What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It? | Edutopia

What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It? | Edutopia

With the end of the school year coming up, educators are assessing students in order to measure how much growth the student have (hopefully) made over the year.  Take a look at Terry Heick's article on Edutopia for a discussion on this topic.  What types of data are you looking for and how do you measure it?  Do you think students are too fatiqued from state testing at the end of the year to give an accurate idea of where their skills lay?  Share your experiences in the comments section.

A great Reading and Math resource!

I love collecting new resources for teachers.  I mean I really LOVE finding them!  You might say I am obsessed with collecting things I can share with teachers.  I visited a new site today and could not wait to get to this post and reccommend it to everyonoe!  Go on over to http://www.readtennessee.org/.  It is a fantstic resource of reading, math, and social/emotional resources for early grades.  The Common Core Standards are also available on this site.  There are lots of things for parents and educators to look at and a great section on community resources.  So take a look and let me know what you think. :)

Conflict Resolution in the Classroom

It is that time of year; state testing has just finished, the weather is warming up, and the arguements are breaking out between the students.  What is it about the end of the year that seems to attract the arguing behavior? 

The arguements aren't about anything huge or world-changing.  It's "You stepped on my foot!" or " Why are you lookin' at me?".  As a teacher, you aren't able to mediate each and every arguement.  You would never have enough time to teach if you did mediate everything! 

So the question is:  How can children mediate their own arguements?  There is a great article on the Responsive Classroom website that discusses this topic.  Just click on :  Responsive Classroom website.  If you have any additional ideas, please feel free to share them in the comment section.

Social/Emotional Learning for Young Children

http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html

Parents and Teachers are seeing a rise in young children exhibiting behavior difficulties in daycare and preschool situations.  Children are reacting physically through hititng and kicking instead of using their words to express why they are angry or upset.  Some children are reacting by making animal noises or yelling nonsense noises instead of using their words.  Vanderbilt has helped to create the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning in order to help parents and teachers/caregivers.  You can access the link above to find a treasure trove of resources that are free to download and print.  Take advantage of it!

Prevention and Intervention of Writing Difficulties for Students with Learning Disabilities | LD Topics | LD OnLine

Many times I get requests from parents to help their child with writing skills.  LD Online has a great article on the prevention and intervention of writing.  Take a look by clicking on this link:  Prevention and Intervention of Writing Difficulties for Students with Learning Disabilities | LD Topics | LD OnLine

What do you think?

Graphic Organizers

Using graphic organizers is a great way to help a student organize information and help them find a way to easily recall it when needed.  If you go to http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/graphic-organizers.html there are several great free graphic organizers for download. Where do you find graphic organizers that are helpful?  Do you have a favorite?

Challenging classroom behaviors

It is that time of year when teachers start wondering, "What else can I do?'.  They have tried all the tricks in their toolbox but still have that one or two students who are not using appropriate behavior in the classroom.  The following link lists some good suggestions.  What do you do?

http://www.ehow.com/info_7989113_positive-behaviors-classroom.html