Level Up Learning

Kate and Dave explore Susan Brookhart’s book How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading, including the basic types of rubrics and practical DOs and DON’Ts for constructing a rubric or using it in your classroom. Research:   Brookhart, S.M. (2013).  How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Fifteen years into 21st century learning, and we’re still trying to figure out authentic tasks and ways to assess them.  In this episode, Kate and Dave look at what makes a task a performance assessment, drawing especially on the work of Jay McTighe.

With almost 3,000 education-related tweets per minute each day, Twitter might be the next up-and-coming way to grow and learn professionally.  In this podcast, Kate and Dave look at how to use Tweetdeck to engage with some of the most brilliant and passionate educators on the planet in Twitter chats.  They follow the experiences of Misty, an instructional coach with over 1,000 followers to discuss how to grow your own Professional Learning Network in order to get more ideas for your classroom or district.

With the popularity of 1:1 initiatives and BYOD programs, districts around the globe are shelling out a lot of cash for technology.  But does it actually increase student achievement?  Kate and Dave explore the research on which strategies actually help increase student learning.

Thinking you might want to start your own podcast?  Kate and Dave discuss the steps for developing, writing, editing, and producing your own podcast in this basic tutorial.

How smooth are your routines and procedures--and how does lost instructional time add up over the course of a year?  This podcast explores the relationship between classroom management and the learning environment, the amount of time actually spent on instruction during the day, and student achievement.   Kate and Dave also present practical and simple strategies to improve classroom management and increase instructional time.

Want professional development sessions that are more engaging, meaningful, and likely to get participants asking for more?  Try flipping your PD.  This episode looks at the steps, challenges, and benefits to flipping a PD for adult learners.  Kate and Dave also share their personal experiences and interview teachers who have attended flipped PDs for their thoughts.

“Flipped classrooms” might be all the rage right now--but are they worth it?  How much work is actually involved?  What about kids who don’t have internet access at home? Kate and Dave look at the research available on flipped classrooms and the steps involved--and interview a first-time flipper to find out the possibilities, practical tips, and lessons learned.

You hear a lot of talk about inquiry and problem-based learning on both sides--those who claim it’s the best way to teach and those who claim it takes too much time or doesn’t give students a solid enough foundation in factual information.  But what does the research say?  How does it actually work in a classroom?  What is the 7E model and how does it compare to direct instruction? Kate and Dave search for answers to these questions and more.

At some point, “Direct instruction” got a bad rap in the teaching world.  In this episode, Kate and Dave look at the crucial steps that can make direct instruction a powerful teaching tool, as well as practical advice on when and how to use it in the classroom.

We know that music can affect the brain’s ability to remember information, but can it also improve reading scores?  Kate and Dave look at the commonalities between how our brains process music, speech, and reading...and what they might mean for K-12 education.

Kate and Dave examine how the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) could potentially impact our schools.

Who knew there were so many types of curriculum?  Kate and Dave explore all the different meanings of curriculum--and what it means for teachers trying to align them in their classrooms.

What role does motor control play in reading and writing?  How does exercising help us process new learning?  Why should we teach gestures when learning new concepts?  Kate and Dave dive into the research behind the strong connection between movement and learning.

Kate and Dave explore what service learning is and isn’t... and how it can positively impact student achievement while helping our communities.

Kate and Dave review research on whether homework actually impacts student achievement--including the type of homework, what the teacher does with the homework, and the grade level of students doing the homework--and provide suggestions on giving better homework.

The U.S. typically gets a bad rap when it comes to how our students score in mathematics. Kate and Dave explore whether we really deserve it by looking at the results of three national or global assessments:  the NAEP, the TIMSS, and the PISA.

Kate and Dave discuss the original purposes of the No Child Left Behind Act, whether it fulfilled those purposes and its impact, and current updates.

Kate and Dave examine three different psychological principles from video games:  Artificial Advancement, The Zeigarnik Effect (part 1), and Benign Envy (part 2), and then examples of how they can be applied in the classroom. Be sure to check out part one of this series!      

Kate and Dave examine the psychology behind why people love video games and relate it to techniques that can be used in the classroom.