Do You Check for Understanding Often Enough with Students?March
21, 2010 | Elena Aguilar A few months ago, I wrote for
Edutopia.org about the power of focusing on a few, high-priority
standards as a strategy to improve student learning. Many other
elements also need to be in play in a classroom in order to
produce the results that we all want to see for our students. To
name just a few: The learning environment needs to be one in
which students feel respected and safe to take risks; kids need
to feel that their learning has a purpose and that the
curriculum is relevant to their lives; and students need
feedback on their progress -- they need to know what they're
trying to accomplish, where they are in relation to the goal,
and what they need to do in order to get there. It is the
teacher's role to make sure this happens. The Multi-Tasking
Teacher Although to be an effective teacher it often feels like
you need to be one of those Hindu gods with a dozen arms, I
believe that educators do need to hold standards