Gaps in teacher communication can cause confusion, especially when it comes to grades. To reduce asymmetries of information when grading performance tasks and projects, teachers should seek to honor each student's unique learning trajectory. Here, authors Eric Carbaugh and Kristina Doubet, present five ways to improve communication--and…

For students to feel empowered in their learning, they must understand the language, purpose, and goals of assessment. Dueck argues that students need to understand what they are supposed to be learning and determine whether they actually learned it. Clear objectives and cooperative assessments can help with these objectives.

When faced with students who have learning skills, styles, and backgrounds very different from their own, teachers can promote academic rigor by engaging in reality pedagogy. This approach proposes seven strategies, or Cs: Cogenerative dialogues (in which teachers solicit feedback from a dissimilar group of students); coteaching (in which students…

Noted educator Carol Ann Tomlinson shares the insights that shaped her thinking about informative assessment. Informative assessment goes beyond tests and the grade book. It means assessing students both formally and informally in multiple ways and giving frequent, productive feedback on student work. Informative assessment isn't separate from…

Instructive feedback, which incorporates extra information and instruction in responses to students' work, appears to produce quantifiable strides in learning. Peer feedback has its limitations, but can effectively promote student-centered learning, encourages students to produce their work for a larger audience, and frees overworked teachers form…

After 21 years as an educator, a high school principal discovered that learning how to ski gave him new insights into teaching and learning. After encountering failure and frustration on the slopes, he would have become a ski school dropout without his instructor's encouragement. This administrator returned after the holidays with a better…

Describes how 40 middle-school students and 2 teachers design a curriculum integration program centered on student-generated learning, characterized by strong student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships. Covers choosing the students, setting the stage, and determining what to study. Provides examples of student-developed themes. (PKP)

Interviews Eleanor Duckworth, author of "The Having of Wonderful Ideas," concerning her thoughts on teaching and learning. A former student of Piaget, Duckworth taught in the Elementary Science Study and eventually became a teacher educator. She emphasizes the importance of starting from teachers' knowledge and understanding how children…

Elementary teachers Fay and Whaley share anecdotes of how carefully listening to English language learners read--and discussing with them their errors and confusions--helps teachers better analyze such students' true language and reading abilities. They discuss the importance of spending time talking individually with each child learning to read…

Discusses the needs of gifted students and their teachers as well as the characteristics of a good program for gifted students. (MLF)

Teachers can accommodate differences in student learning styles by creating an environment in which individuals feel free to be themselves. (Author)

Teachers in an elementary school decide not to match students with teachers. Instead, the teachers learn a variety of styles. (Author)

Differing world views and cultural expectations affect how teachers and students relate to one another. (Author)