I have observed
at least three major phases that many teachers go through, or far too often, fail to go
through. Phase I might be described by Harry Wong as "Doing what you have been doing,
and getting what you have been getting". In other words, Phase I is simply the
pre-reform effort phase. Of course, we as educators hope to move teachers to a new vision
and this can result in Phase II.
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Inquiry: Learning from the Past with an Eye on the Future | Bonnstetter | Electronic Jo... - 0 views
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In Phase II, teachers are presented with a new teaching strategy, usually in the context of an afternoon or one day workshop. So armed with this new skill, but little else, they venture back to their classroom to try implementation or worse, write off the whole experience and tell colleagues seated near them that they already do that. What is immediately noticeable for those who at least think about possible implementation, is how these teachers internalize this new strategy and attempt to move it into practice.
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Phase III is where teachers reflect on 1. what they were doing that worked, and 2. how they might integrate these new ideas into their pre-workshop repertoire of teaching tools.
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The sad fact is that we far too often fail to invest either the time or the necessary resources to reach and build Phase III teachers. My personal experience suggests that on average it takes anywhere from three to five years for wide spread single component teacher behavior changes to be firmly implemented among a building faculty and from three to eight years with the same general educational reform agenda to accomplish anything close to systemic change.
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classroom teachers or teacher educators, we must take the time to reflect on our past efforts and make needed mid-course corrections. Looking for patterns within our reform projects and helping teachers see reform as an evolutionary process and not an either/or response, will help all of us grow as professionals and ultimately improve the education of our children.
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THE REGENTS EDUCATION REFORM PLAN AND NEW YORK STATE'S RACE TO THE TOP (RTTT) APPLICATION - 0 views
Reform Movements of the Progressive Era | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - 0 views
[Regents Prep U.S. History] Reform: Progressive Era Reform - 0 views
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How Online Learning Is Revolutionizing K-12 Education and Benefiting Students - 0 views
www.heritage.org/...cation-and-benefiting-students
online learning online teaching education k-12 learning
shared by Hedy Lowenheim on 30 Jun 13
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Students appear to be benefiting from online learning programs. While evidence about the effectiveness of K-12 online learning programs is limited, there is reason to believe that students can learn effectively online. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education published a meta-analysis of evidence-based studies of K-12 and postsecondary online learning programs.[3] The study reported that "students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction."[4] In addition, online learning has the potential to improve productivity and lower the cost of education, reducing the burden on taxpayers
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Whether students have access to online learning options will largely be determined by policymakers' willingness to reform education funding to facilitate greater parental choice. This factor largely explains why the Florida Virtual School enrolls 154,000 students while the Maryland Virtual School enrolls only 710 students. If policymakers want to open the possibilities of online learning to all students, they must reform school funding mechanisms to allow the money to follow the students to their providers of choice.
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Federal policymakers should consider using online or virtual learning to improve effectiveness and efficiency of these programs. For example, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) currently educates approximately 85,000 children of military personnel[22] and is developing plans to create an online virtual high school for the 2010-2011 school year.[23] A virtual school for the children of military personnel would likely expand their educational opportunities and minimize disruptions caused by transferring to new schools when their parents are transferred to new assignments.
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Online learning has the potential to revolutionize American education. Today, as many as 1 million children are participating in some form of online learning.
LegalNewsline | Calif. bill targeting ADA lawsuit reform clears committee - 0 views
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, Class Matters-In and Out of School: Closing gaps requires attention to issues of race... - 0 views
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The Instructional Conversation: Teaching and Learning in Social Activity [eScholarship] - 0 views
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teaching curriculum educational programs teaching methods learning student evaluations student teacher relationship
shared by Alicia Fernandez on 19 Jun 14
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For more than a century, American schooling has ben conducted in much the same way: The teacher assigns a text for the students to master and then assesses their learning. Known as the "recitation script," this repeated cycle of assign-assess is far from the natural kind of teaching by which societies have been instructing their young since the dawn of time. Contemporary educational reform is now emphasizing the fundamental, natural method of teaching, which is the assisting of learners through the instructional conversation. Newly understood through the principles of socio-historical theory, real teaching is understood as assisting the learner to perform just beyond his or her current capacity. This assistance in the "zone of proximal development" awakens and rouses into life the mental capacities of learners of all ages. This assistance is best provided through the instructional conversation, a dialogue between teacher and learners in which the teacher listens carefully to grasp the students' communicative intent, and tailors the dialogue to meet the emerging understanding of the learners. This pattern of relationship should be characteristic of the communication of the entire school, in which the teachers assist and converse with one another, administrators assist and converse with teachers, and administration provides activity settings in which these instructional conversations can occur. Such a school becomes a true community of learners, in which school reliably assists the performance of all.
