Scutwork The Schoolish Weeks of Standardized Testing

Full post by @mrneibauer.bsky.social here (also: what a title!)

substack.com/home/post/p-...

“Our goal as teachers is not limited to being likable and approachable, though that can be very helpful. More important, it is to prioritize student capacity to grow as thinkers, learners, and scholars so that long after kids leave our classrooms, they believe strongly in their ability to be valuable contributors to their communities.” —Miriam Plotinsky, Instructional Specialist

More from @mirplo.bsky.social about empowering students to develop an academic identity: https://edut.to/4teJqhb

3 Activities to Build Workplace Skills Working through realistic scenarios like managing an overflowing inbox helps students develop skills to navigate future careers.

Helping students manage conflicts—and their inbox—are vital career skills you can start teaching now. ✉️

#HighSchool #EduSky

Why and How I’m Limiting Screen Time in My Classroom Digital tools have uses, but they can also risk reducing the productive struggle students need to build critical thinking skills.

A high school teacher noticed his students learned better and gained essential critical thinking skills when edtech was limited.

@teachercutler.bsky.social, who’s taught for 20 years, shares how limiting technology benefits his classroom. 🧑‍🏫

#EdTech #EduSky

How to Build Systems That Sustain Student Achievement Strong instruction can’t thrive without a strong organization, and school leaders can guide student growth by investing in their staff.

School leaders: Want to ensure student achievement is consistent and attainable? Refining school-wide instructional practices within a collaborative framework is key. 🔑

#SchoolLeaders #Principals #EduSky

A STEM-Focused Mentoring Program for High School Students Learning from professionals in specialized fields allows students to acquire transferable skills that can support them in their future careers.

A STEM mentoring program can engage high schoolers by offering hands-on, real world opportunities. 🔎

#STEM #SchoolLeaders #EduSky

“Today, a student in my most challenging class told me that he likes the way I teach and that he’s been learning a lot. Was a good reminder that we are probably accomplishing a lot more than it often feels like we are.” —Zack Hartzman, Educator

In case you needed a reminder. 💡

Implementing a ‘Halftime Ticket’ to Gauge Understanding Teachers can borrow the idea of halftime from sports by shifting exit tickets to earlier in the class, assessing how well students understand a lesson—and what they need to get the win.

When you only get student data at the end of a lesson, you don’t have time to intervene in the moment. That’s where the halftime ticket comes in. 🎟️

Learn how to use this informal assessment strategy to ensure students get what they need *during* your lesson!

#assessment #EduSky

Unlocking Effortful Thinking by Asking the Right Questions By crafting a line of questioning around precisely what they want students thinking about, teachers create opportunities for students to process—and better retain—key content.

How intentional are your questions to students? This learning science expert recommends a strategic progression that starts with carefully considering precisely what you want your students to be thinking about. 🤔

#EduSky

18 Prompts to Spark Purposeful Teen Writing By middle and high school, teens are ready to wrestle with big questions about who they are, who they're becoming, and what they believe.

Writing provides a perfect bridge, “focusing students’ attention on their own inner worlds and how those worlds connect with what we do in school,” says high school English teacher Dave Stuart Jr. 🌐⬅️➡️🌎

#EduSky #MiddleSchool #HighSchoolTeacher

The irony of a tenured full professor at an Ivy League university chastising his colleagues for refusing to "look in the mirror" and dismissing critics while ignoring the overwhelming factors that have led to the problems he outlines (Which I agree with!) is off the charts.

Manages to get through a call for focusing on teaching and civic purpose without even glancing toward contingency and adjunctification of faculty as perhaps a factor in the problem. A call to change without examining the structures that control higher ed is performative B.S. at this point.

A Streamlined Strategy for Differentiating Instruction This framework for offering students choices helps teachers personalize learning opportunities without creating separate lessons for each student.

Personalized learning doesn’t have to be exhausting. Here’s how to center student choice in the content, process, and product of the lesson. ⭐

#EduSky #differentiation

13 Books Featuring Characters With Disabilities and Physical Differences A school librarian’s recommendations for middle-grade books that represent kids who sometimes feel like they stand out from their peers.

