Building student ownership…Tablets in the classroom…Measures of Effective Teaching…Teaching math…

Some of you may not have seen this infographic on teachers before. There are a couple of points in the Dr. Olivier’s article that caused me to stop and reflect. Let me know what you think about his comments.

One persistent question in education is how to build student ownership. Take a look at this article about a high school in Alabama who has found some ideas that are working for them.

Meet Jennie Magiera via her tech education blog. I discovered Jennie via an EdWeek chat focused on using iPads in the classroom where she shared some great ideas for all ages. Consider tablets as the “personal whiteboard” of today. While many have not yet discovered the benefit of using small whiteboards for formative assessment in their classroom, this is what is now happening with tablets. Jennie talks about getting student metacognition on the board. This is such a key formative assessment practice – being able to see the thinking, identify misunderstandings, provide (teacher or peer) or generate (student) the feedback and move to the next level of learning.

The latest studies produced by the MET have recently been released. The Measures of Effective Teaching study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that “Student feedback, test-score growth calculations, and observations of practice appear to pick up different but complementary information that, combined, can provide a balanced and accurate picture of teacher performance…”

For those of you wondering about teachers and their choices in social networks, a new study by MMS Education provides insight into educators’ use of social networking, online communities, and Web 2.0 tools.

One of the nice aspects of Larry Ferlazzo’s blog is that he frequently brings in others. In response to last week’s question – What is the best advice you would give to help an educator become better at teaching math? – Larry posted 3 responses that really caught my attention. Jose Vilson shares his 3 Cs for mathematical answers, which I appreciate. Shawn Cornally’s statement, “Math teachers must give up the love of scheduled quizzes and perfectly spaced exams in favor of an assessment scheme that allows students to show their learning when they actually achieve it.”, resonated with me as well. Larry also took the time to embed Dan Meyer’s TEDx Talk titled “Math Class Needs A Makeover.” Take 16 minutes to watch it – it is worth it. Dan’s comments about reassembling math problems to engage students in mathematical thinking actually have implications for other content areas.