Group items tagged

This article is about the gender inequality in those high school students who chose not to pursue PE classes once they are no longer compulsory. It states that a very high number of girls chose to not continue with physical education classes. This leads to less physical activity as they get older and an increased likelihood of obesity as an adult.

Interesting! Please make sure to include three questions.

Children who are physically fit absorb and retain new information more effectively than children who are out of shape, a new study finds, raising timely questions about the wisdom of slashing physical education programs at schools. How might you, as a teacher, incorporate physical fitness into your class, even if it is only for a couple minutes? Today, technology has become such a large portion of our life, what can be done to encourage students to become more physically active outside of school rather than play video games all night? Who would be a good resource to find out further information about types of physical activity for your students?

You only have one sentence of summary (as written). You need to have at least two or three. Great questions.

This article describes a teaching experience in which information and communication technologies were applied in five industrial engineering courses at the Universidad de Tarapaca in Chile. The paper compares the performance and course pass rates of the e-learning platform and portable pocket PC platform with those of the same courses teaching in traditional classroom methods. Two of the courses involving 62 students used an e- learning platform and its associated pedagogical model, while the other three, covering 110 students, employed a portable Pocket PC platform and a collaborative pedagogical model. The results show that there is no statistical evidence that technology rise the students marks, but did reveal significant improvements in course pass rates.

This is really interesting as there are many people who would agree that technology does not have a significant impact in improving grades.

Studies are finding that when teachers and parents agree with kids that STEM subjects are not their best, students do not pursue those subjects. IT also says we should focus our praise on the process and not necessarily what comes natural. This encourages our children to embrace the process of learning instead of only the things that come natural. What are some other reasons you think kids quit STEM subjects? Do you think we validate our students/children too often? Why or why not? How else can we engage or encourage our students without the typical element of praise?

This article is TOTALLY speaking to me :) Wish I could re-do science in high school and believe more in myself. (Got good grades, but never "got" it.)

This article focuses on the importance of including literacy in all content areas. Literacy is described here as the ability to write, speak, and read. Literacy is an "every century" skill that should be being taught and practiced across all content areas. 1. What role does literacy play in your practicum classroom? 2. How could you add literacy into your content area, assuming that you are not going to teach language arts? 3. Do you agree that literacy is the responsibility of ALL teachers? Why or why not? -Shannon Walker

Thanks, Shannon for signing your article :) Great questions, good summary!

This article addresses the issue of teacher burnout and a solution to help treat and minimize it. The article suggests that relieving one's stress for a short period each day goes a long way in avoiding burnout. 1) Should all teachers be required to participate in a short training to teach them mindfulness and stress relieving techniques? 2) What techniques do you use to destress and how can incorporating mindfulness improve them? 3) How would taking time to destress through mindfulness effect your classroom performance?

It's that time of year. You'll always see LOTS of teacher burnout/teacher slump articles written in November :)

I think that this article does a straight forward job of addressing the need to bring social studies back into the core curriculum. The article says, although some may not agree, social sciences help to teach kids about who they are, where they've come from, and how to interact in public. Social sciences also teach our students how to be good citizens and what their rights are. Taking this away or diminishing its importance leads to apathy and illiteracy in terms of social and political economics. Lastly, the article states that a lot of kids may actually like social science and that there are jobs out their in the social science and economic fields and that turning away from social science in school could strongly deter those kids from pursuing those fields.

Love this article! You know I agree! Make sure to add three questions.

In our reading of Reeves, chapter 7, Wiggins and McTighe are mentioned a few times so I googled their names and came up with this article that can be helpful to us. (This is not my assignment article, just wanted to bookmark it for later reading)

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is seen by many as the answer to the shortage of candidates in high tech fields. The author argues that multiple perspectives are important, and that creative thought leads to innovation. The arts are more than just an enjoyable pastime at school. 1. How can we make sure schools see the importance of art education? 2. Can art be tied into science, math, and technology to expand all areas? 3. As an art teacher, can I make real-world connections for my students?

