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Lisa Martin

Online Schooling Grows, Setting Off a Debate - 0 views

  • Half a million American children take classes online, with a significant group, like the Weldies, getting all their schooling from virtual public schools.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      I didn't realize this many children in America were already taking online classes.
  • Florida Virtual School, the largest Internet public school in the country, more than 50,000 students are taking courses this year
  • About 90,000 children get their education from one of 185 such schools nationwide.
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  • full-time online charter school like the Wisconsin Virtual Academy
  • They are publicly financed, mostly elementary and middle schools.
  • Legally, they are considered public school students, not home-schoolers, because their online schools are taxpayer-financed and subject to federal testing requirements.
  • opposition from some educators, who say elementary students may be too young for Internet learning, and from teachers, unions and school boards, partly because they divert state payments from the online student's home district.
    • Lisa Martin
       
      My charter school faces the same opposition.
  • ''That's what I love most about this curriculum,'' Mrs. Weldie said. ''There's no reason for Isabel to practice counting if she can already add.''
    • Lisa Martin
       
      True individualization of instruction.
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    This article discuss fully online public elementary schools and the opposition from school districts.
Melissa Pietricola

Today's Middle Schools Combining Education with Life Experiences - 0 views

  • most successful middle schools recognize learner diversity,
  • promote a positive school environment
  • collaboration among students and educators, promotes harmony and interpersonal relations among students, and reflects positive communication. Teachers and students listen with empathy and support others in a positive manner.
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  • ith the elimination of the “students vs. educators” mentality, middle school students perceive the harmonious relationships in the school and see less of a need to engage in hostile and confrontational behaviors.
  •  
    Elements of a successful middle school
Danielle Melia

EBSCOhost: Exploring the Impact of Web-Based Learning Tools in Middle School Mathemati... - 0 views

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    This study examined the impact of Web-Based Learning Tools (WBLTs), also known as learning objects, in middle school mathematics and science classrooms. Survey, qualitative, and student performance data were collected from a sample of 18 teachers and 443 students. Teachers were very positive about the learning benefits, design of WBLTs, and increased engagement of their students. Students were moderately positive about these same features. Student learning performance with respect to remembering, understanding, applying and evaluating concepts increased significantly when WBLTs were used. Qualitative data suggested that a number of students enjoyed the visual supports, ease of use, and interactivity of WBLTs as well using technology to learn. Some students noted that the WBLTs used in class were not challenging enough and that the help features and the design of certain WBLTs were deficient. Overall, it is reasonable to conclude that WBLTs, if selected carefully, can be a positive and effective learning tool in a middle school environment. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Lisa Martin

What Research Says: Varieties of Parent Involvement in Schooling - Middle School Journal - 0 views

  • Figure 1Six types of parent involvementType 1:ParentingAssist families with parenting skills, family support, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions to support learning at each age and grade level. Assist schools in understanding families' backgrounds, cultures, and goals for children.Type 2:CommunicatingCommunicate with families about school programs and student progress. Create two-way communication between school and home.Type 3:VolunteeringImprove recruitment, training, activities, and schedules to involve families as volunteers and as audiences at the school. Enable educators to work with volunteers who support students and the school.Type 4:Learning at HomeInvolve families with their children in academic learning at home, including homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities. Encourage teachers to design homework that enables students to share and discuss interesting tasks with parents.Type 5:Decision MakingInclude families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy activities through school councils and improvement teams, committees, and parent organizations.Type 6:Collaborating with the CommunityCoordinate resources and services for families, students, and the school with community groups, including businesses, agencies, cultural and civic organizations, and colleges and universities. Enable all to contribute service to the community.
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    6 types of parental involvement in education. This article goes into detail about the benefits of parental involvement on achievement in education.
Irene Watts-Politza

Teaching Today | How-To Articles | Using Technology to Motivate Middle School Students - 0 views

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    Middle schools that develop challenging curricula of an exploratory nature are emerging as models in the field of technology integration.
William Meredith

