This study examined the effect of electronic outlining on the quality of students' writing products and how outlining affects perceived mental effort during the writing task. Additionally, it was studied how students appropriate and appreciate an outline tool and whether they need explicit instruction in order to engage in planning. To answer these questions, the writing products and self-report data from 34 tenth-grade students of a Dutch pre-university school were analysed. Students wrote two similar argumentative texts with or without an outline tool. Results show that electronic outlining improves the quality of students' argumentative texts and decreases mental effort. Answers to a retrospective questionnaire showed that a short instruction on the outline tool was sufficient for students to understand its working and that most students experienced the tool as beneficial. Finally, results indicate that without specific instruction on text planning, students hardly devote any time to this important aspect of writing.
Listening and Speaking Tip: Class presentations with a rubric; allow class to complete rubric of their peers too and use video or text-to-speech based web 2.0 animation programs for shy students
all students need access to a wide range of materials on a variety of topics and genres
hese responses can vary in length based on the questions asked and tasks performed, from answering brief questions to crafting multiparagraph responses in upper grades.
two standards progression charts for each grade level
Writing
peaking and Listening
Graham, S., and M. A. Hebert. 2010. Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
suggests both the number and types
Students
offer one way of organizing the standards
quarterly modules
reflects the integrated nature
four sections
to express an opinion/make an argument or to inform/explain
The beginning and the end of a class period are really important - and often, unused - parcels of time. This page includes excellent tips for incorporating routines that benefit students and maximize time on task.
"Reflecting on what has been learnt (or not learnt) is vital for our pupils to know where to focus their efforts next. In the same way, reflecting upon one's teaching craft is vital to improvement. Yet too many of us feel we do not have time to reflect because we have to move onto the next lesson or admin task. How can we create the time to pick apart our lessons and what are the best methods to do so?"
To ensure reflective practice is more than an activity added to our schedule, we need to take a reflective stance.
Too often, reflection becomes the thing we do at the end of a task or the end of the day. We look back and contemplate what was, and with that in mind, we look forward to what we might do differently next time. It is in this way a very reactionary process. By all means, this form of reflection has its place, and it can be a powerful strategy to deploy as we seek to learn from experience. If we value reflective practice, we will be sure to set aside time for this form of reflection on a routine basis. By engaging in reflection habitually, we ensure that it is a routine part of our day.
But adopting a reflective stance can make this more powerful.
Encoding of working memory involves the spiking of individual neurons induced by sensory input, which persists even after the sensory input disappears (Jensen and Lisman 2005; Fransen et al. 2002). Encoding of episodic memory involves persistent changes in molecular structures that alter synaptic transmission between neurons. Examples of such structural changes include long-term potentiation (LTP) or spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). The persistent spiking in working memory can enhance the synaptic and cellular changes in the encoding of episodic memory (Jensen and Lisman 2005).
Recent functional imaging studies detected working memory signals in both medial temporal lobe (MTL), a brain area strongly associated with long-term memory, and prefrontal cortex (Ranganath et al. 2005), suggesting a strong relationship between working memory and long-term memory. However, the substantially more working memory signals seen in the prefrontal lobe suggest that this area play a more important role in working memory than MTL (Suzuki 2007).
Consolidation and reconsolidation. Short-term memory (STM) is temporary and subject to disruption, while long-term memory (LTM), once consolidated, is persistent and stable. Consolidation of STM into LTM at the molecular level presumably involves two processes: synaptic consolidation and system consolidation. The former involves a protein synthesis process in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), whereas the latter transforms the MTL-dependent memory into an MTL-independent memory over months to years (Ledoux 2007). In recent years, such traditional consolidation dogma has been re-evaluated as a result of the studies on reconsolidation. These studies showed that prevention after retrieval affects subsequent retrieval of the memory (Sara 2000). New studies have shown that post-retrieval treatment with protein synthesis inhibitors and many other compounds can lead to an amnestic state (Nadel et al. 2000b; Alberini 2005; Dudai 2006). These findings on reconsolidation fit with the behavioral evidence that retrieved memory is not a carbon copy of the initial experiences, and memories are updated during retrieval.
