Charles Willis is a Social Studies teacher at Revere High School in Revere, MA. The past year has been filled with experimentation, long nights of lesson planning, and changing the way I thought about my [...] Read More »
Learning from Teaching
Observations on the Art and Science of Effective Instruction
Charles Willis is a social studies teacher at Revere High School in Revere, MA. This is his second post on flipped learning for Learning from Teaching. Charles’ first post can be found here. It’s now been [...] Read More »
Think of a teacher you vividly remember from school. Or, perhaps, you’re a student now—think of a teacher you have. How true is this statement? “My teacher takes time to summarize what we learn each [...] Read More »
At Great Schools Partnership, one of our bedrock approaches is to support professional learning groups for educators. We know that the United States under-invests in effective professional learning, compared to many other countries, and we [...] Read More »
“My teacher wants us to use our thinking skills, not just memorize things.†“My teacher asks students to explain more about answers they give.†Think back to the teachers who changed your life. How would [...] Read More »
Many teachers use learning targets as a way to improve student understanding of the purpose of a lesson or unit of study and to focus assessment. As with any teaching practice, the details of how [...] Read More »
Caroline Gordon Messenger has taught English for grades 6 through 12 for the past 14 years. Before earning her teacher certification, she was a professional journalist. Messenger holds a Master of Arts in Oral Traditions [...] Read More »
There are few things that are more powerful to improve student learning than feedback that is specific, actionable, and supportive. Feedback is different from grading, but these two pieces of assessment often get conflated. It [...] Read More »
Most teachers ask students for feedback on their experiences in the classroom. Some teachers hold mid-course discussions on what’s working and what could be different; others use a short, anonymous survey or a series of [...] Read More »
How do you foster good discussions in the classroom? One of the greatest benefits of peers and administrators conducting classroom observations is the opportunity to reflect upon pedagogy. It affords colleagues the chance to come [...] Read More »