Sensation-Seeking | Education.com - 0 views

    • William Meredith
       
      Not applicable to higher education?
  • Nevertheless, these students still pay attention to tasks, activities, and media messages that are low in sensation-value, if the topic is particularly salient to them. For example, individuals may attend to a seemingly boring documentary on cancer research, if they have close relatives or friends who is suffering from the disease; they may attend to a lecture on the stock market if they have just received the gift of a larger sum of money.
  • Students with a high sensation needs benefit from instructional practices that meet those needs. It certainly is not possible to meet the needs of these students at all times, but some lessons can be altered to better hold their attention.
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  • benefit from changes in daily routines
  • hese adaptations include: (a) the use of dramatic role-playing activities (including the videotaping of such activities), (b) the incorporation of videos and music into traditional lessons, (c) the inclusion of outside speakers with real-world experiences, and (d) the opportunity for students to facilitate conversations and activities in the classrooms
  • Third, educators need to be aware that students with high sensation needs may also experience problems with behavior in the classroom. These students are more likely to get out of their seats, to talk to their neighbors, and to seek attention from the teacher. Thus targeting students with high needs for sensation early on and setting up classroom contexts to provide for these students' needs may alleviate some potential behavioral problems in the classroom.
  • Sensation-seeking is characterized by researchers as a basic human need and as a component of human personality. The need for sensation runs along a continuum, wherein some individuals have a high need for sensation, whereas others have a low need for sensation.
  • The concept of sensation-seeking primarily has been studied in the domains of clinical psychology, personality psychology, health psychology, and communications. From an evolutionary perspective, attention to novel stimuli in the environment was necessary for human survival
  • Individuals who have high sensation needs typically engage in certain predictable behaviors. Most notably, the research indicates that individuals who exhibit a high need for sensation often are more likely to engage in risky or dangerous behaviors, such as abusing substances and having unprotected sexual intercours
  • Research indicates that sensation-seeking rises markedly during early adolescence (Donohew et al., 1994). For many adolescents, this increase coincides with the transition from elementary school into middle school. Thus although students with high needs for sensation are present in elementary, middle, and high schools, these students may be particularly prevalent in middle school settings.
Melissa Pietricola

Study hits 'grade inflation' in New York state testing of pupils | SILive.com - 0 views

  • middle-school students who passed their math and English Language Arts tests are likely to struggle on their high school Regents exams
  • tudents who scored a Level 3 on their state tests -- which is considered passing -- would likely earn a 65 on their Regents exams, but that a score of 80 was typically needed to earn college credit for a course, according to the News.
  • Steiner is also calling for longer tests with more rigorous questions.
    • Melissa Pietricola
       
      Does longer mean better? Does a longer test necessarily mean it will better assess the learning objective?
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  • Critics have long been saying the tests appeared to be getting easier, and have wondered whether the scoring was adjusted to make politicians look better.
    • Melissa Pietricola
       
      Do regents and middle level state tests give kids "false sense of hope" as she states? My kids could care less what the state says. They are worried about their daily grades.
  • "But by any measure -- including the highly respected NAEP exams, state tests, and graduation rates -- due to the bold reform agenda implemented by this administration, the significant progress made by New York City students has far outpaced that of students in the rest of New York state."
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    NYS example of grade inflation; focusing on the middle level
James Ranni

Keystone High School, Online High School, Online High School Diploma - 1 views

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    Online accredited middle and high school for homeschoolers and students needing to make up entire coures or even units, online.
Erin Fontaine

Techy Lincoln Middle School teachers reaching students' brains through their smartphone... - 0 views

  • Another benefit of Edmodo is that students are encouraged to collaborate in order to solve problems, while the teachers can stand back and observe.
  • "It's almost like I had stepped out of the equation and they were problem solving themselves,"
  • The students' fingers got busy typing on their cell phone keyboards, and anonymous responses started showing up almost instantly on the discussion webpage for the question: "It could make learning more fun." "We can get our grades quicker." "It makes learning easier for everybody." "It's a lot more hands on and everyone has a voice." "Makes us pay attention and focus more."
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  • "They're training themselves. We're just the facilitators; we're just guiding them through it."
  • "Our students have been taught a one-dimensional literacy, and literacy isn't one-dimensional — it's three-dimensional," she said. "They need to be able to know what all those dimensions and facets are."
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    Learn to embrace and be a part of their world and they will become more of an active learner.
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    I found this article as I was researching as to what I wanted to do for my course. I was really debating whether I wanted to do a course for adults or if I wanted to do one at the middle school level. This article was definitely one of my deciding factors.
Erin Fontaine

Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory - 0 views

  • We must recognize the importance of challenging our students — in a supportive way — to recognize both that they are thinkers and that their thinking often goes awry. We must lead class discussions about thinking. We must explicitly model thinking (e.g., thinking aloud through a problem). We must design classroom activities that explicitly require students to think about their thinking. We must have students examine both poor and sound thinking, talking about the differences. We must introduce students to the parts of thinking and the intellectual standards necessary to assess thinking. We must introduce the idea of intellectual humility to students; that is, the idea of becoming aware of our own ignorance. Perhaps children can best understand the importance of this idea through their concept of the "know-it-all," which comes closest to their recognition of the need to be intellectually humble.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is a great foundation for an icebreaker module.
  • recognize that they have basic problems in their thinking and make initial attempts to better understand how they can take charge of and improve it.
  • begin to modify some of their thinking, but have limited insight into deeper levels of the trouble inherent in their thinking. Most importantly, they lack a systematic plan for improving their thinking, hence their efforts are hit and miss.
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  • appreciate a critique of their powers of thought.
  • we must teach in such a way as to help them to see that we all need to regularly practice good thinking to become good thinkers.
  • We must emphasize the importance of beginning to take charge of the parts of thinking and applying intellectual standards to thinking. We must teach students to begin to recognize their native egocentrism when it is operating in their thinking.
  • since practicing thinkers are only beginning to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way, they still have limited insight into deeper levels of thought, and thus into deeper levels of the problems embedded in thinking.
  • need for systematic practice in thinking.
  • Practicing thinkers recognize the need for systematicity of critical thinking and deep internalization into habits. They clearly recognize the natural tendency of the human mind to engage in egocentric thinking and self-deception.
  • regularly monitor
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses
  • often recognize their own egocentric thinking as well as egocentric thinking on the part of others. Furthermore practicing thinkers actively monitor their thinking to eliminate egocentric thinking, although they are often unsuccessful.
  • intellectual perseverance
  • have the intellectual humility required to realize that thinking in all the domains of their lives must be subject to scrutiny, as they begin to approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way.
  • We must teach in such a way that students come to understand the power in knowing that whenever humans reason, they have no choice but to use certain predictable structures of thought: that thinking is inevitably driven by the questions, that we seek answers to questions for some purpose, that to answer questions, we need information, that to use information we must interpret it (i.e., by making inferences), and that our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions, and have implications, all of which involves ideas or concepts within some point of view. We must teach in such a way as to require students to regularly deal explicitly with these structures (more on these structure presently).
  • Recognizing the "moves" one makes in thinking well is an essential part of becoming a practicing thinker.
  • Students should be encouraged to routinely catch themselves thinking both egocentrically and sociocentrically.
  • advanced thinkers not only actively analyze their thinking in all the significant domains of their lives, but also have significant insight into problems at deeper levels of thought. While advanced thinkers are able to think well across the important dimensions of their lives, they are not yet able to think at a consistently high level across all of these dimensions. Advanced thinkers have good general command over their egocentric nature. They continually strive to be fair-minded. Of course, they sometimes lapse into egocentrism and reason in a one-sided way.
  • develop depth of understanding
  • nsight into deep levels of problems in thought: consistent recognition, for example, of egocentric and sociocentric thought in one’s thinking, ability to identify areas of significant ignorance and prejudice, and ability to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      What do YOU believe in? How and why do you believe it?
  • successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., and hence have excellent knowledge of that enterprise. Advanced thinkers are also knowledgeable of what it takes to regularly assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc.
  • critique their own plan for systematic practice, and improve it thereby.
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses in their thinking.
  • reduce the power of their egocentric thoughts.
  • a) the intellectual insight and perseverance to actually develop new fundamental habits of thought based on deep values to which one has committed oneself, b) the intellectual integrity to recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one’s life, c) the intellectual empathy necessary to put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, d) the intellectual courage to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints toward which one has strong negative emotions, e) the fair-mindedness necessary to approach all viewpoints without prejudice, without reference to one’s own feelings or vested interests. In the advanced thinker these traits are emerging, but may not be manifested at the highest level or in the deepest dimensions of thought.
  • our students will not become advanced thinkers — if at all — until college or beyond. Nevertheless, it is important that they learn what it would be to become an advanced thinker. It is important that they see it as an important goal. We can help students move in this direction by fostering their awareness of egocentrism and sociocentrism in their thinking, by leading discussions on intellectual perseverance, intellectual integrity, intellectual empathy, intellectual courage, and fair-mindedness. If we can graduate students who are practicing thinkers, we will have achieved a major break-through in schooling. However intelligent our graduates may be, most of them are largely unreflective as thinkers, and are unaware of the disciplined habits of thought they need to develop to grow intellectually as a thinker.
