E-Hints Related to Instruction

Perhaps just as important as making sure students are immersed in all subjects equally, is the importance of creating an authentic learning environment where students are able to apply the skills they learn throughout their scheduled-subject day.

Have you ever been in a conversation about learning targets, and the textbook was called the curriculum? At first, it may seem like a simple error of using the wrong term. However, a common belief among some educators is that the textbook or resource is a curriculum. The curriculum is…

Client districts using CLI’s Instructional Planning Resource (IPR) can connect contingency planning to intentional forms of instruction. The IPR does not overcome the lack of personal computers, home-based internet availability, or willingness of parents to risk their children getting sick. But it does give structure to how teachers plan for…

This E-Hint is the second segment in a two-part series providing suggestions for returning to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. This segment delves into onsite and online instructional options and checking for understanding in an online environment.

As anyone working in education can attest, a greater emphasis is placed on criterion-referenced high stakes testing than in the past. In response to this reality, including reflective thinking in a teacher’s toolbox of instructional strategies can help students think about their learning and ensure that applications are meaningful and…

Yes, the end of the school year is in sight. Teachers are worried about finishing the curriculum, checking in books, taking posters off the walls, entering grades, and all of their other year-end tasks. Administrators are ticking items off of their unique building goal lists and sending out…

As a throwback to our most popular holiday E-Hint, A CLI Christmas Recipe Book, we’ve compiled five more recipes! Bring these delicious holiday snacks to your classroom party or keep them at home for you to munch on. Each one is a tried-and-true hit from our CLI staff.

It is a familiar scenario and solution. The pressure is felt to improve reading skills to score higher on standardized tests. Elementary teachers can’t extend the school day, so they borrow time from a content area which doesn’t have a state assessment or one not as often. …

Many of our school districts have begun work with proficiency scales, a tool introduced by Robert Marzano and Marzano Research to determine levels of student learning. One benefit of including proficiency scales in your curriculum, instruction, and assessment work is that both the teacher and student can use them. …

Photo source: Megan Soule / Unsplash As a new school year begins, educators need to set and communicate expectations to the students in their classrooms. When identifying expectations, teachers often struggle deciding whether expectations are too high, too low, realistic, and uniformly applied. Popular research continues to…

Analysis of relevant elements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) suggests topics of discussion for the CLI district’s curriculum coordinating council. Although those who prepared ESSA say the act places most responsibility for establishing provisions to ensure school accountability on states, many stipulations included at the federal level…

“Curriculum” is discussed on a daily basis in conversations within schools among administrators, teachers, support staff, and outside stakeholders. Strangely enough, it is a term that carries fundamental misconceptions that make those conversations difficult. Unless everyone involved in the conversation has the same definition for curriculum, what is…

We live in a fast-paced world where society as a whole communicates and receives feedback within seconds. This has become the expected norm in social settings and the business world and has also affected how educators connect with the parents of our nation’s most important product — children. …

In honor of School Library Month, this E-Hint is inspired by a new book: The Other Side of the Report Card: Assessing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Character Development by Maurice Elias, Joseph Ferrito and Dominic Moceri (2016). As curriculum developers, we know that academic learning should be thoughtfully planned,…

Educators are always trying to discover and use new academic strategies to increase student learning. Sometimes the best approaches are not academic, but they are supportive in nature. According to Awaken the Learner, published by Marzano Research, as well as recent articles in NEA Today, attention should be…