The+craft+of+teaching

Have you ever heard "A good teacher can teach any content?" As with everything, there is some truth in that statement. Let's share some non-content specific teaching tools in an effort to help us all improve our craft ... ALL means ALL ... even with us!

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy Althought no taxonomy was the basis of our Common Core Standards, Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is again being mentioned. This link offers information and .pdf files for use in the classroom and in your instructional design. Active Engagement Teaching That Emphasizes Active Engagement Even though this article is referring to middle school students, the premise is universal with learning. Please share how you actively engage your students. What structures work best for you? Which structures don't? Active Engagement Exercise 1. Introduce/recall vocabulary or high frequency words. 2. Have students to walk "mingle" around the room. After about 5 seconds or so, have them to freeze and high-five each other. (At this point, they are not allowed to trade partners). Write the word on the board. Students have to say the word and give their partner a sentence. 3. Pull a name from a hat or popsicle stick to have a student give an example of their word/sentence to the class. 4. Repeat. M. Johnson

Homework How do you assign homework? Why do you assign homework? Is it meaningful? Is it practice on already mastered skills? How much do you assign? Consider this discussion from NEA //Should You Assign Homework? //Thoughts?

Differentiation By definition means: Does not mean: What does differentiation look like in your room? What should it look like?
 * 1.** To become distinct or specialized; acquire a different character.
 * 2.** To make distinctions; discriminate.
 * 1.** You do 5 more
 * 2**. You only do 1