Mr Hammerlund

When I was a teacher, there were times when I threw together an assessment. It happens, I know, but my life would have been easier had I planned better.  Did I start with the unit standards and look at them? Did I plan a final project or assessment that would allow the students to show they could meet the standards? Did I make formative assessments that aligned with my unit plan? Did I create a universal screener that showed me where students need help? Photo by  National Cancer Institute  on  Unsplash One thing I am trying to encourage teachers to do is to use a universal screener. As a learning support teacher, the universal screener gives me the data I need to better understand where students are. This gives me information about how I can group students to more efficiently support them. Unit Concepts Standards Assessments / Outcomes Create Universal Screener Unit Plan / Path Formative Assessments Lesson Plans

This was a post that was left as a draft from when I was coaching at KAS in Taiwan from 2015-2017. This data was from my first year as a tech coach. One thing I would add is the number of minutes per interaction. Time spent per interaction

For most of my career, I have been studying teacher growth. I have found, as I am sure many readers have found, that one-shot workshops and other quick-fix forms of professional development often have little impact on teaching and learning. For that reason, my colleagues and I have spent more than a decade studying instructional coaching.                                                                                               Jim Knight Coaching is all about relationships and understanding. The more I understand teachers, the better our relationship, and the more likely it will be that we can achieve our goal. #techcoach #educoach #diglitcoach supporting Ts via @isteconnects https://t.co/F1gcA0zMPQ #asiaed pic.twitter.com/b...

During a recent coffee morning (a forum for the school to talk to parents about different issues), a fellow teacher asked my opinion about blocking specific sites for children.  This question corrected to me was unexpected. There have been times in my role as a technology coach and teacher that I have counseled parents when students are having a hard time finding balance with the technology they use.  However, I would only monitor computer use and block sites as a last resort. I prefer to use education and open communication to influence behavior.  Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash Here are my suggestions for getting the process started: Start when the child is young When possible, begin to have conversations with your child when they are young. All the steps flow if a routine has been established when the child is young. Use the internet together Connecting to the point above, try sitting with your child when they use the internet. Be genuinely curious about what they ...

When I first started teaching classes that were 1:1 devices, students would listen to music when they were working.  I thought this was fine as long as they used headphones. I mean, I like listening to music when I work too. Then I changed schools, and changed grades, and going myself in primary school. We were not 1:1, but my students frequently used computers for writing, research, or digital art projects. These students used to want to listen to music we well. Again I allowed it as long as they used headphones.  I was then moved into a position of learning support where I could see many different classrooms and the different levels of agency teachers grant to students in classes. I was also able to observe student behavior from the sides.  It was shocking to see how much time students spent adjusting playlists instead of working.  Time went on and I was teaching a coding course where students followed along. Students would all be at different points of the lesson ...