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Jill Bergeron

How to Use Design Thinking in the Classroom to Build Problem-Solving Skills | Education... - 0 views

  • Regardless of problem size, the design thinking process has many opportunities for learning embedded into it, including: how to define a particular problem, understand needs and constraints, brainstorm ideas and possible solutions, and how to gather and incorporate feedback. As students successfully use design thinking to solve challenges, their confidence, creativity and belief in their ability to make a difference will grow.
Gayle Cole

WhatDIIsandIsnt.pdf - 1 views

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    "varied approaches to content, process, and product in anticipation of and response to student differences in readiness, interest, and learning needs"
Jill Bergeron

Raising a Moral Child - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • For example, research suggests that when parents praise effort rather than ability, children develop a stronger work ethic and become more motivated.
  • Surveys reveal that in the United States, parents from European, Asian, Hispanic and African ethnic groups all place far greater importance on caring than achievement
  • Genetic twin studies suggest that anywhere from a quarter to more than half of our propensity to be giving and caring is inherited
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  • By age 2, children experience some moral emotions — feelings triggered by right and wrong. To reinforce caring as the right behavior, research indicates, praise is more effective than rewards.
  • Rewards run the risk of leading children to be kind only when a carrot is offered, whereas praise communicates that sharing is intrinsically worthwhile for its own sake
  • The researchers randomly assigned the children to receive different types of praise. For some of the children, they praised the action: “It was good that you gave some of your marbles to those poor children. Yes, that was a nice and helpful thing to do.” For others, they praised the character behind the action: “I guess you’re the kind of person who likes to help others whenever you can. Yes, you are a very nice and helpful person.”
  • A couple of weeks later, when faced with more opportunities to give and share, the children were much more generous after their character had been praised than after their actions had been.
  • Praising their character helped them internalize it as part of their identities.
  • The children learned who they were from observing their own actions: I am a helpful person.
  • If we want our children to care about others, we need to teach them to feel guilt rather than shame when they misbehave.
  • When our actions become a reflection of our character, we lean more heavily toward the moral and generous choices.
  • Tying generosity to character appears to matter most around age 8, when children may be starting to crystallize notions of identity.
  • When children cause harm, they typically feel one of two moral emotions: shame or guilt. Despite the common belief that these emotions are interchangeable, research led by the psychologist June Price Tangney reveals that they have very different causes and consequences.
  • Shame makes children feel small and worthless, and they respond either by lashing out at the target or escaping the situation altogether.
  • guilt is a negative judgment about an action, which can be repaired by good behavior
  • When children feel guilt, they tend to experience remorse and regret, empathize with the person they have harmed, and aim to make it right.
  • The ashamed toddlers were avoiders; the guilty toddlers were amenders.
  • it was 22 to 29 percent more effective to encourage them to “be a helper.”
  • shame emerges when parents express anger, withdraw their love, or try to assert their power through threats of punishment: Children may begin to believe that they are bad people. Fearing this effect, some parents fail to exercise discipline at all, which can hinder the development of strong moral standards
  • The most effective response to bad behavior is to express disappointment.
  • parents raise caring children by expressing disappointment and explaining why the behavior was wrong, how it affected others, and how they can rectify the situation. This enables children to develop standards for judging their actions, feelings of empathy and responsibility for others, and a sense of moral identity, which are conducive to becoming a helpful person.
  • You’re a good person, even if you did a bad thing, and I know you can do better.”
  • Children learn generosity not by listening to what their role models say, but by observing what they do
  • If you don’t model generosity, preaching it may not help in the short run, and in the long run, preaching is less effective than giving while saying nothing at all
  • when it comes to producing moral children, we need to remember that action also shapes character.
Jill Bergeron

Kids Fun Online: Interactive Weather Maker - 0 views

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    This is an interactive site whereby students can learn how different elements affect weather patterns.
Jill Bergeron

The Difference Between Doing Projects Versus Learning Through Projects - 0 views

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    Projects v. PBL
smontevirgen

