As a teacher, even as a General Education teacher, my job has always included trying to support all of my students. I have gotten better at it as I've learned more Universal Design for Learning (UDL), as I've tried to stay focused on identifying and removing barriers rather than just blindly doing things the way… Continue reading From the Other Side
Tag: Eureka Math
The next generation of ASSISTments
In 2019, I spent summer vacation plowing through the Eureka math curriculum, grades 6-8, making videos of every problem, followed by returning to the start and creating text versions of the hints I had first recorded. As I wrote at the time, it was amazing professional development, as I had to get inside every single… Continue reading The next generation of ASSISTments
Exoskeleton for my 6th graders
Exoskeleton: a rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods, providing both support and protection We are a few weeks into the school year, which means that we’ve reached a point where some of my students have settled into a good rhythm and are doing well...and some of my students have… Continue reading Exoskeleton for my 6th graders
Jamboard Start Reflection
As with so many of my posts from the past year, the inspiration and content of this post comes from my colleague and thought partner, Jack Czajkowski, 8th grade science teacher at GCVS. He reached out in our chat to ask if I had "protocols" I use with my students when I do Jamboards, since… Continue reading Jamboard Start Reflection
Starting Jamboards Again
As we plan for our third full week of instruction, I've started implementing two Do Now's a week, Tuesday and Thursday at the start of math class. Heading into week three, I'm ready to begin Jamboards...finally! I started by going back through lots of the past Jamboards, trying to think about which style and which… Continue reading Starting Jamboards Again
An Experience of True Co-Teaching
I believe strongly in the importance of having high-quality virtual education in order to meet the needs of a wide range of students. That includes, of course, summer school programming as well. At first, I had wanted to teach summer school this year, but it became clear in June that I did not have enough… Continue reading An Experience of True Co-Teaching
What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Please forgive the indulgence, but this is a different kind of blog post. Over the winter, I read What's Math Got to Do With It?: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject by Dr. Jo Boaler. Where was SO MUCH inspiring that I just collected all of the… Continue reading What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Measuring Engagement
Feedback. The first time I heard, in my prior district, that I needed to collect feedback from parents and students, I seriously started contemplating whether I needed to find a new district. After all, I already spent an insane amount of time doing so much work beyond the minimum....all I could think was "I really… Continue reading Measuring Engagement
Inspirations
Things I'm reading, listening to, finding interesting, finding challenging... Article: Asynchronous Learning or Live Lessons? Which One Works Better for Me?Blog: Code Switch Blog: Nice White ParentsTedTalk: Why We Need Universal Design | Michael Nesmith | TEDxBoulderBlog Post: To Turn the Camera on or not? THAT is the Question.Resource: various UDL resources from Novak Education… Continue reading Inspirations
Keeping it Simple…then Reusing
If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I'm a huge fan of "reusing" or "recycling" a structure once I find one that is working well. You probably also know that I have become a huge fan of Google's Jamboards, largely for their ability to lead students… Continue reading Keeping it Simple…then Reusing
Universal Design for Learning 