardless of socioeconomic status, students in a positive school climate are more likely to have higher test scores and greater academic success. In addition, positive school climate helps students to develop the social and emotional skills they will need to become productive members of society.

In short, positive school climate includes:

A feeling of safety

Respect

Engagement in learning

Involvement in school life

Shared vision

Involvement of teachers, students, and families

Implementing PBIS

It is tempting to label PBIS as simply a behavioral program. This would imply that it is a packaged curriculum designed for use in schools without alteration. However, PBIS is a complete change in how schools employ interventions and discipline. It is more accurate to call PBIS a framework focused on prevention and instruction.

PBIS represents a radical change in thinking about behavior and discipline. Instead of allowing poor behavior to escalate into disciplinary measures, the focus is on teaching and promoting positive behaviors. By building on these positive behaviors, escalations into discipline are reduced.

But how does a school implement a PBIS framework?

What is PBIS - Tiers of Implementation

PBIS uses a three-tier approach. Each of these three tiers has applications to a specific subset of students.

Tier 1 - Most Students

The bulk of PBIS supports fall within Tier 1. Schools begin at Tier 1 by creating a behavior matrix outlining the positive behaviors that they wish to establish schoolwide. Depending on the school, positive behaviors might include simple actions such as walking calmly in line, throwing away trash in the cafeteria, or keeping a neat and tidy locker. As the school staff and students focus on these behavioral goals, negative behaviors begin to lessen. And because teachers are spending less time in disciplining students, instructional time increases.

Approximately 80% of students never need to move beyond Tier 1 in interventions and support.

Characteristics of Tier 1 - Universal or Primary Prevention:

Schoolwide

For all students, staff members, and settings

Designed to reduce problem behaviors

Increases instructional time

Tier 2 - Some Students

For that subset of students (roughly 15%) who struggle with the Tier 1 interventions and supports, Tier 2 addresses at-risk behavior. The specialized interventions and supports at the Tier 2 level help to prevent the worsening of problem behaviors.

These efforts focus on specific groups of students and the underlying issues that may be causing the behavior. Disruptive students may be dealing with social, emotional, or academic issues that result in poor behavior in the classroom. Tier 2 interventions parse out the hidden causes behind negative behavior and provide support in changing those behaviors.

Characteristics of Tier 2 - Secondary Prevention:

Group supports for some students

Specialized interventions for students demonstrating at-risk behavior

Prevents worsening of problem behaviors

Tier 3 - Few Students

Students who do not respond to the interventions and support in Tier 2 receive further individualized supports in Tier 3. These interventions target students who exhibit high-risk behavior. Such interventions might take the form of an individual plan created to address specific academic or behavioral concerns.

The individualized plan for each student at this level may include efforts by special education teachers or school psychologists. Typically, less than 5% of students require Tier 3 interventions.

Characteristics of Tier 3 - Tertiary Prevention:

Individual support for a few students

Specialized interventions for students with high-risk behavior

Designed to reduce severity of ongoing problem behaviors

Establishing PBIS Schoolwide

A successful PBIS framework relies on a commitment from the entire staff, from administration to educators to support staff. It is most effective when adopted schoolwide.

Each school must identify the behavior expectations they want to develop among their students. Ideally, this is a short list of three to five behaviors. As the school identifies these core values, it also decides how those values might look in a variety of settings. For example, showing respect might mean that a student raises his hand in the classroom, follows rules on the playground, and uses table manners in the cafeteria.

The next step in the establishment and identification of these values is instruction. This is accomplished by posting setting-specific actions that align with the behavior expectations as well as intentional instruction in behavior that reflects these values. When students exhibit the desired behaviors, teachers offer recognition of these actions by awarding points. Students can redeem their accumulated points for rewards and/or privileges.

As the school moves through the instructional year, they consistently assess the effectiveness of their PBIS framework. This can include analysis of data such as office discipline referrals, teacher commitment to the program, attendance, and academic achievement.

When used schoolwide, PBIS changes the focus of discipline from punitive measures to positive interactions between students and staff. The positive interactions transfer into stronger relationships between the student and teacher and thus a better learning environment for all students.

Benefits of Schoolwide PBIS

Admittedly, PBIS can feel foreign to those familiar with traditional punitive discipline systems. But adopting a PBIS framework schoolwide can have incredible benefits:

Improves school culture

Builds social skills

Reduces office discipline referrals

Reduces suspensions

Increases instructional time

Improves social and emotional development

Improves school safety

Increases student engagement

Improves academic performance

Increases family involvement

Improves faculty retention

Improves classroom management

Adoption of a PBIS framework has the potential to create radical change in the climate of a struggling school. For educators who are seeking to reach and teach every student in their charge, PBIS makes it possible.

What is PBIS - Common Misconceptions

That's not to say that transitioning into a PBIS framework is simple. Introducing PBIS into a school can mean a certain amount of change for everyone involved. Educators and administrators alike may expect it to be short-lived, like some behavioral programs they have experienced. Students may be wary of this change in focus on behavior. Parents might feel as if the school is turning soft on discipline.

It's important at the outset to understand what PBIS is not.

PBIS is not...

A packaged curriculum

Abandonment of discipline

Bribery for good behavior

Ignoring inappropriate behavior

A quick fix

Just for one type of school

Additional reading: 10 Myths in Implementing and Maintaining a PBIS Program.
Adopting PBIS is a commitment to change. It requires a shift in thinking from all involved, and a willingness to commit to ongoing staff training based on the specific needs of each school community.

It's likely that a school already has initiatives in place that work. PBIS pulls those initiatives together, together with the identified behavior expectations, into a universal model of behavior for the entire school. Because staff within the school develops and defines the framework, teacher buy-in is more likely. It is this buy-in that will power the framework throughout the school year.

Assessing the Effectiveness of PBIS

Implementation of PBIS is only part of the equation. The other part is assessment. As a school implements PBIS in all areas, a wealth of data begins to accumulate. As is the case with most sets of data, there are dozens of ways to parse out the information provided. All assessment should be stacked up against a central question: is our PBIS framework delivering the results we anticipated?

Most schools using a PBIS framework enter into it with the twin goals of improving school climate and reducing office discipline referrals. Evaluating the data allows a school to see what is working and what still needs improvement. Because PBIS is a significant commitment of time, training, and resources, positive, permanent change will continue to take place over the course of several consecutive school years.

Why PBIS?

