Collins Blog

Recently, our team of Collins Associates came across an exciting article by Jennifer Gonzalez on her website, Cult of Pedagogy. Gonzalez interviewed author and professor of math education Peter Liljedahl to discuss his recent book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning. One of the strategies he introduces for promoting “thinking classrooms” is the use of vertical, non-permanent surfaces.

It seems like we were just welcoming you to a new school year, and now here we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Regardless of grade or subject area, it is important to close the year with reflection and summary activities that encourage students to look back at their growth and celebrate how far they’ve come. In this l ast Exchange of the 2023-2024 school year, we offer some suggestions for prompts that can be used to do just that. Click here for the full list

Last month we shared some of the work of Dr. Karen Harris, which reinforces the foundation of our program. In this issue, we are highlighting the work of Steve Graham, who provides us with ideas, tips, and strategies to use with students in the writing classroom. Studying his work reaffirms that our program is firmly rooted in best practices and incorporates the most effective methods for building a community of writers where expectations are clear, instruction is productiv

Our recent work in PBL and CTE classrooms has caused us to think about, and reassess, what makes meaningful assessment. Research suggests that meaningful assessment should: Steer teaching and learning as a process - not an end point - with short, middle, and long cycles. ( Fisher and Frye ) Ensure that students genuinely understand material and cannot succeed by accident (like some multiple choice, T/F, matching, etc.) — they should be virtually "un-cheatable." ( Hernandez )