As a teacher, I try my best to grow and to learn. I read books about different areas of education, I attend school and district professional development, and try to collaborate with my colleagues to grow my practice. I have a confession to make, however. I don’t learn nearly as much about teaching and learning […]

There is no shortage of strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. We’ve compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help teachers and students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning. These tools and apps for formative assessment success […]

Using classroom assessment to improve both teaching and student learning is not a new concept. Benjamin Bloom first described the practice of Mastery Learning and showed us how to conduct this process in practical and highly effective ways. Mastery Learning yields not only effective cognitive or achievement outcomes; but also improvements in student confidence, school attendance, participation in class, attitudes toward learning, and […]

Formative assessment tools can be a part of every teacher’s toolbox. They needn’t be complicated or time-consuming. There are, however, a few things that are crucial to their effectiveness. We’ve put things in order to help you find what you’re looking for. First, we’ll define the characteristics of effective formative assessment. Then we’ll give examples of the […]

Formal and informal assessments provide significant insight into students’ progress, curriculum effectiveness and teaching strategies. Although there has been recent parental pushback on overuse of standardized tests, the data collected from them does not drift off into the ether. One of the best ways to encourage parental and student buy-in for assessment is to explain […]

Step 1: Start with a question. What do you wonder about? What would you like to know? You might do some background research to learn more. It can help you define your question and decide what you want to discover. Step 2: Form a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess or explanation for what you know. […]

Science skills for learning Observing – This is the most fundamental of science skills. That’s because most students are born with five senses, which inform how they experience the world. Observation requires students to note the “big picture” and the fine details. Encourage your students to describe what they see in detail; this will help them identify […]

practice Test on this topic  Predicting What Is It? Effective readers use pictures, titles, headings, and text—as well as personal experiences—to make predictions before they begin to read. Predicting involves thinking ahead while reading and anticipating information and events in the text. After making predictions, students can read through the text and refine, revise, and verify […]

The following are some strategies, principles and offer some proven tips that can make the student-centered learning environment a reality, and success, in your classroom. Turn your classroom into a community In a traditional classroom, the teacher speaks, the students listen. In a student-centered classroom, the students speak, the teacher listens, interjects and facilitates conversation […]

What is Project Based Learning? You can’t just slap a rubric and the term “project” on a class activity and call it Project Based Learning (PBL). According to Edutopia, PBL is “a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.” With true PBL, students work over an […]