Category Archives: Approaches to Learning

I headed into the end of this school year feeling pretty good. Besides the obvious fact that the school year was almost over, I felt that overall, in spite of COVID and remote/hybrid learning, the year had been a success. My students had developed fairly robust reading lives, they all improved at writing in someContinue reading “Reflecting on Reflections”

Reviewing my students’ third quarter reflections was one of the most gratifying experiences of my career. I’m looking at them again now to write this post, and I am kind of astounded by the work they did in the reflections, which really only highlights the work they did throughout the quarter. The key for meContinue reading “I Think This Is Actually Working: January–April 2021”

First quarter we laid the foundation; by second quarter we were ready to frame out what we were building. We were not only learning about learning and ourselves but also developing skills and content knowledge. I had a rough blueprint in mind—arguments for the juniors, literary analysis for the freshmen, narratives for everyone—but I didContinue reading “The Cracks Emerge: November 2020–January 2021”

I have dreaded writing this post because the fall was so overwhelming. The details blur together like I am viewing them underwater. I remember feeling that we were not making much forward progress, our shoes getting stuck in the mud of hybrid learning. I was trying to teach my students to develop reading lives, toContinue reading “Laying the Foundation: September–November 2020”

I’m not going to lie: the summer of 2020 was the most stressful summer of my life. I had one glorious day of lightness and liberty when I dropped my kids off at their first day of camp. (I continue to be grateful for everything and everyone that made last summer awesome and safe forContinue reading “Summer Vibes and Planning Highs: June–August 2020”

“What are you doing about grades?” “I have so many A’s. I’m just giving them credit for completing the work.” “How are you giving tests? It’s so easy to cheat!” “I’m just giving everyone an A. It doesn’t matter.” These are just a few of the things my colleagues said about grades during the pandemic.Continue reading “Pointless in the Pandemic”

I wish this could be one of those “How To Master Mastery-Based Assessment in 10 Easy Steps” posts. But it’s not, for two reasons: 1) I did not master mastery-based assessment, and 2) None of this is easy. Once my students were on board, I needed to communicate the new practice to the parents. ToContinue reading “How Not to do Mastery-Based Assessment”