September is the time for diagnostic assessment.  It is good to know what your students already know and don’t.  But I wish the word...

It is good to stay current with the lingo.  The literature now refers the classroom environment as the “third teacher”.  Many teachers...

The latest buzz is collaboration.  If we can get our students to collaborate then both engagement and learning increases.  This is based...

Teaching, it may surprise you, is very traditional.  We hold onto ideas for a long time.  Many teachers tend to teach the way they...

The question came upabout how you get students on an IEP started in class.  You have given the assignment, you were clear in the...

I find the research around growth mindsets fascinating.  I catch myself praising students for intelligence now and switch it to effort....

A group of teachers  and I went to a workshop and watched a video of a grade 6 literature circle.  We had a chance to discuss it in our...

The Individual Education Plan (IEP)  is our promise to the parents and the student that we will teach them something that is probably...

At a workshop last week, the speaker reminded us that “student engagement” is not the same thing as “having fun”.  Student engagement is...

Assessment is the hardest thing you do.  You need to think about myriad of things all at the same time: What do I assess? Content? ...

Collaboration sounds like a good idea.  You are keen.  You have watched the video.  Your desks are in groups.  And…it isn’t going as well...

Collaboration is the new buzz word.  Sometimes it is hard to keep track of them all.  Why do we want our students to collaborate and work...

Every year our board produces a video.    I got to watch it (twice) this week.    It is very good. One of the messages is about how our...

When thinking about effective feedback you want to think about two types: the feedback that you as the teacher gets which informs how you...

This week I went to an engaging literacy workshop. I had a wonderful time discussing strategies and meeting with colleagues. I came...

Traditionally curriculum is designed in units: persuasive writing, short stories, fractions, cell theory etc. In order to make the...

You plan the lesson. You have the ideas. You can see how it is going to go in your head. And then it doesn’t. Somehow the students...

When I was a student, back in the dark ages, teachers gave out assignments all the time.  We did them, we got them back marked and we...