Category Archives: education

On Building Rome in a Day (and changing your pedagogy)

by JGstott Posted on October 8, 2017

Doc Z and I presented yesterday at the Colorado Language Arts Society conference on getting away from grading, and using feedback to teach/encourage reflective practice in our students. We packed a lot into 75 minutes, and the teachers in our … Continue reading →

Posted in cultivating real learning, education, engagement, making change, muddling through, presenting, reflections, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

#NCTE15 Day Three (Mostly) in Tweets

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on November 21, 2015

Warning: I’m reflecting over my day/working on my day 3 blog post. There will be a few tweets here in the next few minutes. #NCTE15 — Sarah M. Zerwin (@SarahMZerwin) November 22, 2015 (On the way to dinner tonight–in my … Continue reading →

Posted in #NCTE15, 21st century teaching and learning, collaboration, colleagues, education, grading, life and death, literacy, making change, muddling through, on the road again, professional development, reflections, things made of awesome | Leave a comment

Here We Go School Year 2015-2016!

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on August 19, 2015

It’s school year 2015-2016 eve. We have the 9th graders in the building tomorrow for orientation. Then everyone on Friday. I’m ready. Well, I’m not actually ready in terms of lesson plans sketched out in detail and copies made and … Continue reading →

Posted in education, reflections, teaching, things made of awesome | 1 Comment

Student Feedback: How my students said digital tools helped them in my class

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on July 14, 2015

I wrote earlier this week to reflect on what my student end-of-year survey data suggested about how what we did with writing helped them as writers. And I’ll write later about how things went in terms of reading. This post … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century teaching and learning, education, muddling through, reflections, student feedback, technology | 1 Comment

#NCTE14 Outbound

by Jay Stott Posted on November 23, 2014

The Airport Reflection New in my bag is: A copy of Ralph Fletcher’s Breathing In, Breathing Out A copy of Wilhelm, Smith and Appleman’s UnCommon Core A copy of the videos for Best Practice by Zimmelman et al. A copy each of The Clockwork … Continue reading →

Posted in #NCTE14, education, engagement, reflections | 1 Comment

#NCTE14 Saturday reflections, with artifacts, inspiration, and gratitude

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on November 23, 2014

Whereas yesterday left me feeling somewhat inadequate, today left me feeling inspired. That is the roller coaster of great professional development if you ask me. The day started at 7am with a run with Liz–my former high school student from … Continue reading →

Posted in #NCTE14, education, gratitude, making change, presenting, stories, teaching, things made of awesome | 1 Comment

Going Gradeless and Getting Better Writing Conferences!

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on March 12, 2014

I had my first more formal writing conferences today with students under my new gradeless regime. (Read about it here, here, and here.) So they all wrote complete rough drafts. I gave them all feedback. I provided rubrics (just a … Continue reading →

Posted in CCSS, education, first gradeless series 2013-2014, grading, literacy, making change, not grading, teaching writing | 1 Comment

Reign of Error tidbit: The Language of Corporate Reform

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on February 26, 2014

If you’re not reading Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error, you should be. I’ll take it upon myself to post a few tidbits while I’m reading it. Here’s today’s installment: From Chapter 4, “The Language of Corporate Reform”: Recognizing that most … Continue reading →

Posted in education, policy, reform, society, the system | Leave a comment

Traversing the Chasm between Research and Practice in Education: My response to “Professors, We Need You!”

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on February 15, 2014

Nicholas Kristof, NYTimes columnist, recently published “Professors, We Need You!” This piece argued that academics are essentially irrelevant in the biggest debates in our society because they isolate themselves in the ivory tower and cultivate a culture that values nearly … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, collaboration, education, literacy, making change, policy, reform, teaching, testing, the system | 4 Comments

Adventures on “The Dark Side”

by Jay Stott Posted on January 21, 2014

I’m embarking on something new. On a good day I think of it as an adventure, and anthropological exploration. On the bad days… I’m in a program to get my principal’s licensure. It’s what you do if you want to … Continue reading →

Posted in administration, education, making change, professional development, the system | Tagged , | 1 Comment