Whew! That was a day, wasn’t it?! Z did a pretty good job getting the global feel last night in her post– me I was pooped and went to bed. I woke up this morning thinking about our presentation yesterday, … Continue reading
I logged into the blog to try and capture a few thoughts the other day and realized I have five or six unfinished posts here. Unfinished thoughts. And that’s sort of where I’m at right now- unfinished thoughts. Maybe that’s … Continue reading
The educational bureaucracy wants simple, easy-to-read data, but students are human beings with complex intellectual and emotional needs. Can I serve both the system and my students? Try cramming a square peg into a round hole. Now imagine that the … Continue reading
Okay Z, it’s on! The post I was referring to, The Evolution of Grading, was, in fact, mostly about responding to student work. Readers who click the link will find that you have edited the language in the first line. … Continue reading
As one might have gathered from previous posts, I am feeling pretty miserable about grades right now. Not miserable about responding to student work, which is what helps learning to happen, and not assessing the progress of student learning, but … Continue reading
I know we get caught up, especially on this blog, with larger issues in education- policy, politics, philosophy. And all that stuff is important, and we like thinking about it (when our heads are not exploding). But we are teachers, … Continue reading
At our session at NCTE, Dr. Z and I took a little bit of our time to tell the story of how each of us came to be the teachers we are today. In lieu of retelling that story, which … Continue reading
We just finished up the Colorado Language Arts Society (or find ’em on Facebook) conference in Golden Colorado this afternoon. For me personally, it was a great experience. I heard some stimulating ideas, reconnected with collegues I hadn’t seen in … Continue reading
I start the year with a bit of writing workshop. As part of that we have several discussions about what characterizes ‘good’ writing. So when we have a list of characteristics, I ask my students to try to synthesize their … Continue reading
