When I think back on initial conversations that took place surrounding standards based grading in the schools that I serve, I remember that the same questions kept rising to the surface. Establishing clarity and resolving dilemmas on the spot was critical, but often, issues were raised by representatives of grade levels or buildings, and I knew that the potential for the responses to reach everyone quickly and consistently wasn’t as high as we needed it…
HAPPY NEW YEAR WESTERN NEW YORK EDUCATORS! This week, I’ll be sharing a series of posts relevant to standards based grading. Over the last three years, I’ve learned and worked beside several district and building leaders as they’ve laid the foundation for this shift, and although the process has varied from one system to the next, these educators share one common understanding: they know that standards based grading cultivates far healthier practices and perspectives about learning…
Some may have noticed my absence from this space for well over a year. This was an intentional break inspired by my growing disappointment in how most people were choosing to engage online about the Common Core and its related instructional shifts, the New York State teacher evaluation system, and standardized testing. These are contentious issues. They are also important ones. I needed to be able to do my own learning and work away from…
I just wrapped up my first Google Hangout book study with Michelle Helmer, Lauren Ormsby, Karen Kondrick, Margie Sweetman, and Erin Wheeler. We’re exploring Ron Berger, Leah Rugen, and Libby Woodfin’s text, Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming School Through Student Engaged Assessment. I’ve worked in several Expeditionary Learning schools over the years. It was there that I became acquainted with learning expeditions and student-centered formative assessment approaches. So much of this work aligns with my personal vision…
This photo captures the thinking behind the most inspired moment of my week. I spent yesterday Gamestorming with a group of local English teachers in order to surface, prioritize, and resolve their emerging curricular needs. Once our work together was complete, we situated the games inside of a completely different context: lesson design. The anchor chart above reflects how we practiced using Post Ups, Clusters, Affinity Mapping, and Forced Ranking to help readers make…
Last night, I was asked to speak at the Cheektowaga Board of Education meeting about the work I’m beginning to lead there with the Common Core. This is something I’m asked to do fairly often when I lead any kind of an initiative in schools. Reporters are often present. This morning, I received an incredibly hostile voicemail message from someone who read this morning’s Buffalo News article and took exception its positive tone and particularly,…
I’m hearing great things from teachers and kids who are piloting the English Language Arts modules that were released earlier this year in Albany. In fact, several of the elementary writers in the WNY Young Writers’ Studio asked if we would consider implementing different modules during our summer fellowship sessions this year. Seriously. All of this has given me great pause. As a teacher, I’ve worked hard to give my students a real voice…
Last month, a number of teachers and consultant friends of mine began kicking around the idea of creating an archive of paired passages and texts that educators could pull on for a variety of purposes. I liked this idea very much, but not for the reasons people might suspect. To be honest, I’m not sure how many people will find resources like this valuable in the long run. It’s not about the resource for me, though. It’s about…
1. Frame it positively. I notice that all too often, readers assume that unless they are reading fast, reading accurately, and making perfect meaning from text, they are failing. Several weeks ago, as I was guiding high school readers through an incredibly complex passage, we began by unpacking this fallacy. “So, reading hard stuff is kind of like seeing a live performance of Shakespeare,” someone in the room suggested. “The language might kind of wash…
I spent Saturday with teachers and writers at the WNY Young Writers’ Studio. Our season is winding down, and everyone is swimming in the depths of the projects they’ve been working on for some time. We’ve built a lot of background knowledge together over the last nine months, and yet, it’s never enough to satisfy our needs. This is a good thing. Great writers are researchers, after all. They may dream big dreams, take some…