All posts tagged: problem solving

Best Practices For Teaching During COVID-19

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One of my favorite pictures of teaching in action. “Hey Google” “What are the best practices for teaching during Covid-19?” Spoiler alert: There are none. When my school district produced a mandatory professional development session that taught teachers how to transition to online learning, I became immediately skeptical. I was also frustrated at the utter hubris it takes to claim to know anything about online learning when your background is everything but, and then present it as a mandatory training module. While I did learn some things about Canvas that I was completely unaware of (which I am deeply grateful for), there was a lot of unnecessary stress added by the way the PD was rolled out. I want to make it very clear, I’m not frustrated with our district coaches. I’m frustrated with the administration that made the decisions and how it was rolled out in typical half-ass fashion, i.e., not having their poop in a group. Every year teachers are bombarded with crap. And I do mean crap. Between education corporations looking to sell you the latest …

Problem Solving Storing Data

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Storing student data is something that I have struggled with immensely in my career. Collecting data and examples is the easy part. All I have to do is give a test, ask a question, or tell them to write something. The real issue begins when trying to store examples for later use. For example, today I had students answer a question on a small post-it note. The question was just a simple recall about the story they were to have read during our class today. The problem is that I have two students who were not able to answer the question properly. How can I document what the student is struggling with or needs further help on? Especially when some of these issues are things that may need further investigation, intervention, or even special services. Sure, Canvas can be used to collect information, but I don’t always use Canvas for assignments. The other problem I have with using Canvas is that it’s nearly impossible to create formative assessments on the fly. The set-up alone takes …