Todd Finley

If you’re the parent of a high school freshman in the state of Texas, I beg you to ask how much time your child spends testing. #Texas #EduSky

How to Decide What to Do After Your Formative Assessment You’ve checked for understanding—now you can use this framework to understand what students’ confusion is telling you, and how you can adjust course.

Students who struggle on a formative assessment commonly have 1 of 4 fixable problems. Professor (and former teacher) @toddfinley.bsky.social shows what to do next. ➡️

#assessment #EduSky

How to Decide What to Do After Your Formative Assessment You’ve checked for understanding—now you can use this framework to understand what students’ confusion is telling you, and how you can adjust course.

How to Decide What to Do After Your Formative Assessment | www.edutopia.org/article/what... #education #teacher #k12 #Edutopia

12 Buddy Systems That Support Learning and Student Well-Being Encouraging students to “look out for each other on purpose” has a powerful impact. These classroom and schoolwide strategies can help you get started.

12 Buddy Systems That Support Learning and Student Well-Being

Encouraging students to “look out for each other on purpose” has a powerful impact. These classroom and schoolwide strategies will help you get started. www.edutopia.org/article/usin... #education #teachers

Love to see how forward-thinking #hackyourstack is. Thank you for sharing this out.

Ask & Answer. How do you keep early finishers from treating free minutes as free passes? Asked by Todd F, Podcast Guest

Our most recent podcast guest, @toddfinley.bsky.social, wants to hear about the early finisher routines in your classroom!

Share your thoughts, talk about the new episode, or ask Todd a question of your own: edut.to/3XlQBpH

School of Practice new episode: Converting ‘Fast Finishers’ Into Self-Directed Learners. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

What do you do when a handful of students finish their work at warp speed?

In our new podcast episode, educator @toddfinley.bsky.social shares 6 strategies to keep your speed racers engaged in meaningful work that’s immersive and challenging. 🏎️ 🎧

Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4ofzJfa

Converting ‘Fast Finishers’ Into Self-Directed Learners Podcast Episode · School of Practice · 11/25/2025 · 20m

My interview on the new Edutopia Podcast (School of Practice) about Converting Fast Finishers into Self-Directed Learners. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... #education #teachers #k12 #edutopia #ED #learning

13 Super-Quick Formative Assessments Teachers can use these techniques to gauge students’ understanding mid-lesson and then decide whether to reteach or press ahead.

13 Super-Quick Formative Assessments
Teachers can use these techniques to gauge students’ understanding mid-lesson and then decide whether to reteach or press ahead. www.edutopia.org/article/quic... #teachers #k12 #formativeassessment #assessment

8 Questions New Teachers Often Ask—Answered An education professor and former teacher tackles issues like classroom management, projecting authority, dealing with parents, cell phone distractions, and more.

8 Questions New Teachers Often Ask—Answered
Classroom management, projecting authority, dealing with parents, cell phone distractions, and more... www.edutopia.org/article/comm... #edutopia #teacher

Research-Based Tips for Optimal Seating Arrangements The right approach to seating works behind the scenes to keep students focused on learning while minimizing disruptions, research suggests.

Classroom seating decisions are some of the most powerful tools that teachers have to manage a classroom, working quietly behind the scenes to promote prosocial behavior & suppress distractions.

Edutopia’s @youkiterada.bsky.social outlines research-based tips for choosing the best layout.

#EduSky

Summer Reflections - Much Ado About Teaching Brian and I truly count ourselves blessed as we work in the best of both worlds: classroom teachers and consultants for teachers. Once the school year ends, we work with teachers from across the count...

Susan Barber notes an essential tension: "Teachers continually express frustration with the lack of student accountability while doubling down on teacher accountability and a desire to return to a more balanced distribution between the two." #edu #teachers muchadoaboutteaching.com/summer-refle...

The Benefits of Anti-Models for Boosting Learning Teachers can explore with students what not to do—like confusing operations in math or using boring word choices in writing—to set students on the right path and boost learning.

❌ Generate rules to guarantee that a class discussion fails.
🙉 How do you show someone you’re not listening?
🤝 List strategies to sabotage a team project.

@toddfinley.bsky.social explains how prompts like these can sharpen students’ awareness of common errors and boost their confidence.

#EduSky

1-Minute Read. Teaching Strategies. 8 Scaffolds That’ll Make You Ask, ‘Why Didn’t I Know This’? By Todd Finley. Illustration of a student sitting at a desk and a teacher standing next to them, with light gray clouds / thought bubbles surrounding both of them. One of the clouds is blue, and the teacher is holding it.

