Skip to main content

Home/ Cohort 21 Shared Resources/ Group items tagged improving

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
garth nichols

Why I'm Asking You Not to Use Laptops - Lingua Franca - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher... - 3 views

chronicle.com/...-asking-you-not-to-use-laptops

Laptops EdTech

shared by garth nichols on 05 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • On the first day of class, students and I spend the first 30-40 minutes learning something new about how language works (in order to set the tone for the class), and then we go over the syllabus. When we get to the laptop policy, I pause and say, “Let me tell you why I ask you generally not to use laptops in class.” And here’s the gist of what I say after that:
  • There’s also the issue of the classroom environment. I like to foster a sense of conversation here, even in a class of 100 students. If you are on a laptop, I and your peers are often looking at the back of your computer screen and the top of your head, rather than all of us making eye contact with each other. Learning happens best in a classroom when everyone is actively engaged with one another in the exchange of information. This can mean looking up from your notes to listen and to talk with others, which means you may need to make strategic decisions about what to write down. Note-taking is designed to support the learning and retention of material we talk about in class; note-taking itself is not learning. And speaking of what you choose to write down …
  • Now I know that one could argue that it is your choice about whether you want to use this hour and 20 minutes to engage actively with the material at hand, or whether you would like to multitask. You’re not bothering anyone (one could argue) as you quietly do your email or check Facebook. Here’s the problem with that theory: From what we can tell, you are actually damaging the learning environment for others, even if you’re being quiet about it. A study published in 2013 found that not only did the multitasking student in a classroom do worse on a postclass test on the material, so did the peers who could see the computer. In other words, the off-task laptop use distracted not just the laptop user but also the group of students behind the laptop user. (And I get it, believe me. I was once in a lecture where the woman in front of me was shoe shopping, and I found myself thinking at one point, “No, not the pink ones!” I don’t remember all that much else about the lecture.)
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • In addition, I can find your multitasking on a laptop a bit distracting as the instructor because sometimes you are not typing at the right times; I am not saying anything noteworthy and yet you are engrossed in typing, which suggests that you are doing something other than being fully engaged in our class. And that distracts my attention.
  • First, if you have your laptop open, it is almost impossible not to check email or briefly surf the Internet, even if you don’t mean to or have told yourself that you won’t. I have the same impulse if I have my laptop open in a meeting. The problem is that studies indicate that this kind of multitasking impairs learning; once we are on email/the web, we are no longer paying very good attention to what is happening in class. (And there is no evidence I know of that “practice” at doing this kind of multitasking is going to make you better at it!)
  • A study that came out in June—and which got a lot of buzz in the mainstream press—suggests that taking notes by hand rather than typing them on a laptop improves comprehension of the material. While students taking notes on a laptop (and only taking notes—they were not allowed to multitask) wrote down more of the material covered in class, they were often typing what the instructor said verbatim, which seems to have led to less processing of the material. The students taking notes by hand had to do more synthesizing and condensing as they wrote because they could not get everything down. As a result, they learned the material better.* I think there is also something to the ease with which one can create visual connections on a handwritten page through arrows, flow charts, etc.
  • I figure it is also good for all of us to break addictive patterns with email, texting, Facebook, etc. When you step back, it seems a bit silly that we can’t go for 80 minutes without checking our phones or other devices. Really, for most of us, what are the odds of an emergency that can’t wait an hour? We have developed the habit of checking, and you can see this class as a chance to create or reinforce a habit of not checking too.
  • Of course, if you need or strongly prefer a laptop for taking notes or accessing readings in class for any reason, please come talk with me, and I am happy to make that work. I’ll just ask you to commit to using the laptop only for class-related work.
  • garth nichols on 05 Jan 15
     
    Why we need a balanced approach to the use of computers in the classroom. This is a great partner-piece to Clay Shirky's from 2014...
Justin Medved

