Group items tagged

"We want a team to think about action research as a collaborative endeavor, where principals and teachers work together to improve something over time. It's not just about gathering data, it's about working hard to improve something. Maybe you see a need to improve writing in the building, and you're going to figure out whether there's a way to take a techno-constructivist approach to strengthening students' writing skills. Maybe you feel the culture of your school is very mired in antiquated approaches to teaching and learning, and you want to build a new culture of innovation and collaboration, so you're going to develop your project around that goal."

"Poet, playwright, and cultural critic T. S. Eliot was born 124 years ago today. In this passage from The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (public library), cited in the 1942 gem Anatomy of Inspiration, Eliot adds to previously explored theories of how creativity works by taking a curious look at how physical illness brings a near-mystical quality of poetry, driven by two key elements of creativity: the presence of an incubation period when unconscious processing of existing ideas takes place, and the removal of habitual inhibitions, or something John Keats has termed "negative capability"."

"Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility. "

"Once I was alerted to the concept of "hard fun" I began listening for it and heard it over and over. It is expressed in many different ways, all of which all boil down to the conclusion that everyone likes hard challenging things to do. But they have to be the right things matched to the individual and to the culture of the times. These rapidly changing times challenge educators to find areas of work that are hard in the right way: they must connect with the kids and also with the areas of knowledge, skills and (don't let us forget) ethic adults will need for the future world. "

"To start, let's look at history in a very basic way. By definition, history is the recollection of past events that occurred since the beginning of time. History is examined in many different ways, and is taught in a variety of different styles as well. Many historians classify history in five different types: Social History, Economic History, Political History, Military History, and Cultural History."

" It doesn't solve anything. It is a great first step in reframing the role of the teacher in the classroom. It fosters the "guide on the side" mentality and role, rather than that of the "sage of the stage." It helps move a classroom culture towards student construction of knowledge rather than the teacher having to tell the knowledge to students."

"School culture should be collegial, said Sagor, where there is a focus on continuous improvement, shared responsibility, valuing contributions, and the acceptance that conflict is inevitable. "Working in teams needs to be exciting and attractive to bring the best and the brightest into our profession," he said. "When people say 'just tell us what to do,' the battle is nearly lost.""

Lesson Overview Students gain a sense of the living history that surrounds the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online resources, students of all backgrounds may better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white, and rich and poor cultures of our country.

Pretend that you're an editor at a major newspaper. A reporter has just handed you a story that contains the following statements. Unfortunately, this reporter has a reputation for embellishing stories with wild claims that are completely untrue. Using common sense and whatever you happen to know about the subjects, you've got to decide which statements are true and which are false before the paper goes out to print. Saying 'I don't know' isn't an option.

Some great titles here, but unfortunately not all books are available in iTunes Australia

" 375 Free eBooks: Download to Kindle, iPad/iPhone & Nook This collection features free e-books, mostly classics, that you can read on your iPad/iPhone (purchase), Kindle (purchase), Nook (purchase) or other devices. It includes great works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. To learn how to load books to your Kindle using the links below, please watch this video. This other video explains how to upload epub files to a Nook."