About the Author: Jenn Breisacher

I talk frequently about self-grading assignments, but sometimes that moves too quickly. It is important to answer the question, “What is self-grading?” before moving on to how to use it in the classroom. With that answer, you can develop a self-grading system that works for both the teacher and the student.   Most of us know … Read more

The Expanded ADEPT Support and Evaluation System was designed with a specific purpose: to help teachers grow, reflect, and improve their practice over time. ADEPT stands for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching, and that name matters. It’s not just about evaluating professional teaching; it’s supposed to be about supporting it. Principals, instructional coaches, or … Read more

All teachers are expected to have a classroom management philosophy, but what does this actually mean (and what should it look like in a 21st-century classroom)? The answer depends on three things: the teacher’s purpose, the learners’ needs, and a good understanding of how young people develop in a digital age. In other words, classroom … Read more

The Danielson Framework for teacher observations has become increasingly popular in school districts nationwide. What sets the Danielson Framework apart from other teacher evaluation systems is the level of specificity used to construct teacher observation rubrics. By breaking down teaching into parts and clearly describing each one, the Danielson Framework gives educators criteria they can … Read more

I once heard teaching described as “herding cats,” and I laughed because I’ve lived it. Not in my own high school history classroom (11th graders are a different kind of chaos), but in the elementary classrooms I’ve spent time in as a trainer and as a parent volunteer. I remember standing in a kindergarten classroom … Read more

The room was too quiet, and I knew that wasn’t a good thing. It was right after lunch, and I was standing in front of my high school juniors, watching their eyes glaze over as I walked through what I thought was a perfectly fine lesson on primary source analysis. Then one student raised his … Read more

The first time I realized the strategies for classroom management I was using weren’t working, I was standing near the pencil sharpener, watching a sophomore slam his chair into the floor for the third time that period. I’d told him “no” about something minor. Can’t even remember what it was now. What I do remember … Read more

The best collaboration project I ever ran started with a message on ePals. I created a profile seeking an international partner class to compare World War II family narratives, and a teacher in Germany reached out. He taught a similar age group and was covering the same period. We decided to have our students write … Read more