  • have systematically taken charge of their thinking, but are also continually monitoring, revising, and re-thinking strategies for continual improvement of their thinking. They have deeply internalized the basic skills of thought, so that critical thinking is, for them, both conscious and highly intuitive.
  • As Piaget would put it, they regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization.
  • Accomplished thinkers are deeply committed to fair-minded thinking, and have a high level of, but not perfect, control over their egocentric nature.
  • To make the highest levels of critical thinking intuitive in every domain of one’s life. To internalize highly effective critical thinking in an interdisciplinary and practical way.
  • Accomplished thinkers are not only actively and successfully engaged in systematically monitoring the role in their thinking of concepts, assumptions, inferences, implications, points of view, etc., but are also regularly improving that practice. Accomplished thinkers have not only a high degree of knowledge of thinking, but a high degree of practical insight as well. Accomplished thinkers intuitively assess their thinking for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logicalness, etc. Accomplished thinkers have deep insights into the systematic internalization of critical thinking into their habits. Accomplished thinkers deeply understand the role that egocentric and sociocentric thinking plays in the lives of human beings, as well as the complex relationship between thoughts, emotions, drives and behavior.
  • Naturally inherent in master thinkers are all the essential intellectual characteristics, deeply integrated. Accomplished thinkers have a high degree of intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, intellectual perseverance, intellectual courage, intellectual empathy, intellectual autonomy, intellectual responsibility and fair-mindedness. Egocentric and sociocentric thought is quite uncommon in the accomplished thinker, especially with respect to matters of importance. There is a high degree of integration of basic values, beliefs, desires, emotions, and action.
  • For the foreseeable future the vast majority of our students will never become accomplished thinkers 
  • important that they learn what it would be to become an accomplished thinker. It is important that they see it as a real possibility, if practicing skills of thinking becomes a characteristic of how they use their minds day to day.
  • Thus it is vital that an intellectual vocabulary for talking about the mind be established for teachers; and that teachers lead discussions in class designed to teach students, from the point of view of intellectual quality, how their minds work, including how they can improve as thinkers.
  • in elementary school an essential objective would be that students become "beginning" thinkers, that is, that they will be taught so that they discover that they are thinkers and that their thinking, like a house, can be well or poorly constructed. This "discovery" stage--the coming to awareness that all of us are thinkers--needs to be given the highest priority. Middle school and High School, on this model, would aim at helping all students become, at least, "practicing" thinkers. Of course, students discover thinking only by discovering that thinking has "parts." Like learning what "Legos" are, we learn as we come to discover that there are various parts to thinking and those parts can be put together in various ways. Unlike Legos, of course, thinking well requires that we learn to check how the parts of thinking are working together to make sure they are working properly: For example, have we checked the accuracy of information? Have we clarified the question?
  • We are not advocating here that teachers withdraw from academic content. Rather we are suggesting that critical thinking provides a way of deeply embracing content intellectually. Within this view students come to take intellectual command of how they think, act, and react while they are learning...history, biology, geography, literature, etc., how they think, act, and react as a reader, writer, speaker, and listener, how they think, act, and react as a student, brother, friend, child, shopper, consumer of the media, etc.
  • to effectively learn any subject in an intellectually meaningful way presupposes a certain level of command over one’s thinking, which in turn presupposes understanding of the mind’s processes.
  • Thinking is inevitably driven by the questions we seek to answer, and those questions we seek to answer for some purpose. To answer questions, we need information which is in fact meaningful to us only if we interpret it (i.e., by making inferences). Our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions and require that we use ideas or concepts to organize the information in some way from some point of view. Last but not least, our thinking not only begins somewhere intellectually (in certain assumptions), it also goes somewhere---that is, has implications and consequences.
  • Thus whenever we reason through any problem, issue, or content we are well advised to take command of these intellectual structures: purpose, question, information, inferences, assumptions, concepts, point of view, and implications. By explicitly teaching students how to take command of the elements of reasoning we not only help them take command of their thinking in a general way; we also provide a vehicle which effectively enables them to critically think through the content of their classes, seeing connections between all of what they are learning.
  • if I am to develop my critical thinking ability I must both "discover" my thinking and must intellectually take charge of it. To do this I must make a deep commitment to this end.
  • the human mind, left to its own, pursues that which is immediately easy, that which is comfortable, and that which serves its selfish interests. At the same time, it naturally resists that which is difficult to understand, that which involves complexity, that which requires entering the thinking and predicaments of others.
  • When we learn together as developing thinkers, when we all of us seek to raise our thinking to the next level, and then to the next after that, everyone benefits, and schooling then becomes what it was meant to be, a place to discover the power of lifelong learning. This should be a central goal for all our students--irrespective of their favored mode of intelligence or learning style. It is in all of our interest to accept the challenge: to begin, to practice, to advance as thinkers.
dkiesel