Calling all bloggers! - Leadership Day 2014 | Dangerously Irrelevant - 2 views

dangerouslyirrelevant.org/...ggers-leadership-day-2014.html

leadership

shared by Justin Medved on 12 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • dministrators’ lack of knowledge is not entirely their fault. Many of them didn’t grow up with computers. Other than basic management or data analysis technologies, many are not using digital tools or online systems on a regular basis. Few have received training from their employers or their university preparation programs on how to use, think about, or be a leader regarding digital technologies.
lesmcbeth

Tools - Development Impact and You - 0 views

diytoolkit.org/tools

DesignThinking prototype testing tools BrainstormingMethods

shared by lesmcbeth on 01 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • lesmcbeth on 01 Dec 14
     
    A tool kit of activities that will help you develop a clear path, define problems, clarify solutions, etc.
tanyacatallo

Professional Learning Communities Still Work (If Done Right) - Education Week Teacher - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...nities-still-work-if-done.html

shared by tanyacatallo on 13 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • see themselves as members of strong collaborative cultures saw significant benefits in their day-to-day work in key instructional areas, such as planning lessons, developing teaching skills and content, and aligning curriculum and expectations.
    • tanyacatallo
      tanyacatallo on 13 Nov 15
       
      Cohort21 a great collaborative experience
    • tanyacatallo
      tanyacatallo on 13 Nov 15
       
      Finding meaning in our work is a collaborative activity. The power of collaboration is fascinating!
  • job-embedded professional development occurs when educators are members of high-performing professional learning communities
  • A professional learning community is not simply a meeting: It is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recursive cycles of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students they serve.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • collaborative teams rather than in isolation and take collective responsibility for student learning.
  • implement a guaranteed and viable curriculum, unit by unit
  • criteria they will use in assessing student work
  • monitor student learning through an ongoing assessment process
  • common formative assessments.
  • improve their individual practice
  • school provides a systematic process for intervention and enrichment
garth nichols

The chasm between high school and university - 0 views

www.thespec.com/...een-high-school-and-university

designing high school university

shared by garth nichols on 19 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • Let's start with the secondary system. As this level of education becomes significantly student focused, there are many of us in the system who fear we are coddling students in the extreme and not preparing them at all for the realities of the work world or college/university. Here are samples of policies, largely instituted by the Ministry of Education, that added together, have lead to concerns re: coddling.
  • •Late work: Student work is not penalized for lateness. Late work is viewed as a behavioural issue, not an academic one. •Plagiarism: This is also seen as a behavioural issue, and usually does not result in any academic penalty, even in a grade 12 University level course. •Evaluation: Policies are moving away from grades being derived from an average of all student assignments in favour of a more general approach that reflects "most recent and/or most consistent" achievement. •Lower limits: Students getting failing grades are assessed by this policy which requires teachers to give a mark of 30 to students who are, on paper, achieving anywhere from 1-29 per cent. This is designed to 'give them hope' of success. •Credit rescue/recovery: A policy designed to give students who fail a course the opportunity to make up key missed work with the goal of achieving a passing grade. •Memorization: The idea of students actually memorizing material is viewed as "old fashioned" and is rejected in favour of "inquiry based learning'." The world of the university student is decidedly different, as evidenced by their policies. •Late work: Most courses do not accept late work. Period. •Plagiarism: This is viewed as academic dishonesty, and harsh academic penalties are in place. •Evaluation: Most courses feature few evaluations that are weighted heavily, and grades are based on the average of all assignments. •Evaluation: The move toward knowledge-based evaluation is epidemic. Exams, even in courses like literature studies and philosophy, are commonly multiple choice and short answer exams.
  • •If students are trained for the 14 years they attend school that there really are few consequences to academic problems, how will they fare in the much more rigorous world of post-secondary education? A history professor recently asked me what we (high school teachers) were doing to our kids.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The idea that we have largely abandoned 'knowledge based learning' in no way prepares students for the new reality of university
  • As for the world of work, students who have struggled to graduate by submitting work late, gaining credits through credit rescue, and who have not developed responsibility for their work may improve rates of graduation, but will not serve them in the work world, where the safety nets they have come to rely on do not exist.
  • garth nichols on 19 Jan 16
     
