Category Archives: Assessment

Secrets Lurking in the Bibliography

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Let’s get one thing straight: I am not the Bibliography Queen. I do not derive pleasure from looking at a list of 34 sources, scrutinizing them for the finer points of alphabetization (numbers before letters, and don’t forget to skip … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Bibliographies, Information Literacy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Great Composers – Presentations – Day 1

Posted on February 10, 2012 by

The first five composers conducted (tee hee!) their living history reenactment presentations in the library today.  Pictured above, from left to right: Guillaume de Machaut, Luigi Boccherini, Queen Christina of Sweden (talking about Archangelo Corelli), Carlos Chavez, and Aaron Copland. … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Class Sessions | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Remember the ALAMO

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

I’m trying out a new homework policy with our 6th graders in our collaboratively-taught class on Composers (General Music). The students have “listening logs” they do, where they listen to a piece of music about their composer, fill out some … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Empathy, Resilience, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Grammar Games – Or – How I Ended Up with Verbs in my Hair

Posted on December 12, 2011 by

Dianna Newton, our 6th Grade English teacher, is teaching a unit on Grammar by having the students create grammar games.  Her explanation says it all: “If you think of mind-numbing handouts or workbooks when you hear the word grammar, think again! … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Creativity | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A “Glorious Disaster”

Posted on October 26, 2010 by

So, in (7th Grade) Media Literacy last time, we tried a “backchannel” experiment. The theme for the day was “What is beauty?” – we normally look at pictures of photoshopped models and products, talk about who defines what beauty is … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Empathy, Media Literacy, Reflection | Tagged | 1 Comment

Empowerment and Choice

Posted on January 9, 2010 by

I was reading a blog post by Chris Lehmann about Engagement v. Empowerment.  In it, he ponders a question many educators feel deeply: how to teach students what they need to know, while also getting them to want to learn.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment | 1 Comment

Bibliography Anxiety

Posted on December 9, 2009 by

I am most definitely in the bibliography doldrums today. I have a class full of 8th graders who are so intent on their requirements for a bibliography, that they are losing track of the research itself. How to motivate them … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Bibliographies | 3 Comments

Listening to Students, Peggy Sheehy, and NECC

Posted on July 8, 2009 by

The great thing about going to a professional conference is that there is so much to write about!  I attended the NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) in Washington DC last week and my head is full of wonderful ideas to … Continue reading →

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