Elements of Effective Collaborative Learning
Over the next few weeks I am hoping to start a conversation about building collaboration in our classrooms and beyond. Collaboration sounds like a good idea… but what is it, and how can we use it to increase student...
Supporting Learning Through Peer and Self-Assessment
Assessment is usually something we view as the job of the teacher. While it is true that the teacher designs and directs assessment, our assumptions about assessment also point us to the role that students can play in the...
Formative Assessment
When you hear the word “assessment”, most likely your first thoughts are about tests, exams and projects that form the content of your gradebook. However, if we view assessment as a critical part of the learning process,...
Gathering Evidence of Learning
When designing assessment, it is helpful for teachers to think like detectives. Once you have clarified your learning goals and articulated some essential questions, ask yourself this provocative question: If understanding the...
Essential Questions
In my previous post, I suggested an approach to designing assessment that begins by focusing on the learning goals. Learning goals, or content standards, tend to be expressed in “teacher speak”. That is, they describe the...
Designing Assessment
If we hold to the assumptions about assessment that I outlined in my previous post, then it is clear that assessment needs to be carefully designed in light of the whole learning process. I find the “backwards design” approach...
Assessment: What are your Assumptions?
Over the next few weeks, I am planning to create a series of posts on the topic of assessment. Assessment is a complex and controversial topic, so I thought it would be most helpful to begin by addressing our assumptions about...
Learning Styles, Literature and Reading the Bible
“Learning styles” is a debated topic among educators. I am neither a devoted convert nor a skeptic when it comes to theories of learning styles, but I have found some insights in the literature that have been useful...
Getting students engaged with God’s word in Bible class – a few core ideas.
How can we plan lessons that really get students engaged with God’s word in our Bible classes? There is no single answer to this question, but here are a few core ideas to keep in mind that help us avoid the dangers I...
Matching the Methods with the Message in Bible Class
Early in my teaching career, I had two conversations that have come to represent for me two “equal but opposite” dangers in teaching Bible class. The first conversation was with a Bible teacher in another school. He...