“That which gets calendared gets done.” I have yet to meet an effective educator who does not live by their school calendars and/or lesson plan books. Calendaring instruction is such a basic teacher ritual that thinking about teaching without a…
Standards Plus and Blended Learning
As a Standards Plus employee, I am privileged to interact with curriculum and instruction experts from around the country, and sometimes from around the world. One concept I have attempted to explore is “blended Learning.” I tried to discuss this…
Why is it appropriate to Prepare Students for High Stakes Assessments?
Why is it appropriate to Prepare Students for High Stakes Assessments? Much is written in education literature about test preparation and/or practicing for a specific test. Much of the writing relates to questions regarding the efficacy and ethical appropriateness of…
Maximizing Your Mathematics Instruction
There is a common misconception that the majority of benchmark skills shifted across grade levels, and traditional problem solving methods and algorithms are not part of the new standards – this is simply not true. In fact, the new standards…
How to Effectively Teach the New Reading Standards
With the new standards come high expectations for both students and educators alike. The necessity to effectively teach to a set of standards is now more important than ever. To meet the expectations of the new standards, consider ways to…
What to do While Waiting for a New Adoption
Is your school one of the schools that still has a previous Language Arts adoption in place? Do you, as a teacher, have very little in the way of curricular materials that match the new standards? You’re not alone. So…
Get the Most Out of the First Weeks of School
Ok, so your students have returned…now what? The first few weeks of school can be a flurry of activity and movement, but every day of student interaction and teacher-led instruction counts! Below, we’ll share some of our best tips for…