I agree! Great choice for your article. Good summary and great questions!

A teacher edited his student's rough drafts for statewide test to make sure punctuation and capitalization were correct on their exams. She stated she felt the pressure of performing well on the exams. Other states have been found to cheat on the standard test created by No Child Left Behind. How do you feel a teacher should be punished for violating standard assessment rules for a broken system like NCLB? Do you feel NCLB standards help or hurt students? teachers? Why do they hurt and why do the help? Why do you fell there are so many scandals with teachers cheating for students? Do they not have confidence in their teaching abilities and/or their students?

Such a heartbreaking and timely article. Great summary and questions.

This article talked about the current trend of school districts cutting PE classes, recess and intramural sports to give students more time in the class to help increase test scores. The article is of the opinion that this is the complete opposite of what research has shown works. Students need quality fitness based PE classes at least three days a week, if not every day, in order to help their brains connect to their bodies and do better. 1) How can we continue to incorporate quality PE without taking from core classes? 2) Are we considering the epidemic of childhood obesity when looking at the overall school structures in states and districts? 3) Why are we going in the complete opposite direction from 35 years ago when it comes to Physical Education?

Great article choice! Great questions!

"Imagine a system that provides teachers with real-time insights to understand how a student is performing. The teacher can then use the data to spot weak areas and adjust the lesson plan accordingly. This type of tailored instruction has the ability to greatly improve student performance." We've been learning about individualized instruction in all of our classes, and now Xerox researchers have been tracking students for the past 7 years in New York and California to invent a system where teachers "could determine what concepts were being taught successfully and which were missing the mark-- and they could do it on a student-by-student, class-by-class basis."

This article speaks about all the educational data that is being collected but not used. Virginia has created an app to make that information accessible to parents. This allows them to use the data to choose which school they want to send their children to. I think all states should create an app like this to make sure data is being utilized and also to bring light to the schools who need more help.

This article discusses the use of free web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom to help promote 21st century skills. They highlight four web tools, Jing, Wix, Google Sites, and Blogger, that can be integrated in school environments. The article provides specific classroom examples from four teachers, on how they were able to use these tools with their students.

This was a great article for class. We will talk about about some of the tools listed.

This journal covers Tessellations in the classrooms and how they can be done by pretty much any student. In the classroom, they can be used for a variety of technology educational activities, such as graphic arts like screen printing and 3D printing. These techniques can be used in practical and artistic ways with basic geometry and symmetry skills. According to their research, these tessellation activities can be successful and challenging for most students. I couldn't find this article online anywhere else other than the library at school or ebhost site. Sorry

This sounds really good and interesting that it talked about 3D printing.

This article is about how more males are typically enrolling to be in technology courses in middle and high schools in the US then are females. It mentions how keeping and bringing in female students to take educational technology courses will require major changes in instructional practice and course content. A study in this article also brought about how males and females have different interests when it comes to the use of technology.

Although the article is somewhat dated. I do believe some of the research is still true.

This article talks about how iPads and other tablets are a learning tool for students with disabilities, not just for novelty. Students who have trouble communicating verbally can use apps to talk to peers, teachers and parents. It allows them to be more like their peers and can spark new friendships if used in the right way. It can be used in all classes, including Math and Science, allowing students to be more independent than they have ever been.

This article sounds interesting. I wish I could have read the entire article.

This is a Blog website about Dyslexia, I've been following it for about 3 months. The site has a lot of information about what dyslexia, is and what a person with dyslexia go through.

Wiki's are a great tool for students to come together to edit and create a document. The website includes popular, FREE wiki platforms for teachers to use, includes resources for further reading and gives examples on how to use Wiki's in the classroom. This website is a great resource in general for including technological resources in a Language Arts classroom, which can be difficult to do, especially when teaching writing and literature. http://tewt.org

This is a worthwhile article for teachers to read if they are starting a wiki page. The article includes a treasure chest of resources.