Group items tagged

"Perhaps the most difficult aspect of project-based learning for me was figuring out how I was going to assess it. I'm sure some teachers love assessing and marking student work, but honestly, I'm uncomfortable with most grading and scoring. I appreciate feedback and I don't mind giving feedback, but I hate reducing it to a letter, number, or score. To me, it undervalues the learning."

"In outcomes-based learning environments, we generally see three elements in play: 1) learning objectives or targets are created from given standards; 2) instruction of some kind is given; and then 3) learning results are assessed. These assessments offer data to inform the revision of further planned instruction. Rinse and repeat. But lost in this clinical sequence are the Habits of Mind that (often predictably) lead to success or failure in the mastery of given standards. In fact, it is not in the standards or assessments, but rather these personal habits where success or failure -- in academic terms -- actually begin. Below are all 16 Habits of Mind, each with a tip, strategy or resource to understand and begin implementation in your classroom. "

16 Habits of Mind

One of my favorite videos from the folks at NoTosh showing how assessment occurs in learning communities.

I spend a lot of time, these days, talking and writing about how we are asking teachers to redefine what it means to be a teacher - and, in all fairness, how difficult that is. I try to present myself as a master learner, suggesting that part of what teachers should be, today, is constant and resourceful learners - master learners. But perhaps a significant part of this exercise in redefinition should involve our students - an explicit remolding of perceptions of these youngsters, in order to fully shift the relationship between student and teacher, learner and master learner.