Interviews Arthur Chiaravalli Interviews Arthur Chiaravalli

Taking Grades Off the Table w/Vanessa Ellis

Vanessa is an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Veterans Memorial Middle School in Columbus, Georgia. In 2017, Vanessa was named a Georgia Economics Teacher of the Year. This year, she officially joined our team here at TG2 and is currently one of ten finalists for Georgia Teacher of the Year. She resides in Midland, Georgia, with her husband and three children.

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Blog Vanessa Ellis Blog Vanessa Ellis

Avoiding Quit Point

Everyone, at some time or another, reaches a quit point—the moment when an individual’s productive energy toward a specific goal drops, causing withdrawal or minimized effort. With knowledge of quit point, teachers can meet students where they are, move them into more productive phases of the quit continuum, and engage all students to learn.

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Blog Miriam Plotinsky Blog Miriam Plotinsky

Winning the People: What Engagement Really Means

How do we move students from the appearance of engagement into something far more meaningful? Miriam Plotinsky argues that to “win the people,” we must include students in every stage of instruction, including what occurs before anyone sets foot in a classroom. When that happens, students access deeper levels of motivation, which, in turn, leads to more powerful learning experiences and growth.

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Blog Barry Fishman Blog Barry Fishman

Grading is a Game. Let’s Improve the Rules!

Gameful learning is designing for learning. Barry Fishman asks us to consider how games might inspire our thinking about learning, reminding us that good games don’t work because they are fun; they work because they are challenging and engaging.

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Blog Rachael Kettner-Thompson Blog Rachael Kettner-Thompson

If You Build It Will They Come?

Seemingly overnight, K-12 education shifted from a system of compliance and conformity to an online enterprise, one that has the potential for authentic academic enrichment.

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Blog Madeline Jester Blog Madeline Jester

The Apathy Problem

Students, simply put, don’t care about school. In their eyes, it’s a place to go, do what they’re told, and memorize as much as they can, then go home and finish their homework before doing something that actually interests them.

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Blog Arthur Chiaravalli Blog Arthur Chiaravalli

How to Build Castles in the Air

Grades undergird nearly everything we do in education. By threatening late penalties and administering one-shot assessments, we focus our famously distracted students on the task at hand.

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Interviews Aaron Blackwelder Interviews Aaron Blackwelder

Motivation w/Alfie Kohn

This episode features an interview with Alfie Kohn, author of the books Punished by Rewards, The Schools Our Children Deserve, The Homework Myth, and his latest, Schooling Beyond Measure.

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Blog Arthur Chiaravalli Blog Arthur Chiaravalli

Genius Hour Roundtable

Many teachers are implementing genius hour, defined as time given during the school day where students can learn about their interests and pursue projects they are passionate about. It's an inherently student-centered and messy undertaking to be sure, but many teachers testify to its power to unleash student passion, creativity, and concern for the community.

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Blog Arthur Chiaravalli Blog Arthur Chiaravalli

My Wish for Professional Development

Business still relies on carrots and sticks to motivate workers. As Daniel Pink, author of the book Drive, points out, this approach actually produces the worst outcomes when it comes to complex, 21st century tasks. Can this fundamental insight help us to revolutionize professional development?

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