Benchmark Education Company

To Flip or Not to Flip, Is That the Question?

Jennifer Boyle — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:05:17 +0000

Recently I’ve had great discussions with fellow educators and checked into blogs and news articles, questioning the pros and cons of flipping our classrooms. I wondered if this is right question to ask: to flip or not to flip? Key Understandings Let’s start with a key understanding: What do we mean by a flipped classroom? [...]

E-Books: Passport to the Common Core?

Jennifer Boyle — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:00:47 +0000

A colleague of mine recently shared this image: I immediately thought about our English learners and students who struggle, as well as students with special needs. Entry into the promised land of the Common Core does indeed seem to be closed. With the bar raised to new levels for all of our students and all [...]

Teaching Explicit Vocabulary Through Favorite Read-Alouds!

Kimberli Kern — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:02:14 +0000

According to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, research suggests that if students are going to grasp and retain words and comprehend text, they need repeated exposure in a variety of contexts to the words they are trying to learn. Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2002, 2008) have [...]

Independent Reading

mrajan — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:00:52 +0000

Educational magazines and journals often contain studies that lament the demise of independent reading by students. The reports are discouraging, indicating that, as students progress through school, the amount of actual reading engagement diminishes, especially with struggling readers – the ones that need reading practice the most. As we know, struggling readers are often reluctant [...]

Guiding Inquiry-Based Learning

Tammy Jones — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:12:30 +0000

In my last blog, I discussed the importance of inquiry-based learning to the Common Core State Standards Initiative. I also shared some steps you as a teacher can take to prepare your classroom for this instructional method. Now that you have jumped in with both feet, you will need to guide students’ investigations. Here [...]

Inquiry-Based Learning and the Common Core Curriculum Standards

Tammy Jones — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:59:42 +0000

The Common Core Curriculum Standards Initiative places an emphasis on inquiry-based learning. According to the standards, students learn best when teachers coach them on how to learn, rather than provide them with a steady stream of content, which they can easily forget in time. If we teach students how to discover, research, ask questions, and [...]

Defining Digital Citizenship: Reaching Beyond Family Ties?

Jennifer Boyle — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000

“Gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.” ― Geoffrey Chaucer This simple yet powerful description introduced us to the clerk, Chaucer’s devout Oxford student, of Canturbury Tales’ fame. Fast-forward some 600-plus years to meet an individual, Salman Khan, who takes this description beyond all boundaries, where the world truly comes together for shared learning in [...]

Defining Digital Citizenship: A Heroic Approach

Jennifer Boyle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:31:18 +0000

Defining Digital Citizenship: A Heroic Approach In our classrooms, we may wonder how to define digital citizenship. Where do we begin? Google it and you’ll see hundreds of entries in page after page of search results, a torrential downpour of information! I have always found inspiration in biography, a genre in which actions speak loudly [...]

Putting on a Show, Part II

Jeffrey Fuerst — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:48:01 +0000

In my last blog, I shared tips on how to stage a Reader’s Theater performance. Here are some suggestions on how to enhance your production and involve your students in the work needed to create a “Broadway” play. Lighting/Music/Sound lights go off and then on again to show the beginning of the play and/or scene [...]

Putting on a Show, Part I

Jeffrey Fuerst — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:24:30 +0000

Performances of a Reader’s Theater script need not involve props or costumes. However, there may be times when you and your students wish to stage a more elaborate production (for example, as the culminating event in a thematic unit of study), or as part of a multi-class assembly. Here are some ideas for getting everyone [...]