Physical exercise, particularly continuous aerobic exercises such as running, cycling and swimming, has many cognitive benefits and effects on the brain. Influences on the brain include increases in neurotransmitter levels, improved oxygen and nutrient delivery, and increased neurogenesis in the hippocampus. The effects of exercise on memory have important implications for improving children's academic performance, maintaining mental abilities in old age, and the prevention and potential cure of neurological diseases.
At the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University, researchers have found that memory accuracy of adults is hurt by the fact that they know more, and have more experience than children, and tend to apply all this knowledge when learning new information. The findings appeared in the August 2004 edition of the journal Psychological Science.
Interference can hamper memorization and retrieval. There is retroactive interference, when learning new information makes it harder to recall old information[59] and proactive interference, where prior learning disrupts recall of new information. Although interference can lead to forgetting, it is important to keep in mind that there are situations when old information can facilitate learning of new information. Knowing Latin, for instance, can help an individual learn a related language such as French – this phenomenon is known as positive transfer.[60]
Methods to optimize memorization[edit]
Memorization is a method of learning that allows an individual to recall information verbatim. Rote learning is the method most often used. Methods of memorizing things have been the subject of much discussion over the years with some writers, such as Cosmos Rossellius using visual alphabets. The spacing effect shows that an individual is more likely to remember a list of items when rehearsal is spaced over an extended period of time. In contrast to this is cramming which is intensive memorization in a short period of time. Also relevant is the Zeigarnik effect which states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. The so-called Method of loci uses spatial memory to memorize non-spatial information.[72]
Updated comment! Educators, whether parents, teachers or lecturers have a huge task in keeping up with what is really important - there are a lot of courses on what social-media is, but very few (that I can see) on the relational and dialogic aspects of social media. Challenging times!
"Simply stated, the profound improvements that we found after just 4 days of meditation training- are really surprising," Zeidan noted. "It goes to show that the mind is, in fact, easily changeable and highly influenced, especially by meditation."
The meditation training involved in the study was an abbreviated "mindfulness" training regime modeled on basic "Shamatha skills" from a Buddhist meditation tradition
"Findings like these suggest that meditation's benefits may not require extensive training to be realized, and that meditation's first benefits may be associated with increasing the ability to sustain attention,"
seems to be strong evidence for the idea that we may be able to modify our own minds to improve our cognitive processing -- most importantly in the ability to sustain attention and vigilance -- within a week's time."
Both groups also improved following the meditation and reading experiences in measures of mood, but only the group that received the meditation training improved significantly in the cognitive measures. The meditation group scored consistently higher averages than the reading/listening group on all the cognitive tests and as much as ten times better on one challenging test that involved sustaining the ability to focus, while holding other information in mind.
"The meditation group did especially better on all the cognitive tests that were timed," Zeidan noted. "In tasks where participants had to process information under time constraints causing stress, the group briefly trained in mindfulness performed significantly better."
participants were instructed to relax, with their eyes closed, and to simply focus on the flow of their breath occurring at the tip of their nose. If a random thought arose, they were told to passively notice and acknowledge the thought and to simply let 'it' go, by bringing the attention back to the sensations of the breath."
"The simple process of focusing on the breath in a relaxed manner, in a way that teaches you to regulate your emotions by raising one's awareness of mental processes as they're happening is like working out a bicep, but you are doing it to your brain. Mindfulness meditation teaches you to release sensory events that would easily distract, whether it is your own thoughts or an external noise, in an emotion-regulating fashion.
"This kind of training seems to prepare the mind for activity, but it's not necessarily permanent," Zeidan cautions. "This doesn't mean that you meditate for four days and you're done -- you need to keep practicing."
excessive use of the internet and other forms of technology diminishes our capacity for deep, meditative thinking, "the brighter the software, the dimmer the user", a counter-revolution may be required.
curricula must be developed not only with the potential benefits of technology linked to every learning outcome in mind, but also the costs.
Of greatest importance, however, is the status of our thinking, understanding how we think and the effect new technologies have on our cognitive processes. This debate extends beyond the neuroscience to questions relating to what is worth knowing and what mental functions are worth preserving at their present level of development
As a senior high school teacher, one of my greatest bugbears is the reluctance of students to reflect on the information they have collected and plan their essays. Rather, some expect to Google their entire essay, often skipping from one hyperlink to the next until they find something that appears to be relevant, then pasting it into their essay, frequently oblivious to academic honesty and coherence of argument. The ability to discern reliability of sources is also severely lacking
This is a by-product of failing to address and teach good research methods in a digital world and assigning work that can simply be cut and pasted. We must move beyond "reporting" in a digital, information-rich, and connected world.
