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"I asked myself, what if homework was really valuable?  Better yet, what if homework was life-changing?  What if it could teach students - prove to students - that with effective effort and time, they could achieve anything? I set out to design a homework system with that goal in mind.  Since I first started four or five years ago, it has changed many times.  My earlier blog posts on the subject are now way out-of-date, so I'm going to describe what I do these days.  This is the best iteration of my homework plan so far, and over my two-year loop with a group of children from second to third grade, I saw amazing results."

the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation commissioned a paper that links research and best practices involved in helping children with LD learn to read to the broader grade-level reading movement

"Lighthouse Community Charter School is a K-12 public school in Oakland, California. The mission is "to prepare a diverse, K-12th grade student population for college and the career of their choice by equipping each child and youth with the skills, knowledge, and tools to become a self-motivated, competent, lifelong learner." Lighthouse is designed around five principles: High expectations for all students, a rigorous curriculum, serving the whole child, family involvement, and creating a professional learning community. In addition to being rigorous, the curricular approach is also authentic, hands-on and inquiry-driven."

Today, education is caught in the trap which suffocated medicine 150 years ago. Pedagogy and the structure of schooling does not change because so many of those who practice and lead it refuse to confront their egos and their self-images - and this ranges from the teacher who still uses worksheets and grades compliance to Arne Duncan, Michael Gove, and even Barack Obama. And the result is... we are "killing" kids - both figuratively and literally. Educators get caught in an awful "Anti-Virtuous" Cycle. So many did well in traditional schools for very traditional reasons. They were born to wealth and privilege, or they were born to educationally successful families. And/or, they simply are the kind of student "school" - that culture of compliance and passivity - enables."

""If you give effective feedback to students you double the rate of learning," Almarode said. "So here's my argument: cut back on the volume of assignments and increase your feedback on those you grade and you will double the rate of learning.""

"Rhyme 'n Learn is math and science taught by mnemonics. A mnemonic is a learning aid. It uses word associations like rhymes so that a term or fact is easier to recall later. An example of a mnemonic is "In fourteen hundred ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue." I learned that in 3rd grade. Thanks Mrs. Erbach. Rhyme 'n Learn was created by me, Joe Ocando. I've taught math and science to students of all ages and discovered that many find it difficult to memorize hundreds of new terms and facts. I also found that rote learning is boring and not very effective for long term retention"

The Project We called our classroom adventure "The 1,000 Books Project." Each of the 25 children in my class received 40 books over the course of 2nd and 3rd grade, for a total of 1,000 new books in their homes.

"The Teacher's Desk Reference is designed to meet the needs of general and special education teachers and to assist them as they face the challenges of teaching increasingly diverse groups of learners. The adaptation process, strategies, and examples provided are appropriate for students at all grade levels and may be applied to all subject areas of the curriculum. Call 812-855-9396 to inquire about bulk discounts on orders of 100 copies or more."

recently assigned a new project to my 11th grade English students: The 20% Project. Although it's called a "project", that term is merely for student understanding and lack of a better word. This project is based on the "20 percent time" Google employees have to work on something other than their job description. It has been well documented, and Google has exponentially grown as a company while giving this 20 percent time

"APPitic is an directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) to help you transform teaching and learning. These apps have been tested in a variety of different grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings"

"a high quality, open source, free reading intervention program for grades PK-6"

Grades 2-3 class blog. Includes some nice examples of the use of Haiku Deck

Good stuff in their Teaching and Learning folder. Also search Common Core State Standards Collaborative INitiative for a lot of good grade level and subject area resources

"This textbook is the result of over a year of collaboration between several individuals. Garth Holman, the Social Studies department chair and 7th grade world history teacher envisioned this project as a way to engage students through the use of technology and help them see the "big picture" that is often lost, or ignored, in history classes. Beginning in the summer of 2006, Garth began working with a student teacher, Michael Pennington (Currently teaching at Chardon Middle School). Another member of this project was Angie White, an intervention specialist at Beachwood Middle School (now at Hilltop Elementary in Beachwood CIty Schools). Angie provided a strong knowledge of curriculum differentiation and techniques to include students of varying abilities. A project of this nature, allows students to disseminate knowledge in a digital format that is congruent to the world in which they live. Our students are digital natives and this new technological paradigm allows for the democratization of knowledge. Wiki technology and the ability to instantaneously communicate across cultures and physical boundaries means that nothing our students create is isolated. We not only want our students to learn, but understand how the puzzle pieces fit to create the world in which we live."

"Powerful instruction - powerful engagement What would happen if, rather than focusing on teaching reading strategies, we focused instead on getting students engaged? I can tell you what happened in four eighth-grade classrooms."

Although mathematics instruction could focus on a few of the earliest mathematics skills throughout the students school career, research presented in this article shows students with moderate and severe disability can learn skills that align with the grade level of their chronological age while also practicing early numeracy skills. This article provides teachers with a 6-step approach to providing instruction to students with moderate and severe disability aligned to the new CCSS.

"Our school has been working diligently on beginning to implement the Common Core State Standards as well as follow the best practices according to the Continuous Classroom Improvement system, the book Instruction for All Students by Paula Rutherford, and the Leader in Me book by Stephen R. Covey that showcases schools with the greatest success in turning around academics and student behavior.  One of the ways we have done this is by working in our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), or teams of grade level teachers, an instructional specialist, an administrator, and support SPED staff to conduct "backward planning"."

Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) is a national K-8 center providing academic and behavioral support to promote the learning and academic achievement of all students, including those with the most extensive needs. SWIFT advances equity and excellence for ALL through the promotion of five core domain areas to support grade level academic and social learning: Administrative Leadership Family and Community Partnership Inclusive Education Framework Inclusive Policy Structure and Practice. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support One of six nationally recognized SWIFT Knowledge Development Sites, the Dr. William W. Henderson Inclusion Elementary School in Dorchester, MA, is featured in this film and highlights some of the SWIFT domains and accompanying features.

"It's been a long time since I was in the second grade, and as I sat through his day, I was very impressed with the level of preparation and organization the teachers exhibited. Some things were the same: the teachers were engaging and exciting, there was a lot of activity, and the kids were overwhelmingly nice, but there were also a few things that were completely new -- like the use of technology. "