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  • Home
  • Outcomes
    • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving >
      • Effective Reasoning
      • Decision Making
      • Problem Solving
    • Character
    • Collaboration & Communication
  • Instructional Practices
    • Arts Integration
    • Critique
    • Learning Expeditions
    • Problem-Based Tasks in Math
    • Student-Led Conferences
    • Student-Led IEPs
    • Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving >
      • Define: Rubrics
      • Teach: Thinking Routines
      • Assess: Performance Tasks
  • Two Rivers Learning Institute
    • Two Rivers Learning Institute Faculty
    • Professional Development Offerings
  • Blog
  • CAREERS
  • Contact

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Welcome to our blog

Ouch! Did I just learn something? Play-Based Learning: A Guide for Grown-Ups

4/24/2015

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​By: 
Rebecca Wenstrom, Middle School Inclusion Specialist; Taryn Peacock, Second Grade Teacher; Julian Wilson, Assistant Teacher; and Tonia Vines, Arts Coordinator

What joyful childhood memory can you recall most clearly? When asked this question, one grown-up recalled long summer afternoons rigging a rope swing on which he and his neighbors swung into a creek. Another adult recalled long evenings playing capture-the-flag in the neighbors’ front yards up and down her block. Another describes playing dress-up imagination games with her siblings. When asked this question, adults reliably recall moments of freedom and discovery during extended periods of play. These experiences are exhilarating, creative, child-directed, unsupervised, and enormously fun. They are also, research tells us, hugely beneficial for brain development.

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Nurturing All Students: Structures that Support Differentiation

4/10/2015

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By: Jennifer McCormick, Middle School Assistant Principal; Mike Jordan, Assistant Teacher; Kai Blackwood, Kindergarten Teacher; and Elizabeth Leboo, ELL Teacher

In a 4th grade classroom, the teachers have planned a close reading task on anthropology, in preparation for the fall expedition. Knowing that their students have a variety of reading levels, they have anticipated some challenges that students may have with understanding the original text. They write a synthesis text, including much of the content specific vocabulary the students need, but simplifying the language so that the text is not overwhelmingly technical. Taking learning styles into account, and knowing that their students benefit from using text features to comprehend, they include some carefully evaluated visuals to enhance comprehension. Since the students will be asked to make a claim about what an anthropologist does based on in-depth understanding of the text, they create a chart for kids to notice and record unfamiliar words. The chart steered kids to the text and context, and provided an activity in making meaning based on using these clues. When students still struggled in understanding, teachers used careful, probing questions to redirect kids to the parts of the text where the word meanings were more explicit. Later on, students listened to each other during share and debrief, and were able to get clarity on any unfamiliar words that they were still unsure about.


Are the many steps to this activity really necessary?  Why not just pass out the text and have students read it?

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It’s All in the Problem: Putting Students in Charge of Their Own Learning PART 2

4/3/2015

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By: Jazmin Heartfield, Prekindergarten Teacher; Meaghan Petersack, Second Grade Teacher; and Elaine Hou, Middle School Principal

What does problem-based learning look like at Two Rivers?
Problems are opportunities, but how does a school create and capitalize on those opportunities? What does the problem-based learning approach look look like in in a typical school day?  Walking into a classroom at Two Rivers, what instructional strategies and moves might a visitor see that are preparing our students to be flexible problem-solvers?  

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