Curriculum & Unit Design

Project-Based Learning Professional Development (part 2): Student-Created Rubrics

In a previous post I described the first of three project-based learning (PBL) professional development sessions I facilitated for our Innovate Salisbury team, a team of 15 teachers engaging with building leaders, district leaders, and other experts/thought leaders to help shape the vision for teaching and learning in our classrooms.

While the first session was more of a general overview of PBL, this past Wednesday we focused on student-created rubrics.

Here is a look at what took place:

86 Shares

Inquiry is King. Here’s Why…

By Ross Cooper 3 Comments

What is Inquiry?

Inquiry-based learning can be defined as learning that “starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios – rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator.”

In short, through some form of productive struggle, students “uncover” material, as opposed to content coverage and the memorization/regurgitation of facts and knowledge…For a look at what this uncovering looks like and why it is so crucial, refer to a previous post, “Why I Refused to Flip My Classroom.” In fact, I highly encourage you to take a few short minutes to read the post and then return to this one.

52 Shares

Project-Based Learning Professional Development (part 1)

By Ross Cooper 6 Comments

Last Wednesday I facilitated a few hours of project-based learning (PBL) professional development for our Innovate Salisbury team, a team of 15 teachers engaging with building leaders, district leaders, and other experts/thought leaders to help shape the vision for teaching and learning in our classrooms.

This year, the team will be meeting a total of about seven times, and four of these sessions will feature some form of PBL learning, this past week being the first of the four.

37 Shares

Curriculum Mapping, 5 Ideas

By Ross Cooper Leave a Comment

Last week I had the opportunity to attend two days of Curriculum Mapping Boot Camp with Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Dr. Marie Alcock in New York City. Here are five of my takeaways:

58 Shares

Reconstructing Multiple-Choice Tests

By Ross Cooper 3 Comments

The Problem

In education, the most common type of summative assessment consists of nothing more than multiple-choice questions. This is a problem. In general, these types of questions (1) do not lend themselves to higher-order thinking, and (2) do not promote creative expression as they declare, “You must demonstrate your learning in this way!”

From what I have seen/experienced, many teachers recognize the drawbacks of constantly using publisher created multiple-choice tests, but they do not have the confidence to try something new…As a classroom teacher, it took me a few years to overcome this fear of creating my own assessments. Looking back at some of what I put together, nothing was perfect, but I do believe it was all a step in the right direction.

Here’s the thing…

20 Shares

Can Textbooks Save Our Worst Teachers?

By Ross Cooper 3 Comments

In one of his TED Talks, Seth Godin mocks textbooks:

The textbook! Now if you want to teach somebody how to become passionate about…American history, why would you give them this (as he waves the textbook in the air)? Do people walk into Barnes & Noble and say, “I’m really interested in that latest, gripping thing that’s gonna get me all engaged about the Civil War. Do you have one of those textbooks in stock?”

I love the practical way in which Godin addresses an overreliance (or reliance) on the textbook, a problem that is often viewed as one of the main obstacles to educators moving forward with their practice.

111 Shares

Use Those Old Textbooks!

By Ross Cooper 9 Comments

Next month I will have the pleasure of working on curriculum mapping with Heidi Hayes Jacobs for two days in New York City!

The Problem

With this opportunity in mind, I decided to rewatch her TED Talk from a few years ago. One of her lines caught my attention:

“Every textbook, in every school, that’s in paper, is dated.”

So, I ask myself, in general…Are we (educators) being a bit melodramatic when we talk about the struggle of having to instruct with outdated textbooks?

23 Shares

Writing Pathways Professional Development

By Ross Cooper 6 Comments

This past Monday I facilitated an introduction to Writing Pathways professional development with two of my district’s Reading Specialists.