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We need to develop more learning opportunities where students constitute the actual evaluators for the work itself. Imagine if students, teachers and others evaluate and provide feedback to determine the effectiveness of a student's creation: Develop an 60-second speech to be shared with the student council and three advertising posters to be copied and placed around school to decrease bullying. Your work will be evaluated according to our rubric by the students in our class, outside professionals and me - as the teacher. These are the experiences that push learning beyond a one-way conversation between student and teacher. They demystify the assessment process and allow each student to be a creator and simultaneous evaluator, providing multiple experiences for students to recognize and apply the criteria for quality"

"As in Visible Learning, the (updated) rank order of those factors that have the greatest effect size in student achievement will be of interest to every teacher, administrator, and education professor. Here is the rank-ordered list of the top effect sizes, with a half-dozen removed by me because they either refer to programs unknown outside of Australia & New Zealand - Hattie's home base - or they refer to sub-sets of students (e.g. the learning disabled). And I am going to provide a bit of suspense with this list. I want you to guess which two factors come next after what is listed below; you'll see why I wanted to add a bit of intrigue by the end. (I have also starred the factors that have an effect size of .7 or greater since these are significant gains): Student self-assessment/self-grading* Response to intervention* Teacher credibility* Providing formative assessments* Classroom discussion* Teacher clarity* Feedback* Reciprocal teaching* Teacher-student relationships fostered* Spaced vs. mass practice* Meta-cognitive strategies taught and used Acceleration Classroom behavioral techniques Vocabulary programs Repeated reading programs Creativity programs Student prior achievement Self-questioning by students Study skills Problem-solving teaching Not labeling students Concept mapping Cooperative vs individualistic learning Direct instruction Tactile stimulation programs Mastery learning Worked examples Visual-perception programs Peer tutoring Cooperative vs competitive learning Phonics instruction Student-centered teaching Classroom cohesion Pre-term bi

"For more than a decade, Achieve3000® has supported the individuality and potential of every student by reaching them where they are to help them reach higher levels of reading and writing proficiency. Our fundamental belief is that literacy unlocks achievement, and that the key to improving literacy is differentiated instruction. Today, Achieve3000 is the leader in differentiated online instruction, serving more than one million students across the United States. In 2011, Inc. magazine included Achieve3000 on its annual 500/5000 list for the fifth consecutive year, the exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest growing private companies. Achieve provides the only web-based, differentiated instruction solutions designed to reach a school's entire student population - mainstream, English Language Learners, special needs, and gifted. In addition to KidBiz3000®, TeenBiz3000®, Empower3000™ and other literacy solutions, Achieve launched its first differentiated core curriculum solution, eScience3000™ in 2011, in partnership with National Geographic School Learning. Discover more about what makes Achieve3000 the leading force in differentiated learning solutions by clicking through the "About Us" items to the left. "

"At Kaizena, we understand that effective feedback is an extremely important part of the learning process. From book reports to math assignments, students rely on their teachers and peers to guide them in the pursuit of improvement. We're building tools that make it incredibly easy for teachers to provide high quality feedback to students. When students have the support they need to improve, learning happens."

"Personalized learning requires teachers to become co-learners and release their iron grip on the learning process. It requires districts to trust principals, principals to trust teachers, and teachers to trust students. It requires a great deal of conversation about what real learning is and why it matters. engaged-students2This student-driven approach to learning allows kids to explore what matters to them, to build things that don't work and to figure out why. It requires them to form opinions and justify them based on solid evidence. And it requires adults who care and can speak carefully and honestly into the lives of kids. All learning should be formative. "

Mission: Club Academia strives to organize existing knowledge in ways that make learning easily accessible while simultaneously inspiring people to discover and innovate. Since its founding, Club Academia has provided supplemental instruction to students who are struggling with a particular concept and are looking for further explanation. We recognize that often fellow students can most easily help peers understand difficult classroom material. Starting with only four high schoolers uploading videos to a YouTube account, Club Academia has expanded nearly exponentially, currently with 17 video makers and over 500 videos on our website. With the help of the $20,000 Westly Prize grant, we are able to provide equipment for our video-makers and thus create a strong video base. As a result, we are able to expand into more schools and recruit more volunteers to make high-quality videos for our learners!

