Year Two, First Quarter over. Already?

This week we gave our first quarter benchmark assessments. My students did about as well as expected, I guess. A third of them were “Approaching Proficient” and two thirds were “Below.” They seemed to be disappointed, and as we were going over the test I pointed out that we hadn’t even addressed [...]

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Year Two, Week 8: Planning matters.

(Eighth grade AVID students engrossed in a “silent Jigsaw puzzle competition” as a “Fun Friday” teambuilder activity. Happy campers, I might add…)
I can’t believe the first quarter is almost over. It ends in one more week. Recently the subject of discipline has come up in some teacher meetings, with some colleagues questioning [...]

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Year Two, Week five, or is it six: It’s a jumble.

We’ve made it through the first six weeks of school. Just like last year, my classes seem so loud and jumbly. If one side is quiet the other side is noisy, and if I get them quieted down the other side bursts out. I know it has to do with engagement and [...]

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