Catlin Tucker

APRIL 24, 2018

I want them reading, thinking about, and discussing hot topics that impact their lives; however, engaging students around online articles hasn’t always been easy. I decided to use InsertLearning to add highlights, notes, questions, and discussion prompts to the article. Teaching students active online reading strategies.

Discussions 419

Discussions Critical Thinking Reading Assignments 419

eSchool News

MAY 5, 2025

Sometimes they will cold call students, while other times they will ask students to share what they learned after theyve had a chance to read the assigned material or discuss it with their classmates in groups. Multiple times in any class period, teachers call on students to contribute to the lesson of the day.

Culture 266

Culture Feedback Languages Language 266

Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 22, 2016

My Twitter feed is full of articles and blogs discussing the research on homework, particularly at the elementary level, and how counterproductive it can actually be. Because I clearly saw the value of not assigning homework elementary level, I had to take a closer look at why I was assigning homework at the high school level.

Assignments 420

Assignments Motivation Reading High School 420

Edsurge

MARCH 15, 2024

This fall, after a restless night overthinking an assignment for my upcoming class and drinking three cups of not-strong-enough coffee, I added the final touch on my latest assignment for students in my World History II class. I like to think of this shift as a transition from content-based to issues-based curriculum.

Assignments 205

Assignments Essay History Social Studies 205

Catlin Tucker

JUNE 29, 2015

This requires that I design flipped lessons that encourage students to ask questions, analyze the information, and discuss concepts with peers asynchronously online to begin making sense of the information they are receiving at home. Step 5: See How Your Students Did On This Assignment! Just in time for summer reading!

Multiple Choice Questions 420

Multiple Choice Questions Students Assignments Blended Learning 420

Catlin Tucker

APRIL 11, 2019

They rate the texts in the order they would like to read them. Then as a group, they must agree on a reading schedule, design standard-aligned performance tasks and decide how they want to use their class time. The groups read through the target standards and discuss how they want to show mastery of these skills.

Students 420

Students Discussions Reading Feedback 420

Catlin Tucker

APRIL 18, 2021

Step 2: Group students and give them time to discuss and define. Give students time to discuss and define the words. The categories students create and the labels they assign to each category provide insight into their thinking. Which words do they know? Which do they need to define using online resources?

Blended Learning 546

Blended Learning Online Learning Discussions Grades 546

Catlin Tucker

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

auditory processing, attention deficit, lack of background knowledge or vocabulary, absences), teachers record video instruction and assign those videos for homework. The benefit of assigning video instruction for homework is that students can control the time, place, and pace of the learning experience when they watch the video at home.

Blended Learning 467

Blended Learning Students Assignments Lecturing 467

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 24, 2021

After reading Catlin Tucker’s blog post, 5 Strategies to Engage Learners Around Flipped Instruction , I was inspired to reflect on and revise a mini-unit I designed focusing on the short film Alike by Daniel Martinez Lara and Rafa Cano Méndez. I love reimagining a unit or lesson after I have taught it a few times.

Blended Learning 397

Blended Learning Multiple Choice Questions Learning Discussions 397

Catlin Tucker

MARCH 30, 2020

For teachers using StudySync in combination with Google Classroom, I’ve described three strategies that educators can use to capitalize on the activities in the StudySync First Read lesson plans to engage students in online discussions, collaborative research projects, and online vocabulary review. #1

Collaborative Research 370

Collaborative Research Students Knowledge Assignments 370

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

My students were reading Of Mice and Men and attempting to complete an explicit/implicit chart. I knew I needed to work directly with small groups to review the difference and model what it looks like to read a text and identify both explicit and implicit information.

Blended Learning 420

Blended Learning Middle School Middle School STEM 420

eSchool News

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

The tools and resources my students use must generate discussion and are often used in a team or partner setting, as I strongly believe that student interaction supports our instructional goals. You can create quizzes for the books your students are reading and assign collections to your students.

Elementary School 339

Elementary School Elementary School Schools Quizzes 339

Catlin Tucker

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

As I’ve said in previous blog posts, teaching in a concurrent classroom is the most challenging teaching assignment I can imagine. Students can do pen and paper practice, read and annotate, compose a piece of writing, work on an art project, create a flowchart or concept map, or tinker to learn.