Organizing Your School As A List Of Courses Doesn't Work For Learners - 0 views

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    This was an incredible look at the structure of education and a look at redesign/restructure the entire idea of education. A selected excerpt: How would school be structured differently if we really wanted to cultivate youth leadership? Despite serving students with a distribution of skills, grade levels are the dominant architecture of K-8 schools and for the last 20 years, there has been a particular fixation with grade level proficiencies which has reinforced whole group learning in grade cohorts.
Jill Bergeron

We need more black and brown teachers but not for the reasons you think - The Hechinger... - 0 views

  • Privilege is passed on like inheritance. Therefore, we must educate the children of people currently in power so they won’t replicate the systems of the past. Undoing the racism that muffles achievement requires teaching the scions of privilege who will likely end up running systems that fail students of color.
  • Cultural differences influence teaching efficacy, however. “Most results show that when black teachers teach black students, black students achieve more than when taught by white teachers,” writes Andy Porter in Rethinking the Achievement Gap.
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    This piece argues that not only do black and brown teachers have a positive impact on the success of students of the same background, but they also have a lasting impact on white students. The author stipulates that in order for change to take place, we need white students of privilege to learn from black and brown teachers because they need to break the cycle of inherent bias and racism.
Jill Bergeron

Tinkering Spaces: How Equity Means More Than Access | MindShift | KQED News - 0 views

  • Existing inequities play out when adults engage with kids around tinkering or making. And, while makerspaces are a unique kind of learning space, many of the techniques thoughtful educators are using to improve their interactions with students could be used in other venues.
  • Sewing has been one of the most successful projects in the program Escudé helps run at the Boys and Girls Club in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood. Kids shared their family histories of sewing and even invited grandparents to participate and share. The activity was framed as intellectual thought and valued as equal to any other tinkering task. The success of this activity came from giving students the space to share themselves and build relationships with one another and the facilitators, not because they were using the most recent technology or because they were building robots.
  • it’s a cultural assumption that kids would think taking apart toys would be fun.
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  • often, maker educators assume that because they’ve offered students freedom and choice, the space is automatically equitable. She says being intentional about how adults interact with kids in these spaces is more important than self-direction.
  • It would be easy to assume that the student was off task or didn’t want to do the activity, but instead of assuming the worst about the student, the facilitator went over and started asking her questions that centered around agency and how she’d like to be involved. This gentle support helped the girl figure out how to start the activity.
  • They also focus on race and gender patterns around who is using which tools and the kinds of projects different kids are drawn towards. “There were some patterns around which students get intervened on more often and which students have projects taken out of their hands and fixed more often,” Vossoughi said. The video reviews help them notice these patterns and correct them.
  • A huge part of trying to bring equity to every moment of tinkering is to see students as full of strengths from their home community, their families, and their experiences. “Kids are brilliant and it’s our responsibility to notice their brilliance and deepen it,” Vossoughi said. This perspective has allowed kids who don’t fit into traditional ideas about what it means to be smart, or academic, thrive in the tinkering space.
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    This article highlights the ways in which teachers can be mindful of inherent biases when they are engaging students in maker and tinkering activities.
Jill Bergeron

Tech Finder | Technology Apps for Learning Disabilities and Issues - Understood - 0 views

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    This search engine helps find appropriate tech tools for teaches and students based on grade level, subject and skill. It is powered by Common Sense Media.
Jill Bergeron

