10 Roadblocks to Change

I have recently tried to reintroduce myself to Twitter.  I missed the network and professional growth received from participating.  Following NMHS_Principal, I came across his blog post regarding 10 common roadblocks to change. Here is the link, check it out! 

Food for Thought

Friday night...finally time to decompress and surf the 'net. I found three links I would like to share:

A blog titled, "The Difference Between Learning and Education"
http://blog.sokanu.com/the-difference-between-learning-education-0
We all get consumed by email. A post titled, "Break Your Addiction to Email"
http://www.juliemorgenstern.com/blog/?pID=67
And finally, "Effective Leadership Skills: Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders"
http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/workforce-management/hr-management-skills/effective-leadership-skills.aspx
Happy Reading!

Six Priorities for Student Results

Doug Reeves has a way of distilling his research down into takeaway nuggets for busy educators. In a recent edition of his center's magazine, he presented the "big six" priorities that represent the right work for schools.

1. Feedback--Providing accurate, timely, and specific feedback is the most powerful teaching strategy to improve student achievement.
2. Efficacy--Educators must believe that they can impact student results, rather than believing that the factors are outside of their control.
3. Time--Students who are struggling learners need extra instructional time. Allocating time differently can produce different results.
4. Nonfiction Writing--"There are few activities that have a greater and more consistent positive impact on every other discipline than nonfiction writing," states Reeves.  Descriptive, persuasive, and analytic writing help students improve their thinking and reasoning skills.
5. Formative Assessment--Assessments used to "inform" teaching and learning has a greater impact on improving achievement than any other form of assessment.
6. Expectations--"Forty years of research...demonstrates that when teachers and administrators expect more, they get more; when they expect less, they get less."

How can you weave these six priorities into your work to positively impact student results?