Prove It: Math and Education Policy
From September 2015 to September 2017, John Troutman McCrann, a high school math teacher, NBCT, and MfA Master Teacher Fellow in New York City, wrote about his quest to integrate inquiry- and performance-based learning into his instruction, and how these concepts might inform education policy. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnTroutMcCran This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: performance assessment.
Teaching
Opinion
Engaging Students With Dr. King's Model of 'Multi-Mic' Participation
Effective "multi-mic" participation can help engage students and give teachers a quick sense of what student know and don't know.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Five Questions to Ask New College Students Over Break
If we can fine tune the questions we ask when we do interact with students we may be able to get the information that we need to intervene and support at-risk students so that they can avoid this fate.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Still Stronger Together: Election Reflections From an Integrated School
While I may not be a political insider or historian, I do have a front row seat to a world which provides insight into one of the key philosophical differences between the Trump and Clinton campaigns: are we a nation in need of walls or one in which we are "stronger together?"
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Should We Differentiate "Discipline?"
Guest blogger Amber Chandler writes: I came to realize that there was a layer of Differentiation that doesn't seem to be occurring, and that is in the realm of social emotional learning. Why would I think that meeting kids where they were was a good thing academically without logically knowing that the whole child requires more than academic Differentiation, the whole child requires flexibility?
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Imagining a Five Year Reunion Gift: A Task to Move Beyond College and Career
What I do know about the emphasis on "college and career" which so dominates our thinking about students' post-high school lives is that it excludes a lot: we are so much more than where we went to college and what we do for a living. I try to get students to more fully imagine their lives after college by asking them to send a gift to their friends at their 5 year high school reunion.
Families & the Community
Opinion
'Fair' School Funding and the Enrichment Gap
We should empower low income districts to commit to the kinds of deep learning experiences that middle and high income families self-fund. We should expand experiential and arts education for students in poverty, not cut them. To do this, states must recognize their a democratic responsibility to support that work.
Teaching
Opinion
Orienting Students for Math
Last week, I led a group of teachers who facilitated a two day mathematical orientation for our new students. These are the 4 goals that worked to create a productive mathematical journey for our students. Like the north star, they gave us a point to aim for and an indication when we got off track.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Is Ivanka Trump's Family Leave Policy Better than the One for New York City Teachers?
Surely we are better than this as a Department of Education and as the nation's biggest local union. Teachers and our families should be supported like other city employees and not shut out the way we have been for far too long.
Assessment
Opinion
A Teacher Leadership Elevator Pitch and an Invitation to Write Your Own
I bet at some point you've overheard a teacher complaining to another about something coming from the district or administration: "why are "they" doing this to us?" I am a teacher and teacher leader who doesn't hear that any more and I want to help make New York City the one place in the country where teachers won't ever say it. Let's stop talking about "they" and create a system of "we."
Teaching Profession
Opinion
3 Ways That Performance-Based Assessment Addresses 3 Important Critiques of Standardized Assessment
My critique of Matthew Lynch's "3 Important Critiques of Standardized Assessment," might take steps toward clarifying his argument and answering his critics' complaints: he conflated the words "assessment" and "test." We need to leverage both tests and performance assessment in thoughtful ways to create a set of healthy assessment habits which don't have the giant footprint of the current system.
Teaching
Opinion
The Reparations I Owe: An Exponential Growth Model of Privilege
The experience of thinking about the reparations movement as a White home-owner begged the question: what role did White Privilege play in helping me...? I couldn't answer this question on my own, so I put it to my students.
Families & the Community
Opinion
Help Us Help You: Five Tips for Working With Volunteers at Your School
As you start planning for the next school year and face the daunting task of stretching limited resources to meet almost unlimited student needs, there is one no-cost resource you may have overlooked - volunteers in your classrooms.
Assessment
Opinion
Against Field Day: Experiential Education Shouldn't be a One Day Event
To be meaningful and worthwhile, "field experiences" should be coherent within students learning, thoughtfully planned, and provide opportunities for reflection and feedback.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Harvesting Love in Our Schools After the Orlando Shooting
A queer educator reflects on protecting and teaching LGBT students in light of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub. "Even though we cannot protect our students outside our schools' walls, when students leave, they are powerful. They move through the world, bodies loving and respecting the truths they hold and the truths of others. I hope educators see the paramount value in this and find transformative joy in facing these fears alongside their students."