Formal Assessment

Discuss your thoughts regarding what you have read about formal assessment. Do you agree or disagree with any of the issues that were raised? Why or why not? How does what you have read here compare to what was read in President Bush's education proposal--Leave No Child Behind? Has Louisiana made progress towards a new and improved accountability system?

Informal Assessment

Have you used rubrics or checklists before? Do you consider them to be an adequate judge of student learning? Why or why not?

Post a response that identifies how you have used cooperative learning in your own classroom, or how you have observed its use in the classrooms of other teachers.

Classroom Rules and Procedures

Establishing rules and procedures is discussed as being one of the most important classroom management activities. Analyze your own classroom rules and procedures and discuss how you implement and reinforce them in your classroom.

Indirect Instruction

What strategies for indirect instruction have you used successfully to improve instruction? Please also feel free to share other thoughts about the pros/cons of indirect instruction.

Direct Instruction

Post a response on our class blog that discusses three areas in your teaching field in which the use of the direct instruction model would be especially appropriate. Explain why this would be true. Take this opportunity to share whether you have used any of the models or programs discussed. For example, Madeline Hunter's 7-step model has been and continues to be very popular in school districts as a guide for lesson design. Also--DISTAR is currently being used in some parishes. Have you used this program or seen it in action? If so, what did you think?

Your Thoughts about WebQuests

Now that you have explored WebQuests, share what you think about using them in the classroom.