The Marshall Memo Admin - Issues - 0 views

  • A principal remembers how she built trust 2. Giving and receiving feedback with grace and skill 3. A Georgia district works to improve classroom observations 4. Douglas Reeves takes on five myths about grading 5. Enlisting students to comment helpfully on each others’ work 6. Unintended consequences from New York City’s discipline policies 7. The minefield that girls and young women must traverse 8. Thomas Friedman on what the new era portends for young people 9. Short item: An online social-emotional survey
  • “When schools dig in on the underlying reasons why kids violate norms, rather than reflexively and automatically punishing and sending kids away, outcomes can change quickly and dramatically. It’s especially important for everyone in a school to dig deep to decrease head-to-head conflict and understand behaviors that are often quickly labeled insubordination or disrespect.”
  • “Trust happens through thousands of small, purposeful interactions over time,” says Sarah Fiarman in this article in Principal. “[L]eaders earn trust when they keep promises, respond when teachers ask for help, and have difficult conversations with adults to ensure high-quality teaching for everyone.” Integral to all this is listening well, speaking wisely, and acknowledging one’s own biases.
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  • “This requires slowing down, checking to be sure we understand correctly, and sharing back what we hear.”
  • Meeting anger or frustration with genuine, compassionate interest builds trust.
  • Changing course based on input is a sign of integrity, not weakness.”
  • A key value she worked to communicated was about listening to dissent and changing course if necessary.
  • Fiarman found that making quick visits to classrooms every day communicated respect and made her far more knowledgeable about instruction.
  • it engenders trust when your boss can speak to the specifics of your work.”
  • for practice to be an effective tool for improvement, students need to be pushing the limits of current performance and getting continuous feedback – very difficult to orchestrate for 30 students working in their bedrooms. Second, as soon as teachers give grades for practice work, the incentive is for students to play it safe and not push into challenging or unknown territory.
  • Here are their ideas on making feedback less threatening and more productive:             • Separate coaching from evaluation.
  • “Coaching sessions should include no rubric scoring or other evaluations,”
  • Be thoughtful about receiving criticism. “The person getting the feedback has the power to decide whether it’s on target, fair, or helpful,” say the authors, “and to decide whether to use the feedback or dismiss it.”
  • When feedback rubs you the wrong way, it’s also important to dig deeper to understand what’s really going.
  • Be noisy about the importance of improving your school’s feedback culture – for students, for teachers, for parents, and for yourself.”
  • In this article in All Things PLC, consultant/author Douglas Reeves confronts these widely espoused misconceptions about grading:
  • if grades were effective motivators, homework completion, classroom engagement, and overall diligence would be sky-high. Not so!
  • “Asking such questions helps me counteract my unconscious bias,” says Fiarman. “Recognizing the pervasiveness of bias is an important first step. Acknowledging that I might make mistakes because of this bias – then actively working to counter it – builds trust.”
  • the only feedback that matters is that the work was finished on time and correctly.
  • it’s unfair and demotivating for students to have their final grade pulled down for practice work.
  • Myth #3: Grades drive future performance. True, there’s a correlation between good grades and college success, and between poor grades and dropping out of school, but Reeves questions whether grades cause success and failure.
  • While it is possible that intelligence and work ethic forge the path from kindergarten to Ivy League and Wall Street, it is also possible that zip code, tutors, and connections – all artifacts of family socioeconomic status – are the underlying causes.”
  • Teachers giving zeros for missed assignments and refusing to accept late work lets students off the hook – and starts a spiral of doom with their final grades.
  • Averaging grades through a semester punishes students for early failures versus rewarding them for using early problems to improve final performance.
  • “Rather than using the last two months of the semester to build momentum and finish strong,” says Reeves, “because of a punitive grading system, they are doomed to failure well before the semester is over. There is nothing left for them to do except cut class, be disruptive, or ultimately, quit school.”
  • “grading policies are matters of equity, with disparate impacts on students, particularly based on ethnicity and gender. Boys and minority males receive lower grades just as they are more likely to be more severely disciplined for an infraction. Girls receive higher grades for the same level of proficiency. If racial and gender disparities of this sort took place in any other area of public life, the consequences would be swift and sure.”
  • Instead, he suggests replacing each statement of fact – Punishment deters unwanted behavior – with a testable hypothesis – If I penalize students for late, incomplete, and absent homework, then student achievement will improve – and conducting real-time experiments within the school.
  • He’s found that non-evaluative comments are “easy to receive, easy to give, and easy to act on.”
  • Teaching sentence stems can be helpful: I’m not sure I understand the opening of this piece… I’m not sure why you did this; can you explain it more?
  • Be specific.
  • Prior to peer feedback, the teacher should introduce a rubric and lead the class in a group critique of an exemplar paper, focusing on suggestions that will make a difference.
  • The teacher might also display samples of feedback statements and have students break into groups and rank them from helpful to unhelpful, taking note of sentence starters and phrases they can use in their own feedback conversations.
  • Be timely. One of the greatest advantages of well-orchestrated peer feedback is that students can get comments on their work immediately, rather than waiting days, perhaps weeks, for the teacher to wade through piles of papers.
  • “Unfortunately,” Eden concludes, “by second-guessing teachers’ judgments about how to maintain order, policymakers and district administrators are likely harming the education of many millions of well-behaved students in an effort to help the misbehaving few.”
  • “[T]hey are encouraged more than ever to present themselves as ‘sexy’ – not about being attractive or beautiful, but a very narrow, commercialized idea of sexy. What’s particularly complicated is they’re sold that idea [of sexiness] as being a source of personal power. There is a complete disconnect between that image of sexiness and an understanding of their bodies, their own wants, needs, desires, and limits, what those might be, having those respected.”
  • young women “are almost conditioned, starting in middle school, to have their bodies publicly commented on by young men, [and] they don’t think they have any power to really stop it.” In schools, she says, the “everyday chipping away of girls’ self-worth by reducing them to their bodies is completely ignored.”
  • We tend to silo conversations about sex as if it is not about the same values of compassion, kindness, respect, mutuality, and caring that we want our children to embody in every other aspect of their lives.”
  • The Internet – “Unfortunately,” says Orenstein, “the first thing kids Google is porn. The average age that kids today are exposed to porn, either intentionally or not, is 11. We have to ask what it means that kids are learning about sex from that realm before they’ve even had their first kiss and how that’s shaping them, their attitudes toward sexuality, and their expectations of sex.” Parents and schools need to explicitly teach kids to apply a critical lens to what they’re seeing, and shape values that will help them safely and wisely navigate this very challenging era.
  • “If you want to be a lifelong employee anywhere today, you have to be a lifelong learner.” He quotes education-to-work expert Heather McGowan: “Stop asking a young person WHAT you want to be when you grow up. It freezes their identity into a job that may not be there. Ask them HOW you want to be when you grow up. Having an agile learning mind-set will be the new skill set of the 21st century.”
Jill Bergeron

