Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"Mastering digital communication is much more than just about being safe and courteous online. It's also part of being a great Global Digital Citizen-the kind of citizen we must begin cultivating in our schools. digital At the Global Digital Citizen Foundation, we believe the role of an effective digital communicator is to show courtesy, integrity, and respectability in all forms of technology-based interactions and associations. Moreover, their role is also to model this behaviour for the rest of us. It makes sense to cultivate our learners to become such empowered individuals that are aware of their responsibility both for and with the power of the Internet, for the lasting well-being of our global community. Moving forward, then, how can we help them realize the meaning of a truly exemplary digital communication? What does such a practice look like in action?"

"Many people believe getting our learners to begin thinking independently is the main goal of education. "Teach students so that they don't need the teacher." But what if that wasn't the case? What if there were something higher than independence? After all, Stephen Covey reminds us: independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. Thinking independently comes as a part of working together collaboratively. In order to get there, these are the stages that we want to lead our students through: dependence to independence to interdependence. If we can get them from dependence to independence, we're almost there. Interdependence comes with applying their hard-earned skills toward relationship building. How are we going to help our students to start thinking independently so that they may eventually use those skills in practicing interdependence?"

"For the longest time, I was the project manager for 30 different projects. I would chart their progress and nag them about getting tasks done. Or I would set specific deadlines for the entire class. Over time, though, I realized that my students could learn how to manage their projects on their own. This is also why I believe in guiding students through a project management process. It's not perfect. Kids will still struggle to meet deadlines. Procrastination will still occur. But project management is a skill that improves over time. As students learn how to break apart tasks and chart their progress, they begin to think differently about their work. In the end, it becomes one of those life-long, transferable skills."

"Teachers change brains. While we often don't think of ourselves as brain changers, when we teach we have an enormous impact on our students' cognitive development. Recent advances in educational neuroscience are helping educators understand the critical role we play in building brain capacities important to students' learning and self-control. To understand how teachers change the brain, we need to begin with a reasonably new understanding of the biology of learning. The human brain is an experience-dependent organ. Throughout our lives, the cerebrum-the largest portion of our brain-fine-tunes itself to adapt to the world around us. The scientific term used to describe this is "neuroplasticity, " which involves three processes."

"How much of the internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was "bots masquerading as people," a portion so high that employees feared an inflection point after which YouTube's systems for detecting fraudulent traffic would begin to regard bot traffic as real and human traffic as fake. They called this hypothetical event "the Inversion.""

"Math has been a traditionally thorny subject in many American schools. Lots of children dislike math and many more adults stopped taking mathematics as soon as they are able, even when they were successful in their classes. At the same time, mathematical thinking is a crucial part of many of the most exciting and growing careers in science, technology, engineering and math, not to mention important for a general understanding of the mathematical world around us. So, what can U.S. math educators do to shift this dynamic? Stanford Mathematics Education Professor Jo Boaler is championing a dramatic shift in how many math teachers approach instruction. Rather than focusing on the algorithms and procedures that make mathematics feel like a lock-step process -- with one right way of solving problems -- Boaler encourages teachers to embrace the visual aspects of math. She encourages teachers to ask students to grapple with open-ended problems, to share ideas and to see math as a creative endeavor. She works with students every summer and says that when students are in a math environment that doesn't focus on performance, speed, procedures, and right and wrong answers they thrive. They even begin to change their perceptions of whether they can or can't do math."

"In today's world, literacy goes beyond just the basic ability to comprehend text. Today's students will also need to master a new skill-digital literacy. Cornell University defines digital literacy as "the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet." Digital literacy, by this definition, encompasses a wide range of skills, all of which are necessary to succeed in an increasingly digital world. As print mediums begin to die out, the ability to comprehend information found online becomes more and more important. Students who lack digital literacy skills may soon find themselves at just as much of a disadvantage as those who cannot read or write. Because digital literacy is so important, educators are increasingly required to teach students digital literacy in the classroom. In many ways, this is similar to what educators have always done in teaching students to read and write. In other ways, however, digital literacy is a brand new skill. Most students already use digital technology, such as tablets, smartphones, and computers, at home. Many students already know how to navigate the web, share images on social media, and do a Google search to find information. However, true digital literacy goes beyond these basic skills."

"Back in the early 1900s, John Dewey promoted the "learning by doing" approach to education, which would later become the foundation of project-based learning (PBL). This framework allows for students to use knowledge from all areas of study to complete a project or task, a process that prepares them for the challenges that they may have to overcome in a future career. Having a job may seem a lifetime away for a child. But by exposing them to different career paths, we can get them thinking about their life after high school before it's too late. As teachers, administrators, or parents, we know how important the future is for our students, and we want to give them an idea of what to expect when the next chapter of their lives begin. But how can we better prepare them for their lives after graduation?"

"Anxious, overconfident, curious, indifferent, angry, amused, lonely, hopeful, embarrassed, empowered, afraid, excited, diminished-teachers have seen all these emotions emerge from students as they engage with classroom content. Emotional responses to lessons often go through students' minds before they even begin to think about the material: This stuff is stupid/awesome/beyond me. I'm not comfortable with this. Finally, something I'm good at. Maybe somebody will notice I can't read. Let's see her find a mistake in that one-it's perfect. Does the teacher know I didn't study this last night? Some of us deny this reality and claim we aren't trained to guide children's emotional health. We think our purpose is to teach content and skills only, not to deal with the touchy-feely stuff. This attitude turns a blind eye to the developmental nature of the students we serve, and it runs afoul of how minds learn. Unless we're the most severe of sociopaths, we all have emotional responses that affect what we do. Adding to the messiness, our individual perspectives and experiences may put us out of sync with others' emotional states, even as the institutional nature of schools demands emotional synchronicity. The resulting miscommunication, blame, anxiety, and frustration are not the best ingredients for a good day at school. Teachers who deny the emotional elements of teaching and learning can become exhausted from ceaseless confrontations with students' emotional states, often blaming their personal stress and students' failure to learn on students' lack of motivation or maturity. They grow disconnected from students, creating an almost adversarial relationship with them: I need to get them to shape up. It's them or me. These students are hopeless; why should I bother? It's the parents who created this situation. This attitude can bleed into daily interactions with students and colleagues. It doesn't have to be this way. We can develop constructive responses to our own

