http://teachfirst.com Because a great education starts with great teachers. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:51:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Unlike standardized assessments that tell us what students learned at the end of instruction, formative assessments give teachers information about students’ learning progress during the learning cycle while the teacher and student still have time to take corrective action.  A lot has been written about using formative assessments to help ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/09/14/formative-assessments-is-the-feedback-on-student-learning-or-on-our-teaching/ “Our teachers are meeting in PLCs but we aren’t seeing any real changes in classroom practices.” Sound familiar?  This is a consistent theme we hear in our work with schools who are implementing PLCs. In other words, they are discovering that giving teachers’ time to meet in “learning communities” ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/09/11/from-%e2%80%9cme%e2%80%9d-to-%e2%80%9cwe%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-the-foundation-for-collaborative-plcs/ In the primary grades the focus is on establishing letter recognition and letter-sound correspondence and learning how to apply this knowledge to words. Students work on developing a bank of high frequency words, acquiring basic decoding skills, including short and long vowel words, and are introduced to beginning spelling patterns. ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/07/word-chant/ Another staff meeting. Can you hear the collective sigh among the teachers and possibly even the administrators? It doesn’t have to be that way, which is perfectly illustrated by the experience that Sandi Everlove had while observing at Hoover High School in San Diego, CA. It’s three o’clock on the second ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/07/not-just-another-literacy-meeting/ Many districts have invested heavily in collaborative learning teams in various forms with little evidence of sustained improvement in classroom instruction.  Clearly there is a difference between "awareness" of learning communities and "application" of PLCs that foster lasting changes in classroom instruction. The vision for collaborative learning communities is ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/07/obstacles-to-effective-learning-communities/ The benefits of collaborative learning are well documented—and yet, almost every teacher knows how group work can go wrong: restless students, unequal workloads, lack of accountability, and too little learning for all the effort involved. In this book, educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Sandi Everlove show you how to ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/07/new-book-by-sandi-everlove/ Melbourne 26 March 2009 – Editure, the Australian-founded education company, announced today that it has acquired all the assets and operations of TeachFirst, a leading provider of professional development content and services to schools throughout the United States. The acquisition expands Editure’s professional development division, which already includes AUSSIE PD, a ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/07/editure-acquires-teachfirst/ The TeachFirst model integrates whole-school professional learning into the day-to-day practice of schools and districts across the country. We don't tell you how it's done or come for a one-day workshop. We roll up our sleeves and work closely with you and your team throughout the year to achieve effective ... http://teachfirst.com/2009/05/06/welcome/