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Some educators question if whiteboards, other high-tech tools raise achievement - 1 views
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American psychological Association (APA) (1997). Learner-centered psychological prinici... - 0 views
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American psychological Association (APA) (1997). Learner-centered psychological priniciples: A framework for school reform and redesign. Retrieved from online at: http://www.apa.org/ed/governance/bea/learner-centered.pdf
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Marc Prensky: The Reformers Are Leaving Our Schools in the 20th Century - 0 views
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Despite the many educational projects and programs now being funded and offered, practically no effort is being made to create and implement a better, more future-oriented education for all our kids.
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This distinction is critical because one can change almost everything about the "system" -- the schools, the leaders, the teachers, the number of hours and days of instruction and so forth -- and still not provide an education that interests our students and gets them deeply engaged in their own learning,
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bell hooks (first initial in first name is suppose to be lower case!) - 1 views
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John Dewey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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School and Society (1900), The Child and the Curriculum (1902), Democracy and Education (1916) and Experience and Education (1938). Throughout these writings, several recurrent themes ring true; Dewey continually argues that education and learning are social and interactive processes, and thus the school itself is a social institution through which social reform can and should take place.
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ieved that students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum, and all students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning.
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life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities” (1897, p. 6).[23] In addition to helping students realize their full potential, Dewey goes on to acknowledge that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social change and reform
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According to Dewey, the teacher should not be one to stand at the front of the room doling out bits of information to be absorbed by passive students. Instead, the teacher’s role should be that of facilitator and guide.
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The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences (p. 9)
Homo Zappiens and the Need for New Education Systems - 0 views
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The Technology Source Archives - Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-... - 6 views
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Students are empowered to learn on their own and even to teach one another.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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They say that it is common for participants in online courses to develop a strong sense of community that enhances the learning process.
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thrilled
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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.
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the best way to teach students how to write more effectively is to have them write more often.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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. 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.
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can refer to their course materials and think through their answers
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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
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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.
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he first response that comes to mind rather than the best possible response
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Many online students have indicated that this is the first time they have ever "spoken up" in class and that they enjoy the opportunity
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Geared to lifelong learning
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as a result of the relative anonymity
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online education can be done well,
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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.
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develop course materials among themselves in a manner rarely seen in the F2F classroom.
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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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Minding the Knowledge Gap - 0 views
www.aft.org/...christodoulou.cfm
facts knowlege short term memory long term memory schema thinking learning
shared by lkryder on 16 Jun 14
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In the meantime, I've written a book, from which this article is drawn, about all that I've learned from my research. In my book, I focus on what I identify as seven myths, or widely held beliefs, that dominate our educational practice. I start with the myth that teaching facts prevents understanding, because this (along with my second myth, that teacher-led instruction is passive) is the foundation of all the other myths I discuss. These myths have a long pedigree and provide the theoretical justification for so much of what goes on in schools. Taken together, all seven myths actually damage the education of our pupils. But here, let's focus on facts and the role knowledge has in our understanding.