NAIS - NAIS Research: Budget Considerations for the 2021-2022 School Year - 0 views

  • Data from the NAIS Snapshot surveys of varying groups of independent school leaders reveal that 61% of schools have increased their expense budgets for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, while 58% are projecting a loss for the same time period.
  • Determining what motivates your parents can help your school focus its offerings and rein in expenses, helping you focus on what matters most to families.
  • Sixty-seven percent of schools have already implemented revenue-increasing strategies, and 76% plan to do the same in 2021-2022. Schools most commonly plan to rely on summer programs, with 67% already offering them and 79% likely to for the next summer.
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  • 74% of schools increased their technology budgets.[6] Thirty-six percent expect IT expenses to increase further in 2021-2022.[7] Other schools appear to be angling to attract and retain staff despite the cost: 43% increased salaries (compared to 21% who cut them), and 74% hired additional staff (though data from a different sample of NAIS members found that 30% had implemented a hiring freeze, while 19% instituted layoffs).[8] Additionally, 38% of schools have increased their general financial aid budgets, with 31% increasing it by more than 5%. Fifty-four percent have established a separate emergency grant fund for students needing additional assistance.
  • Despite the need for additional teacher training in online and hybrid learning, professional development budgets have frequently been cut to make up for additional spending elsewhere, with 41% of the schools decreasing the amount allocated (and 26% decreasing it by more than 16%).[10] Thirty-nine percent of schools are likely to continue to reduce professional development in 2021-2022, and 22% may freeze it altogether.
  • adding new degree programs was a common and successful tactic for boosting enrollment during the Great Recession and one that was also popular with faculty.
  • A parallel tactic for independent schools in markets that have seen increased demand for their programs, whether in-person or online, would be to add a part-time or afterschool component for parents worried about learning loss for their public school students.
  • 49% of schools experienced a decrease in enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year, with 33% seeing a decrease of greater than 5%. At the same time, 47% of schools reduced their fundraising goals from the previous year.[2] Tuition revenue will only help fill the gap at some schools: 49% increased their tuition, while 41% kept it the same and just 5% of schools reduced it.[3] However, 70% do expect to raise tuition in 2021-2022.[4]
  • Fifty-five percent of independent schools lost teachers this year due to COVID-19 concerns, and 8% lost 5% or more of their teaching staff, according to NAIS Snapshot surveys.[21] All of this has led to a nationwide shortage in both dedicated substitutes and, more broadly, people who can just watch over a classroom when the teacher isn’t physically present.
  • The goal of financial sustainability seems to have been superseded by the reality of teaching during a global pandemic
  • To address the substitute shortage in South Dakota, for example, one public school district partnered with a local university’s college of education. Teaching candidates are able to get the field experience hours required for their degree by substitute teaching in various classrooms.
  • After all, the job market for recent graduates has shrunk dramatically during the pandemic, with unemployment during the third quarter of 2020 particularly high among young people—almost 18% of 18- to 19-year-olds were unemployed as were about 15% of 20- to 24-year-olds.
  • One-time revenue shortfall (with expected rapid recovery): This scenario is optimistic during the pandemic, but schools that were unable to hold a large revenue-earning event in 2020, such as an auction, community fair, or summer camp, but expect to be able to do so in 2021 can rely on endowment funds for the time being. One-time or short-term expenses: Schools may need endowment funds to repair the campus after natural disasters or offer emergency financial aid grants for families facing hardship. Short-term expense for long-term savings: Schools that haven’t already done so, or haven’t done so to as full an extent as they would like, can use endowment funds to upgrade technology or PPE infrastructures in order to attract and retain students in the long-term.
  • When making financial decisions, school leaders need to be honest about the challenges affecting their final choice.
Scott Nancarrow

