Compiled by Sandy Hayes - updated 7/27/05
What Do I Do About. . . ?
Topics & tips for new teachers (that veteran teachers will find useful, too)
General Resources
• Knowledge Loom
Excellent resource site. Synthesis of important research and links to extensive high-quality online resources on these topics: Adolescent Literacy in Content Areas; Choice-based Art Education; Redesigning High Schools, Good Models of Teaching with Technology, and other topics.
• Quick Guide to 50+ Theories of Learning
• Lexicon of Education Terms
Click on "News and Issues" on the top navigation bar. Then click on "Making Sense of Educational Terms" (far right column)
Other Topics: Classroom Management || Designing Tests || ELL/ESL Learners || Grading || Handling the Paper Load || Performance Assessments
|| Reading in Content Areas || Using Technology
Classroom Management
• You Can Handle Them All
Extensive Resource with suggestions for working with a wide variety of behavior problems. I came across this resource in 1999, teaching a class at St. Ben's. I've been looking for it for this class but couldn't remember the name or URL. I found a reference in the site listed below and found it through Google. The Wonders of the Web! To access the entire resource requires a subscription, but a large amount of material is freely accessible
• Practical guidelines for classroom management
Check out the chart comparing effective with ineffective praise. Lots of good links at the bottom.
Reading in Content Areas
• The Big 6 - Comprehension Strategies
Extensive practical applications provided by a high school teacher
• Reading Strategies
Large list of strategies with instructions and a handout for each. From Reading Quest (Making Sense in Social Studies)
• Teaching Comprehension
Creative techniques from Jeff Wilhelm. Practical content area strategies and handouts you can use with students
• Reading Strategies and Lessons
Based on “Strategies the Work” by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Gouvis
• Reading Strategies
Extensive suggestions and background information
Grading
• Improving Classroom Grading Procedures
Very practical discussion. Especially note the section “Zeroes are always unfair”
• Grading: The issue is not how but why - Alfie Kohn
An important and often cited contribution to the discussion on grading practices.
• Effective Grading Strategies
Though written for college audience but most points are valid for middle and high school. (I would disagree with grading procedures to avoid #2: “assessing material that is vastly different than textbook or class lectures” -- I'm not quite sure what is meant. What about creative writing? Literature circles books read while the classwork is vocabulary building?
• From Degrading to De-Grading by Alfie Kohn
You won't agree with everything he says, but there are many valid and thought-provoking elements in his argument
• Grading Practices
Again, the audience is primarily college teachers, but many points are valid for middle and high school settings.
• Research brief
Brief description of a practical research study on elementary, middle school, and high school teachers' classroom assessment and grading practices. Food for thought.
Handling the Paper Load
• Providing feedback on student writing
Very complete interactive workshop on writing. This link takes you to the home page for a series of workshops on teaching writing. Workshop 6 concerns evaluating writing. While these activities are geared to go with an accompanying video produced by Annenberg and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, there are a lot of worthwhile resources that are independent of the videos. Well worth a look.
• Reasearch based practices for handling the paper load
• Tips and examples
Besides offering a few practical tips, this newsletter compares two responses to an essay, with the second response being much more efficient and effective.
• Good basic tips
• Tips & possibilities
• 7 tips
• Papers, Papers, Papers
This book, geared toward English teachers, by Carol Jago.
Designing Tests
• Extensive booklet on effective questions and test design
Very thorough resource
• Tips for writing a test
• More tips
Authentic/ Performance Assessments
• Tips for Managing an Assesment System
• Connecting the Curriculum - High School
From the National Association of Secondary Principal's Breaking Ranks II initiative. On the page found by this link, click on "Connecting the Curriculum" found toward the bottom of the page. pdf file. Concise and very practical
• Authentic Student Performance, Assessment Tasks, and Instruction
A research into practice article from the University of Minnesota. Be sure to read the footnote. [Note: the article was written in 2000, when Minnesota standards were still the Profile of Learning.]
• Recommendations for Developing Classroom Performance Assessments & Rubrics
Overview of the process of planning, creating, using, and evaluating assessments.
• Overview of Alternative Assessment Approaches
From the Coalition of Essential Schools. Helpful lists of types of tests, products/projects, performances, and process skills
• What are the Strengths of My Current Assessment System
From the Coalition of Essential Schools. Helpful checklist for critical reflection. I would add a stonger statement about how well the assessment aligns with essential content/standards. Is what is being assessed important? Is the relative importance of the content assessed consistent with the amount of time the assessment(s) consume?
• Sample Assessment Tasks
Extensive menu of different performances, products, and tasks with examples. Good resource from the Alaska Department of Education
Tips and Strategies for ELL/ESL Learners
• ESL/Bilingual Resource Guide for Mainstream Teachers
Excellent 10 page overview manual from the Portland Oregon public schools. Describes different levels of ESL learners and has extensive, practical tips. Good beginning resource and confidence builder. Pdf format.
• LEP Strategies for Content Teachers
List of general tips, techniques for modifying materials, checklist of textbook characteristics helpful for LEP students, strategies and bibliography of resources for specific content areas. 16 pages; pdf format.
• Challenges for ESL Student in Specific Content Areas
• Activities for New ESL Students
• ESL and American History
CAL Digest article
• Cognitive Strategies
CAL Digest article
• Strategies for Success
CAL digest article
• Promoting Successful Transition to the Mainstream
CAL digest article
• Content-Centered Language Learning
Website of the Center for Applied Linguistics. Background article originally prepared for the ERIC Clearinghouse. General introduction.
A Look at Technology
• Superbly integrated website
. . . as it should be since it's a page on the edutopia site. This page is about assessment, but the videos are an outstanding feature in adding real life stories and faces to the topic. Worth checking out this webisite on a regular basis.
• Guidelines for Using Technology in the Preparation of Science Teachers
Click on “Read an elaboration of these guidelines.” Although the article is directed toward science teachers, most of the article is very relevant to every content areas.
• Social Studies Meets Technology
This site could also be called “Teacher Reflection Meets Technology.” This case study of a classroom project by a first year teacher will resonate with every teacher who uses technology. Be sure to click on “Enter Case.” The calendar and the timelines on the page for each day are linked to status of the classwork and reflections by the teacher. Interesting format for a reflective journal!
• Hotlist of Resources for Common ICT Tools
Links to tutorials, articles, and example projects using iMovie, PowerPoint, slideshows, and web page creation. There are also links to articles and examples of Digital Storytelling.
Digital Storytelling
• Amazing resource
'Narratives' would be a better description than 'storytelling.' Examples would be oral histories, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs. Projects are done in a movie editing program or a slideshow program capable of voice recording, like PowerPoint. This site includes everything you need to know to get started with your students. Includes good handouts to use with high school and middle school students.
• Good introductory material
• Student Examples
High School student winners of the Coming to California - Tales of the Journey contest
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