Many students are not coming to school with the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in the classroom. Punitive measures and zero-tolerance policies are not effective in the long-term. But in an environment in which positive behaviors are taught and recognized, students can develop into solid citizens, both at school and in the community.

PBIS decreases office discipline referrals, increases instructional time, and improves student achievement. It encourages the development of positive teacher-student relationships. In addition, it provides students with the foundational skills they will need for success in life.

Implementing a PBIS framework can have a significant effect on overall school climate. Students are more productive, teachers are happier, and the larger community benefits. Perhaps most importantly, PBIS allows educators to do more of what they love - teach!

Do you want to learn more about PBIS Rewards?

PBIS Rewards is an affordable schoolwide PBIS management system that assists schools in their Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) program. We'd love to show you how easy it is to simplify your PBIS program management. You can request more information or experience a PBIS Rewards demo.
Request a Demo

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If a child doesn't know how to read, we teach. If a child doesn't know how to swim, we teach. If a child doesn't know how to multiply, we teach. If a child doesn't know how to drive, we teach. If a child doesn't know how to behave, we... teach?

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12 Strategies for Self-Assessment in Writing

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12 Strategies for Self-Assessment in Writing

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Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars

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Good writing can be said to be essentially about self-assessment. An author's work is the end result of many rounds of revisions based on self-assessment of earlier drafts.

A review of the literature on self-assessment in writing recently published in the Journal of Research in Reading yields 12 strategies for the use of self-assessment with learners from middle school through adulthood. The study is a synthesis rather than a meta-analysis of previous research on this topic.

Researcher Kristen Nielsen says the process of writing and revising is complex and has been described as a conversation with the writer's self, she writes.

"In this sense, writing requires continual meta-cognition, as writers must learn to assess and evaluate their own idea and expression objectively, as well as their writing process, in order to make continual improvements to writing tasks and further develop as a writer."

Among the advantages of self-assessment is that it is formative rather than summative and it supports the transfer of knowledge which is key to improving writing. Self-assessment encourages "the sort of autonomous mastery of writing strategies needed to overcome the limitations of working memory...," according to the researcher.

Writers must develop their own voice and their own writing process, an evolution that is nurtured by the reflective exercise of self-assessment. Finally, self assessment promotes dialogue between teachers and students and helps students better understand the feedback they receive from their teacher.

Most of the studies included in the author's review were descriptive rather than empirical studies, as is typical of much of the research on writing, Nielsen writes.

Below are 12 strategies for self-assessment that are supported in her review of the literature:

1. Give students direct, explicit and step-by-step training before they carry out self-assessment exercises and include practice time.

2. Help students develop a clear understanding of the aspects of writing they are self-assessing such as tone, attention to purpose, etc. In order for students to evaluate their writing for each of the different aspects, they need to have a clear understanding of the concepts.

3. Use writing models to demonstrate specific writing skills and to give students the opportunity to practice assessment. Writing models can be used independently of self-assessment to reinforce learning of concepts. When they are used as practice for self-assessment, teachers can correct student miscomprehension and modify the exercise as needed.

4. Invite students to participate in developing the criteria for self-assessment exercises. This process helps develop a shared understanding of good writing in the classroom.

5. Increase student motivation in self-assessment by making the self-assessment part of the grade. Positive verbal prompts and guidance also support student motivation. Motivating students is a challenge, but for self-assessment to be meaningful students must be committed to the task.

6. Use self-assessment for formative rather than summative evaluation and not to determine a final grade on an assignment.

7. Provide sufficient independent time and space in class to complete self-assessment exercises. Self-assessment works best in your classroom where you can reinforce a sense of quiet, focused time that students may not have outside the classroom. You can also provide support and corrective feedback.

8. Engage students in dialogue during self-assessment to provide feedback, answer questions and provide clarification. Some students will need more scaffolding and guidance than others. One of the great benefits of self-assessment is the opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

9. Self-assessment should include tasks that address specific components of writing as well as prompts that ask for a global response to their writing. Students should work to improve specific aspects of their writing as well as the overall content.

10. Nurture students' sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem through positive feedback, reinforcement and modelling. Student writers tend to think writers are born not made. They need a sense of self-efficacy to persevere in writing.

11. Give students the opportunity to revise their work after self-assessment so that they can transfer what they've learned to the task of writing.

12. Regularly evaluate your teaching methods. How are students responding? Conduct student surveys to find out what's working well.

"Self-assessment methods in writing instruction: a conceptual framework, successful practices and essential strategies," by Kristen Nielsen, Journal of Research in Reading, Volume 37, Issue 1, pp. 1-117.

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12 strategies for self-assessment in writing

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Good writing can be said to be essentially about self-assessment. An author's work is the end result of many rounds of revisions based on self-assessment of earlier drafts. A review of the literature on self-assessment in writing recently published in the Journal of Research in Reading yields 12 strategies for the use of self-assessment with learners from middle school through adulthood.

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By Lani Aquino

The phrase we are our own worst critics resounds with many, but oftentimes in the classroom, students don't actually fall under this old adage and take the time to critique their own work. Not to say that these are words to live by, but there is something to be gained by reviewing and reflecting on one's own work. Many a teacher can attest to receiving poorly crafted assignments and/or work that is obviously below a student's true potential, but many students are non-phased when handing in said products.

In a time when one and done is a common mentality that students take as they make a single attempt to complete work, it is all the more important for teachers to purposefully teach strategies for self and peer assessment. While some time and effort may have been put into the initial completion of an assignment, learning doesn't stop and potential isn't fully reached on that first foray. There needs to be time for introspection and opportunities to assess whether objectives and targets were met within the product of learning created. Through peer and self-assessment strategies, students can gain new insight that will leave them more confident and self-assured with the quality of their work. This will in turn leave teachers more entry points for in-depth discussion about students' understanding of the content and the work created to showcase their mastery of it.

Self-Assessment Strategies that Work

Rubrics - Rubrics are powerful tools for all stakeholders in the educational process, but they are especially powerful and helpful when students properly use them as self-assessment tools. Students need some purposeful instruction in gleaning the most from their usage of rubrics. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is by having students review model assignments that each received differing rubric scores. The ability to discern the differences in these models will help students understand the nuances within the differing rubric categories. This close reading of work can help students realize the importance of close reading their own work against a rubric and getting the most out of this self-assessment strategy. By giving students this powerful tool before they begin working, teachers are providing them with a self-assessment tool to reference throughout assignment completion.

