Are Grades Utterly Useless?
One of my all-time favorite assertions about grading in schools comes from Grant Wiggins. He writes: "The most ubiquitous form of evaluation,…
5 Minutes
6 ways to make the most of RESPECT
The blueprint gets a lot right, but now we need to fill in the missing pieces.
5 Minutes
Keeping a good thing going: can innovative programs in education be sustained?
In one of my recent posts, I described a large-scale project that I worked on with students at my school this year. Today I turn to a burning…
7 Minutes
A Letter to Aspiring Teacherpreneurs
Dear Intrepid Teacher Leaders, Congratulations! You have the opportunity to craft a hybrid role in which your innovative leadership…
9 Minutes
The National Council on Teacher Quality suggests reforms for Oakland
Last month, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) completed a study looking at my district, Oakland Unified. The report is causing quite a…
4 Minutes
Better Ways to Evaluate Teaching and Learning
Across the country, parents, teachers, and students are beginning to pushback—hard—against the misuses and abuses of standardized testing in our…
4 Minutes
Students Visually Represent Their Emotions on Testing :/
Directly before administering Day 2 of NY State Common Core ELA testing, about two 2 weeks ago, I gave students a warmup sheet, which asked them to…
1 Minutes
It is time to change course with measurement
Jose- The other day I spoke to the Federal Reserve of Richmond and other banking professionals remotely across the country on why technology has…
3 Minutes
Technology Professional Development Scenarios
Let's start with a simple truth: Schools have limited budgets and every time that we make careless spending choices, we tie our own hands behind our…
1 Minutes
What's Working: Convenient Current Events Resources for Middle School
Have you struggled to fit current events into your curriculum? Feel like current events is an "all-or-nothing" sort of thing to teach, and if you…
3 Minutes