I found an article in the Boston Globe urging the Massachusetts Governor to ban smartphones in public schools. The article provides educators’ opinions about smartphone use in and out of the classroom. Most teachers think it has more disadvantages than advantages due to smartphones being a distraction and used as a communication tool rather than a technology device. More and …
It’s early May, deep in the heart of testing season. Twenty-two middle school students sit at desks arranged in a half circle closed just tightly enough so they see each other and the question displayed on the board at the front of the room: “Are cell phones making people less intelligent?” A student surges to his feet behind his desk, …
Let Them Talk: Making Space for Student Conversations in the Classroom Read More »
What is Co-teaching? At Hampden Charter School of Science, we are constantly looking for educational ideas and techniques to help improve our student success in and out of the classroom. This year, we piloted our first co-taught classroom, and hope to expand more into a co-teaching model in the new HCSS Middle School. But what is co-teaching exactly? Co-teaching, according …
With so much information that we want our students to learn, it seems like our biggest focus should be on effectively giving the information to the students. Although this is important, most of the information will be forgotten quickly if we do not have the students recall the information regularly. Retrieval practice boosts learning by focusing on pulling information out …
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop at Westfield State University all about teaching writing in the age of Artificial Intelligence. In addition to myself and Mr. Kvarnstrom, the room was filled with English Language Arts teachers from all over Western Mass, everything from second and third-grade elementary teachers to first-year composition professors, all of us …
In “Powerful Teaching”, Dr. Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain share their research-based findings about the science of learning. After several years of teaching and research, they provide a list of powerful tools for teachers such as retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. These practical tools allow teachers to become powerful teachers which allows them to save time and teach …
Our school’s mission statement: The Hampden Charter School of Science is a top-ranking tuition-free college preparatory school founded in 2009. The mission of the HCSS is to provide a college preparatory-focused education to the youth of every race and ethnic group in Western Massachusetts in a safe, academically challenging, and caring educational environment. Our core values are respect, responsibility, resilience, …
What is Project Based Learning? Project Based Learning: Explained. “Project Based Learning is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.” (Markham, Larmer, and Ravitz (2003)) At HCSS, Project Based Learning is an approach we take to instruction that engages …
Becoming a Massachusetts teacher takes more than caring about children, graduating from college, or knowing your subject matter. To become a certified teacher in Massachusetts you must pass the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL). The MTEL are a series of exams which include communication and literacy skills, as well as tests of subject matter knowledge. All paths to teacher …
There is no denying that one of the major issues facing students today is STRESS! Students are experiencing stress at levels never seen before in history. One in every 10 preschoolers has had suicidal thoughts (Whalen, Dixon-Gordon, Belden, Barch, & Luby, 2015). Doctors are reporting children in early elementary school suffering from migraine headaches and ulcers. They see a clear …