Cover Sheets - This strategy was shared by Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence on their Self-Assessment resource page. When students have finished an assignment, they complete and attach a self-assessment cover sheet. On the cover sheet, they respond to questions pertaining to how they completed their work and the strengths and weaknesses they feel are present within it ( i.e., What do you think is well done in this assignment? Where could improvements be made?). When students are asked to couple these responses with examples from their work, it can help them in obtaining a clearer picture of their overall performance and a better understanding of the content and objectives.

Graphic Organizers - While these go-to learning tools are great for helping students organize and internalize information, they are also perfect tools for aiding students with self-assessment. A key element to point out here is that self-assessment doesn't only occur as learning or study comes to a close. Effective learners will employ self-assessment strategies throughout the process. Graphic organizers are tangible tools that allow this to happen. The empty spaces and/or "light" response areas on these organizers of information go to show both students and teachers where understanding may be lacking and/or more attention and study may need to be applied. With graphic organizers often being used as planning tools, this self-assessment technique goes a long way in ensuring that assignments get off to the right start.

Peer Assessment Strategies that Work

Feedback Forms -In order for peer assessment to be effective, a method of critiquing and delivering feedback must be established. Peer assessment involves more than a directive of read this and tell the creator what was good/bad. Assignment specific or more general activity specific feedback forms are a great way to achieve this. Having a tangible response to create is more likely to ensure a thorough review of the peer's work. Feedback forms can be created in a variety of ways. Some great examples include this Listening Response from Larry Ferlazzo and the Google Forms information shared by Tech & Learning.

Stars & Steps - Some feedback measures often used by teachers can also be effectively used for peer assessments. The formative feedback strategy of placing stars and steps in front of specific feedback pertaining to an assignment lets students see starred comments of elements done well and stepped comments sharing areas for improvement. Peer assessors could be asked to provide a predetermined amount of stars and steps or be allowed to place them as they see fit (as long as both markings are utilized). Even younger students could easily complete the Star & Step strategy. This method can help students determine the areas of their work that need further attention and the elements that are done well.

To truly unlock the wonders of learning and enrichment, students must move beyond the one (attempt) and done mindset. By introducing them to techniques for self and peer assessment, they can begin to review their work and learning processes with a more thoughtful and purposeful lens. These 5 strategies are sure to help students get the most out of their educational endeavors.

If you enjoyed the thoughts and ideas shared here, check out the trainingsand tools ( for teachers and for families) that we offer.

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5 Strategies that Work for Self & Peer Assessment

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By Lani Aquino The phrase we are our own worst critics resounds with many, but oftentimes in the classroom, students don't actually fall under this old adage and take the time to critique their own work.

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7 Ways to Help Students Self Assess Effectively

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7 Ways to Help Students Self Assess Effectively

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By Barbara Blackburn
Although our assessment of students is critical to learning, we also want students to learn to assess themselves. Encouraging students to take measures of their own learning is more rigorous than the teacher providing all the assessment.

As always, with greater rigor comes plenty of support. We can't expect students to immediately grasp what it means to gauge their own academic progress.

Let's look at four strategies that allow students to provide a brief snapshot of their learning, then three that are more detailed.
First, you may want to have students assess simply where they are in the learning process. Although these provide a brief look, you could ask students to expand on their responses.

Triangle Reflection

Melinda Crean, author of Top Notch Teaching, shares a way to have students reflect on where they are in the process of learning. Using triangles, she asks students to choose their level of learning.

Musical Notes/Color Clusters

Carolyn Chapman and Rita King in their book Differentiated Assessment Strategies: One Tool Doesn't Fit All provide two ways for students to share how well they understand the content. Both require students to think about their own learning and identify their progress. In musical notes, students use songs to identify their learning stage.

Similarly, in color clusters, students label their learning progress through a series of colors.

Laundry Day

Similarly, in Laundry Day, students group themselves in four categories derived from detergent brands. With the groupings you can then determine how much re-teaching needs to occur.

You also may want to ask students to provide detail on their thinking, rather than simply gauging their progress.

A Bump in the Road

With A Bump in the Road, students reflect of their learning and identify two to four points where they hit bumps in the road, or struggles. Then they partner with another student to see if they can work their way through their struggle.

Muddy Point Board

With Muddy Point Board, you designate an area in the room or a board for students to use to pin questions they have - the "muddy points" that confuse them.

You may have students do this at the end of lessons, or you may use them throughout the lesson. Not only does this provide you a perspective of their learning, it allows you to customize your instruction to their needs.

Reflective Journals

Another strategy for self-assessment is the use of reflective journals. Former middle school teacher Kendra Alston used journals with her students. She asked students to continually reflect on their learning in their daybooks, simple bound notebooks. Then she asked them to write a reflection on their learning at the end of the nine weeks. Some wrote about specific content they learned; others of her students reflected on how they learned.

You can also use journals for students to reflect on specific information about their subject area. For example, in math, students might focus on explanations.

Your students can write in their journals daily, weekly, or at the end of the month or grading period. Students can also keep their journals online in a blog format, or through Google Docs.

Conclusion

Providing students opportunities to reflect and self-assess is an important part of your instruction. It allows students to take ownership of learning, and reflects a more active, rigorous approach to learning. When you use self-assessment techniques frequently, you're gathering information "in real time" that can help fine-tune lessons and differentiate more effectively.
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A nationally recognized expert in the areas of rigor and motivation, she collaborates with schools and districts for professional development. Barbara can be reached through her website or her blog. Follow her on Twitter @BarbBlackburn. Barbara Blackburn was named one of the Top 30 Global Gurus in Education in 2017. She is a best-selling author of 16 books including Rigor is Not a Four Letter Word and most recently Rigor and Assessment in the Classroom.

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7 Ways to Help Students Self Assess Effectively

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By Barbara Blackburn Although our assessment of students is critical to learning, we also want students to learn to assess themselves. Encouraging students to take measures of their own learning is more rigorous than the teacher providing all the assessment. As always, with greater rigor comes plenty of support.

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Student Self-Assessment and Reflection - Ky. Skills U

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Student Self-Assessment and Reflection resources

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Strategies for helping Enhance Student-Self Assessment

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Strategies for helping Enhance Student-Self Assessment

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Reflection activities

Teachers often use proformae to encourage students to reflect on their learning experience. While these are convenient and provide a record of student thinking, they can become an activity devoid of any real thinking. Oral reflection, whether as a whole class or group within the class, might sometimes be more useful. Alternatively, teachers could devote some time to questioning students about what they have recorded on their proformae and asking them for explanations.

