We took a recent look at Teaching Channel on Common Core and Educational Technology. Lots of very high quality videos - lessons, many common core based, but LOTS of other content on planning, behavior management, student engagement and other Prof. Development.
Please let us know what you'd like to see more of on our blog!
They make students vividly aware of new possibilities for intellectual and aesthetic fulfillment—pleasure, to give its proper name. They may not enjoy every book we read, but they enjoy some of them and learn that—and how—this sort of thing (Greek philosophy, modernist literature) can be enjoyable.
We should judge teaching not by the amount of knowledge it passes on, but by the enduring excitement it generates. Knowledge, when it comes, is a later arrival, flaring up, when the time is right, from the sparks good teachers have implanted in their students’ souls.
Great article on learning in a more facilitated environment and teaching students to ask questions and think deeply. It isn't about the technology. That is just the vehicle.
To summarize the findings: because they didn't teach to the test, the professors who instilled the deepest learning in their students came out looking the worst in terms of student evaluations and initial exam performance. To me, these results were staggering, and I don't say that lightly.
From Steve Wheeler: Ever since I first began to use Twitter I have been thinking about how to harness the potential of microblogging for the benefits of my own students, and have tried out several ideas to exploit it already. Below are my 10 top uses of Twitter for education
classroom space was then used for critical thinking and group problem solving.
spend more time in the classroom focused on collaboration and higher-order
thinking
lecture is still a poor mode of information transfer
Eric Mazur's talk Confessions of a
Converted Lecturer
hype
Good teaching, regardless of discipline, should always limit passive transfer of
knowledge in class, and promote learning environments built on the tenants of
inquiry, collaboration and critical thinking
pedagogical skills
The science teacher in me is deeply committed to the process of inquiry, and
arming my students with the skills needed to construct and test their own ideas.
The AP teacher in me fears sending my students off to their examination in May
having covered only a portion of all the content required
At its core, "flipped instruction" refers to moving aspects of teaching out of the classroom and into the homework space. With the advent of new technologies, specifically the ability to record digitally annotated and narrated screencasts, instructional videos have become a common medium in the flipped classroom. Although not limited to videos, a flipped classroom most often harnesses different forms of instructional video published online for students.
Answer explanation is almost as important as mathematic problem solving. If we really want to know if a student understands ANY concept, we need to ask him/her to write their explanation. Sometimes the understanding comes from the thinking required to do the writing - writing to make it make sense!
Wow! I think the concept of doing less of something in order to make time for experimentation is a fabulous idea! Do you mean there are different aspects of student assessment and testing beyond a bubble sheet? :)
Most of them have studied psychology, teaching methods, curriculum theories, assessment models, and classroom management researched and designed in the United States
Finland's successful practices are something they learned here in the U.S. So, why aren't our teachers here in the U.S. employing those same practices successfully?
Professional development and school improvement courses and programs often include visitors from the U.S. universities to teach and work with Finnish teachers and leaders.
in an ideal classroom, pupils speak more than the teacher
the entire Finnish school system looks like John Dewey’s laboratory school in the U.S.
cooperative learning has become a pedagogical approach that is widely practiced throughout Finnish education system
Finnish teachers believe that over 90 percent of students can learn successfully in their own classrooms if given the opportunity to evolve in a holistic manner.
After abolishing all streaming and tracking of students in the mid-1980s, both education policies and school practices adopted the principle that all children have different kinds of intelligences and that schools must find ways how to cultivate these different individual aspects in balanced ways.
it is ironic that many of these methods were developed at U.S. universities and are yet far more popular in Finland than in the United States. These include portfolio assessment, performance assessment, self-assessment and self-reflection, and assessment for learning methods.
Alternative assessments! Performance, portfolio, self-assessment, self-reflection, and assessment of learning methods...
Peer coaching—that is, a confidential process through which teachers work together to reflect on current practices, expand, improve, and learn new skills, exchange ideas, conduct classroom research and solve problems together in school
Working together and reflecting on current practices - Reflection helps to expand, improve, and provides an opportunity to learn and exchange ideas to solve problems
the work of the school in the United States is so much steered by bureaucracies, test-based accountability and competition that schools are simply doing what they must do
Sadness Abounds! We are teaching folks what works best. Then, they enter the classroom and get wrapped up in bureaucracies and test-based accountability to the point that teachers are just going through the motions instead of facilitating quality learning
Pasi Sahlberg Blog Finnish education reform Originally published in Washington Post, 24 July 2014 An intriguing question whether innovation in education can be measured has an answer now. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in its recent report "Measuring Innovation in Education: A New Perspective, Educational Research and Innovation" measures Innovation in Education in 22 countries and 6 jurisdictions, among them the U.S.
ur average scores are respectable but unspectacular because, as Farhi notes, we have such a high percentage of children living in poverty, the highest of all industrialized countries. Only four percent of children in high-scoring Finland, for example, live in poverty. Our rate of poverty is over 21%.
It means that the "problem" of American education is not ineffective teaching, not teachers' unions, not lack of national standards and tests, and not schools of education: It is poverty.
"It means that the "problem" of American education is not ineffective teaching, not teachers' unions, not lack of national standards and tests, and not schools of education: It is poverty."
Sarah's comment is heartbreaking
teaching must become a profession that demands more positive attention. We can't afford to be modest anymore
new teachers to take a course in publicity, learn to pitch and sell what you do, so that people know your worth. Learn how to control your own public relations
Teachers have insider knowledge of school successes, so it is our duty to go public with those victories, big and small
So, it's up to you to get it out there. It's not just for the good of you, the individual teacher, but also for the good of the staff, and even the profession. It's now your duty.
".. the more productive way to battle these teachers and the bleeding out of our profession's reputation is for those of us who love this job -- and we are the majority -- to battle the poor publicity with the sword of our own successes."
we are proposing a year without worksheets. We are going to emphasize a year of personal teaching, original materials, innovative lessons, and imaginative activities. .. in bucking carbon-copied shortcuts, to hone in on layered, dynamic, self-pioneered worksheets that excite students with pictures and appeal. We will hopefully force ourselves to avoid the bluffing that comes with 30 minutes of "silent work at one's desk.
I would agree - making this assumption leads to other assumptions that have no scientific basis. It's a reaction to a supposed change in student learning behaviors. But it is the kind of statement that let's technology advocates jump on the bandwagon and sell their technology.
An app called Field Notes LT not only allows students to take copious notes of their observations, it attaches the date, time, GPS location and photographs of what is observed. These notes can be instantly shared, collaborated, and published in the field.
Perhaps a better question is what would I do with them that I could not do with other tools that are available and cheaper?
The first report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. You can see a summary of each innovation at the menu on the right.
"The series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation."
Here at IET in the OU, a bunch of us, led by Mike Sharples, were asked to produce an annual report on how changes in teaching and learning (related to technology) were changing the current landscape. ... Think of it as like a Horizon's report with more focus on pedagogy. We adopted the same methodology as the Horizon report also.
Teaching is a professional craft. Thinking that any high-scoring college student could come in and excel demeans it as a profession. No one would consider letting smart English majors perform surgery on low-income patients, or allowing cum laude math majors to do legal work for poor clients.
Stuffing under-prepared rookies’ ears with confidence and sending them into the fray doesn’t have a net neutral impact on our students or our national conversation on education.
Teaching is a professional craft. Thinking that any high-scoring college student could come in and excel demeans it as a profession. No one would consider letting smart English majors perform surgery on low-income patients, or allowing cum laude math majors to do legal work for poor clients.