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Why Is It a Myth? My aim here is not to criticize true conceptual understanding, genuine appreciation of significance, or higher-order skill development. All of these things are indeed the true aim of education. My argument is that facts and subject content are not opposed to such aims; instead, they are part of it. Rousseau, Dewey, and Freire were wrong to see facts as the enemy of understanding. All the scientific research of the last half-century proves them wrong. The modern bureaucrats and education experts who base policy and practice on their thinking are wrong too, and with less excuse, as they have been alive when evidence that refutes these ideas has been discovered. Rousseau was writing in the 18th century; Dewey at the turn of the 20th; Freire in the 1970s. Research from the second half of the 20th century tells us that their analyses of factual learning are based on fundamentally faulty premises.
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If we want pupils to develop the skills of analysis and evaluation, they need to know things. Willingham puts it this way:23 Data from the last thirty years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that's true not just because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment).
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The main reason they do not work is because of a misguided, outdated, and pseudoscientific stigma against the teaching of knowledge. The evidence for the importance of knowledge is clear. We have a strong theoretical model that explains why knowledge is at the heart of cognition. We have strong empirical evidence about the success of curricula that teach knowledge. And we have strong empirical evidence about the success of pedagogy that promotes the effective transmission of knowledge. If we fail to teach knowledge, pupils fail to learn.
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By neglecting to focus on knowledge accumulation, therefore, and assuming that you can just focus on developing conceptual understanding, today's common yet misguided educational practice ensures not only that pupils' knowledge will remain limited, but also that their conceptual understanding, notwithstanding all the apparent focus on it, will not develop either. By assuming that pupils can develop chronological awareness, write creatively, or think like a scientist without learning any facts, we are guaranteeing that they will not develop any of those skills. As Willingham and others have pointed out, knowledge builds to allow sophisticated higher-order responses. When the knowledge base is not in place, pupils struggle to develop understanding of a topic.
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In a lot of the training material I read, these knowledge gaps were given very little attention. Generally, the word "knowledge" was used in a very pejorative way. The idea was that you were supposed to focus on skills like analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and so forth. Knowledge was the poor relation of these skills. Of course, I wanted my pupils to be able to analyze and evaluate, but it seemed to me that a pupil needed to know something to be able to analyze it. If a pupil doesn't know that the House of Lords isn't elected, how can you get him to have a debate or write an essay analyzing proposals for its reform? Likewise, if a pupil doesn't know what the three branches of government are in the United States, how can she understand debates in the papers about the Supreme Court striking down one of Congress's laws?
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From American Educator, AFT - A Union of Professionals Teaching facts is critical to developing higher order thinking skills. An excellent case is made and the origins of our disdain for teaching facts in the works of Rousseau, Dewey, Freire and others is examined.
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I think this article compliments some earlier discussions I saw on Bloom's Taxonomy in our class and also some of the discussions I saw on Common Core. I would be interested in what the K-12 folks think about this article.
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Rethinking Schools Online - 0 views
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A person can teach in one of Milwaukee's 125 publicly funded private schools without even a high school diploma.
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"teacher proof"
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Such approaches ignore fundamental issues of resources, teacher leadership, teaching and learning conditions, and the need for much more time for teachers to collaborate, assess student progress, and improve their teaching skills.
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20 percent of all new hires leave the classroom within three years. In urban districts, the numbers are worse; close to 50 percent of newcomers leave within their first five years.
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Poor children are the most likely to be taught by the newest and least-qualified teachers
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But if students rarely — if ever — see a teacher of color, or if teachers of color feel isolated and/or burdened by being "the only" in their schools, educational quality suffers.
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Such "conversation" implies thoughtful dialogue. We need to create the institutional spaces where in-depth reflection and discussion about good teaching take place on a regular basis.
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"We have tried to figure out how you can have creative and constructive resistance and how you can layer in your knowledge . . . to try to craft something that has integrity and matches what we know about learning."
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It's a matter of reform grounded in the classroom, of respect for teaching as a profession, of a broader vision of social justice, and of improved organizing and collaboration.
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Study hits 'grade inflation' in New York state testing of pupils | SILive.com - 0 views
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middle-school students who passed their math and English Language Arts tests are likely to struggle on their high school Regents exams
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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.
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Steiner is also calling for longer tests with more rigorous questions.
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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.
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"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."