One Teacher's Adventures

As schools around the world are closing their doors to in-classroom learning in the hope of slowing the spread of COVID-19, many parents are wondering what they can do to keep their children in a learning frame of mind.  I'm in BC, Canada, on our scheduled Spring Break right now, but today our province was the latest to announce that students will not be returning to school when Spring Break ends. While that is upsetting, it is absolutely the correct call to make sure that students and staff stay healthy. As of now, we don't know what school will look like for the remainder of the year, and that is, understandably, a cause of concern for many parents.  It's important to remember that even though they are out of school, they won't stop learning. People learn. In whatever situation they find themselves, people learn. However, in order to help ease the anxiety, here are a few things that children can do at home with their parents to keep the routine of learning hap...

It is so frustrating to sit down to mark an assignment, and see that only 60% of students have handed it in! I then have to track down the missing work. It could be a simple process (reminding students to turn in the assignment that is finished, but at the bottom of a locker or backpack) or it could be more complicated and time consuming (supervising the students on my lunch break or after school to make sure the assignment is completed or calling home to parents). Taking off marks for turning in late work would surely motivate the students to hand in their work on time, right? And if it doesn’t truly motivate students, at least it is a deterrent to handing in late work, right? Maybe not. As my understanding of assessment has grown and changed, my thoughts on this topic have changed. When I was a new teacher, I took marks off for late work, but I don’t anymore.  Here’s why. 1. I’m assessing curricular competencies and content outcomes, not work habits Each assignment I give my...