Educators Network
ENDING THE PRACTICE OF FAILING STUDENTS
Adopt the Educator’s Hippocratic Oath to first “DO NO HARM”
Institute New Practices
New Performance Report Card
Grades: A, B, C, D and NC (No Credit)
- Participation
- Effort
- Competency
- Quality
- Assignments Completed
- Evidence of progress
- Areas for and of improvement
- Aspirational goals for achievement
Meet the Needs of Diverse Learners
- Prepare lessons inclusive of diverse performance levels and learning styles.
- Embrace errors as beneficial revelations:
- Identify (assess) for potential learning gaps.
- Look for indicators of instructional gaps requiring more and/or different method of instruction.
Academic Prosperity Plans
- Individualize learning goals.
- Target progression of benchmarks for achievement.
- Reveal and explicitly state learning skills students will develop.
- List/distribute/post learning objectives.
Create Grade Level Learning Tools and Resources for Learning Skills Development
Identify common learning skills across all subjects:
Ability to perform basics skills: reading, writing, comprehension, identifying essential/key
elements, memorization, identify facts versus opinions, compare and contrast, analyze,
reasoning, summarize, identify key points, apply skills of inquiry, question assertions, provide
opinions, synthesize, articulate main points verbally and in writing, identify common and differing
perspectives, list pros and cons, hypothesize (science), theorize, speculate, defend points of
view, deduce, cite quotes, organize system of notetaking
Lesson Tools and Resources to Retain Learning Skills
Diversify practice of new skills learned
- Find a variety of ways to generalize and apply what’s learned (wrap it in a rap, artistic infographic, spoken word…find whatever contemporary format appeals to learners) and allow artifact choice.
- Plan multiple ways to reinforce what’s taught.
- Reach beyond traditional methods of instruction by diversifying ways to enrich lessons.
- Develop opportunities to generalize and routinely apply new skills acquired.
Rubrics (Valuable Individualize Assessments Tool)
- Explicitly demonstrate (Show-and-Tell) skills targeted for development.
- Explain how level of competency of skills is to be determined.
Teach Rating Scale System
- Teach learning standards, rating scale, and value of each rating.
- Design aspirational benchmarks for students to achieve.
- Be explicit about learning objectives.
- Explain reasons why skills targeted for learning are necessary.
- Explain benefits of skills acquired and why repetition/practice is necessary.
- Inquire about how favorite athletes, artists, musicians and other successful influencers ascended to greatness.
- Discuss roadmap of acquiring and mastering skills from contemporary role models. Discuss how time and repetitive practice routines were required to perfect those skills (For instance: how Billie Eilish practiced Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule. Billie’s influence then extended to Lil Nas X, who shared his admiration of Billie Eilish for her amazing talent and inspiring him to embrace his unorthodox and unique talents).
- Teach a variety of ways students can invest time studying to reinforce new skills learned. Academic excellence requires repetition to strengthen learning, which positively impacts overall confidence.
Lesson Feedback
- Open opportunities for students to assess and share their learning experience through self-reflection
- Provide Lesson Feedback Forms
- Value student feedback as a vital indicator of how each student is experiencing their individual learning process.
Plan Lessons Designed to Fuel Innate Curiosity
- Devote a portion of lessons to fascinating brain teasers, escape rooms, or other engaging and interactive activities to enhance fun and participation.
- Embed time for independent exploration within lessons.
- Let students select topics of interest to them. Invite them to plan lessons to teach their peers. If they mimic some of the practices used by their teachers, it’s generally a sign of some instructional methods being impactful.
- Invest time researching fascinating and innovative lessons from around the world that are sure to appeal to students’ innate curiosity.
- (See Pantheon of International Schools Around the Globe achieving high academic outcomes)
Project-based Collaborative Learning
- Prepare students for employment opportunities in tech and other industries that use team collaboration for research and design by encouraging team projects.
- Build habits of effective communication to exchange ideas, resolve issues, acquire negotiation skills, and compromise.
- Teach communication skills and allow for different perspectives, including active listening and respectfully agreeing, disagreeing, and offering counter proposals. Equip students with humane and ethical communication practices.
- Establish criteria for what’s acceptable versus unacceptable.
- Teach how to respectfully decline a peer’s/colleague’s idea with skills of compassion. K-12 school experiences can prepare students for the dynamics of group interactions, including maximizing engagement, making everyone feel welcome, and coming to a consensus.
- Communicate criteria for being a team player and positive contributor.
- Teach students to expect differences of opinions necessary for achieving productive interactions.
- Build in Collaborative Practices in Classrooms: Post Encouraging Messages
- How We Achieve Success In This Class
- Supporting One Another
- Participation by Everyone in Collaborative Projects and Assignments
- Committed to Encouraging and Uplifting My Peers
- Remember to say, “Thank you” to those who assist when you’re stuck
Make Read-Alouds – (In School and At Home) - A Daily Priority
- Reading to children of all ages is a proven practice backed by volumes of research showing immediate and long-term educational benefits.
- Reading aloud and introducing audiobooks to Pre-K children is highly beneficial to jumpstarting a successful education experience.
- Start with fun, short narratives in poetry books, including my book, Wait…Who Got Goosed? for middle grade students, and Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. Comic books and age-appropriate shows and movies with English subtitles also expose children to new words.
- Consider audiobooks for older children, too.
Build Teacher-Parent-Student Partnership to Support Learning
- Share Academic Prosperity Plans with students and their families.
- Provide a written copy of topics.
- Meet to discuss their child’s and your student’s Academic Prosperity Plan, including targeted goals for achievement.
- Schedule meetings to review benchmarks achieved in Performance Report Cards and to identify areas in need of improvement.
- Encourage the student to assess their performance and share their overall perception of their education experience.
Pantheon of International Schools Around the Globe achieving high academic outcomes
Explore How and Why here:
- School Selector (HoneyKids School Selector articles about lessons taught in International Schools in Australia, Canada, Singapore and other countries that invest in hands-on interactive lessons for grades K-12)
- See Education Week (authored by Anthony Jackson and Vivien Stewart) Lesson From Shanghai’s Professional Learning System
- HILLSIDE WORLD ACADEMY (HWA) – Mr. Max Lew Cheng Wee, Creative Activity & Service Manager & Senior School Teacher in Science
- Hillside World Academy’s “…science program provides a framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers. It challenges students to make connections between concepts learned in classroom with the real world. Students adopt an inquiry cycle to independently and collaboratively investigate issues through research, observation and experimentation.”
- Top International School in Singapore
Humanitarian Lessons Matter Too…
Wheels (Canadian Ad for Inclusivity of Disabled People)