As one of the primary goals of education is to develop autonomous but interdependent thinkers, students deserve frequent opportunities to shape and direct classroom inquiry. To fuel this inquiry, it is also essential that we validate the importance of curiosity in the process of learning. While curiosity may have killed the cat, there is no reason for us to kill curiosity
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Listen Current - Home - Current Events and Featured Lesson Plans - 45 views
LaSota's Little Learners: Google classroom ... For FIRST grade! - 59 views
lasotaslittlelearners.blogspot.com/...classroom-for-first-grade.html
little learners google classroom primary first grade
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FILLING THE TOOL BOX - 158 views
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Critical to all of these activities, however, is some kind of guided practice in how to think through such questions.
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" Most of the strategies described below have been developed and tested by teachers in Princeton, Madison and elsewhere. They are offered as practical, effective activities that help shift the focus of classrooms from teacher orchestrated mastery and memory of information to student processing of information to create understanding and improve problem-solving."
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Some great ways to stop killing curiosity and stimulate questioning in science and technology. An oldie but a goodie.
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Ten ideas from Eye on the Future - 50 views
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On Saturday I had the opportunity to join a group of very enthusiastic teachers to hear Alan November and Carl Jarvis speak at North Turramurra Primary School. That so many educators from across Sydney were keen to give up a Saturday is a testament to their desire to improve their teaching but also a measure of the respect these speakers garner.
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Precompetitive appraisal, performance anxiety and confidence in conservatorium musician... - 0 views
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Primary and secondary appraisals formed theoretically consistent and reliable evaluations of threat and challenge. Secondary appraisals were significantly lower for students who viewed the performance as a threat. Students who viewed the performance as a challenge reported significantly less cognitive anxiety and higher self-confidence. Findings indicate that the PAM is a brief and reliable measure of cognitive appraisals that trigger precompetitive emotions of anxiety and confidence which can be used to identify those performers who could benefit from pre-performance intervention strategies to manage performance stress.
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Music performance anxiety (MPA) can be controlled when musicians cognitively restructure their own thoughts and feelings about their performance by anticipating symptoms of anxiety and turning them to constructive use
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The cognitive interpretation, or appraisal, of an initial emotional response, such as fear, exerts a proximal influence on performance
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and substantially determines if performers will suffer emotion-related detriments or profit from emotion-related benefits
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Emotions that are too weak or intense and feel unpleasant lead to lower motivation, distracted attention, and reduced performance.
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On the other hand, appropriately intense emotions which feel pleasant and are expected to help future performance are more likely to lead to increased effort, better decision making, and hence enhanced performance
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Mann-Whitney U tests of mean ranks showed that compared to students who viewed performance as a threat (MThreat = 7.00, SDThreat = 0.99), students who viewed performance as a challenge (MChallenge = 5.02, SDChallenge = 1.91); reported significantly less cognitive anxiety at pre-recital (U = 21.00, z = -2.167, p = .028) and significantly higher self-confidence both at the start of semester, (MThreat = 4.79, SDThreat = 0.90; MChallenge = 6.42, SDChallenge = 1.08; U = 29.50, z = -3.555, p < .001) and pre-recital (MThreat = 4.45, SDThreat = 0.72; MChallenge = 6.55, SDChallenge = 0.98; U = 2.50, z = -3.104, p < .001, Figure 2).
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Interesting Things for ESL/EFL Students (Fun English Study) - 81 views
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This web site is for people studying English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer assisted language learning activities. Even though the primary focus is for ESL, native English speakers may also find some interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising. TESL/TEFL teachers may want to recommend this site to their students.
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shared by Lesley Grant on 29 Aug 11
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Teaching Ideas - Free lesson ideas, plans, activities and resources for use in the prim... - 71 views
www.teachingideas.co.uk
resources Teaching ideas lessonplans education reading authorstudy history science maths English
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RTI Talks | RTI for Gifted Students - 9 views
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learning contracts with the student focused on work that takes the students interests in to account may be helpful.
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From a parent's perspective (and sometimes from the child's), this can seem like we are "de-gifted" the child.
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The most important thing is that you have the "data" that shows what the student needs and that you are matching this with an appropriate service.
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A major shift with RTI is that there is less emphasis on the "label" and more on the provision of appropriate service.