How to Design Better Tests, Based on the Research | Edutopia - 0 views

  • To help address test anxiety, researchers recommend setting aside a little time for simple writing or self-talk exercises before the test—they allow students to shore up their confidence, recall their test-taking strategies, and put the exam into perspective.
  • Students who study moderately should get roughly 70 to 80 percent of the questions correct. 
  • Don’t start a test with challenging questions; let students ease into a test. Asking difficult questions to probe for deep knowledge is important, but remember that confidence and mindset can dramatically affect outcomes—and therefore muddy the waters of your assessment. 
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  • Consider the mix of your testing formats: Combine traditional testing formats—multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions—with creative, open-ended assessments that can elicit different strengths and interests.
  • Tests aren’t just tools to evaluate learning; they can also alter a student’s understanding of a topic.
  • Instead of a single high-stakes test, consider breaking it into smaller low-stakes tests that you can spread throughout the school year.
  • When students take high-stakes tests, their cortisol levels—a biological marker for stress—rise dramatically, impeding their ability to concentrate and artificially lowering test scores
  • Time limits are unavoidable, but you can mitigate their pernicious effects on anxiety levels. “Evidence strongly suggests that timed tests cause the early onset of math anxiety for students across the achievement range,”
  • ask students to write their own test questions. 
  • Beyond test design, there’s the important question of what happens after a test. All too often, students receive a test, glance at the grade, and move on. But that deprives them, and the teacher, of a valuable opportunity to address misconceptions and gaps in knowledge. Don’t think of tests as an endpoint to learning. Follow up with feedback, and consider strategies like “exam wrappers”— short metacognitive writing activities that ask students to review their performance on the test and think about ways they could improve in future testing scenarios.
Gayle Cole

Educational Leadership:Promoting Respectful Schools:Bullying-And the Power of Peers - 0 views