View Sample reflective questions and prompts (doc,30kb) for younger students and Designing reflective prompts (doc,33kb) for older students.

Student-led and three-way conferences

Student-led conferences in which students present their learning to their teacher and parents are an opportunity for students to formally reflect on the learning that has taken place over a period of time. This reflection occurs as students prepare for the conference, as well as during the conference itself when they show and explain to their parents what they have learned.

Usually the evidence they produce is in the form of a portfolio, which students have prepared according to provided guidelines.

The student, with teacher guidance, is the one who selects the work.

The teacher makes sure the students understand the purpose of the portfolio - that is, that:

it represents some but not all the work they have done in class over a period of time

it demonstrates both strengths and weaknesses

it will be used to help them reflect on what they have learned and what they still need to learn

it will help them to state clear goals for future learning, based on the areas where they need to make more progress.

The dvd Peer feedback and student self-assessment contains further material on student-led conferences, including sample conferences with students from Prep and Grade Six, as well as comment on the process from teachers.

Use of rubrics

Rubrics are a valuable tool for self-assessment. Because rubrics not only list the success criteria but also provide descriptions of levels of performance, students are able to use them to monitor and evaluate their progress during an assessment task or activity.

Teachers make certain that students have copies of the rubric prior to commencing the assessment activity and understand the terminology used in the rubric. If necessary, they provide students with models or exemplars to illustrate relevant aspects of the activity.

As they work to complete the activity, students monitor their work to ensure that it demonstrates the required skills, knowledge or understanding. They reflect on their progress and evaluate what they need to do if they wish to improve their performance.

Further information on rubrics is available in the Professional Learning module Success criteria and rubrics.

Use of graphic organisers

A graphic organiser organises facts, concepts, ideas or terms in a visual or diagrammatic way so that the relationship between the individual items is made clearer.

The value of graphic organisers in terms of student self-assessment lies in their ability to assist thinking and make it visible for both the student and the teacher. For example, empty spaces in graphic organisers reveal gaps in the student's knowledge or thinking. They indicate immediately what still needs to be discovered or learned. If graphic organisers are used in preparation for a written response, they can show where more information or further argument is necessary, and when students are asked to explain their use of the graphic organiser there is an opportunity for metacognitive development because they must explain their thought processes. ('Why did you put that piece of information here?')

If students are taught how to use graphic organisers, they can learn to select those which are compatible with their learning styles. Some learners, for instance, will gravitate towards organisers which use words to elucidate links, such as tables of various kinds; others will be happier with symbols such as arrows and boxes of various meaningful shapes.

Useful websites with examples of graphic organisers include the following:

Setting learning targets

The setting of learning targets, or goal-setting, is an intrinsic part of the iterative nature of self-assessment. Student self-assessment begins with setting learning targets, proceeds through the production of work that aims to achieve those targets, to the assessment of the work to see if it does in fact meet the targets and then, finally, to the setting of new targets or revising ones that were not achieved.

Diagrammatically, the process looks like this:

Ideally, students will increasingly assume responsibility for the setting of their learning targets and also for the monitoring or tracking of those targets. In practice, of course, students' ability to do this will vary, and teacher assistance will be more important to some students than others. The provision of suitable 'tracking' sheets is an obvious way for teachers to assist all students.

As with other aspects of instruction, the use of modelling and explicit teaching is of relevance here. Teachers commonly use the SMART acronym as a way of guiding students in the design of a learning target. In this acronym:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable or Attainable
R = Relevant
T = Time-bound

The SMART method of setting learning targets:

The learning target must be specific rather than general: 'I will include a topic sentence in each paragraph' rather than 'I will improve my paragraphing.'
Measurable
It must be possible to know whether the learning target has been accomplished, so there needs to be some way of measuring this. 'I will learn my 7 times table', for instance, could be measured by 'Being able to recite to my teacher/parent/peer the table X times without making mistakes.'
Achievable
The achievement of the learning target must be something the student is capable of attaining. Where the prospect of achievement seems daunting, the learning target can be broken down into a series of steps so that the student has the prospect of experiencing success. For example, instead of a learning target that states 'I will use correct spelling', it is better to concentrate on the use of individual spelling strategies so that, over time, the student builds up a repertoire of strategies designed to achieve the aim of improving his or her ability to spell correctly.

The setting of unachievable learning targets will inevitably lead to lack of motivation and low self-esteem.

The learning target needs to be significant and relevant to the student's present learning. If students are left to set learning targets without any guidance, at least initially there is a danger that such targets will be less relevant than if they are set in the context of understanding 'What I know or can do now/ what I still need to know or be able to do/ how I can go about making that improvement'.

Students should specify when they aim to achieve the target. Time-bound learning targets are easier to evaluate and track than those which have no particular time period attached to their achievement.

Time management

Students' ability to manage and organise their own time in order to complete set tasks is a crucial aspect of self-assessment. Schools recognise this when they institute a variety of structures to support students developing independence in this area; the student diary is one example.

In the case of extended projects, middle-year students can be assisted to manage their time if teachers 'chunk' the work into discrete sub-tasks. For instance, students who are researching information prior to making a class or group presentation can be advised that the task comprises the following sub-tasks, each of which will have a certain period of time allotted to it.

Decide on research topic

Draw up list of possible resources

Assign group roles

Conduct research

Develop presentation

Rehearse presentation

Make presentation

This information can be supported visually by a Gantt chart (doc,37kb) which can be displayed in the classroom and used by both teacher and students to monitor progress.

For older students who have experience of Gantt charts, the production of such a chart and its submission to the teacher for feedback could be made a mandatory first step when they are beginning an extended task.

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Strategies to enhance student self-assessment

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Teachers often use proformae to encourage students to reflect on their learning experience. While these are convenient and provide a record of student thinking, they can become an activity devoid of any real thinking. Oral reflection, whether as a whole class or group within the class, might sometimes be more useful.

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Everyday

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Everyday

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contributed by Saga Briggs

The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding.

But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. We hope students will understand, if not now then before test time, and we keep our fingers crossed that their results will indicate we've done our job.

The problem is, we often rely on these tests to measure understanding and then we move on. There isn't always time to address weaknesses and misunderstandings after the tests have been graded, and the time to help students learn through strategies to ask great questions is gone.

Below are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

Book TeachThought Professional Development for training on assessment practices that grow teachers
22 Simple Assessment Strategies & Tips You Can Use Every Day 1. An open-ended question that gets them writing/talking
Avoid yes/no questions and phrases like "Does this make sense?" In response to these questions, students usually answer 'yes.' So, of course, it's surprising when several students later admit that they're lost.

