Group items tagged

"Motivation has a great impact on the learning process. While some people learn more by outside influences, others may achieve more by their personal aspirations. Whatever the situation, everyone involved in any learning process should know how motivation affects learning. The Continuum of Motivation graphic below is a snapshot of what moving from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic might look like as learners progress from teacher-centered to learner-driven environments."

"Even after teaching for a decade, Pamela Baack found herself battling the calendar as she tried to keep her students on track. She's the first to admit it wasn't easy to change the way she had been teaching for a decade. "We were always on someone else's pace, not our kids' pace," says Baack, who teaches at the Bella Romero Academy of Applied Technology, a K-8 public school in Greeley, Colorado. Most lessons were taught to the entire class, requiring Baack to constantly search for opportunities to help the students who struggled. "It was hard to differentiate, because it was hard to find the time to go back," she says. Today, students in Baack's third-grade classroom work through addition, multiplication, and division activities at their own pace. Some progress through lessons quickly, while others get the opportunities they need to relearn and practice key concepts until they are ready to move forward. Importantly, Baack says, even the students who struggle the most are at grade level. "They're still doing what every else is doing, but at a different pace," she says. "They're exposed to grade-level standards and content and will be able to move up." "

"Write in Private. Your own personal journal and online diary."

"One reason a parent might not read the classroom newsletter is that it is not about their child. Here is a solution for creating weekly newsletters for parents that are individualized for their child."

"In Square Peg, Todd Rose tells the story of how a high school dropout became a Harvard professor in educational neuroscience. Diagnosed with ADHD in middle school, Rose was always in trouble. From his study of complex systems and neuroscience, he makes four points: variability is the rule: perceptions and reactions are much more dynamic and diverse than previously thought; emotions are important: emotional states influence learning; context is key: circumstances affect the behavior; and feedback loops determine success or failure: small changes making a difference. In Todd's TED talk on the Myth of Average, he makes the case that schools are designed based on the average. But the problem is that no student is average on every dimension, "Every student has a jagged learning profile." Rose said, "We blame kids, teachers, and parents, but it's just bad design.""

"Blended Learning: Personalizing Education for Students"