As the middle school teaching team, Alyssa and I are often thinking about how to better prepare students for high school. Alyssa and I are both familiar with Chicago Public Schools and some of their expectations for high school students, but I wanted to learn what high school is like at schools that are more…
Building Modern Classrooms – Part 3: Mastery-Based Grading
The last element that makes a “modern classrooms” approach to math instruction work is mastery-based grading. I typically set mastery at 80% accuracy. There are numerous benefits to a mastery model: I am more able to understand what each student has and has not mastered I can use that knowledge to provide more targeted instructional…
Building Modern Classrooms – Part 2: Self-Paced Learning
One of the core features of the Modern Classrooms approach is self-paced learning. The recommended approach, and the approach I use for core mathematics instruction, is to self-pace within each unit. Everyone in a particular math group still starts and ends each unit on the same day so that there is not an increasing gap…
On Gratitude and Famine Relief
Every month, we reflect on a particular value as a whole school. November’s value has been gratitude and it has me thinking about what I am grateful for in my first year teaching at Chicago Friends School. I have been grateful to come to work every day and greet my students, to have the opportunity…