The Technology Source Archives - Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-... - 6 views

  • Students are empowered to learn on their own and even to teach one another.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      Students are made accountable for their own education and are able to reflect on what they are learning.
    • Heather Kurto
       
      Students work together with professors to create a learning style that meets their needs. The students guide information that is important to them making the experience meaningful.
  • Students served as instructors to their classmates, and together they worked toward learning goals more effectively than if they had been provided with the answer by the instructor.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      I have seen my own students achieve better comprehension when they are able to see the information through the eyes of their peers rather than my perspective.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This also supports Shift 4 in ELA Common Core which calls for students to have "rich" conversations centering on a text.
  • When an instructor posts a question on the asynchronous discussion board, every student in the class is expected to respond, respond intelligently, and respond several times.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This expectation is supported by the online instructor's facilitation of discourse and intellectual leadership, identified by Jones et al. as two aspects of teaching presence.
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  • On a more formal note, online tests and quizzes can be constructed with an automatic grading capability that provides immediate feedback and references to text and class notes that explain the correct answers. Assignments, including grades and editorial comments, can be returned to students more promptly and usually with more detail than in the F2F environment.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is something to consider with respect to formative assessment, RtI evidence/data, and computer-based grade books. Wondering how it would work in an open source learning platform for collecting data on teacher effectiveness at the university level?
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      I have used online homework systems with my middle school students, and it works wonderfully. Many students use the immediate feedback to their advantage, reviewing the questions they got wrong. I know they use it well because whenever I happen to make an error in marking the correct answer, I will receive a flood of emails from students quoting resources stating why they believe their answer to be correct.
  • They say that it is common for participants in online courses to develop a strong sense of community that enhances the learning process.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Bodes well for gobalization of education, especially when supported by language conversion apps.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      Reminds me of a community of inquiry model. See Garrison, Anderson, and Archer, 2000.
  • thrilled
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is indeed the perfect verb for this experience!
  • The thinking, planning, research, learning, and effort that goes into constructing and teaching an online course has rejuvenated many faculty members who were frankly going through the motions after numerous years of teaching the same courses, semester after semester, in the same classroom environment.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      As online learning increases at the secondary level, is it possible that responsibility for curriculum development will become an APPR bargaining issue under the Regents Reform Agenda?
  • the best way to teach students how to write more effectively is to have them write more often.
    • Erin Fontaine
       
      One of my main concerns about creating and online class for a junior high (7th/8th) grade is about how technology is affecting their writing abilities. I was afraid of how all the short hand phrases we all use are affecting students and their abiliity to write. Yes, online courses are writing intensive and a great means of keeping students writing but as the teacher I feel like I have to make sure that the work I recieve is of quality. As I continue to research this fear I am seeing both sides of the argument. Text talk may be both positive and negative. Still looking into this... Here is just one of many articles I have found on this topic: http://www.nst.com.my/nation/extras/zero-to-12-is-technology-deteriorating-language-skills-1.89256
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      Thanks for the link. I know with my students, I emphasize the need for using conventional English in typed school work no matter what device they are using. Most of my middle school students are adept at transitioning from the language they would use while texting to the language I expect in their lab report, even if they are typing the lab on their phone.
  • Students with family or work responsibilities are often unable to commit to a traditional course because they cannot be in the same place at the same time for 15 consecutive weeks.
    • Amy M
       
