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We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

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The Power of Collaborative Learning at The College Preparatory School

High school students in group at round table

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Nichole Pinkard on Digital Literacy (Big Thinkers Series)

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How to Thank a Teacher

Blogs on High (9-12)

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Change the Subject: Making the Case for Project-Based Learning

Rob RiordanJanuary 17, 2013

Tags Curriculum, Education Reform, Project-Based Learning, Service Learning, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

What should students learn in the 21st century? At first glance, this question divides into two: what should students know, and what should they be able to do? But there's more at issue than knowledge and skills. For the innovation economy, dispositions come into play: readiness to collaborate, attention to multiple perspectives, initiative, persistence, and curiosity. While the content of any learning experience is important, the particular content is irrelevant. What really matters is how students react to it, shape it, or apply it. The purpose of learning in this century is not simply to recite inert knowledge, but, rather, to transform it.¹ It is time to change the subject.

Two Questions for Penny Kittle: On Teacher Burnout and Motivating Teenage Writers

Todd FinleyJanuary 9, 2013

Tags Literacy, Student Engagement, Teacher Burnout, High (9-12), English Language Arts

Penny Kittle

Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing is a compelling and seminal work on the practicalities of teaching writing to high school English students from New Hampshire teacher and literacy/instructional coach Penny Kittle. You can also watch the speech she gave when that book earned her the 2009 NCTE Britton Award. I've used the book and accompanying DVD for three years now, and my English education pre-service teachers have called the unequivocally helpful text "warm, inspiring and intelligent," "100 % heart," and hailed the author as "a writer's teacher of writing."

Deeper Learning: Authentic Student Assessment

Bob LenzJanuary 9, 2013

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Performance Assessment, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Is it possible to systemically embed deeper learning outcomes for students?

Reframing and Refining the Worksheet

Andrew MillerJanuary 7, 2013

Tags Best Practices, Lesson Plans, Project-Based Learning, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Worksheets matter! I know we hear a lot of talking points that tell us to get rid of them, but I think it's much more complicated than that. That call for "no more worksheets" comes from a place where that is all there is. By that I mean classrooms where students do nothing but worksheets. Often these worksheets are de-contextualized from relevant work, and this is where there's an opportunity to reframe and refine the traditional worksheet. There is a time and place for drill and practice or individual practice -- even in a PBL project. The key is to make it appropriate and relevant.

Deeper Learning: A Collaborative Classroom Is Key

Rebecca AlberDecember 31, 2012

Tags Student Engagement, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

What's ideal when it comes to collaboration in our classrooms? Here's one coveted scenario: several children gathered at a table engaged in a high-level task, discussing, possibly debating an issue, making shared decisions, and designing a product that demonstrates all this deeper learning.

Teaching Presentation Skills with Ignite

Andrew MillerDecember 28, 2012

Tags Performance Assessment, Student Engagement, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

I know that, in my project-based learning classroom, students did presentations all the time for a variety of purposes. One of the key components of a PBL project is the 21st-century skill of presentation or communication. We know that this presentation can take on any number of shapes, from something formal to a podcast or even a poster session. I always struggled with getting quality presentations from my students. I used a variety of teaching techniques and examples, but there is one that I know can really help improve presentation skills: Ignite!

Student Team Members Weigh In on Each Other’s Work

Heather Wolpert-GawronDecember 27, 2012

Tags Classroom Technology, Curriculum, Teacher Development, Middle (6-8), High (9-12), English Language Arts

Earlier this month, I wrote about how the four Cs relate to my current TED Talks unit. Just to recap, the four Cs represent elements of Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.

Believing in Students: The Power to Make a Difference

Dr. Richard CurwinDecember 26, 2012

Tags Best Practices, Student Engagement, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

After a morning Discipline With Dignity training, the high school principal and I walked to the cafeteria to eat lunch. He said, "I love your session, but it's not practical." I responded with my view that it was practical because it works -- but it’s just not easy.

Student Research: The Right Information at the Right Time

Terry HeickDecember 19, 2012

Tags Classroom Technology, Media Literacy, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Google puts a universe of information at the end of any Internet connection.

This is both true and unhelpful. It offers up the universe, but no one needs the universe -- they need the right information, and they need it at the right time.

A fact. A concept. An image. A resource. Maybe a new perspective.

Snapshot of a Deeper Learning Classroom: Aligning TED Talks to the Four Cs

Heather Wolpert-GawronDecember 13, 2012

Tags Comprehensive Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, Student Engagement, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Edutopia is pleased to premiere the first blog in a new series designed to showcase compelling examples of how students are developing 21st century skills through a deeper-level of learning. Through this blog series, we hope to increase awareness and encourage replication of successful models.

Chris Anderson, TED curator. (Photo credit: Pierre Omidyar via Wikimedia Commons)

As many of my readers know, this year I have been dedicated to using the 21st Century four Cs. The four Cs are a rubric of sorts that help align lessons to more reality-based learning and assessing.