Gamifying the History Classroom: A Black Death Choice Simulation

History class does not need to be boring, despite the stereotype in pop-culture. Indeed, who can forget the infamous scene from Farris Bueller’s Day Off and the cringe-worthy monotone economics lecture from Ben Stein? History does not need to be like this. One can still have depths of information, insight, and skill-development while having fun […]

Educational Inception: A Metacognitive Self-Assessment on my Classroom Assessments in light of Assessment Theory

We are in the throes of the busiest time of the school year. My finals have been submitted to administration, I am wrapping up the last bit of content review, and preparing for the big show: finals, the ultimate assessment. Every assessment has assumptions about learning. Moreover, teachers make assumptions about the students to whom […]

Thermometers, Mirrors, and Pageants: A Reflection on Assessments

“Why do we have to be so fancy? Can’t I just keep my grades focused on tests, quizzes, and homework?” Sitting at the faculty lunch table, our casual conversation about our most recent PD on formative and summative assessments had just turned into an argument. Half of the table lauded the distinction, function, and purpose […]

Creating a Culture of Lasting Learning

Once again, Simon earned a perfect score on his weekly quiz. While other students struggled, this student thrived on the vocabulary and grammar chart quizzes. He outperformed most of his peers and had a perfect 100% in his quiz grade category. The trouble was that Simon was failing every test and most homework assignments. He […]