Posted inHigh School, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, Social Studies, Technology

The Sensibilities of Mind Mapping

I was in attendance at a social studies department meeting reviewing how current curricula addresses Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements (PBGR). A disagreement occurred over the requirement of mental mapping as a performance indicator.  Teachers accustomed to multiple choice and essay writing for common assessment could not discern what constituted a mental map. The recall of Venn diagrams, illustrated maps with inset boxes and character […]

Posted inElementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Technology

Differentiating your Formative Assessments

The point of teaching is to learn.  Each student comes to us with different experiences and this impacts how and when they master the various concepts and skills presented in the classroom.  Part of teaching is understanding where students are in a lesson, skill, and unit.  Exit tickets have become the buzz, but there are many […]