Wow! I had no idea. My son will be attending kindergarten for the first time next year. Last year he took a kindergarten readiness test at his preschool. As I looked through his test, I found myself thinking about what he needs to know before he starts kindergarten. I was not aware of the…
Next year I will be the parent of a school-age child. Wow that makes me feel old! From my son’s experiences in pre-school I can already tell that his education is going to be vastly different from my own. But how different? I imagine that I will be uttering statements like, “I don’t remember learning…
Hundreds of Resources, Just a Click Away We Want to Help You Let’s be honest. Teaching is not what it used to be. With the adoption of Common Core State Standards, teachers are now required to do more than ever before. Teachers, did you know Common Core meant you would be sitting on planning committees,…
What makes one teacher’s class a joy and another’s a torture? Were some people simply born to teach? As we remember our favorite teachers, I think we remember a je ne sais quoi, an indefinable quality, about them most. When we ask the world what makes a teacher great, the word “passionate” comes up every time.…
Establishing an “Academic Time” at Home Do you have homework tonight? As an educator and a parent, I can remember fighting the constant battle with my stepchildren. I would ask, “Do you have homework?” and the reply was always one of the following: “No.” “I finished it at school.” “Oops. I left it on the…
Is it just for signing your name? There are two very outspoken sides to this debate. One would argue that cursive is antiquated and with the rise of technology and word processing, students’ time would be better spent learning to type rather than learning to write in cursive. The other side would argue that in…
STEAM is the latest push to create students who are scientifically and technologically literate and able to solve real-world problems. This is a fantastic goal that we here at DataWORKS wholeheartedly endorse. Unfortunately, the jargon that underlies many STEAM lessons and programs suggests that projects, programs, and methods boil down to very little teaching. STEAMing…
Parental Involvement Parents are their children’s first teachers. Children learn about life from the examples and expectations set by their parents or guardian. Once children start attending school, their social and educational world expands by leaps and bounds. But it is essential for parents, those first important teachers, to stay involved in their child’s education…
Words, words, words! What words should students be taught? One of the most frequent requests we receive is for a list of words that students should be taught in each grade level. The quick answer is that students should be taught a rich mixture of academic, content, and support vocabulary in every grade. But what…
Acronym Alphabet Soup Education is littered with a variety of acronyms. “EOCs MSL,” and “Good PD fosters a solid PLC,” are actual sentences. For anyone who isn’t shoulder deep in educational acronyms, these sentences translates to “End of Course tests Measure Student Learning” and “Good Professional Development fosters a solid Professional Learning Community.” STEM…