Today a section from a technique you might describe as a ‘fundamental’: The Do Now. The best part of it, to me, is the examples (see below). One key thing to remember with a Do Now is the speedy review. When I see Do Nows go wrong it’s most often because a teacher loses track of…
In Part 2 of this slated-for-three-parts series on planning for reading lessons, ace reading teacher Colleen Driggs takes you through the lesson materials of fellow ace Maggie Johnson, explaining what’s so effective and how she does it. It’s a bit like Georgia O’Keefe taking a few minutes to walk you through what’s so good about Mary…
People really seemed to like Sunday’s post on Art of the Sentence, in which Dan, Joaquin and I described our Friday workshop and how we gleaned insights about how to build mastery of the complete sentence–and complete thought–via Art of the Sentence. Nikki Bridges, principal at Leadership Prep Ocean Hill in Brooklyn was at the workshop…
Yesterday I blogged about how well Meg Reuler used intentional observation to help her Check for Understanding. I noted: Meg has ensured that every student is working off the same packet and the packet is designed to allow her to collect data quickly and efficiently. Students all write their definition and not the word charge in…
Got an email last week from Lindsey Hugo at the consistently high-performing Edward Brooke Charter School in Boston. Lindsey’s 6th graders have been reading The Giver, which earns her instant glory points for rigorous text selection and for choosing what the gang here at Uncommon thinks is one of the very best works of youth fiction….