Group items tagged

1. Imagine 2. Write it down 3. Connect 4. Outline 5. Decide to act 6. Timeline it 7. Review every day

" Two years of music instruction in elementary and even secondary school can trigger biological changes in how the brain processes sound, which in turn affects language development."

"It is amazing how much you can accomplish in a short time when you are focused and uninterrupted. In just 20 minutes, I was able to write an entire page of my thesis or review a whole journal article - tasks that would have taken me an hour or longer before. Even if you have the luxury of long stretches of time, I encourage you to try "writing sprints" of 10-30 minutes each. Focus on putting your ideas on paper, and do not worry about making mistakes. Some students find it helpful to do their writing sprints first thing in the morning, before they get interrupted or need to start putting out fires. Make sure your phone and email are turned off, so you can put your attention fully on writing for just 10-30 minutes."

"Take online professional development courses when, where and how you want"

"The more raw material you give your brain, the more connections it can make."

"1. Treat students with respect no matter how they behave."

"Have you experienced the type of deep concentration, where you simply work without getting distracted, and the rest of the world ceases to exist?"

I am going to be trying this tool out soon. I know some of my colleagues will be excited about this. I especially like that the designers built it on top of HTML5 which in the long(er) run it will make it a viable tool to train folks on how to use because it will be relevant. It also plays nicely with vis.io which is a plus, too.

A couple of quick takeaways for me (Michael Wacker) are that it's nice to see professional development called out as something we need, but we really have to get away form the paradigm of thinking it's something we do "to" teachers or is done "to" us.  The other takeaway I have after reading this is around a question I've asked before. If we're truly "blending" our teaching and environment, what does the space look like? How can we professionally develop as teachers to be better prepared to adapt and modify our existing learning spaces to better meet the needs of a flexible, student centric, tech infused learning environment? If shifting the ENTIRE teaching model paradigm upside down is NOT an option, what is? Is this something that needs to be built, modeled, and then iterated? I culled some nuggets from the reading.