      This is a huge factor is accessibility for adult-learners.
  • Although some instructors may discover more than they wanted to know about their students, my online teaching experience disproves the notion that online courses are impersonal and do not foster relationships, either between students and instructors or among students themselves.
    • Amy M
       
      I wonder what the limit on class size is for an online course to feel "intimate."
  • In the traditional F2F classroom, the instructor asks a question, and the same four or five extroverted students inevitably raise their hands. They offer spontaneous, often unresearched responses in the limited time allotted for discussion. In the online environment, discussions enter a new dimension.
    • Heather Kurto
       
      This is huge for online learning. Students are able to thoughtfully respond which deepens discussions.
  • . Online education is neither right for all students nor right for all faculty, but it frequently meets the needs of both for an exciting, high-quality educational experience.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      How do we make the jump and empower students to actually take on the role as a teacher?
  • explain, share, comment upon, critique
  • explain, share, comment upon, critique
  • unresearched responses in the limited time
  • unresearched responses
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      I personally have seen a big difference in my thought and contributions when given time to think, research, and craft a response to an argument.
    • sherrilattimer
       
      There is also something to be said abou the "delete" button. Once you say something, you cannot undo it.
  • can refer to their course materials and think through their answers
    • efleonhardt
       
      I think this is a very important piece of online learning I hadn't thought about t before. When students are online they are able to actually process the information and not be afraid if they're processing skills are slower than other students.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      The goal is for the student to continue learning throughout life, not just for the course. This links back to the Minds on Fire reading: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20
  • However, I have heard from very few faculty members who are not energized by the creative process of achieving the same instructional goals in an entirely new format.
  • On average, online courses are far more writing-intensive than traditional classes have ever been.
  • he first response that comes to mind rather than the best possible response
    • George Dale
       
      and you don't have the, "Doh! I should have said ..." as you're walking out of the classroom.
  • Many online students have indicated that this is the first time they have ever "spoken up" in class and that they enjoy the opportunity
  • Geared to lifelong learning
    • George Dale
       
      While I'm not a LMS hater, I do see this as a problem in the way LMSs keep a death grip on the content and learning. I'd like to develop a plugin for Balckboard that allows a student to easily "pack up" and take their work with them as they complete a course.
  • as a result of the relative anonymity
    • George Dale
       
      It's almost ironic that the initial anonimity can lead to deeper connections relative to F2F interactions.
  • online education can be done well,
    • George Dale
       
      It seems that some examples that are used to demonstrate a poor online course are often as good as a "normal" (i.e. F2F) class. Being as good as a traditional lecture class is a low bar to set.
    • Arnaldo Robles
       
      I can see this serving as a useful tool for writing activities!
  • In their everyday lives, individuals do not have a teacher at their side to direct them in their acquisition of new information. One of the roles that we need to perform as educators, then, is to teach students to find and learn information on their own or in concert with their colleagues. The online environment fosters self-motivated education. Students direct their own use of Internet links, search engines, discussion boards, chat, e-mail, and other media. While such resources cannot guarantee student initiative, they establish a framework that gives precedence to the autonomy of the learner.
    • Arnaldo Robles
       
      I like this!
  • develop course materials among themselves in a manner rarely seen in the F2F classroom.
    • dkiesel
       
      In f2f classes at masters public health program, we do extensive group projects. I think that k--12 classes may not have had many project-based classes of which hopefully will be more as we are seeing the influence of online teaching and how for practical learning the online environment can greatly compliment a practical session.  But I don't agree that all the practical project based work I have done for my profession with other students and teachers is not as well integrated compared to all the practical group work I have done in my profession with students and teachers. Also the quality of spoken live discussion in group work is very challenging when it is live. Maybe online is helping by giving us more time to think before we say something. 
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    Sorry I didn't want these to go public. These were just my notes to myself so that I could further do some research. Is there a way to remove these or make these private again. Guess I'm still testing the water.
Maria Guadron

http://www.kidsconsortium.org/m_hs_language_000.pdf.pdf - 0 views

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    "examples of service learning projects at the middle and high school level"
Amy M