  • In a disturbing number of cases, aggressive boys harass girls (Berger & Rodkin, 2009; Rodkin & Berger, 2008; Veenstra et al., 2007). Sixty percent of 5th to 7th grade girls whom Olweus (1993) reported as being harassed said that they were bullied by boys
  • A colleague and I have referred to socially connected bullies as "hidden in plain sight" (Rodkin & Karimpour, 2008) because they are more socially prominent than marginalized bullies, yet less likely to be recognized as bullies or at risk. Because socially connected bullies affiliate with a wide variety of peers, there is an unhealthy potential for widespread acceptance of bullying in some classrooms and schools. This is what Debra Pepler and colleagues call the theater of bullying (Pepler, Craig, & O'Connell, 2010), which encompasses not only the bully-victim dyad, but also children who encourage and reinforce bullies (or become bullies themselves); others who silently witness harassment and abuse; and still others who intervene to support children being harassed (see also Salmivalli et al., 2010).
  • One good friend can make a crucial difference to children who are harassed. Victims who are friends with a nonvictimized peer are less likely to internalize problems as a result of the victimization—for example, being sad, depressed, or anxious
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  • . Peers who do intervene in bullying can make a real difference. These defenders may be successful in more than 50 percent of such attempts, but unfortunately they stand up in fewer than 20 percent of bullying incidents
  • Victimization was lowest in groups with a democratic atmosphere, where relationships with group leaders were more egalitarian and cohesive.
  • interventions that involve peers, such as using students as peer mediators or engaging bystanders to disapprove of bullying and support victims of harassment, were associated with increases in victimization!
  • Some of the most innovative, intensive, grassroots uses of peer relationships to reduce bullying, such as the You Have the Power! program in Montgomery County, Maryland, have not been scientifically evaluated. The final verdict awaits on some promising programs that take advantage of peer relationships to combat bullying, such as the Finnish program KiVa (Salmivalli et al., 2010), which has a strong emphasis on influencing onlookers to support the victim rather than encourage the bully, and the Steps to Respect program (Frey et al., 2010), which works at the elementary school level.
  • . A strong step educators could take would be to periodically ask students about bullying and their social relationships. (See "What Teachers Can Do")
  • Consider what bullying accomplishes for a bully. Does the bully want to gain status? Does the bully use aggression to control others?
  • School staff members vary widely in their knowledge of students' relationships and tend to undere
  • Antibullying interventions can be successful, but there are significant caveats.1  Some bullies would benefit from services that go beyond bullying-reduction programs. Some programs work well in Europe, but not as well in the United States.2  Most antibullying programs have not been rigorously evaluated, so be an informed consumer when investigating claims of success. Even with a well-developed antibullying curriculum, understanding students' relationships at your school is crucial.
  • Implement an intellectually challenging character education or socioemotional learning curriculum. Teach students how to achieve their goals by being assertive rather than aggressive. Always resolve conflicts with civility among and between staff and students. Involve families.
Jill Bergeron

Know Students Better: 15 Tools for Formative Assessment - Learning in Hand - 0 views

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    As you scroll down, you'll see lots of different tech tools for formative assessments. Many can do the same thing. A few to note would be Nearpod, Seesaw and Kahoot.
Jill Bergeron

4 Proven Strategies for Teaching Empathy | Edutopia - 0 views

  • Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
  • In psychology, there are currently two common approaches to empathy: shared emotional response and perspective taking.
  • Shared emotional response, or affective empathy, occurs when an individual shares another person’s emotions.
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  • Perspective taking, also known as cognitive empathy, occurs when a person is able to imagine herself in the situation of another.
  • Teachers can be role models who, by example, show students the power of empathy in relationships.
  • Ask students to break into small groups and discuss how important it is to understand that many people disagree with us simply because they have a different point of view. Debrief the student comments.
  • In the classroom, literature can be used to help students see a situation from different perspectives.
  • We designed the HEAR strategy to help students recognize and block out that noise as they devote their attention to listening to one another. The HEAR strategy consists of these steps: Halt: Stop whatever else you are doing, end your internal dialogue on other thoughts, and free your mind to give the speaker your attention. Engage: Focus on the speaker
  • Anticipate: By looking forward to what the speaker has to say, you are acknowledging that you will likely learn something new and interesting,
  • Replay: Think about what the speaker is saying. Analyze and paraphrase it in your mind or in discussion with the speaker and other classmates.
  • Be aware of your feelings and thoughts about your ability to understand and share in the feelings of others. With metacognitive awareness, we can all become more effective at taking another’s perspective throughout our lives.
Jill Bergeron

Educator Innovator | Educator Innovator - 0 views

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    Ideas on different ways to view making through the lens of the humanities. Projects ideas in here though many would need to be adapted for Chandler.
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