Evaluation 546

Evaluation Feedback Writing Assignments 546

Catlin Tucker

MARCH 28, 2021

I’ve experienced the phenomenon of reading a text, but when I get to the end of a page or the bottom of the article, I have no idea what the text was about. I could not answer a single question about the content of what I read. Yes, my eyes technically scanned the words, but I wasn’t thinking about what I was reading.

Activities 195

Activities Reading Learning Discussions 195

Catlin Tucker

MARCH 25, 2024

Writing Assignments: Writing tasks, whether creative stories, essays, or research papers, require students to think critically, organize their thoughts, write a draft, and revise based on feedback. Students benefit from the freedom to read at their own pace, ensuring they fully comprehend the material before moving on.

Teachers 481

Teachers Art Feedback Writing 481

Ask a Tech Teacher

JULY 16, 2024

How do assignments made by online professionals get good scores? Here are tips to make your assignment look professional, from the Ask a Tech Teacher international team: Top Tips And Tricks To Make Your Assignment Look Professional Introduction One of the most important aspects of an assignment is how you present your report.

Assignments 158

Assignments Plagiarism Essay Attention 158

Catlin Tucker

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Last week it dawned on me that I can assign homework to be completed in pairs and groups virtually. Not only did students complete the assignments, but they were excited about it. Third, I would assign partners or groups during our synchronous sessions or post them in Google Classroom. The results? A smashing success!

Assignments 318

Assignments Schools Middle School Middle School 318

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 7, 2020

In a previous post, I described how blended learning models could make this challenging teaching assignment more manageable ; however, that post assumes that teachers are familiar with blended learning. Present-Pause-Discuss. A present–pause–discuss format allows the teacher to focus on introducing one concept or skill at a time.

Blended Learning 546

Blended Learning Coaching Feedback Discussions 546

eSchool News

AUGUST 20, 2024

While novels are engrossing for some students, teachers who use a variety of texts and media sources engage more students and address a broader range of topics and reading standards. These connections make students more interested in the stories they read, enhancing their overall classroom engagement. This novel by S.

Reading 325

Reading Assignments English Math 325

Edsurge

JANUARY 7, 2022

It actually requires some unlearning, and some changes in approach, to create an environment that better encourages students to complete assigned activities. For instance, instructors can strategically assign tasks that can be auto-graded, or spot-checked. The most common homework given to students in most classes is reading.

Motivation 202

Motivation Reading Instructors Assignments 202

Catlin Tucker

APRIL 12, 2016

One of the strategies we discussed with the potential to weave these three areas of focus together is a choice board. Elementary teachers, who are teaching all subjects, may combine reading, math and vocabulary activities on a single board. As a group, they wanted to focus on: Differentiation. Student choice. Assessment.

Blended Learning 419

Blended Learning Activities Assignments Math 419

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

instruction, scaffolds, practice, assignments). For more detail on this three-part approach to designing a flipped lesson, you can read this blog. Engage students around the video content using online discussions (e.g., Teachers can create a playlist around a unit of study, a formal writing assignment, or a project.

Blended Learning 545

Blended Learning Teaching Learning Students 545

Catlin Tucker

MAY 7, 2023

I point to each station’s location and review the assigned seating chart. Note: I don’t usually assign seats at the independent teacher-led station because that is where I will be.) Because students do not need to get out any materials when they transition, I set the transition timer to 20 seconds. I check for understanding.

Coaching 339

Coaching Blended Learning Assignments Middle School 339

eSchool News

JULY 1, 2020

Education thought leader Alan November discusses what he believes is a key misstep that many educators are making in shifting to web-based instruction. Read it now: The blended learning models that can help schools reopen. Read it now: 5 predictions for post-COVID learning. Read it now: 5 strategies for independent learning.

Education 317

Education Distance Learning Writing Blended Learning 317

Faculty Focus

MAY 18, 2025

Beginning Add literature/resources from neurodivergent, disabled, and diverse authors to assigned course readings and class activities. Replace and/or supplement outdated readings. Provide electronic files of reading, resources, presentations, and other materials.

