Last week, I had an interesting conference. For the past few years, our parent-teacher conferences have been student led. Our students spend time creating a presentation for their parents, complete with evidence of their learning, examples of work they’ve done, and rules they get to set for the 20 minutes they are in charge of… Continue reading Learning from Student-Led Conferences
Tag: empowering students
Indoctrination
Indoctrination is a powerful word. The concept of teaching a group of people to accept your beliefs without question has an air of force to it. So much so, that to think of it happening to you is kind of frightening. As of late, I’ve seen this word used in several accusations towards teachers, publicly… Continue reading Indoctrination
Love, Mrs. G
Dear kiddos, It’s here. We’ve made it to the end of sixth grade. Some days have flown by, while others have seemed never ending. But we did it. Congratulations on successfully navigating your first year of middle school. You have come so far from the kiddos who were nervously trying to open their locker and… Continue reading Love, Mrs. G
The Missing Half of RTI/MTSS
Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are two acronyms (of many) that are well known and widely accepted in education circles. The pyramidal structure of these models is one that most practicing educators are familiar with, and have used in their careers and classrooms. MTSS is the newer, updated version of… Continue reading The Missing Half of RTI/MTSS
Let’s talk about new math
I see the hate for “new math” in a lot of different places. Instagram posts, my Facebook newsfeed, even the local news. I know that social media is a bubble, often giving less than accurate portrayals on the general public’s opinion, but it seems like there is a large number of people out there who… Continue reading Let’s talk about new math
Bringing Tough Topics into the Classroom
I often get asked how I approach certain topics with my 6th grade students. It should come as no surprise that I spend quite a lot of my time thinking about and discussing education, and that it comes up in conversation with people in my day to day life. When I share some of the… Continue reading Bringing Tough Topics into the Classroom
The Passion Project
This school year, much of my focus has been on student empowerment. My district has undergone some massive shifts, all centralized around the concept of personalized learning. It has been a powerful overhaul, and one that has involved a lot of time and effort from devoted teachers. A majority of us have taken huge steps… Continue reading The Passion Project
Curriculum Coffee 