To help students grasp ideas in class, ask open-ended questions that require students that get students writing/talking. They can reveal more than you would've thought to ask directly.
2. Ask students to reflect
During the last five minutes of class ask students to reflect on the lesson and write down what they've learned. Then, ask them to consider how they would apply this concept or skill in a practical setting. Exit ticketsmake this easy to administer and review student answers.
3. Use quizzes
Give a short quiz at the end of class to check for comprehension.
4. Ask students to summarize
Have students summarize or paraphrase important concepts and lessons. This can be done orally, visually, or otherwise.
5. Hand signals
Hand signals can be used to rate or indicate students' understanding of content. Students can show anywhere from five fingers to signal maximum understanding to one finger to signal minimal understanding. This strategy requires engagement by all students and allows the teacher to check for understanding within a large group.
6. Response cards
Index cards, signs, whiteboards, magnetic boards, or other items are simultaneously held up by all students in class to indicate their response to a question or problem presented by the teacher. Using response devices, the teacher can easily note the responses of individual students while teaching the whole group.
7. Four corners
A quick and easy snapshot of student understanding, Four Corners provides an opportunity for student movement while permitting the teacher to monitor and assess understanding.

The teacher poses a question or makes a statement. Students then move to the appropriate corner of the classroom to indicate their response to the prompt. For example, the corner choices might include "I strongly agree," "I strongly disagree," "I agree somewhat," and "I'm not sure."
8. Think-pair-share
Students take a few minutes to think about the question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing with the whole class.
9. Choral reading
Students mark text to identify a particular concept and chime in, reading the marked text aloud in unison with the teacher. This strategy helps students develop fluency; differentiate between the reading of statements and questions; and practice phrasing, pacing, and reading dialogue.
10. One question quiz
Ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. You can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding.
11. Socratic seminar
Students ask questions of one another about an essential question, topic, or selected text. The questions initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional questions. Students learn to formulate questions that address issues to facilitate their own discussion and arrive at a new understanding.
12. 3-2-1
Students consider what they have learned by responding to the following prompt at the end of the lesson: 3) things they learned from your lesson; 2) things they want to know more about; and 1) questions they have. The prompt stimulates student reflection on the lesson and helps to process the learning.
13. Ticket out the door
Students write in response to a specific prompt for a short period of time. Teachers collect their responses as a "ticket out the door" to check for students' understanding of a concept taught. This exercise quickly generates multiple ideas that could be turned into longer pieces of writing at a later time.
14. Journal reflections
Students write their reflections on a lesson, such as what they learned, what caused them difficulty, strategies they found helpful, or other lesson-related topics. Students can reflect on and process lessons. By reading student work-especially -types of learning journals that help students think-teachers can identify class and individual misconceptions and successes. (See also
15. Formative pencil-paper assessment
Students respond individually to short, pencil-paper formative assessments of skills and knowledge taught in the lesson. Teachers may elect to have students self-correct. The teacher collects assessment results to monitor individual student progress and to inform future instruction.

Both student and teacher can quickly assess whether the student acquired the intended knowledge and skills. This is a formative assessment, so a grade is not the intended purpose.
16. Misconception check
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept you're covering. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why.
17. Analogy prompt
Teaching with analogies can be powerful. Periodically, present students with an analogy prompt: "the concept being covered is like ____ because ____."
18. Practice frequency
Check for understanding at least three times a lesson, minimum.
19. Use variety
Teachers should use enough different individual and whole group techniques to check understanding that they accurately know what all students know. More than likely, this means during a single class the same technique should not be repeated.
20. Make it useful
The true test is whether or not you can adjust your course or continue as planned based on the information received in each check. Do you need to stop and start over? Pull a few students aside for three minutes to re-teach? Or move on?
21. Peer instruction
Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what she's learned. If she can do that successfully, it's clear she understood your lesson.
22. "Separate what you do and don't understand"
Whether making a t-chart, drawing a concept map, or using some other means, have the students not simply list what they think they know, but what they don't know as well. This won't be as simple as it sounds-we're usually not aware of what we don't know.

They'll also often know more or less than they can identify themselves, which makes this strategy a bit crude. But that's okay-the goal isn't for them to be precise and complete in their self-evaluation the goal is for you to gain insight as to what they do and don't know.

And seeing what they can even begin to articulate on their own is an excellent starting point here.
This post was written by Saga Briggins and was first published by on opencolleges.edu.au; 20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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contributed by Saga Briggs The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding. But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.

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50 Websites and Resources for New Teachers

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50 Websites and Resources for New Teachers

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The prospect of stepping into a classroom for the first time to teach elementary, middle school or high school students can range from daunting to completely terrifying. For the new teacher, nothing is more important than being prepared, with strong curriculum as well as reliable strategies for overcoming problems in the classroom.

Fortunately, the Web is full of resources for teachers. We have looked at hundreds of educational websites in order to compile this list that contains 50 of the best ones. Use these sites to plan your math lesson, launch an arts and crafts project, or motivate those hard-to-reach students.

General

2scholastic.com: This site is sponsored by well-known educational publisher Scholastic. Here you will find videos, essay competitions and expert advice from veteran teachers.

A to Z Teacher Stuff: This site was created by teachers, for teachers. It includes strategies for dealing with ADHD children, surviving parent-teacher conferences, and filling out report cards.

Classroom of the Future: Take the International Space Station Challenge on this website sponsored by NASA, which features space-related activities and modules for K-12 students.

The Educator's Reference Desk: Hundreds of lesson plans submitted exclusively to this site can be found here. Search by subject or by grade level.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence: Also known by the acronym FREE, this is a website maintained by the federal government to provide teachers with access to stimulating content. There is quite a wealth of resources available here, and the presentation is visually striking as well.

Free Clip Art: Add pizzazz to your handouts with the thousands of clip art images available on this site. For instance, you could put images of the sun and beaches on the last test you give out before summer vacation!

Lesson Plans 4 Teachers: This site contains many useful, free lesson plans for ages K-12. You can search by age group, subject area, or browse recent featured categories such as lessons that pertain to May Day and Mothers' Day.

Lesson Plans Page: A one-stop shop containing tons of lesson plans for all subjects and grade levels. It also contains links to educator blogs maintained by its parent website, HotChalk.

