Blog

June 30, 2020 Teaching When Schools Reopen: Thoughts from an Interventionist

After 14 years in the teaching profession working with kids from pre-k to college, I have learned plenty about developmentally appropriate pedagogy. Would you believe preschoolers’ needs do not differ that much from college students? The last six years of my full-time career have been...

June 26, 2020 Using Assessment Data to Inform Instruction

In my 33 years as a teacher, I have seen various educational acronyms, programs, systems, etc. come and go. Some ideas simply seem to be recycled over the years and just renamed. I have been exposed to using data previously; unfortunately, it rendered no improvement...

June 18, 2020 Making it Work: An Educator’s Perspective on Back to School

Summertime for me, as a teacher, means extra time to plan, attend PD, and organize for the coming year. But it also allows for a bit more balance than during the school year. We can stay up later, have lazy mornings, and watch far more...

June 18, 2020 A Small Step Towards More Inclusive Instruction

In my experience as a high school English teacher, I have found that having my students create their own TED talks has been one of the most successful passion-driven, project-based learning assignments that my students work on during their sophomore year. Students are able to...

June 2, 2020 Wyoming Teachers Will Have a High-Quality Interim Assessment to Help Identify Learning Gaps from Covid-19

Over the past two and a half months, it has become glaringly evident that interrupted classroom instruction due to Covid-19 is causing major learning gaps for students. Even though our district was prepared to distribute iPads and Chromebooks to the majority of students for online...

May 26, 2020 Now, More Than Ever, Is The Time For Parents and Teachers to Connect Around Math

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of negative Facebook and Twitter posts about math, as parents try to pick up from where their students left off in their classes. Some of the posts are clearly meant in jest, and others seem to be made in all...

May 19, 2020 Conversations Around Diagnostic Assessments Should Include Educator Expertise

There has been no lack of discussion and debate about how schools can best address the COVID-19 pandemic while still ensuring students are learning and supported. A recent survey of more than 5,500 educators and advocates conducted by The Collaborative for Student Success sought to...