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This blog addresses professional practices and critical learning issues of our day. Members of PLCs can select a blog post for text-based discussions to deepen professional practice.

This article outlines why everyone needs to give Common Core a chance. The author points out that Americans have one of the best education system when it comes to ideas, but we have trouble following the plans out. Students really learn best not from drill and practice but by applying the information to real world problems. That knowing the procedure to working a long division problem isn't the same as the application of long division. By teaching problems with a real world concept the math becomes more concrete.

This article provides a variety of ELL terminology and instructional guidance for early childhood educators who are looking to support children who are ELL's. The articles focus is on language and literacy content approaches and best practices that should be included in ELL educational practice programs. Along with instructional practices, this article offers essential materials, The Early English Language Development Standards, and developmentally appropriate academic language all in guidance for supporting early ELL's.

This article details an instructional model called Interactive Learning (IL), which contains ten best practices for educators to follow that must be implemented in all lessons. Using these practices can help student achievement tremendously, as evidenced by the example school, which doubled student achievement in three years using these practices.

This is a informative article about 10 strategies for engaging underperforming students. Since my SMART goal is all about giving additional resources for success to my lowest performing students (students who previously took Biology I) this fits perfectly. This will help me create a plan to reach out and engage each student and write up resources for each of them.

I think these ideas have come a long way and are being implemented in many classrooms. This seems like a norm for my school or even my classroom. Although, I say that and I think it is hard to incorporate all components every day. Especially when I think of student movement. I think this is an excellent article to pinpoint instructional strategies.

This research article describes how CRI is characterized by well-established best practices that ground the curriculum in the lives of its students, their families, and their communities in order to close the achievement gap.

The Policy Conference is the most important European conference dedicated to sustainable energy policy issues. Sessions organised by the European Commission and energy stakeholders debate new policy developments, best practices and sustainable energy ideas, while networking events forge alliances. Awards for outstanding projects begin the week.

This article focuses on strategies to improve classroom questioning practices to support the learning gaps of students. I see learning gaps related to questioning levels also directly connected to an instructional gap as it is the responsibility of the teacher to facilitate these learning opportunities and an environment that nurtures curiosity. This resource is applicable to all grade levels as it focuses on the value of each level of questions and the role of the instructor as it relates to responding to questions by students, also known as feedback. Feedback is an essential component of student questions and is best managed with a few key steps: appropriate wait times for responding by the students and the teacher, encouragement of student responses to peer questions, specific feedback, and increasing student questions (rather than teacher-developed questions).

Today's state-of-the-art health education curricula reflect the growing body of research that emphasizes Teaching functional health information (essential knowledge) Shaping personal values and beliefs that support healthy behaviors Shaping group norms that value a healthy lifestyle Developing the essential health skills necessary to adopt, practice, and maintain health-enhancing behaviors. Health teachers are able to use this to develop strategies and use best practice strategies in their own classrooms to assist with teaching in the classroom.

EDTC615 Fall2018 Group1 This is my smart goal: By the end of 1st quarter 75% of the LSN Government students will be able to analyze political cartoons with 75% accuracy for historical content and meaning for the LSN FAST 2 test. My students will not be able to perform well if I can not use effective questioning skills in order to assist them in inquiry-based learning to "seek" the answers they must know in Historical context. The article uncovers the use of questioning, the types of questions asked, and how to effective use questioning to assist in the learning process. Questions are asked in the classroom environment on a daily basis but often times not effectively or correctly. Most times questions are asked in such a random manner that often times leave the student in a state of confusion. Teachers can use this article to assist in their instructional practices by learning how to effectively ask questions with the use of Bloom's taxonomy of learning, the types of nonhierarchical questions as teaching tools (convergent or divergent questions), classification of questions based on knowledge dimensions, and several other different methods/components that used together effectively will produce relevant and effective questioning techniques for teachers and students

This article explores the use of mathematical discourse, or misconceptions, to promote student discussions and learning. It goes on to examine the process and best practices of using mathematical discourse to teach students content and practice mathematical vocabulary skills.

This article discusses how professional development for teachers will help close the achievement gap. This blog centers on how the improvement of teaching practices will best assist students and that there should be universal teaching strategies. EDTC 615. k-12

Details 4 critical ways in which we can improve the quality of instruction by focusing on improvement as instructors. Standardizing practices, strategies, assessments, etc. Interesting read and turns the system around to look at instructors what we are able to change.

This article is great at recognizing necessary checks and balances for teachers. Changing standards will not along close all of the achievement gaps. The improved curriculum must come with a way for teachers to know they are delivering appropriately and sufficiently.

WEEK 8 - (Chris Baugher, Patricia Bankis and A. Burns) Assessment is the key to good instruction. It shows us what students know and allows us to adjust our instruction. Assessment is tied to learning goals and standards, but students must own the assessment process as well, as they must be able to articulate what and how they are being assessed -- and its value.

This article provides five useful strategies to help students improve and to improve assessments. There are two key factors in this article which ring true for me. The first is "formative assessment and feedback along the way" (Miller 2015) where students are given specific feedback on their assessment on how to improve and continue forward (Miller 2015). "Formative assessment allowed students to experiment and, yes, sometimes fail. However, they were given the tools, both through feedback and instruction, to improve and move forward to success." (Miller 2015). What this entails if differentiated instruction; something my district and school are pushing for. The second is "student ownership of assessment process" (Miller 2015). Giving students choice, options, and freedom allows students to take ownership and responsibility for doing something all while doing their best on it. In addition, students will know more about what is being asked of them or what they're supposed to do in order to earn a higher grade or preform the task more effectively. "These methods mean that assessment is no longer done to students, but with them, putting the focus on the student and learning" (Miller 2015). Hopefully with these implementations and integration, students can feel the focus from assessment scores to learning content and gaining understanding.