A primary role of educators is to foster qualities that are distinctly human: our ability to reflect, reason and imagine
No- it should begin with teachers establishing and negotiating meaningful, interesting, and powerful learning opportunities with access to all available tools. The computer as a learning tool is meant to extend physical human capabilities, not weaken them. It is the low-level, rote tasks that we require that weaken them. It's time to recognize this and wake up. Blaming the technology does little more than preserve the status quo.
applying email rules based on grade level, they prevent elementary school students from sending or receiving email but still provide them with the full capabilities of Office 365.
...CCSD used Microsoft School Data Sync to integrate its PowerSchool student information system with Microsoft Office 365. And with the addition of Microsoft Classroom, CCSD teachers can automate more administrative tasks and focus their time on teaching.
uture is not
out there to be "discovered": It has to be invented and designed.
Learning is a process of knowledge construction, not of knowledge
recording or absorption.
Learning is knowledge-dependent; people use their
existing knowledge to construct new knowledge.
Learning is highly tuned to the situation in which
it takes place.
Learning needs to account for distributed cognition
requiring knowledge in the head to combined with knowledge in the world.
Learning is affected as much by motivational issues
as by cognitive issues.
previous
notions of a divided lifetime-education followed by work-are no longer
tenable.
Professional activity has become so
knowledge-intensive and fluid in content that learning has become an integral
and inseparable part of "adult" work activities.
require educational tools
and environments whose primary aim is to help cultivate the desire to
learn and create, and not to simply communicate subject matter divorced
from meaningful and personalized activity.
current
uses of technology in education: it is used as an add-on to existing practices
rather than a catalyst for fundamentally rethinking what education should
be about in the next century
information technologies have been
used to mechanize old ways of doing business‹rather than fundamentally
rethinking the underlying work processes and promoting new ways to create
artifacts and knowledge.
important challenge
is that the ?ld basic skillsº such as reading, writing, and arithmetic,
once acquired, were relevant for the duration of a human life; modern
?asic skillsº (tied to rapidly changing technologies) will change over
time.
We need computational environments to support "new" frameworks
for education such as lifelong learning, integration of working and learning,
learning on demand, authentic problems, self-directed learning, information
contextualized to the task at hand, (intrinsic) motivation, collaborative
learning, and organizational learning.
Instructionist approaches are not changed by the fact that
information is disseminated by an intelligent tutoring system.
Lifelong learning is a continuous engagement in acquiring
and applying knowledge and skills in the context of authentic, self-directed
problems.
ubstantial empirical evidence that the chief impediments to learning
are not cognitive. It is not that students cannot learn; it is that
they are not well motivated to learn.
Most of what any individual "knows" today
is not in her or his head, but is out in the world (e.g., in other human
heads or embedded in media).
technology should provide ways to "say the 'right' thing at
the 'right' time in the 'right' way
challenge of whether
we can create learning environments in which learners work hard, not because
they have to, but because they want to. We need to alter the perception
that serious learning has to be unpleasant rather than personally meaningful,
empowering, engaging, and even fun.
making information relevant to the task at hand,
providing challenges matched to current skills, creating communities (among
peers, over the net), and providing access to real practitioners and experts.
What "basic skills" are required in a world in which
occupational knowledge and skills become obsolete in years rather than
decades?
reduce the gap between school
and workplace learning
How can schools (which currently rely on closed-book
exams, the solving of given problems, and so forth) be changed so that
learners are prepared to function in environments requiring collaboration,
creativity, problem framing, and distributed cognition?
problem solving in the real world
includes problem framing calls into question the practice of asking
students to solve mostly given problems.
teachers should see themselves not as truth-tellers
and oracles, but as coaches, facilitators, learners, and mentors
engaging with learners
Reminder Guru is a free service that you can use to have reminders sent to you through email, text message, or phone call. Creating reminders in Reminder Guru is very quick and easy. After you have registered on the service, simply fill in the reminder form with a message for yourself, choose a reminder date, then specify how you want the reminder delivered to you. If there are tasks that you need to be reminded of daily, weekly, or monthly, you can set reminders to automatically repeat at the same time every day or week. (Free Technology for Teachers)
Technology has been able to do two things fairly well for instruction:
1. engage learners more decisively than traditional methods (thus more time on task); and
2. allow staff to more easily and effectively differentiate instruction to accommodate a variety of learning styles.
