Group items tagged

"As part of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), students need to "ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century." Many teachers have little to no formal training on how to teach about climate change. Along with the ever-changing research and the controversy that comes with it, some teachers inevitably shy away or even prevent students from digging deep into the content. Some suggest that teachers might be getting climate change all wrong. Since teachers can't rely on books to stay current with all the new research, digital resources are the only effective way to stay on top of such a dynamic field. Consider these practices when using technology to teach about climate change:" Sites include NASA Global Climate Change, Climate Kids for younger learners, Global Oneness Project, and Earth-Now to analyze realtime data.

"Combine a slow pace of meaningful change towards a new more enlightened vision for education with a rapid drive towards heightened levels of standardised testing (an unceasing desire to measure attributes of learning that increasingly matter less), and we have a system that is in need of radical change. The question is, will COVID be the catalyst for this change?" Educatiion is still operating on the industrial technology. Students are changing at the rate of digital technology. Will the extensive period of schooling at home on the Internet help make a change possible? We'll have to see.

"Educational Origami is a blog and a wiki, about 21st Century Teaching and Learning. This wiki is not just about the integration of technology into the classroom, though this is certainly a critical area, it is about shifting our educational paradigm. The world is not as simple as saying teachers are digital immigrants and students digital natives. In fact, we know that exposure to technology changes the brains of those exposed to it. The longer and stronger the exposure and the more intense the emotions the use of the technology or its content evokes, the more profound the change. This technology is increasingly ubiquitous. We have to change how we teach, how we assess, what we teach, when we teach it, where we are teaching it, and with what." A most interesting site that tells us what the learner needs to know. [Thanks to Bee.]

"In 2007, my co-teacher and I noticed that students felt increasingly like the world was "happening to them," as if they had no ability to affect positive change. This, coupled with the question "When am I going to use this?" led to the inspiration which has become the Fifth-Grade Environmental Project. "Our goal was to create an educational model in which students' passions are the driving force, empowering them as global citizens. While we have limited time to cover required curriculum, we are committed to finding ways of embedding curriculum in "real-life" applications within the project. "While the project's topic changes each year, the roots (or required elements) are the same, and the work evolves based on student passions, allowing each individual to find and contribute his or her gift to the whole, and reaffirming our belief that together we are smarter." Explains how service learning can inspire student passion, critical thinking, and learning to affect change. Describes partnerships with community nonprofits, and products that students can create to inspire others.

Warschauer makes 3 pts--who uses and owns English has been changed by the Internet; the digital divide is actually a continuum; technology requires new language skills--it's not just an optional tool but must change what is taught.

A thoughtful essay on change in education and how to adapt to it.

This short article and video indicate several ways that virtual education can be superior: from college prep work that could not be offered in a local high school to inner city schools where it's hard to keep teachers on site, from far-flung rural homes to over-crowded schools. The entry of online-courseware entrepreneurs, who sell curricula to school districts, is also changing the education game. Might there really be a chance to change the industrial assembly line version of education?

"Make your own WebQuest or Adapt a WebQuest with our "Short-cut WebQuest Authoring Tool" Lots of teachers would like to have specific resources for their curriculum requirements that would encourage higher order thinking in their students - WebQuests fit the bill perfectly. However, do most teachers have the time or skills to create a WebQuest using Website creation programmes like FrontPage or Dreamweaver or to work with HTML? Or to then have it uploaded and hosted with easy access for changes? The answer is that they don't have to! WebQuest Direct has created a simple to use Authoring Tool or template/proforma that allows you to create your own WebQuest or adapt an existing WebQuest to suit the needs of your students. You will only need to know how to type or copy and paste - it is that simple! You can readily come into the authoring tool make changes and press save! Your WebQuest will then be ready for your class to use!"

"Several new tools allow you to type the text you would normally say, and have text-to-speech technology (TTS) generate the voiceover for you. Later, if the content changes, editing the typed text will be way easier than re-recording an entire voiceover. Read on to learn about three different TTS tools for PowerPoint." As the text-to-speech technology gets better, this is a great solution, and has the advantage of giving students some practice in listening/reading.

"Because "hypertext is a mental process, as well as a digital tool,"[1] one of the larger cultural implications arising from this change in the meaning of text concerns the role of the reader. Text in print implies and, to a certain degree, constructs a passive reader, one who is often a "receptacle" of information. Hypertext is shaping an appropriative reader who is interacting with the text, and is involved in knowledge construction."

Although dated 2005, this article is still of interest to those thinking about how the digital age is progressing.

A social studies teacher shares American history images. May prove useful for content-based projects and the study of American culture. "American History Resource - The Denver Post Photo Blog "As a social studies teacher I am always looking for new resources to to bring into the classroom. We can no longer rely on notes and a text book as our primary learning tools. The internet has provided teachers with new resources and new opportunities to change the way history is taught and learned. Every month I come across new sources of photographs, documents, and videos that help to enhance the learning experience. One of my favorite recent discoveries has been the The Denver Post photo blog, or Plog as it is called. The Plog is a terrific resource of photographs and information about a wide variety of historical topics which I have covered here, here, and here in my other blog. From the Statue of Liberty, to the inauguration,then the Great Depression, and the Berlin Wall, the Denver Post's Photo Blog is one resource that I highly recommend you explore."

Talk moves are hand signals, ways of expressing agreement, showing your can change your mind, etc. This set is well explained and can really increase class participation among ESL students. An excellent teacher practice.

""Always on" access has created an abundance of learning potentials that scarcely existed even a decade ago. "No, this is not the picture most of us painted for ourselves when we went into education. Most of us went into teaching understanding that school was pretty much the only education game in town, the place where kids came to get information, where, at the end of the day, we were responsible for disseminating the knowledge, we assessed whether our students got it, and we stamped it "an education." For that vast majority of kids (and for us, too) who attended a brick-and-mortar school, that's been the unbending, monolithic vision of schooling for 150 years. "So what do we do when that vision begins, finally, to be undermined?" Technology is changing what it means to be educated. Thoughtful article.

An interactive weather map for those interested in using weather/climate change for a content-based unit. A scrolling sidebar contains links to weather/climate related news stories, so that reading can easily be integrated into the study.

A review of M. Levine's Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success: ""There's probably no better example of the throttling of creativity than the difference between what we observe in a kindergarten classroom and what we observe in a high school classroom," she writes in Teach Your Children Well. "Take a room full of five-year-olds and you will see creativity in all its forms positively flowing around the room. A decade later you will see these same children passively sitting at their desks, half asleep or trying to decipher what will be on the next test.""

How do we educate our children to meet the needs of the new economies of the 21st century, and retain local cultures while recognizing globalization? The current system of public education was conceived and designed for the 19th century period of industrialization with the social and economic imperatives of the Enlightenment: academic vs non-academic views of the mind. The result is kids being medicated to sit still in school while besieged with the information overload of the digital age. How do we allow divergent thinking and creativity?

"Free, 13-Page, Ready-to-Print EFL/ESL Lesson Plans on Current Events" - lots of ideas for using the news. Topics change regularly, and there are Kids Listening lessons, too.

"Tool for creating custom badges to download and use in your classroom. Change the icon, border, shape and colours." It looks like you may be able to uplod a .gif to add to your badge. Worth a look if you want to try something besides Badgr.