Archive for March 2013
And the Answer Is…
From the desk of Carol C… I’ve thought a lot about the role of questioning in our classrooms and its effect on students. Questioning, if used to help students think more critically is a vital part of any high achieving classroom. Lately though I’ve started thinking about the answers we give children. Whether kids are…
Read MoreWhere Did You Get Your Eyes?
From the desk of Hope… I was in a kindergarten classroom last week and a student came up to me and asked, “Where did you get your eyes?” Hmmm. I wasn’t quite sure how to answer but it didn’t matter because she was quickly shooed off to do her seat work. She promptly got busy…
Read MoreRaising the Levels of Questioning
From the desk of Carol C… Teachers have always asked questions. It is a natural part of any lesson, but questioning in 2013 must be different. Today in order to meet the rigorous demands of the Common Core Standards we must approach questioning from a different perspective. Now questions must be preplanned and deliberate just…
Read MoreRigor
From the desk of Carol C… Let’s be honest- why do we suddenly care about rigor? Most of us would say “because it’s in the new Common Core”. Understandable. After all, how often was that word mentioned before the introduction of the CC? Almost never. So are there reasons besides the CC that we should…
Read MorePerfectionism
From the desk of Carol C… If you look up the definition of the word “perfectionism” you will find something that looks like this. Perfectionism: “being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards”. While this definition makes perfectionism sound like something to avoid, perfectionism does have both positive…
Read MoreAssessing Writing
From the desk of Carol C… Recently I’ve noticed in many classrooms where writing seems to have taken a back seat to reading and math. The reason, I think, is that school systems and the state have emphasized these two subjects more than any others. However, the performance tasks in the Common Core exemplars are…
Read MoreLose Weight Fast
From the desk of Alice… There is an advertisement in one of my favorite magazines that suggests you can lose weight fast “and safely” by replacing all your meals for an entire week with a liquid concoction. Hmmm- I don’t think replacing my meals for a week with just liquid sounds safe. It is not…
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