These books can help students with disabilities and differences feel represented—and help their peers learn about their experiences.

13 outstanding middle-grade book recs 📚⬇️

#EduSky #TLsky

lol 😂

📖 Bleak House by Charles Dickens — Slow-Read! 🐢 nASZJHHJE3WDDDDD98JKFGBV a slow-read 🐢 of Bleak House by Charles Dickens “I find the nights long, for I sleep but little, and think much.” I think for many of us, there are those books that you’ve l...

Very cool to see how this conversation over Bleak House is evolving over the day—and this is just Week 1!

(Also cannot wait to see how @thevogelman.bsky.social
leads it off next week)

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

How Themed ‘LitBoxes’ Can Make Reading Assignments More Engrossing A library media specialist on designing affordable, interactive tools for middle and high school students.

In her first article for Edutopia, library media specialist Carsyn Smothers explains how she created specialized, thematic “LitBoxes” for books, including The Sun Is Also a Star, Hatchet, The Inheritance Games, and Dive. 📚

#TLSky #Skybrarians #literacy #EduSky

My last school (@kas.tw) built tables that faced out and had desks in the middle and teachers would move students between the two depending on the need.

cover of book, Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning, by Susan D. Blum. Image is of a bank of battered gray school lockers with one replaced by vibrant flowers.

I've been obsessed with trying to figure out how people can learn well even in alienating systems. My book Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning (Cornell 2024) is my latest thinking about it. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

How Themed ‘LitBoxes’ Can Make Reading Assignments More Engrossing A library media specialist on designing affordable, interactive tools for middle and high school students.

Character trading cards, trivia questions, bookmarks, and mini-compasses are just a few of the items library media specialist Carsyn Smothers stuffs into themed “LitBoxes” that her students love to explore! 📚✨

#TLSky #Skybrarians #literacy #EduSky

Bleak House readers: this is what I picture when I read "foggy glory" 🌫️

Why and How I’m Limiting Screen Time in My Classroom Digital tools have uses, but they can also risk reducing the productive struggle students need to build critical thinking skills.

“By focusing on evidence-based practices and using technology intentionally—if it is used at all—we can foster deeper, more lasting learning,” writes high school history, government, and journalism teacher @teachercutler.bsky.social.💡

#EdTech #EduSky

I Don't Teach Like a Champion (But I Do Want to be Treated Like a Professional)

"Rather than being lionized as champions, many teachers simply want to be treated like professionals."

This piece by @zachczaia.bsky.social was everything I needed to read this morning:

zachczaia.substack.com/p/i-dont-tea...

I Don't Teach Like a Champion (But I Do Want to be Treated Like a Professional)

New piece up on Substack: zachczaia.substack.com/p/i-dont-tea...

I’m already behind.

Turning a Boring Worksheet Into an Engaging Lesson A worksheet is like off-the-rack formal wear—it might be OK, but it needs a little tailoring to really fit your students and your learning objective.

“Mannnnnnn, I can’t wait to do some worksheets today!” said no child ever.

Worksheets can feel like busywork, asking students for compliance instead of demonstration of learning. So how can you transform the ready-made worksheet into an engaging & vibrant lesson?

@amirtaron.bsky.social explains. ⬇️

The Case for a Smaller Tech Toolbox To avoid technology overwhelm, a good rule of thumb: Think quality over quantity, and only keep what earns its place.

Choosing fewer, more flexible tools doesn’t limit your teaching. Instead, it creates more consistency for students (and less frustration for you). 🌟

#EdTech #EduSky

Every single one of the astronauts who went to the moon and back on Artemis II was educated at a public school.

Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!

🌕 💛

Designing a Course That Develops Students’ Metacognition By shifting their focus to the process of learning instead of the product, students are encouraged to develop critical cognitive competencies.

Want students to focus on the *process* of learning, not the product? 🧠 Here’s how to structure a course around cognitive competencies, instead of traditional academic products like projects or essays.

Helping Students Understand How The Brain Works These four hands-on activities guide students to explore how their attention and memory function and how that impacts learning.

When students actually understand how the brain works, the brain-based learning strategies we introduce to them become more impactful. 🧠

#EduSky