Maths is Fun: This British website has an enticing graphic with many math-related illustrations sharing space in a grassy field. Click on any of the pictures and you'll be treated to an in-depth exploration of all aspects of that mathematical concept, such as Money, Algebra or Measurement.

PBS Teachers: The educational channel PBS operates this dynamic website with teaching material for all grades. Some of the material ties in with PBS shows, such as a new approach to teaching The Diary of Anne Frank that corresponds to an upcoming documentary.

Teacher's Apparel: Your students will know you're a teacher if you dress like one. Get a cotton sweater with children on it, or a baseball cap that says "Teacher" in rhinestones.

TeachersFirst.com: This easy-to-navigate site will be a key resource for any serious teacher. Peruse their thoroughly reviewed list of links, or become a member to get access to the site's unique content.

Teachers Net: This is a gigantic resource for connecting with other teachers in order to share and receive advice, encouragement and, of course, lesson plans. The site also maintains an impressive gazette full of journalistic articles about the current state of American education.

TeacherSn.com: A social network just for teachers. Once you register, you can upload and download handouts and lesson plans, as well as joining groups of other teachers interested in a particular topic.

Teach With Movies: This site specializes in showing teachers how they can use video clips to enhance the classroom experience. For $11.99 per year, teachers get learning guides and lesson plans for over 300 movies.

Preschool

C and L Curriculum: Many inexpensive charts and activities for preschoolers (most costing $0.99) can be downloaded here. Themes range from In the Garden to Community Helpers such as firefighters and mail carriers.

Chubbie Cubbie: There are many free printable resources here, including signs for the classroom, coloring pages, preschool graduation certificates and awards for that special student.

Everything Preschool: This website is very comprehensive, with activities separated by theme, alphabet area and lesson plan. The objectives of each lesson are stated at the top, so you can decide whether the lesson fits into your unit.

First School: Any first-time preschool teacher will be relieved to find this site. There are detailed lists of materials for crafts activities (so that you don't get to school and discover that you've forgotten the glue stick or the dried beans) and themed lessons for different holidays. Best of all, it's free!

Internet 4 Classrooms: This site is designed to be used in the classroom while teaching. Provide your preschoolers with listening activities and dance lessons, or start them on computer literacy early by having them test their mouse skills.

Lil' Fingers: This site specializes in animated storybooks for toddlers. Printable games, coloring books and numbers activities are also available.

Preschool Education: This useful site covers every aspect of preschool education. You can find reviews of picture books, healthy snack ideas and even short plays for children to act out.

Preschool Learning Online: This site is chock full of resources for the busy preschool teacher, including lunch menus and songs to sing during a circle. Many of the lesson plans and activities, however, are not free.

Elementary School

Discovery Education: This searchable list of lesson plans is run by the Discovery Channel. Not only does the site contain tons of innovative lessons in astronomy and weather, as one might expect from a science channel, it has the unique "Pendemonium" series of grammar lessons as well.

Elementary Teacher Resources: Dedicated teacher Mrs. Mikesell maintains this website to share with other teachers the lesson plans and strategies that have worked for her over the years. Visitors to the site can also submit their own lesson ideas.

Free Kid Crafts: This artistic site has two main sections, one on origami creations and one on painting projects. Each activity contains step-by-step directions and lovely accompanying illustrations. Anyone teaching art to elementary-age children should find it invaluable.

K-3 Teacher Resources: The early elementary educator will find plenty of printable posters, charts and flash cards here. The site does charge a small yearly fee for some content, but many resources and activities are free.

K6Edu.com: Tons of free lesson plans, organized by grade and designed with that age group in mind, are available on this website. There are also some nice "filler" activities to do with the class if they finish the main lesson early.

Kinder Helper: Kindergarten, elementary school and preschool teachers will find the downloadable worksheets and other resources on this site to be invaluable. The annual fee is $25.

Math Cats: This site, distinctive for its cute cat graphics, is full of math-related games, animations, word problems and other activities. Of particular interest is the math crafts section, which contains ideas for combining math and art, some of them submitted by elementary-age students.

Pencil Street: There are great worksheets, classroom displays and activities to be found on this British website for elementary educators. The site does, however, charge an annual fee for access.

ResourcesTeachers.com: E-books, board games and holiday activities are available here, some of them free. The site is ranked as one of the top 100 resources on the web by SitesForTeachers.com.

Teacher2Teacher: This site, maintained by teachers Linda and Mackey, contains useful materials for teaching special education. Many materials are free to print out from the site, and others have to be ordered through the mail.

Teaching Resources: Teacher Laura Candler maintains this comprehensive site of materials, strategies and other resources. See what's in her "File Cabinet" of classroom activities.

Middle School

Ask Dr. Math: This site contains everything you've ever wanted to know about middle school math, but were afraid to ask. There are enough geometry, probability and algebra problems here to last an academic year.

Clowning Around: This article teaches you how to handle that class clown you will encounter every year, and without losing your sense of humor.

Discipline Tips from a Teacher-Survivor: The title of this web page may be grim, but the list of tips that veteran teacher Mary Lorenz gives is very solid. She emphasizes the setting of clear expectations, as well as consequences for misbehavior.

Effective Teaching by Harry and Rosemary Wong: Two of the most respected teachers in the profession maintain this monthly column of teaching tips. Topics include "A School that Achieves Greatness," "A 92 Percent Homework Turn-in Rate" and "Inner City is Not an Excuse."

Great Advice for New Teachers: This series of short articles, all of which originally appeared in Teacher Magazine (registration is free) focuses on what first-time teachers need to know. The articles are engaging, informative, and written with a sympathetic eye toward the teaching newbie.

The Line: A seventh-grade English teacher's sharply written blog on subjects ranging from education policy to her personal interactions with students. This blog is a must-read for anyone teaching English or working with this age group.

Middle School Science: Besides providing links to recommended sites by other science teachers working with grades 5-9, this site has plenty of labs, units and activities in its own right. It is also the home of a Yahoo! group for science teachers, with over 2,000 members.

Middle School Teacher's Place: Individual Lesson Plans: This site has selected the best middle school math and science activities available on the Web. For instance, you can check out various modules for teaching math using eggs as a theme, or find out the answers to challenging logic puzzles that you can give to your students as brainteasers.

High School

Education World Back to School Guide: The advice here will be a major help to beginning high school teachers as well as serving as a refresher for more seasoned educators. The tips for how to start your year off successfully are also embedded with useful links.

English Grammar Quizzes: A first-time high school English teacher will never run out of grammar quizzes with this site around. Test your students on reflexive pronouns and the verb "to be."

