Good morning! Ready to talk about math? I just thought I'd do a quick post this morning to share out some of the knowledge from the all day conference I attended yesterday with Tim Kanold. If you aren't familiar with his work, he is the "PLC" guy--and really has a math focus. He is a great presenter and the day was very enjoyable. I didn't hear a ton new since we have ... Read the Post
Evaluating Writing…Giving Students and Families Simple Feedback
If your school is like mine, you have some common rubrics for scoring writing. If your school is like mine, they are long and involved and not very "real world" friendly! We are required to use them for certain pieces, but I am always on a quest to find quick and easy ways to communicate with students and parents about writing progress. As some of you know, I do demand prompts from ... Read the Post
More fun with Google…another Google Assessment trick!
For those of you who liked my last post about a Google assessment idea, I think you will REALLY like this one! Did you miss the last one about using a Google form to do a student self-assessment? CLICK HERE to read it! Today I want to tell you about another one I did and the students LOVED it. What I really liked about this one is that we did it as a part of math workshop, and ... Read the Post
Evaluating Writing: Such a Challenging Task
Sigh. This is one of those tasks that I KNOW is so important but that I just dread. Whether it's because I lack confidence or that I am still after 20+ years unsure of exactly what "4th grade writing" is, I struggle every time I need to evaluate student work. This quarter our big unit was opinion writing. It's a great unit--and an important one, I believe. We learn about ... Read the Post
Google Forms Entrance Slip
Now that my district has made the move to Google, I am on a quest to start using all the amazing features it has...and I'll try to share my bumps and bruises along the way. Feel free to chime in with great ideas of your own! Remember, we are our own best professional development! So . . . a dear friend of mine is an EXPERT at using Google with her middle schoolers, so I tapped her ... Read the Post
Another Weekend Comes to a Close…Odds and Ends
I can't believe how fast the weekends go! This weekend was particularly exhausting . . . I haven't blogged about this yet because there have been so many other things going on, but late Tuesday night, my community was hit by a series of small tornadoes (can a tornado be small?) and my neighborhood was no exception. My house was untouched, but our beautiful woods was destroyed. I ... Read the Post
Entrance Slips, Formative Assessment, Freebies, and Blog Hops!
Hello everyone! I am super excited to be a part of a super cool "Back to School" Blog Hop! At each of the 12 stops along the way, you will pick up classroom tips, freebies, and a chance to win a great giveaway at the end! Do I have your attention now? I thought so! One teaching "tip" I have that I share whenever I can is how essential formative assessment is to ... Read the Post