Category: Uncategorized
About the Grading Debate
Homework… What is it Good For? Absolutely Nothing!
Very Interesting Article
The issue of homework has been a thorn in my side since I started teaching.
The standard thinking is that it develops independent learning skills, extends the work of the school into the home and give opportunities to reinforce the curriculum.
I’m all for developing independent learning skills, but I’m not sure homework is an appropriate way to do it! It makes assumptions about the home learning environment and the resources within it. Not every child has access to a quiet and warm place to work, not every child has parental support or access to books and a computer. We make assumptions when homework is set which might be entirely unrealistic for individual children. Most importantly, not every child is able to work independently because of a range of learning conditions such as dyslexia or sensory processing disorders.
Then there is the additional workload imposed on the teacher with the marking…
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Some thoughts
“It is not subject and activity demands that have overburdened our schools but, demands to solve the problems of a society unwilling to bear its burdens where they should properly be shouldered. A society unwilling to rid itself of racial prejudice asks the schools to achieve desegregation. A society unwilling to talk with its children about love, delight, and commitment asks the schools to teach sex education.” Nel Noddings in The False Promise of the Paideia.
inquiryHub (iHub) Biology: Free Full Year HS NGSS Bio Units
Awesome resources
The inquiryHub (iHub) biology landing page provides a full-year high school life science course that is 3 Dimensional and built for the Next Generation Science Standards. These materials were developed by teachers from Denver Public Schools collaborating with the University of Colorado Boulder and Northwestern University. This team designed three units that meet the expectations of the high school life science performance expectations in NGSS. These units have been content reviewed by a group of scientists and have also been reviewed for NGSS Quality by Achieve.
In my neck of the woods we have many high schools where biology is taught using either outdated or homemade materials that may not meet the vision of the NGSS. These types of readily available online materials from iHub not only model the types of instructional units that we need for high school students but also provide a cost effective way for schools and districts…
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Stories of a Biology teacher 