Are your tried-and-true scaffolding strategies still effective?

If you’re looking for new ways to support students, @toddfinley.bsky.social shares eight lesser-known techniques that will make you ask: Why didn’t I know this?

#EduSky #EdChat

🧵1/10

1-Minute Read. Collaborative Learning. 16 Variations on Think-Pair-Share to Keep Students Engaged. By Todd Finley. Illustration of students participating in various think-pair-share activities.

Think-Pair-Share has been a classroom mainstay since the 1980s. It helps increase participation, reinforce key concepts, and aid in recall, professor of English education @toddfinley.bsky.social writes.

But even the strongest learning strategies can get boring if they’re overused.

🧵1/9 #EduSky

The Benefits of Anti-Models for Boosting Learning Teachers can explore with students what not to do—like confusing operations in math or using boring word choices in writing—to set students on the right path and boost learning.

The Benefits of Anti-Models for Boosting Learning www.edutopia.org/article/powe... #EDU #teachers

​From reflection to celebration, these 5 activities help your students look back on the year mindfully—and look ahead for what comes next! 🤩

Get the printables seen in the video here: edut.to/43ebQ0k

Special thanks to educator @toddfinley.bsky.social for the ideas.

#EduSky #teachers

19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities Teachers can help students end the year on a high note with activities that remind them how much they’ve learned in class.

It's that time of year! 🥳😵‍💫

Whether you teach kindergartners excited about ice cream or HS seniors looking ahead to college or work, educator @toddfinley.bsky.social has 19 creative activities to keep students engaged to the last day.

Here are a few of our faves.

🧵 1/6 #EduSky

19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities Teachers can help students end the year on a high note with activities that remind them how much they’ve learned in class.

Teachers, with the end of the year fast approaching, @toddfinley.bsky.social has some great ideas on how to keep students engaged and help them reflect on what they've learned: www.edutopia.org/article/19-h... #studentengagement #edusky

19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities Teachers can help students end the year on a high note with activities that remind them how much they’ve learned in class.

How do you keep students working and learning right up to the end? If you need some inspiration, @toddfinley.bsky.social has *19* great ideas for end-of-year activities. Take a look! 👀

#EduSky #teachers

Your School House Rock moment......

19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities Teachers can help students end the year on a high note with activities that remind them how much they’ve learned in class.

19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities 🗓️ - Edutopia www.edutopia.org/article/19-h... #edu #teachers #k12

Your Student Finished Early—Now What? These extension activities for all grades will help teachers keep fast finishers engaged in meaningful work.'

Classic classroom management challenge: 1 or 2 students finish a task while everyone else is still going.

@toddfinley.bsky.social shares “low-prep and no-prep activities that extend learning beyond busywork and ensure that your class runs smoother than a greased zip line.” 🙌

#EduSky #teachers

Walz: "It's so obscene that he would put a mock classroom -- we all know he's never been in one. He wouldn't last for a minute. He's surrounded by people who know nothing about education. They want to make this about bureaucracy and cutting. This is about children."

Image of turtles and rabbits working in a classroom.

New piece for Edutopia! Your Students Finished Early—Now What? edutopia.org/article/fast... #teachers #education

Fantastic set of AI resources from @ericcurts.bsky.social. Thanks, Eric! #EDU #AI

Only amateurs study what everyone else does.

The greatest academic skill is asking questions nobody thought to ask.
The truly influential researcher spots gaps where others see nothing.
The most cited papers often begin where the literature is quiet.

Education Disrupted: Teaching and Learning in An AI World | Stefan Bauschard | Substack How will AI change learning and instruction? How can we best prepare students for the AI World? Click to read Education Disrupted: Teaching and Learning in An AI World, by Stefan Bauschard, a Substack...

Want to know the future? #edu #teachers stefanbauschard.substack.com?r=sdb5

Eventually, everything a teacher or student does in the classroom will be tracked by AI and labeled with a number. Word-per-minute, etc. The problem: data has such a ring of objective certainty. Meanings attached to these numbers will be decided on by those who have never taught. Thx, Larry.

Hey everyone -- Moms of Liberty and Dept of Education launched a snitch line portal today to rat out teachers and anyone promoting anything DEI.

FLOOD THE PORTAL

Spam the hell out of it.

Pass it on! It works!

enddei.ed.gov