Chapter one. The right way to ask questions in the classroom

DISTRICTS MAKE PROGRESS—AND ENCOUNTER RESISTANCE—AS THEY UPDATE GRADING MODELS
Even as schools across the country experiment with new models for assessing students, they aren’t ready to commit to a wholesale divorce from the A to F letter grades that have been around since the 1940s.
During the pandemic, teachers, school leaders and district staff in Santa Fe Public Schools noticed a worrying trend. In grades 3 through 12, nearly a third of all students had at least one F. But the troubling failure rates were not necessarily because students weren’t mastering content in their classrooms.
Larry Chavez, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, said students often passed competency exams at the end of the year, but still received failing grades on their report cards due to things many have long argued should have nothing to do with grades: attendance, participation, and, during remote learning, turning on Zoom cameras. In many cases, “they were failing because of noncompliance,” Chavez concluded.
Banning cell phones from classrooms can backfire, but teachers can help students think critically about this addictive technology.
Are you reading this on your phone right now? If the answer is yes, you understand the dilemma that cell phones pose in our classes. Technology use is ubiquitous. Our students are immersed in a technological world, and we need to learn ways to control the use of phones in class.
The old paradigm of banning phones doesn’t work—it just leads to more behavioral challenges in our classroom. Instead, here are some ideas for how to readjust our thinking about cell phones in the classroom.
Giving middle and high school students a chance to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the next can be very beneficial.
As the end of the school year approaches, many middle and high school teachers find themselves faced with less structured time and more opportunities to engage students in community-centered activities. We can dedicate some of this time to meaningful end-of-the-year activities to help our students acknowledge and celebrate the growth they have made while also setting goals for the future.

1. 
   Letters to the future. For this activity, students write a letter to themselves one year in the future. Students are allowed to write anything they want, but I encourage them to focus on what they would like to be true in a year. For some students, this might mean writing about how they are now on the varsity basketball team, are captain of their debate club, or have an A in science class.
   
2. 
   As the end of the school year approaches, many middle and high school teachers find themselves faced with less structured time and more opportunities to engage students in community-centered activities. We can dedicate some of this time to meaningful end-of-the-year activities to help our students acknowledge and celebrate the growth they have made while also setting goals for the future.
   
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4. 
   Letters to the future. For this activity, students write a letter to themselves one year in the future. Students are allowed to write anything they want, but I encourage them to focus on what they would like to be true in a year. For some students, this might mean writing about how they are now on the varsity basketball team, are captain of their debate club, or have an A in science class.