Posts by Don Marlett
7 Assessment Strategies That Put Aside Paper and Pencil
Traditional Assessment When you think of assessments, the traditional method is of course paper and pencil. And when you think of paper and pencil “testing,” you may think of the required countless hours of grading that inevitably follows. As a teacher, this is often one of the most challenging barriers to overcome when planning lessons…
Read More3 Quick and Easy Review Strategies
Don’t forget that all students need time for strategic review. This might mean for semester or final exams, or it might mean after a series of related lessons. When it’s time for review, don’t revert back to the “old way” of doing things — worksheet packets or a silent study hall. What students have accomplished…
Read More6 Guided Reading Mistakes You Might be Making
An important time to support struggling readers is during guided reading. However, just because you are doing guided reading does not necessarily mean that you are supporting your struggling readers. Here are six common guided reading mistakes you might be making. You are using books that are too difficult. If the books that are being used…
Read MoreEngage Students With Exemplary Essential Questions
Why Is A Lesson Essential Question More Effective Than An Objective? Chances are that if you have been in education long enough, you have been asked at least one time or another, to display the standard(s) you are currently teaching on the board for students to see. The rationale behind posting the standard on the…
Read MoreScaffolding Supports Student Success
How can the use of scaffolding support student achievement? “Start with where you want them to be (the grade level standard) and make it learnable.” (C. Boyles). As educators, we have the very complicated task of ensuring that all students are successful learners, but how exactly do we do that? How do we make sure…
Read MoreWhat is Symphonic Planning?
Using a single research-based strategy or a single exemplary practice effectively in a lesson will yield positive results for learning for most students. And depending on the strategy or practice, it produces much, much more learning than not using it! Usually, teachers have a few strategies that they like to use with students. Choosing whether…
Read More3 Simple Questions for Monitoring Student Learning
How is student learning monitored for flexibility and connections to real life? Monitoring student learning is an ongoing challenge. Students can complete an assignment, but still not be flexible with their learning. They have trouble making connections or explaining a task in a different way other than the examples you have used. For example, when asked…
Read MoreClassroom Walkthrough Tips for Focused Support
How do you narrow the focus of walkthroughs? Typically when principals plan for and schedule walkthroughs, they are looking at teachers and for best practices. Moss and Brookhart (2013), however, suggest that a better plan is that they begin to observe what’s happening in the classroom from the students’ perspective rather than just checking off…
Read MoreBuilding a Supportive Environment for a Differentiated Classroom
How do you start making your classroom super supportive for differentiation? Before you can begin to build support for a classroom where customized assignments are the norm instead of the exception, you must learn all that you can about differentiation. Develop your own professional knowledge. There are numerous resources available such as books that offer…
Read MoreProviding Scaffolding for Students
How can scaffolding help students become successful with the grade-level curriculum? When I think of scaffolding, I think of the temporary support structure erected on the side of a building that allows workers to access parts of the building that they may not otherwise be able to reach in order to accomplish a particular task.…
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