With increasing expectations and new standards, it can be tempting to throw everything (including the proverbial kitchen sink) at our students. Doing so may, in fact, hinder learners’ understanding of a topic and have the opposite of the desired effect. Instead, by applying research-based strategies, we can ensure that even complex topics are presented in…
Each state that has adopted Common Core State Standards will select an assessment consortium to assess how children are progressing in school. The two options most widely chosen at this point are: Smarter Balanced and PARCC. Each assessment consortium has provided practice test questions and today we will review one of these questions and discuss its potential impact on classroom instruction.…
Vocabulary development is a critical aspect of teaching, especially in classes or schools with high populations of English Learners. Differentiating between the types of vocabulary can help teachers decide how much effort to put into teaching particular vocabulary words, as well as which strategies will be most effective when teaching the words. In today’s post,…
Each state that has adopted Common Core State Standards will select an assessment consortium to assess how children are progressing in school. The two options most widely chosen at this point are: Smarter Balanced and PARCC. Each assessment consortium has provided practice test questions and today we will review one of these questions and discuss…
Headed to Costco on a Saturday afternoon, you pull your car up to a gas pump, slide your credit card through the reader, select the appropriate grade of fuel and begin pumping. Then you head into the big box store, gather the items on your list, and line them up on a conveyor belt for…
Learning Objectives Guides are digital books that help teachers shift from just reading state standards to quickly creating lesson plans that focus on the required skills and content. Guides are available for Common Core, Next Generation Science, Literacy, and more for K-12 teachers. View All Guides Frequently at DataWORKS, we are asked what it takes…
A Primer on How Students (and All Humans) Learn One of the struggles of teaching is presenting often complex material to students in a manner that they can comprehend. Through a basic understanding of how students (and all humans) learn, we, as teachers, can introduce content to our students in a way that will…
Checking for Understanding is crucial in determining whether students actually learn what is being taught. If you have a set of classroom iPads, Checking for Understanding can be done in a fun and engaging way. Here are four free apps DataWORKS has found to be effective for Checking for Understanding. If you’re looking for an…
Don’t forget to get your free TAPPLE poster for your class. Download DataWORKS lessons have built-in Checking for Understanding strategies. View Lesson Gallery Checking for Understanding is the best way to verify that students are learning while the teacher is teaching. DataWORKS developed TAPPLE as an easy way to remember the six research-based components of…
Research shows that students who are engaged in learning demonstrate greater success in school, which may in turn lead to better student attendance as well as fewer incidents of misbehavior. After thousands of classroom observations, we have witnessed many teachers lecturing for 20-30 minutes at a time, or reviewing problem after problem, and not allowing…