This article is useful when considering big picture assessment objectives. In my own experiences, I have touched upon each of these strategies when conducting an assessment, but I've never built each of them into one assessment. The (5) strategies mentioned in this article include: Aligning Essential questions at the beginning of a unit to standars, building in written assessment components for students to describe/explain in writing, creating performance and project-based assessments to demonstrate understanding and application of concepts taught, regular and on-going formative assessments and feeback to help teachers to better tailor instruction to meet each learner's needs, and involving students in the decision-making process when choosing activities and when determining diagnostic measurement tools. As a World Language teacher, I think that these tasks which are challenging in themselves to build into curriculum, become extremely difficult in the L2 setting. I'm wondering how L2 instructors find themselves doing each of these things on a regular basis. Do they conduct all of it in L2, as it is suggested that L2 teachers do, or does some of this end up being done in English?

In this article, Dean breaks down the writing process for teachers. This resource provides educators with a comprehensive instructional guide for writing. In order to best fit instruction for our students, writing needs to be individualized and differentiated. Instructional strategies that are effective are based on the students' needs.

I like the ease of use of this software tool for a classroom setting. Since time is limited for a particular subject, this tool allows interaction, quizzing, gives helpful hints, provides short questions and answers that will hold students' attention, and at the same time provides geography statistics of the United States. Students can challenge themselves over and over for the quickness of the answers, and knowledge of the content. Technology can be overwhelming, so with limited time, I think software integration in a classroom should have ease of use.

Hi Sharon, This website provides multiple aspects in 1 site, which is very good for students to use. I could see myself using this tool when discussing more about where students live and finding more information about Maryland. The only con was that personally it was hard for me t navigate and find certain features. For students, they would definitely need more user-friendly tools. This is definitely a website that will save a lot of time and energy, and provide reinforcement of topics learned in social studies!

Hi Sharon, I took a look at the website and I agree that it is perfect for a classroom setting. Students can work together to complete the activities or the teacher can use the software to assist class lectures. The program is effective because it comes with a map and key visuals that would help students learn their geography. I took a quiz on the rivers/lakes/oceans and I didn't do very well, however I believe it was great practice, after a few attempts, I will be able to learn their names and locations. Great tool selection! Best, Denee Devenish

This is a great article stating that students' reading is strengthened by teaching all the subjects and progressing them in logical order.

A useful module that explains how tiering can provide help learners learn better and has videos of examples. This can help improve Smart Goals for improvement in assessments, and homework and classroom performance.

I enjoyed the video on Tiering. Our teams' SMART goal is, "Students will be able to solve an on grade level math task, that will require them to respond and defend their work to explain their reasoning 3 out of 5 times by the end of the 1st marking period." I think an important concept to note, is that this activity has a high Impact on Learning because it differentiates for the particular needs of each student. This process also encourages Student Engagement, which allows for the students to work comfortably in a peer environment. By having more time to plan differentiated work to meet simultaneous goals between students, the teacher is also scaffolding. The teacher is giving support to students who need it and to also challenge those students to maintain interest or to continue the work of those who have mastered a specific skill but may need more advanced strategies to continue the upward curve of learning. EDTC 615 Fall2018

With the video, the topic of towering the lesson is shown. With my SMART goal focusing on the 11th graders in my health education classes, it I'm important for me to address all the educational needs of my students. Currently, I use DI in my classes and I found a piece of information from the video that can I can begin to implement. The teacher had her students raise their hand with chosen number of fingers in the air. The number represents the level that each student feels they are on in regards to understanding the topic. While the exact way this strategy is used is not something I think will be effective with my high school students, the number system is. I can have my students write and post their perceived number and explain why they chose that number. Then, I can see the comfortability each student has with the topic. THey would have to apply extended reasoning which is a respresentation of depth of knowledge from the planning protocol rubric. EDTC Fall2018 EL

An informative and engaging article that provides eight solutions to tackling the achievement gap.  It is well organized and written with clear reasoning for each solution.

I really enjoyed this article. As a new instructor I am constantly looking to engage my adult students. Through my instruction, making that personal connection is so important. Once you make that personal connection I find that students start making a personal connection with their assignments as well. I find having a non-academic conversation at the beginning of class can help the students feel involved classroom citizens.

This article really gives great advice on how teachers can help close the achievement gap by changing small things they do in the classroom. The two things that stuck out to me was allowing more time and progress monitoring. Sometimes time is all a student needs to succeed. When students feel rushed they end up just picking whatever answer they think is right or just something to complete the assignment. Allowing students to return to their unfinished work could really help students concentrate knowing that they don't have to rush to finish an assignment. As far as progress monitoring goes, it helps when the teacher really cares about making sure the students are on the right track and that their parents are aware of the work they have completed or would need to complete to get them on track.

This article appeared in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education so at first I was worried that it would not be applicable; however, I quickly found that it is a fantastic resource for teachers of all ages. My goal is to learn more instructional strategies to facilitate an increase in the frequency of higher-level questioning that I use in the classroom to support the learning gaps that I have identified with my students. This article highlights very important concepts related to my search. I have learned that questioning strategies and using various levels should be done with appropriate timing, as it relates to the depth of instruction, to avoid confusion or discouraging students. It was also emphasized that all levels of questioning should be incorporated into learning situations, but suggested questioning methods to ensure that all levels are utilized. The article provides great detail about facilitating the Socratic method, Question Circles, and Student-generated questions. All of these methods will produce higher-level questioning opportunities to increase student exposure to critical thinking tasks. I would highly recommend this article for review for all levels of educators. I am now hoping to learn more about the Socratic method to incorporate this into my own classroom.