In Support of Excellence

Designing Rubrics to Fit Assignments Highlights Earth Day Kids love hearing about the Earth and ways we can be better to our environment! We've gathered some great resources to help you celebrate Earth Day (April 22) with your class. Some of our most popular activities include this Pollution Matching Worksheet, Recycling Videos and Activities, and Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Worksheet, Recycled Art Lesson Plan, and a Trash & Climate Change Activities Packet! Videos Interested in using different types of media in your classroom? April Calendar of Events April is full of events that you can incorporate into your standard curriculum. Coding & Computer Science Introduce your students to basic coding and computer science! How Should We Measure Student Learning? 5 Keys to Comprehensive Assessment Linda: The United States is at a moment where it could really transform its assessment systems. Most of our testing is multiple choice tests, pick one answer out of five, which is something you will never do in applying knowledge in the real world. Our assessments need to evolve to reflect the skills and knowledge that we actually value and that we need schools to teach and our children to learn. Human beings are naturally learners. Chinasa: I kind of like, I want like a goal in my head about what to do with information that I get. Erin: I look at the beginning of the year and I say, what are the big ideas that I want students to know in the whole year and what are the major skills I want them to be able to do? Linda: Assessment should occur early and often and throughout the process. Lisa: I do a lot of formative assessments, so formative assessments meaning, it's not summative, it's not a test at the end of the week or the end of a unit. Teacher: How do you know that? Students: Tips.

3 Classroom Tools to Measure Student Learning Formative assessment is vital to teachers in any classroom environment. Teachers have been formatively assessing students for years, because we must know what our students know in order to help them understand what they do not know. Do you know what I mean?! Fortunately, many classrooms are charging into the 21st century with technology initiatives. Whether your technology program has created a 1:1 environment, a BYOD system, or you have access to only a few devices in your classroom, these three tech tools will help you engage your students while simultaneously gauging their understanding of concepts. Kahoot! Kahoot! When ready to begin the game, the teacher simply posts the game pin on the whiteboard. We've used Kahoot! Formative As its name implies, Formative, is another wonderful formative assessment tool. Teachers can assign these assessments by sending students a link or creating classrooms through a process nearly identical to that of a learning management system. Padlet