    Interesting perspective on how the MoE is/is not preparing our students for post-secondary and the work force
mmekraus

Educational Leadership:Feedback for Learning:Seven Keys to Effective Feedback - 3 views

www.ascd.org/...eys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx

feedback assessment Wiggins formative

shared by mmekraus on 17 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Expert coaches uniformly avoid overloading performers with too much or too technical information. They tell the performers one important thing they noticed that, if changed, will likely yield immediate and noticeable improvement ("I was confused about who was talking in the dialogue you wrote in this paragraph"). They don't offer advice until they make sure the performer understands the importance of what they saw.
  • I say "in most cases" to allow for situations like playing a piano piece in a recital. I don't want my teacher or the audience barking out feedback as I perform. That's why it is more precise to say that good feedback is "timely" rather than "immediate."
    • Melissa Jolicoeur
      Melissa Jolicoeur on 17 Oct 15
       
      Interesting thoughts about the nature and speed of feedback. Connecting the ideas of coaching and learning new skills to in classroom learning.
    • Melissa Jolicoeur
      Melissa Jolicoeur on 17 Oct 15
       
      How do you provide feedback to your students? What is your most effective strategy both in terms of benefit to student learning and your own time? 
    • Melissa Jolicoeur
      Melissa Jolicoeur on 17 Oct 15
       
      How do you provide feedback to your students? What is your most effective strategy both in terms of benefit to student learning and your own time? 
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • eedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments made after the fact, including advice, praise, and evaluation
  • Whether the feedback was in the observable effects or from other people, in every case the information received was not advice,
  • Guidance would be premature; I first need to receive feedback on what I did or didn't do that would warrant such advice.
  • Whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person,
  • Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement
  • Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning
  • Whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.
  • feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.
  • by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning
  • The most ubiquitous form of evaluation, grading, is so much a part of the school landscape that we easily overlook its utter uselessness as actionable feedback.
  • Melissa Jolicoeur on 17 Oct 15
     
    Learning from coaching and learning in other situations to giving feedback in classrooms.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • alainarobcon on 17 Oct 15
     
    How to effectively feedback to students
  • Andrew McNiven on 17 Oct 15
     
    Great article to see the value of formative assessment and feedback
  • mmekraus on 17 Oct 15
     
    Useful for all teachers!
  • Ryan Archer on 19 Oct 15
     
    Worth checking out. Worth buying the journal.
garth nichols

Building Staff Culture: The Importance of Gratitude - The Wejr Board - 1 views

chriswejr.com/...re-the-importance-of-gratitude

culture schoolculture

shared by garth nichols on 05 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • Some days I saw all of this; most days, however, I was looking through “deficit-coloured glasses” and o
  • nly saw the fact that I was teaching more than ever (as we were short teachers-on-call to replace
  • could not get done at work nor in the evening as we had an amazing new little family member), I was en
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • teachers that were absent), I was spending more time working at night (as I had to catch up on stuff I
  • fecting me) were causing more work and taking its toll on me.
  • gaging in very negative conversations, and external changes that were beyond my control (but
  • rf
  • s
  • This year, our district has made a commitment to improving adult wellness and our school had a team
  • nd and see so many positives at our school.
  • I
  • ave also challenged staff to show more gratitude not only to each other but also be more thankful for what we have at work and at home. We continue to start every staff meeting with WWW (What Went Well) and encourage each other to share s
  • ed before like this. We have started a “gratitude wall” in the staff room for staff to acknowledge the positives they see around the school (this is in the early stages). Some staff have starte
  • A teacher used a gratitude exercise with her grade 4/5 students and surround their classroom door with things they are thankful for.
  • e with her grade 3 students and they then wrote personal thank you notes to classmates and staff.
‹ Previous 21 - 29 of 29
Showing 20▼ items per page