Welcome to Core Connections, a blog by Success at the Core. You'll find stories of best practices, inspiring experiences, and effective strategies related to leadership development, classroom instruction, and student engagement.
Remember when we were kids, and we spent warm summer nights playing Red Rover with the other boys and girls in the neighborhood? Hands held tightly, all eyes focused on the target, our feet moved in sync, and our line was impenetrable!
As a principal of a middle school with high poverty and increasing numbers of English language learners, I was faced with a persistent achievement gap that would only widen with time. It was my job to pull teachers together and create a unified front to tackle this problem. Here are four game-changing breakthroughs that made the difference in closing …
Read More »
“By talking openly about the challenges that we all face in the workplace and at home, we can work towards solutions together.” — Sheryl Sandburg
Sheryl Sandburg could have written her new book Lean In not about corporate America, but about the challenges teachers face adapting to changes in teacher evaluations. While I may not lead a company, I do lead students. And as a teacher, I aspire to guide them down a path that leads to lifelong learning.
Sandburg makes the point in her book that feels incredibly relevant: try leaning into the challenge of a new evaluation system. Instead of …
Read More »
Like many of you, I’m already thinking about my final evaluation conference with my principal. I know that the new teacher evaluation system in my state (Washington) requires me to give evidence of differentiating instruction to meet my students’ needs. I must also show evidence of students’ academic growth. Trying to remember my students’ individual needs, their personalized learning objectives, strategies that I’ve implemented to meet these objectives, and evidence of their learning as related to my planning and teaching – that’s no easy task. And it will be difficult when I’m sitting across from my evaluator in a couple …
Read More »
I’m teaching a training class for teachers about the best way to give students feedback, and it dawns on me: When do teachers get the type of formative feedback that we strive to give our students? We talk about kids needing specific, timely feedback in order to improve. Don’t teachers need this feedback as well?
In Washington state, where I live, a new day is coming – a day when teachers will receive concrete, specific information on how they can improve. In my mind, our state’s new teacher evaluation system is a road map to great teaching.
Here’s my past experience, as …
Read More »
Page 3 of 12«12345...10...»Last »
31
Subscribers
342
Followers
1369
Likes