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"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.

"A week or so ago, someone in the Macmillan marketing department took it upon themselves to send out this tweet. What grabbed my attention was the claim that it is 'a well-known fact' that teaching students a growth mindset makes them perform better academically over time. The easily demonstrable reality (which I'll come on to) is that this is not a fact. It's fake news, being used for marketing purposes. " The article looks at several research projects -- pro and con -- to come to this conclusion. A good read for those sceptical of simplistic, but vague, solutions to the broad, complex problem of school success.

"Series Five Essential Practices for the Teaching of ELLs - Elementary : Using Technology to Collect Classroom Data" - Video page includes discussion questions and teacher comments. Lesson objective is to collect and analyze formative assessment data.

"Google Docs in the Classroom" Lesson objective is to write collaboratively using Google Docs. Video page includes discussion questions and teacher comments.

"Series Content Conversations: Strategies for ELLs: Using Technology to Boost Confidence" - Video page includes questions for discussion and teacher conversations on the topic.

"Many students (and teachers) will begin the calendar year with a goal-setting activity. They will take time to reflect in class on what they hope to achieve in the twelve months that follow. They will, for the most part, set achievement goals linked to their academic life, the sort of goals that are achieved through diligent application to classroom learning. They will decide that the way to accomplish these goals is through a commitment to hard work, maintaining focus on the task of learning and effectively managing their time. They will evaluate their success through increases in their assessment results and the hopefully positive feedback that they receive from their teachers. "In but a few weeks, if not days, these goals will have been forgotten. It is not that the students have lost motivation or have abandoned their hopes for a successful year. It is that the goals set in this way, this structured and forced manner, do not connect with what truly matters to the individuals who set them. "

"Interest in feedback has spread widely since the publication of Hattie and Timperley's influential 'The Power of Feedback', which argued that 'feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement' (Hattie & Timperley, 2007: 81). Peer feedback, in particular, has generated much optimism in the general educational literature as a formative practice (Double et al., 2019)...." Excellent article on online peer feedback.

"I love genius hour, I love Innovation Day, I love the idea of learning and creating something. But I felt we were starting to focus too much on the creation part rather than just the learning part. That too much time was spent creating the imagery of their learning rather than the learning itself. So instead I asked the kids to do what we have called project time, 30 minutes once a week where they just get to learn. Sure, they can create, sure they can make things, but they can also use the entire time to just read, study, ask questions, whatever they want to do. I decided on a big category to help them focus their curiosity, geography, and with held breath I sat back. "The last two weeks have been incredible. Students have read library books on countries, they have studied maps, they have created impromptu map quizzes, and yes, they have even created presentations. The learning that has happened has been tangible as kids ask questions about the broader world, about their place in it. When I asked them what they thought, the response was overwhelming; "We love it, Mrs. Ripp. Please don't change it. What will we focus on next?" (History for those who wonder)." T/h P. Ripp

"It's no longer enough to work from a pre-determined set of knowledge and skills all students are expected to acquire. To truly meet the Common Core, we have to teach students to dig deeper, think bigger and apply what they learn to real-world problems." So it's also about how teachers approach their job. Article by N. Krueger, 12/29/18

"Of course, since we all live in the real world, it's unlikely that we will be successful in getting all our students participating -- particularly in a cognitive way -- all the time. However, there are a number of actions we can take to increase the odds of as many as our students being active learners and co-creators of what is happening in the classroom.... These techniques can include use of individual whiteboards for students to use for writing and sharing responses; not having students raise hands and, instead, having teachers call on students (especially if they are given thinking and partner-sharing time for preliminary processing); and asking students reflective questions at the end of class for use as exit slips. "It's also important to remember that the effectiveness of these kinds of techniques will always be constrained or expanded by the quality of the relationships and the culture in any classroom." T/h L Ferlazzo

"Among the many things students are expected to do, self-assessing their learning is part of the suite of metacognitive tools that are valued in today's society. This skill enables the student to think about their thinking, identify what they're doing well and what needs improvement. Self-assessment takes practice, and when it comes to schoolwork, students are not given enough opportunities. " K.Sung offers an example of ways for students to get in practice in self-assessing.

"Providing your students with a public audience is not only a critical part of the project-based learning process, but it's also a great strategy for building authenticity into assignments to create work that matters. We often leverage our students' parents and guardians in this process because 1) they are easily accessible, and 2) they are our partners in their children's learning plans. Why not then continue and build this partnership in PBL? John Larmer wrote a great blog about how to build parent support for PBL, and one of the best ways he mentions is to keep them involved in the PBL project you launch in your classroom. Here are some strategies to consider as you leverage parents for your next PBL project."

John Larmer sees a sliding scale: "There is a sliding scale of authenticity for projects, which goes from "not authentic" to "somewhat authentic" to "fully authentic.""

"It is difficult to blame our students for their failure to reflect upon their learning. The very nature of the typical school day makes this challenging for even the most committed learner. All that bouncing from experience to experience ensures that by the time they finish their day and have time to reflect, they are relying on a jumbled mess of memories. Without time to reflect immediately after a learning experience, there is little hope that we will develop in our minds a coherent cognitive schema or that we connect new learning with old in a cohesive manner." Author Nigel Coutts offers 8 elements that lend themselves to reflective learning. Includes a nice infographic of the elements.

"To summarize, then, we might say that (1) the skill of guessing from context may not be as helpful in the real world as previously imagined, (2) it may not be as useful in acquiring vocabulary items as previously imagined. When a teacher is asked by a student for the meaning of a word in a text, the reflex response of 'try to work it out from the context' may also not be as helpful as previously imagined. Translations and / or dictionary advice may well, at times, be more appropriate." An interesting view of an activity that has been considered significant by many reading teachers. More research is needed!

A walk through the dynamic of classroom and community, by Nigel Coutts

"This article examines the use of both game-based learning (GBL) and gamification in tertiary education. This study focuses specifically on the use of games and/or simulations as well as familiarity with gamification strategies by communication faculty. Research questions concentrate on the rate, frequency, and usage of digital and non-digital games and/or simulations in communication courses, as well as instructor familiarity with gamification. A survey was constructed with questions emerging from the game-based learning and gamification literature. It was distributed to communication faculty at public institutions of higher education in a southern state. In this context, the author argues that while the term gamification is novel, the approach is not. Based on the results, current gamification strategies appear to be a repackaging of traditional instructional strategies."

"Students who take part in physical exercises like star jumps or running on the spot during school lessons do better in tests than peers who stick to sedentary learning, according to a UCL-led study." Another piece of evidence that makes TPR (Total Physical Response) an appropriate approach to learning languages.

"Overall, Behaviorism, although controversial in the modern educational settings, continues to remain a tool at every educator's disposal to construct foundations for lessons and help students to succeed. The incorporation of current and burgeoning technologies will further fuel the debate regarding the use of behaviorist instructional/behavior modification strategies, however, these same technologies can help even the most struggling student to succeed and thrive in their educational career. We must ask whether we, as adults, like the ways in which our behaviors are modified by these digital, social spaces. Only upon some honest reflection can we answer whether we want to do the same to our children." A thoughtful examination of how behaviorism applies in the uses of technology and generally in classroom practices.