Self-Directed Learning for Middle School Students - 0 views

shared by Amy M on 15 Aug 12 - Cached
  • I am inspired to construct a customized curriculum unit combining years of teaching experience with research studies based in theories of philosophy of learning, educational psychology, and cognitive psychology that is intended to help students become self-regulated learners. Educational research lends relevant information useful to understanding why our middle school students show such a decline in performance and motivation, and how we can fix it.
  • This allows us to examine changes in difficulty and identify current strengths and weakness. Most students are pleased to see how well they can perform on both tests, even if their results on the grade-level test were below passing.
  •  
    a unit on self directed learning
Melissa Pietricola

Decision Making in MIddle School Social Studies: SOCIALIZATION - 0 views

    • Melissa Pietricola
       
      Middle school students need caring teachers who listen and demonstrate to them that they want to understand them. Online learning may facilitate this.
  • http://www.jstor.org/stable/30189467
Erin Fontaine

Media Use Statistics                                           Resources on m... - 0 views

  • ne out of ten 13- to 17-year-olds have used some form of social media
  • 68% of all teens say Facebook is their main social networking site
  • 51% visit social networking sites daily
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  • 34% of teens visit their main social networking site several times a day
  • 23% of teens is a “heavy” social media user, meaning they use at least two different types of social media each and every day
  • A new study finds that 20 percent of third grade students have cell phones and 90 percent of them are online, while 83 percent of children in middle school have one.
  • 63% of all teens say they exchange text messages every day with people in their lives, including their parents
  • Half (52 percent) of all zero- to 8-year-olds have access to a new mobile device such as a smart phone, video iPod, or iPad/tablet
  • Fully 95 percent of all teens ages 12-17 are now online, and 80 percent of online teens are users of social media sites. Teens of all ages and backgrounds are witnessing these mean behaviors online and are reacting in a variety of ways:
  • Ninety percent of teen social media users say they have ignored the mean behavior they have witnessed on a social network site. Eighty percent say they have personally defended a victim of meanness and cruelty. Seventy-nine percent say they have told someone to stop their mean behavior on a social network site. Twenty-one percent say they have personally joined in on the harassment of others on a social network site. Source
  • Nearly 90% of older teens (aged 14-17) have a cell phone, while just under 60% of 12- to 13-year-olds have a cell phone
  • More than a third (38 percent) of children this age have used one of these devices, including 10 percent of zero-to 1-year-olds, 39 percent of 2- to 4-year-olds, and more than half (52 percent) of 5- to 8-year-olds.
  • In a typical day, one in 10 zero- to 8-year-olds uses a smart phone, video iPod, iPad, or similar device to play games, watch videos, or use other apps. Those who do such activities spend an average of 43 minutes a day doing so
  • Sixty-five percent of high school students use cell phones in school.
  • One-quarter of text messages sent by teens are sent during class.
lkryder

Making Matters! How the Maker Movement Is Transforming Education - WeAreTeachers - 0 views

  • The tools and ethos of the Maker revolution offer insight and hope for schools. The breadth of options and the “can-do” attitude espoused by the movement is exactly what students need, especially girls who tend to opt out of science and math in middle and high school. However, hands-on Making is not just a good idea for young women. All students need challenge and “hard fun” that inspires them to dig deeper and construct big ideas. Making science hands-on and interesting is not pandering to young sensibilities; it honors the learning drive and spirit that is all too often crushed by endless worksheets and vocabulary drills. Making is a way of bringing engineering to young learners. Such concrete experiences provide a meaningful context for understanding the abstract science and math concepts traditionally taught by schools while expanding the world of knowledge now accessible to students for the first time.
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    Maker movement a good example of students' need and desire to learn by doing
Amy M

Do Your Students Know More About Technology Than You Do? | Scholastic.com - 0 views

  • For example, 75 percent of teachers say they regularly use technology in their classrooms. However, only 40 percent of students report that technology is used in their classrooms. You have to wonder if “regular tech use” is defined differently by kids and adults.
  • 53 percent of middle and high school students feel that the restrictions on using cell phones are the biggest obstacle to using technology at school.
  • Worse, while 75 percent of teachers feel they understand how students want to use technology as a learning tool, only 49 percent of their students agree.
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    For example, 75 percent of teachers say they regularly use technology in their classrooms. However, only 40 percent of students report that technology is used in their classrooms. You have to wonder if "regular tech use" is defined differently by kids and adults.
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