PISA. It found that the most successful students are those who feel real "ownership" of their education. In all the best performing school systems, said Schleicher, "students feel they personally can make a difference in their own outcomes and that education will make a difference for their future."

"LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 2013 23 Michael Fullan , University of Toronto ABSTRACT There is currently a powerful push-pull factor in schooling. The push factor is that school is increasingly boring for students and alienating for teachers. The pull fac - tor is that the exploding and alluring digital world is irresistible, but not necessarily productive in its raw form. The push-pull dynamic makes it inevitable that disruptive changes will occur. I have been part of a group that has been developing innova - tive responses to the current challenges. This response consists of integrating three components: deep learning goals, new pedagogies, and technology. The result will be more radical change in the next five years than has occurred in the past 50 years. T here is currently a volatile push-pull dynamic intensifying in public schools. The push factor is that students are increasingly bored in school"

"Three Ring unlocks the power of your mobile phone or iPad. Now it's easy for teachers and students to document evidence from the classroom. Capture anything, regardless of format, in just seconds. Take a picture of any paper, drawing, or board work. Record presentations or discussions with audio or video. Students can upload their own work from any mobile device or computer."

"Newsela is free for students to explore a world of nonfiction and test their comprehension. Updated daily with real-world news from major publications, students can participate in conversation about the most urgent topics of our time, all while becoming stronger readers. "

"The growing access to knowledge, information, people, and tools that our students are getting demands a shift in how we think about the work they do in school."

Promoting Student Engagement: Top 4 Reasons for Superintendents & Principals to Send Shout Out Tweets http://t.co/JWkDtM9cMS @unklar

" Turn any book or document into a digital classroom. Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts. You can also layer in enrichment materials, assignments and quizzes-opening up almost limitless opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills. Watch video »"

I have downloaded the app and am looking forward to sharing with my students!

To really understand them, take on something new. Something hard. Something meaningful. Something that you aren't sure you can do. Feel the fear. Because that's what your students feel everyday. Genuine learning is hard.

"It starts with the conversation you direct in schools and it starts with the examples you set for kids," Mahoney said. "The kids are watching and they're making note of that.

"In this episode of the November Learning Podcast Series, Alan November speaks to Ian VanderSchee, an upper level mathematics teacher at Coppell High School, in Texas. The two discuss Ian's implementation of Alan's "First 5 Days" ideas at the start of this school year and how these ideas have positively impacted his students ever since. To learn more about these and other possible "First 5 Days" implementations, we encourage you to read Alan's book, Who Owns the Learning, and we invite you to attend the Building Learning Communities conference being held this summer in Boston. You can learn about both of these on our Web site at http://www.novemberlearning.com. You might also share your thoughts and stories about the "First 5 Days" on Twitter, using the hashtag #1st5days."

"Mini challenges are a great alternative to open exploration or direct instruction. They can be a form of guided discovery. We recommend starting with easier (easier to find, more intuitive, etc.) challenges and building up. Ideally these challenges are completed in pairs or small groups so that there is additional support and an immediate opportunity to "teach." A favorite final challenge is for the student(s) to come up with a challenge for the other pairs/groups or to prepare a "discovery" to share with the whole class using an LCD projector."

"The Buck Institute for Education commissioned the cutting-edge advertising agency, Common Craft, to create a short animated video that explains in clear language the essential elements of Project Based Learning (PBL). This simple video makes the essential elements of PBL come alive and brings to light the 21st Century skills and competencies (collaboration, communication, critical thinking) that will enable K-12 students to be college and work-ready as well as effective members of their communities."