Group items tagged

"It's been around for a few years now and had plenty of interest from around the world already, but Mr G Online has only just discovered Maths Maps. From first impressions, I am absolutely blown away by the idea. The brainchild of leading UK educator Tom Barrett, (now based in Australia), Maths Maps uses Google Maps as the launching pad for Maths Investigations. Barrett's vision was for teachers around the world to collaborate on building Maths Maps, examples of some seen in the screenshots on the left. Here is a brief description of how it works from the Maths Maps website. Elevator Pitch Using Google Maps. Maths activities in different places around the world. One location, one maths topic, one map. Activities explained in placemarks in Google Maps. Placemarks geotagged to the maths it refers to. "How wide is this swimming pool?" Teachers to contribute and share ideas. Maps can be used as independent tasks or group activities in class. Maps can be embedded on websites, blogs or wikis. Tasks to be completed by students and recorded online or offline."

"teacher-ready tips for stimulating curiosity in others. First, she suggests starting with the question, rather than the answer-which teachers will recognize as the foundation of inquiry-based or discovery learning (see: math teacher Dan Meyer's take on how to make math "irresistible" to students). She then suggests offering some initial knowledge on the subject. "We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about," she writes. Again, teachers may know this as "activating prior knowledge" or "setting the stage" before a lesson. Finally, she says it helps to require communication, or "open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it." The think-pair-share technique and vocabulary activities that require students to teach each other their words both exemplify this. What would you add to the list? How does stimulating curiosity gel with other motivation tactics-or should teachers think of curiosity and motivation as one and the same?"

"Coauthors Harada and Yoshina authored the first text that focused on learning assessment in a school library context. In this revised and expanded version of "Assessing for Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners," they continue to shed light on the issue of school librarians helping students to assess for learning. The book begins with a brief discussion of national reform efforts and the importance of assessment for effective learning within this context. The balance of the book provides numerous strategies and tools for involving students as well as library media specialists in assessment activities, emphasizing the importance of students assessing for their own learning. It also provides specific examples of how assessment can be incorporated into various library-related learning activities. All chapters in this second edition have been updated with additional information, and three new chapters on assessing for critical thinking, dispositions, and tech-related learning have been added."

"We recommend discussing explicitly the purpose, associated practices, and changed roles that the use of Essential Questions entails. Here are some examples of key ideas framed as sentences to be spoken in class to prepare students for the changes: "There's not a single correct answer for this question. Life is about the consideration of plausible and imperfect alternatives." "Coming to understand important ideas is like fitness: it takes practice over time." "When a question is posted on the wall, it means that we are going to consider it again and again." "Inquiry is not a spectator sport: each of you needs to listen actively and participate." "Everyone is fair game. I won't only call on people who raise their hands." "If and when I or others challenge your comment, it doesn't mean we don't like you or don't value your contribution." "Making mistakes is an expected part of learning. If you never take a risk of making a mistake, you're not likely to improve." "You may find that you are re-considering things that you thought you understood. That is normal - even desirable." Like the care of seedlings, the new rules will require patience, careful nurturing, and constant reminders. Overtime, they will become the norms, allowing big ideas to take root and mature understandings to blossom."

"teach nonfiction reading skills in my sixth grade science classroom. Each lesson is tied directly to a standard in the Common Core Literacy in History, Science and Technical Subjects curriculum -- and each lesson is designed to be used in tandem with a current event connected to the concepts that our students study. If you like the lessons, all you'll need to do is find a current event to teach them with!"

"Teachers at Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor, Maine, use proven Responsive Classroom techniques -- such as relationship-building morning meetings and engaging student-led activities -- to get students focused and ready to learn. "

There are a range of activities/workshops here: http://balancedtech.wikispaces.com/Professional+Development I'd recommend iPad Exploration, Apps Taskonomy & WIKId Wide Walls to start with.

"Digital citizenship is " the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use."It is the combination of technical and social skills that enable a person to be successful and safe in the information age. Just like literacy and numeracy initiatives which provide people with the skills to ' participate in the work force, digital literacy has become an essential skill to be a confident, connected, and actively involved life long learner.'"

Project-based learning (PBL) is a method used to cultivate learning and teach students 21st century skills. The idea is "built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation," and "generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in everyday world outside the classroom" (pbl-online.org).

Could be a very interesting concept.

"Despite the attention that the videos get, the greatest benefit to any flipped classroom is not the videos. It's the in-class time that every teacher must evaluate and redesign. Because our direct instruction was moved outside of the classroom, our students were able to conduct higher-quality and more engaging activities. As we have seen teachers adopt the flipped model, they use the extra time in myriad ways depending on their subject matter, location, and style of teaching. We asked some of our colleagues to share how they have changed their class time. Following are some examples."

"A new study shows that students learn much better through an active, iterative process that involves working through their misconceptions with fellow students and getting immediate feedback from the instructor."

"The literature on educational leadership and school change recognizes clearly the role and influence of the campus administrator (the principal, and sometimes an assistant principal) on whether or not change will occur in the school. It seems clear that transforming the school organization into a learning community can be done only with the leaders' sanction and active nurturing of the entire staff's development as a community. Thus, a look at the principal of a school whose staff is a professional learning community seems a good starting point for describing what these learning communities look like and how they operate. "

Classroom collaboration is an area that benefits directly from today's Internet experience in that students can develop their potential for learning by becoming more actively involved. Indeed, they can learn to approach and solve problems by collaborating with other students and their teachers. Social bookmarking websites give them opportunities to discover and organize information.

"As this happens, certain mental skills will become less valuable because computers will take over. Having a great memory will probably be less valuable. Being able to be a straight-A student will be less valuable - gathering masses of information and regurgitating it back on tests. So will being able to do any mental activity that involves following a set of rules. But what human skills will be more valuable?" 5 Traits...

The Horizon Report 2014 K-12 edition is now available. Developed by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), this is the sixth annual K-12 edition. It describes findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing, collaborative research activity designed to identify trends and describe emerging technologies that are likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry.

"Solution Fluency Activity Planner "

"The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education helps educators gain confidence about their rights to use copyrighted materials in developing students' critical thinking and communication skills. These slides accompany the book, Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning by Renee Hobbs. You can offer a staff development program using the materials in the book, plus these slides, to introduce your colleagues to the power of the Code. Use the lessons below, which are complete with multimedia, readings, discussion questions, activities and hands-on production projects to help you teach about copyright and fair use."