Lesson Planning

A child’s educational career is like a marathon, but many students start school only prepared to run a mile and others a 5K.  There’s a monumental difference in children’s word knowledge (also known as word gap or word poverty) when they enter school, primarily based on the educational and socioeconomic level of their parents and…

What is a Word Wall? Word Walls are organized collections of words placed on a wall or other surface in the classroom. They are excellent tools for building word consciousness in students through increased vocabulary interaction and social learning opportunities; especially as students make connections among important concepts and big ideas. Interactive Word Walls, vocabulary…

Schools and teachers around the country are discussing the importance of relationships. As a priority among educators, the national conversation has grown to include numerous studies, articles, and speeches, each providing strategies and ideas on how to create positive relationships with our students and our staff. As I reflected on my own experience as a…

One of the tenants of Learning-Focused is that it is a process for connecting highly effective research-based learning strategies. As we progress towards the upcoming school year, there is a good chance that students will be asked to learn through a combined modality of the physical classroom and distance learning. It is vital to remember that…

I recently heard someone compare Learning Goals to a GPS, and I thought, “Absolutely!” After all, it is the job of a GPS to help us arrive at our destination. Consider the following scenario… a woman and her husband are on a road trip where he becomes thoroughly lost, and of course, is unable to…

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…

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…

Why does the Learning-Focused Instructional Framework work so well? The highest achieving schools in the nation all use a proven framework for instruction based learning. An exemplary instructional framework, such as The Learning-Focused Instructional Framework, provides a structure that connects all of the lessons learned from exemplary schools and address major concerns in schools and districts. Connecting…

How does background knowledge impact student learning and achievement? If you are like many educators, you can read this passage fluently, yet still, struggle to comprehend what it means. This, of course, is because many people have never played baseball, or followed it in any way (despite the fact that it is America’s game). So,…

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…