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 »
Ken Templeton's Posts
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 »
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 »
Differentiating instruction can be really hard. One of the more challenging aspects of differentiation is simply defining it. The Glossary for Education Reform offers this definition: “primary educational objectives…remain the same for every student, but teachers [...] Read More »
This post is the last in our three-part series on group work. You can read the first two parts here and here. Today’s topic: debriefing and reflection. It can be very effective or deadly boring. [...] Read More »
In Part I of this series, we discussed the key things teachers can do to plan for successful group work. In this post, we’re going to focus on how teachers encourage effective group work while students [...] Read More »
Many teachers want successful group opportunities for their students, but wonder how they can make sure that collaborative group work is productive and encourages all students to participate and contribute. In this three-part series, we’ll [...] Read More »