"The Hour of Code is coming up at the beginning of December. While there are a number of online activities you can do with your children, there ways you can celebrate offline. This Grouchy Ladybug drawing page features an algorithm for your children to follow. By the time they have drawn what each block asks them to, they will have an illustration based on the book. This Hour of Code activity also gives your children a chance to work telling time. Your children will need to draw the minute and hour hand so they point to the correct places on the clock. While it may not take your children an hour, it is a fun way to celebrate the Hour of Code and explore a book that features clocks."

"Teachers are notorious for taking care of everyone but ourselves. The coming summer provides a perfect chance to change that. Some of us will seek the luxury of a true physical, mental, and emotional break from the classroom. Others will leap directly into teaching summer school in order to cobble together a full salary. Or we'll attend more conferences and trainings in the next two months than in the last 10 put together. Every teacher, even those of us in the throes of summer school and professional development, should make time to answer an existential question: Who are we when we're not teaching? Here are four ideas for making the most of that oasis of time between the end of this school year and the beginning of the next."

"What is a morning ritual? A morning ritual is a series of habits, acts, or practices, usually completed in the same order, day after day. And these rituals are vitally important--the way we begin our morning sets the tone for the rest of our day. A calm, relaxed, and nourishing morning ritual empowers you to deal with the inevitable challenges you'll encounter, reduces stress, increases productivity, and helps you live more intentionally. And getting out of bed is a lot easier when you have something to look forward to! Developing a morning ritual is a very personal thing, and one that evolves over time to be responsive to your needs. This blog post is a window into my current morning ritual that will hopefully inspire you to develop your own."

"The days are getting shorter and the nights are becoming cooler up here in New England. And you know what that means: Back to School is nigh! Lazy mornings are quickly giving way to the familiar rush of anticipation mixed with bewilderment at the clocked speed of fading summer days (no, really - where did July go?). As I begin to review plans and imagine new learning opportunities for the year ahead, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of the important lessons I've learned over the past few years as a maker educator."

" DOUG AAMOTH 08.19.16 12:00 AM From its not so humble beginnings as a non-prank released on April Fool's Day in 2004 to its billion-plus users today, Google's illustrious email offering has proven indispensable for most of us. And sure, you may use it all day, every day, but are you really getting the most out of it? Here are 25 tips, tricks, and time-savers for even the most seasoned of Gmail pros."

"As we look at future jobs and technological advancements, having creativity is essential in the workplace. Robots and AI will be able to handle many tasks, even replacing some types of jobs, but we will still need creative thinkers and designers to move ahead globally. As educators, how do we ensure that students learn this skill in our curriculums? Can creativity be taught? Why are some people more creative than others? If you tell students to be creative, do they even know what it means or where to begin?"

"Can technology help kids develop empathy? Due to the rise of virtual reality experiences, there's been some buzz lately about the impact technology might have on how we understand and share the feelings of others. Since video games have an inherent ability to transport us to places and meet people we normally wouldn't, teachers can use them to create authentic experiences in their classes - where students reflect on their own lives, share personal stories with peers, and hopefully begin to share in the perspectives of others. Games can't be the sole tool to help build empathy, but emotional and powerful moments in games can drive meaningful discussions in the classroom."

"Computational thinking is generally defined as the mental skills that facilitate the design of automated processes. Although this term traces back to the beginnings of computer science in the 1950s, it became popular after 2006 when educators undertook the task of helping all children become productive users of computation as part of STEM education. If we can learn what constitutes computational thinking as a mental skill, we may be able to draw more young people to science and accelerate our own abilities to advance science. The interest from educators is forcing us to be precise in determining just what computational thinking is."

"Here's a flashback to Back to School time!  I never got to post all the activities we did at the beginning of the year.  Colorful quotes is one of my favorites! I had been on the search for motivational quote posters that were appropriate for my fifth graders.  My second grade ones seemed too "little" for them and all I could find were ones that belonged in a high school classroom.  Then I came across Doodle Art Alley.  They have educational, motivational, and inspirational quotes "doodled" just waiting to be filled in.  I found almost enough quotes for my entire class.  I doubled up on my favorites."

" I heard a great talk a few months ago. It was Conrad Wolfram (probably one of the world's leading mathematicians) who suggested, that we should stop teaching our kids maths. Whoah! He said, and I'm paraphrasing, we needed to teach them computational thinking instead. What is that? He said every problem needs breaking apart, exploding it into its parts - if we are to begin to properly solve them. And better still that we explain to kids how to put that idea into practice. Explain to them, for example, that to make their bike go faster they might figure out how much bigger the peddle wheel needs to be than than the one on the back wheel. According to Wikipedia computational thinking is an iterative process based on three stages: 1. Problem formulation (abstraction) 2. Solution expression (automation) 3. Solution execution and evaluation (analyses) That REALLY works for me."

"Incorporate broadcasting projects into your curriculum to help engage students while deepening their STEM knowledge and understanding. There is a lot more to the television and radio industries than students realize. By assigning broadcasting projects to students, teachers can begin to make connections between their STEM classes and an industry they are passionate about."