Parents and teachers expend a lot of energy getting kids to pay attention, concentrate, and focus on the task in front of them. What adults don't do, according to University of Southern California education professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, is teach children the value of the more diffuse mental activity that characterizes our inner lives: daydreaming, remembering, reflecting.
The benefits of embedding the teaching of writing into the curriculum have been advocated by educators and researchers. However, there is currently little evidence of embedded writing instruction in the UK's higher education context. In this article, we present a case study in which we report the design, implementation and evaluation of an academic writing intervention with first-year undergraduate students in an applied linguistics programme. Our objectives were to try a combination of embedded instructional methods and provide an example that can be followed by lecturers across disciplines and institutions. Through the integration of in-class and online writing tasks and assessment feedback in a first-term module, we supported students' writing development throughout the first term. We evaluated the effects of the intervention through the analysis of notes on classroom interaction, a student questionnaire and interviews, and a text analysis of students' writing and the feedback comments over time. The evaluation findings provide insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach. The embedded writing instruction was perceived as useful by both students and teachers. The assessment feedback, whilst being the most work-intensive method for the teachers, was valued most by the students and led to substantial improvements in the writing of some. These findings suggest that embedded writing instruction could be usefully applied in other higher education contexts.
Identifying what our children need to learn is one of the most important processes within education. For the teacher this is the question they engage with as they design their teaching and learning units. By no means is this an easy task and the teacher must balance multiple factors to ensure that the programmes they design provide their students with the learning they require. Even the most effective sequence of lessons is of little value if what it sets out to teach has little importance in the lives our learners are likely to lead.
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review:
Instead of scribbling marks in the margins of printed papers, I opened each student’s paper in Google Docs, highlighted text and inserted comments to clarify my thoughts, and then turned on the screen recorder (Jing) to record my voice as I scrolled through the paper and pointed to items with my mouse. Right after recording, I uploaded the finished recording to Jing’s companion hosting site, and then I simply copied and pasted the link to the recording directly into the Google Doc.
Adding value in context rather than providing repetitive written comments in the summation.
After about four minutes, they began the next task, copying and pasting my reflection questions into the bottom of their docs, and then responding to those prompts as they reflected on their work and my feedback.
As I watched them, I couldn’t help but remember the way that I used to provide feedback. Students would receive their graded papers, flip past the comments I had scribbled in the margin, glance at the final grade, and then forget all about it.
I always knew there was more I wanted to convey to them about their writing, about how they had or had not created meaning for the reader.
It took me about 10 minutes per paper, times 68 papers, so the last week and a half have been intense. If you’re doing the math, that’s over 11 hours of paper grading. If I am going to put in that kind of time for grading, I must see my students growing as writers. Period.
Technology tool is NOT a time saver. The main goal for using the tool is not increased productivity by the teacher, but instead increased understanding by the student.
On the flipside, writing is personal, and receiving impersonal and confusing written feedback can also be hurtful. The student spends so much time writing the assignment, but only receives a small amount of scribbled comments in the margin.
tried out a new way of assessing student work — screencasting
Florence Dujardin on 23 Jun 11This study examined the effect of electronic outlining on the quality of students' writing products and how outlining affects perceived mental effort during the writing task. Additionally, it was studied how students appropriate and appreciate an outline tool and whether they need explicit instruction in order to engage in planning. To answer these questions, the writing products and self-report data from 34 tenth-grade students of a Dutch pre-university school were analysed. Students wrote two similar argumentative texts with or without an outline tool. Results show that electronic outlining improves the quality of students' argumentative texts and decreases mental effort. Answers to a retrospective questionnaire showed that a short instruction on the outline tool was sufficient for students to understand its working and that most students experienced the tool as beneficial. Finally, results indicate that without specific instruction on text planning, students hardly devote any time to this important aspect of writing.