English Teaching Resources: This site, maintained by a teacher of English at a Catholic school, hasn't been updated in a while, but the information is still useful. Ideas for poetry, narrative fiction and metacognition exercises are included.

Larry's Links: This is the blog of a high school economics teacher in Colorado. Larry, a retired Navy weatherman, provides advice and selected resources for teaching geography, economics and current events.

NClark.Net: Very experienced science teacher Nancy Clark shares her detailed activities and labs for biology and chemistry. Highlights include DNA jewelry and a music video about cell division to the tune of "I Will Survive," titled "The Cell Will Survive."

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Many of the math-related articles on this site are accessible to everyone. However, you must join the Council in order to get access to the thousands of math problems available on this site.

National Science Teachers Association: Even if you are not a member, you can access this website to find out about upcoming professional conferences and recommended science books to buy for the classroom.

World History Sources: This is a very useful resource for teaching history using primary sources. Just select a span of years (1900-1945, for instance) and the site will find libraries and archives that pertain to that historical period. It also contains guides, written exclusively for the site by historical scholars, on how to approach different types of primary sources.

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The prospect of stepping into a classroom for the first time to teach elementary, middle school or high school students can range from daunting to completely terrifying. For the new teacher, nothing is more important than being prepared, with strong curriculum as well as reliable strategies for overcoming problems in the classroom.

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These days there are so many websites and resources available to help teachers, but that doesn't mean that teachers know what all's available to them.

There's so many lists of websites out there, but what makes this one unique is that these websites have been recommended by teachers themselves. Thank you to all the teachers who submitted your favorite website!

A disclaimer, though: I have not personally vetted these websites. I've simply compiled a list of websites that teachers love and recommend. I hope it will be helpful. And help make this list even better by adding your favorites in the comments!

Websites that Provide Resources, Ideas, or Professional Help

Pinterest. (Have you followed Teach 4 the Heart? Click here to check out our boards.)

Teachers Pay Teachers - free and for-purchase classroom resources created by teachers for teachers

Education.com - games, activities, worksheets, articles, and much more

KutaSoftware - awesome free math worksheets (pre-algebra through calculus)

Super Teacher Worksheets - all subjects (mostly elementary)

Scholastic.com

Read, Write, Think - resources, lesson plans, articles, and more

The Measured Mom - free printables & resources

Christian Educators Association International

WISE - web-based inquiry science environment

Math Coach's Corner - articles, games, activities, and more

The Positive Engagement Project - a variety of tools for teachers to get their students positively engaged in active learning

Newsela - nonfiction literacy and current events

Reading A-Z - paid membership gains access to thousands of downloadable, projectable, and printable teacher materials

Cybrary Man's Educational Websites - a collection of more great websites for teachers

Enchanted Learning - curriculum material

SMART Exchange - exchange teaching resources

ProTeacher

Brain Pop - animated curricular content

Common Core Sheets - worksheets aligned with (you guessed it) common core

Teacher Brain - a range of printable activities, boardgames, learning station resources and workbooks for K-6

TeachHub - K-12 news, lessons, and shared resources

Lesson Depot - free lesson plan templates

Teaching Channel - a community of teachers & lots of great videos

Engage NY - materials and resources from the New York State Education Department

Pete's Power Point Station - free power points and interactive activities for kid

Teachers' Notebook - more resources for sale made by teachers for teachers

Mailbox - collection of free teaching resources. Get even more with a paid subscription

Giggle Poetry

Great Websites for the Classroom and/or Students

Remind.com - a safe way for parents to text message students and stay in touch with parents

Moby Max - integrated curriculum and teacher use system for ELA and math Common Core

Discovery Education - provides high quality, dynamic, digital content to schools

Read Theory - Sign up for free and gain access to over 1,000 reading comprehension exercises.

Read Works - reading comprehension

FCRR - Florida Center for Reading Research

GoNoodle - brain breaks kids love

ABCya.com - free educational kids computer games

Planbook.com - lesson planning made easy

Free Rice - practice questions in a variety of subjects (and they donate rice to impoverished countries for each answer you get right. How cool is that!?)

Flocabulary - educational hip-hop songs and videos

Reading Rockets - help young children learn to read

CNN Student News - a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program designed for middle and high school classes.

Grammar Bytes - grammar quizzes

AR Book Finder

Utah Education Network - K-2 student interactives & much more

Illuminations - resources for teaching math

Awesome Blogs for Teachers
Is your favorite website not on the list? Add it in the comments below.
Original photo by sunshinecity

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These days there are so many websites and resources available to help teachers, but that doesn't mean that teachers know what all's available to them.There's so many lists of websites out there, but what makes this one unique is that these websites have been recommended by teachers themselves. T

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These types of self-assessment share a common theme: they ask students to review their work to determine what they have learned and what areas of confusion still exist. Although each method differs slightly, all should include enough time for students to consider thoughtfully and evaluate their progress.

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Find a huge range of printable activities, boardgames, learning station resources and workbooks for K-6.

Get INSTANT access to resources from 50c!

Why you should choose Teacher Brain:
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This educational resource website is easy to navigate and payments go through Paypal, so it is very secure.
View pictures of our products here and be the first to see our new resources by following on Facebook and Twitter!

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Teacher Brain - Educational Games and Activities

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Find a huge range of printable activities, boardgames, learning station resources and workbooks for K-6. Why you should choose Teacher Brain:*It's all in 1 place!

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Free educational resources for positive student engagement. Games, activities, classroom management tools, character education, and more!!!!

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In this day and age, educational resources have moved online. Choose from a wide variety of interactive learning help, such as activity instructions, games, Guided Lessons, and good old-fashioned worksheets. Whether you're a parent, an after-school guide, or a homeschool teacher, our library of resources is sure to give you just what you need to make your student a star.

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Log in to i-Ready®, online assessment and instruction that helps teachers provide all students a path to proficiency and growth in reading and mathematics.

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Teaching Tolerance: Best for Tough Topics

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Teaching Tolerance: Best for Tough Topics

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Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Powtoon: Making the Lessons Come to Life

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Powtoon: Making the Lessons Come to Life

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Video Maker | Make Videos and Animations Online | Powtoon

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Make videos in minutes with Powtoon. Use our library of styles, characters, backgrounds and video, or upload your own! Free. Easy. Awesome. Sign up today!