Accessibility 97

Accessibility Disabilities Learning Disabilities Special Education 97

eSchool News

JUNE 28, 2024

It takes only seconds to plug a writing prompt into a generative AI tool and receive a completed assignment. The bottom line: When students are confident in their writing skills, they will be less tempted to run directly to AI to generate a writing assignment. It’s intimidating.

Writing 328

Writing Essay Plagiarism Assignments 328

Faculty Focus

JUNE 13, 2024

It has been sobering to see, through their eyes, how unclear our assignments can sometimes be. Maybe the student skipped class or doesn’t have all the material handed out with the assignment. The assignment becomes a one-dimensional chore underpinned by a constant anxiety of “I don’t know if this is what my teacher wants.”

Assignments 119

Assignments Essay Writing Questions 119

eSchool News

OCTOBER 13, 2023

Key points: ChatGPT is here to stay, and it’s wise to now consider it a part of learning In fact, every assignment moving forward must be graded with ChatGPT in mind See related article: How educators can navigate AI-driven plagiarism You may have heard of ChatGPT. ” It takes no more than a few seconds to fill out and read.

Essay 337

Essay Plagiarism Assignments Learning 337

Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 29, 2018

Provide opportunities to conference with students to review their work, discuss learning goals, and conduct side-by-side assessments. For teachers using StudySync, I hope this demo of my lesson planning process will provide some clarity about how to approach a Whole Group Rotation with a StudySync First Read Assignment.

Blended Learning 378

Blended Learning Mobile Devices Learning Coaching 378

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 21, 2019

When I facilitate station rotation workshops with teachers using StudySync , I encourage them to consider designing offline discussion stations. There is value in having a small group of six to eight students discuss a text as opposed to facilitating a whole group discussion. Compliment strong points made.

Discussions 283

Discussions Writing Communication Questions 283

eSchool News

OCTOBER 21, 2024

As the back-to-school season unfolded in New York, the city’s teachers set up their classrooms how they usually do: by putting up posters, reading through curriculums, sharpening pencils, and, for roughly a decade , charging Chromebooks. History and was embarrassingly eager to participate in class debates and discussions. newsletters.

Teachers 300

Teachers Schools History Reading 300

eSchool News

AUGUST 29, 2024

Additionally, these digital tools need to support the means of expression through written assignments, presentations, or discussions to make the learning environment as engaging as possible. Social annotation as an e-learning vehicle within UDL Social annotation tools can improve reading comprehension and student interaction.

Learning 306

Learning Syllabus Universal Design Quizzes 306

Edsurge

JULY 27, 2023

That has sparked a burst of activity by teachers at schools and colleges to change their assignments to make them harder to game with this new tech — and hopefully more human in the process. For instance, on a recent assignment, some of the homework that came in didn’t sound like typical student work he was used to.

Assignments 148

Assignments Instructors Writing History 148

eSchool News

MARCH 19, 2025

This program also provides the educator with the ability to assign the same science article to students to read, but at their reading level. Once the teacher assigns the STEM activity to a class, students can access it immediately. Gizmos also offers math programs–Reflex and Frax.

Teachers 309

Teachers Learning Science STEM 309

Faculty Focus

JUNE 13, 2024

It has been sobering to see, through their eyes, how unclear our assignments can sometimes be. Maybe the student skipped class or doesn’t have all the material handed out with the assignment. The assignment becomes a one-dimensional chore underpinned by a constant anxiety of “I don’t know if this is what my teacher wants.”

Assignments 111

Assignments Essay Writing Questions 111

Faculty Focus

JUNE 1, 2025

I read Susan Blums Ungrading as a first-year graduate student and was immediately smitten. Each assignment has 1-10 points, with a total of 100 points. In my more recent students evaluations, students say they are less stressed, they are more motivated, and they understand assignment expectations at the beginning of the semester.

Grades 81

Grades Evaluation Assignments Instructors 81

eSchool News

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Each year, we share our 10 most-read stories. Not surprisingly, many of this year’s Top 10 focused on equity, edtech innovation, immersive learning, and the science of reading. This year’s 9th most-read story focuses on first-year teaching supports. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. newsletters.

Teachers 325

Teachers Middle School Middle School Failure 325