This is Erica’s addition to the jGR and dGR. It is a good version that many of us will want to use. I have changed the title from “participation” to Interpersonal Skills Rubric to align with ACTFL and the Three Modes of Communication. If it doesn’t convert well, here is another link to it: jGR […]
This is new information about CWB and OWI as of August, 2013. It discusses the importance of simplicity in the first few weeks of any school year. For a review of the basics of CWB and OWI, go to the TPRS Resources page on this site and click on Workshop Handouts. You can also search and
We all seem to like to tweak our own posters and that is great. It is another thing that makes this group unique – there are as many ways to do things as there are teachers. In fact, Annick Chen and I – within our own department and across the hall from each other – use greatly
Sabrina is coming to Denver Public Schools from Chicago. How cool is that? She will be taking Paul Kirschling’s position at Thomas Jefferson High School as Paul moves to East High School along with a growing stable of strong comprehension based teachers there. East is fast becoming a true comprehension based powerhouse. Their department of ten
We are slowly setting the table for the fall. There was no room on the table last year for Movie Talk, it seemed. But it is becoming clear that Movie Talk is going to be a huge piece for the upcoming year. The category has been created and some articles are already there. Links to Dr. Hastings
I’ve never quite understood why more people don’t teach using comprehension methods, and why it’s not mandated in more districts. But I just got an insight into it. I think it’s for the same reason that they don’t hire slide rule scientists from the 1950’s to work in the space industry of today – they don’t
We have our first specific “start the year” question from Kelly and it’s a good one. How many of us have had success with CWB (see category for definition) in level 1 and then not known how to start out bonding with the kids in level 2 because CWB had already been done the year
With all the conference excitement this month, plus I was writing that book, I forgot to publish this post describing our July teacher of the month – jen Schongalla. I ap0logize for that. Jen is definitely one of our rock stars here. Jen is just so cool and real and direct and uncompromisingly honest in her communications
Teacher of the Month – July 2013 – Jen Schongalla Read More »
As we begin to gear up for real for the coming school year, we must avoid confusion. Many of our threads become unavoidably obtuse, and I accept that, but in spite of all the complex discussions that we always seem to get going here, the overriding theme of simplicity must be our main goal for
I just added this to the five bail out moves described in my new book (the iFLT notes I wrote for San Diego actually became a book for beginners): Often, in the daily grind of teaching, we struggle. It’s just that way. The five bail out moves presented in this book are excellent ways to deal
I received an emailed course description from a member of the PLC to look over and it was too complex. Does anybody else do that – write mini novels about course expectations each fall? Maybe it’s because we got long descriptions of our courses from teachers in college. Many of us explain everything from how we weigh grades to
Today was a very happy day, as a group of PLC teachers in Chicago met with Sabrina. Here is the report from Sabrina: Today a few teachers from The Greater Chicago area and myself got together . It was great seeing each other in person for the first time after years or months of virtual