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Daily Starters to Start Your Morning Off

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Daily Starters to Start Your Morning Off

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Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers from Scholastic

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Book Wizard: Find and Level Books for Your Classroom | Scholastic

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Level your classroom library, create book lists, and find the right book at just the right reading level for students with Book Wizard.

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Scholastic Teachables - browse all worksheets, resources, printables, and more for the classroom! Save hours of prep time with our online treasure trove of ready-to-go lessons, printables, and activities for every grade, subject, and skill level.

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Educational Hip-Hop Songs & Videos for All Subjects, K-12

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Flocabulary is a library of songs, videos and activities for K-12 online learning. Hundreds of thousands of teachers use Flocabulary’s educational raps and teaching lesson plans to supplement their instruction and engage students. Our team of artists and educators is not only committed to raising test scores, but also to fostering a love of learning in every child.

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Since launching on March 6, 2007, our goal at TeacherTube has been to provide an online community for sharing instructional and education videos for college students, high school students, middle school students and elementary school students. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, students, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. It is also a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.

On September 1, 2017, TeacherTube.com was acquired by Salem Web Network. Salem's goal is to continue the growth of TeacherTube and support innovative ideas for education.

Most importantly, TeacherTube community members are a major part of the evolution of the site. Members are encouraged to not only upload educationally relevant videos but also to make constructive comments and use the rating system to show appreciation for videos of value to one as an educator or learner. Users also have the ability to preserve the integrity of the site by flagging inappropriate videos. TeacherTube staff review flagged sites and will remove any inappropriate posts. With more collegial commentary and discussion through messaging and responses, the quality of this resource will only increase.

The service is free for everyone. We always encourage our users to Contact Us with thoughts, suggestions, or other feedback. We do have a vision for TeacherTube to truly be a better alternative to other video storage sites. With the community's help, it can become more interactive and engaging for all teachers and learners.

Science videos are one of the key subjects that students are taught in school. Science is present from the early years of grade school up to the highest levels of academic achievement. As students move up the ranks, their study of science tends to get more specialized into one specific field only, like chemistry, biology, or physics. We have educational videos for all of these courses.

TeacherTube.com's section on science educational videos has content of interest to all learning levels. We have topics as varied as educational songs for elementary school students, up to chemical engineering for college students.

Mathematics is one of the fundamental 3Rs of early education. Known as "arithmetic" in those levels, it involves counting and the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As kids advance through the grade levels, they progressively deal with more complex mathematical problems. Also, more new concepts get introduced as they progress.

Math is crucial for almost any business career. Accounting, budgeting, and projecting sales all require some level of competence in math. Many resources for these topics can be found here on TeacherTube.

Even everyday situations benefit a lot from math skills. Managing one's finances, for instance, obviously requires math, as with anything involving money. Cooking also involves math: proportions of ingredients, for example, as well as measurements.

TeacherTube.com's section on math education videos covers everything from fractions and measurements to money management. We also cover more complicated subjects such as trigonometry, and well as probability and statistics.

History is a very valuable subject, but not just because it is useful for preventing future wars. The lessons from history can also teach people to build a better future. What people have done right in the past should be continued and improved upon in the present.

The subject of history covers a wide range of timelines and locations. There's ancient history and modern history. There is also Asian history, US history, Latin American history, and European history. Each one is unique, reflecting the cultures of the people involved.

If there's one thing common to all history classes, it's usually names, dates, and places. This is also the part that many kids hate the most. They do not see the point of memorizing so many random facts that appear purposeless. Well, that is the wrong way to teach history.

TeacherTube's history education videos section makes the past come alive with a sterling array of videos and tutorials that cover subjects as varied as our prehistory, ancient history, the civil war, and the study of world civilizations.

The purpose of social studies, based on the US National Council for the Social Studies, is to promote "civic competence" among students. In other words, the subject equips students to become better citizens of a country. This is done by exploring history, geography, current events, and governments, among others. Middle school social studies usually deal with one of each of these fields per grade level.

With this knowledge, students gain the ability to become more socially aware and to be actively involved citizens of their country. Through analyzing current events, students will also learn how to predict the consequences of the things happening around them. With that, they can be good influences on their communities.

It is with this goal in mind that TeacherTube offers a wide variety of learning video materials for both students and enthusiasts.

We have videos on everything from strengthening your knowledge of economics terminology to the nuances of various world cultures.

Language arts, as the name suggests, equips students with a wide range of ways to use language. It comprises both speaking and writing skills. In addition to the basics, the subject also deals with the artistic side of language, infusing creativity in the ways students communicate.

There are four basic aspects to understanding a language: speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Language arts classes aim to enhance those skills at each year level. At first, it covers basic topics like grammar, sentence construction, and paragraphs. Exercises in language arts become progressively more complex as students move up the ranks, and usually, in higher grades, more emphasis is put on creativity and persuasiveness.

With the noble goal of harnessing the power of words to effect change in the world in mind, TeacherTube is proud to offer videos on everything from general communications to speaking and even videos on strengthening your studying skills.

Not all kids want to go through lectures. Some of them may not have the attention span or the patience to endure long hours just sitting down and listening to someone talk in front. No, that doesn't mean these kids are lazy. It just means they learn differently.

Some kids are auditory learners. In other words, they learn best when they listen to sounds and music. For this type of student, educational songs will certainly be a big helping hand. Even the most complex of concepts, when taught through songs, will be very easy for them to understand and remember. Even kids who are not so much inclined to auditory learning may like this method.

Educational song vidoes are available in a wide variety of subjects. English, math, social studies, science, and everything in between, there's bound to be a song for every subject. For example, on the website Teachertube.com, there are science topic songs, reading songs, skip counting songs, reading phonics songs, and even quadratic formula songs.

The advantage of using educational song videos is that it accomplishes two things at once. First, these songs are entertaining, and second, they also teach a concept. They facilitate learning a lot better than plain lectures simply because of the entertainment part. When a lesson is made fun of, kids will want to learn them. In fact, it could even be the kids themselves, on their own, who will play the songs repeatedly.

TeacherTube offers education songs on topics as varied as the circulatory system to math songs about polynomials and even videos on St. Patrick's Day.

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TeacherTube Educational Videos for the School Classroom and Home - Including Educational Songs, History Videos, Student Videos and Math Videos

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A free community for sharing instructional videos, Educational Songs, History Videos, Student Videos, Math Videos, and other content for teachers and students. We are an education focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home schoolers to access educational for the classroom and home learning.

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Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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Rubric Maker - Create custom assessments

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Create rubrics for your classroom projects.