Instruction

4 Types of Activities-Assessments That Every Teacher Should Know and Use

Presenter linkElliott Seif
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Categories: Assessment, Instruction, Student Engagement

What kinds of activities best prepare students for a changing and uncertain world? I would like to suggest that four powerful types of activities, each of which can also be used as assessments, should be part of an arsenal of tools that all teachers should develop in order to prepare students for their future. Each incorporates opportunities for students to develop key ideas and understandings, a critical knowledge base, and core reading, research, communication, thinking, and collaboration skills. Each can be adapted for all grade levels.

Open-Ended Assignments

Open-ended assignments pose questions and offer activities that lead students to think and explain rather than give simple yes or no answers (Gardner, 2005). They can be used to provoke interest and curiosity in what is to be learned, to teach content and critical skills, and to provide opportunities for independent and deeper learning. They often provide students with writing opportunities and/or a chance to participate in discussions with multiple possible responses. They are also designed to create new ways of thinking about problems and challenges, allow for alternative possibilities and options, and enable students to be innovative and to think outside the box. Read more

Image with text How to Strengthen Understanding by Design

How to Strengthen Understanding by Design: Five Suggestions

Presenter linkElliott Seif
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Categories: 21st Century Skills, Assessment, Authors, Instruction

I’ve been fortunate to be part of the Understanding by Design (UbD) family for a long time, originally as part of a team organized by the UbD authors Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins to help develop the program. Once the program was developed, I also became a member of the ASCD UbD faculty that conducted training across the country and even in several countries around the world.

I am proud of what has been and is being accomplished through UbD, one of the best curriculum design programs that exists today. But my experiences as a developer and trainer also exposed me to what I consider to be some problems and challenges facing UbD designers. In this blogpost, I suggest five ways that I think teachers and schools that are already familiar with and using UbD can strengthen the design model and make it more powerful, relevant and different from traditional curriculum design. Read more

Five Questions Every Teacher Needs to Ask Often

Presenter linkElliott Seif
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Categories: Instruction, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Student Engagement

Based on Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World.

In today’s uncertain and changing world, teachers need to continually ask themselves five questions that help them to decide on what’s important to teach and how to teach in order to prepare students for future success. They are useful questions to ask for both in person and online teaching situations.

What can I do to:

  • Develop a positive classroom and school climate, culture, and environment for learning?
  • Focus student learning around relevant, meaningful, important, and significant content and vital skills?
  • Help students apply and deepen learning and become independent learners?
  • Help to broaden and enrich student experiences, interests, and talents?
  • Help students meet high-quality standards and share their learning and work with others?

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A Time To Be Wary Graphic

A Time to Be Wary

Presenter linkJeanetta Jones Miller
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Categories: Assessment, Authors, Instruction

“Incessant testing and grading and criticism keep you in a chronic probationary state that breeds low self-esteem.”
–James Moffett & Betty Jane Wagner, Student-Centered Language Arts K-12

Based on The Student-Centered Classroom

We should be concerned about the many students who have been categorized as “behind” because of “COVID learning loss.” The words educators use to describe students have an enormous impact on how they see themselves. Fall 2021 is a time like no other in recent history when we can lift up students or limit them based on how they were able to navigate an unforeseen and incredibly challenging year of education. This is a time when rigid adherence to standardized testing policies and grading practices could have a lasting negative impact on how our students see themselves and on the role they expect school to play in their lives. 

Evaluate each student’s unique progress toward achievement of learning goals

Think about a student who has stayed engaged with learning and grown intellectually and emotionally in consequence. Think about a student who has used this increasingly mature sense of understanding to help siblings and friends engage in learning. Think about this same student receiving grades of C and D. Educators need to read between the lines. This is a time when it is crucial to get to know each student as a whole person and to evaluate each student’s unique progress toward the achievement of important learning goals. If there was ever a time to be wary of standardized tests and averaged grades on one-size-fits-all assignments, this is that time. 

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How I learned in my summer vacation

How I Learned In My Summer Vacation

Presenter linkPeg Grafwallner
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Categories: Authors, Instruction, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Student Engagement

Years ago, it wasn’t unusual for the teacher to assign the usual “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essay to welcome back students to the classroom. Teachers Pay Teachers (a website I would never recommend) has nearly 458 activities that incorporate the “summer vacation” theme. There are thousands of “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” images available on Google for teachers to download, print, and give to their students. “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” appears to be a part of an academic rite of summer passage.

However, the iconic “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” writing activity is not morally, nor culturally sensitive. There was a time when teachers used the traditional writing assignment to get to know their students’ interests and family hobbies. There was an assumption, albeit misguided, that most students and their families vacationed in the lovely Adirondacks or students attended neighborhood play dates with Dick and Jane or students took part in “up north” camps.

Simply put, the assignment no longer reflects our society or what it might define.

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