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Ideas for differentiating reading for young children can also be found at: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/readingdifferentiation.asp http://www.appomattox.k12.va.us/acps/attachments/6_6_12_dan_mulligan_handout.pdf
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, with high-end differentiation and expectations, we are able to support the development of potential in all students.
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This body-of-evidence can be used to support the nomination process and formal identification when appropriate.
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likely to be of particular benefit for culturally and linguistically diverse, economically disadvantaged, and twice exceptional youngsters who are currently underrepresented within gifted education.
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If we provide enrichment activities for our advanced students, won't that just increase the acheivement gap?
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One is focusing on remediation, however the second approach focuses on the nurturing of potential through creating expectations for excellence that permeate Tier 1 with extended opportunities for enrichment for all children who need them at Tier 2. With the focus on excellence, the rising tide will help all students reach their potential. This is the goal of education.
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make sure that the screener is directly related to the curriculum that you are using and that it has a high enough ceiling to allow advance learners to show what they know.
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recognizing that students who are above grade level, or advanced in their academics, also need support to thrive
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This includes learning about differentiated instruction within Tier 1and creating additional opportunities for enhancements and enrichments within Tier 2.
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This often means that the district views the school as a “high-needs” school and does feel that many children would qualify for gifted education services (thus no teacher allocation is warranted). If this is the case, then this is a problematic view as it perpetuates the myth that some groups of children are not likely to be “gifted”.
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These five differentiation strategies are as follows: Curriculum Compacting (pre-assessment of learners to see what they know) The use of Tiered Assignments that address: Mastery, Enrichment, and Challenge Tiered Learning Centers that allow children to further explore skills and concepts Independent and Small group learning contracts that allow students to follow area of interest Questioning for Higher Level thinking to stretch the minds of each child.
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first proposed as a way to help us better identify students who continue to need additional support in spite of having appropriate instructional opportunities to learn.
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children with complex sets of strengths and needs require a comprehensive evaluation that includes multiple types, sources, and time periods to create the most accurate and complete understanding of their educational needs.
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use the same icon to represent how we address the increasing intensity of academic and behavioral needs for all learners.
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Differentiated instruction is part of a strength-based approach to Tier 1, providing enriched and challenging learning opportunities for all students. However, a comprehensive RTI approach for gifted learners will also need strong Tier 2 and 3 supports and services.
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Tracking, or the fixed stratification of children into learning levels based on limited data (placing children in fixed learning groups based on a single reading score), is the opposite of RTI.
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additional learning opportunities that both challenge the learner and address high interest learning topics.
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Revision: KS2 SATs Revision Apps - 2 views
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"At the age of 11, in England, pupils sit their SATs papers, assessing their progress mainly in Literacy and Maths (some school also check progression in Science). Although there have been subtle changes to the system over the last few years, many schools, observers, parents and politicians still hold the tests in high esteem, so pressure is placed on pupils to do the best they can."
Need your help!! - 25 views
PEEP and the Big Wide World - 10 views
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EFL Activities for Kids, ESL Printables, Worksheets, Games, Puzzles, for Preschool, Pri... - 48 views
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A huge ESL/EAL site with a vast collection of PDF worksheets and flashcards, activities, games, ebooks and media for English language students. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English+As+An+Additional+Language
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Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as "Third Places" - 52 views
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"bowling alone" hypothesis (Putnam, 2000), which suggests that media are displacing crucial civic and social institutions
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According to Putnam, time spent with relatively passive and disengaging media has come at the expense of time spent on vital community-building activities.
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A core problem on both sides of the debate is an underlying assumption that all Internet use is more or less equivalent
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It would be more plausible and empirically rigorous, then, to consider how specific forms of Internet activity impact civic and social engagement as a result of their particular underlying social architectures
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combining conclusions from two different lines of MMO research conducted from two different perspectives—one from a media effects approach, the other from a sociocultural perspective on cognition and learning.
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By providing spaces for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function as one form of a new "third place" for informal sociability much like the pubs, coffee shops, and other hangouts of old.
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They are known for their peculiar combination of designed "escapist fantasy" and emergent "social realism"
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from two research projects: one an examination of the media effects of MMOs, the other an ethnographic study of cognition and culture in such contexts.
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the assumption that the most fruitful advances are sometimes made when congruent findings are discovered through disparate means
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as a way to tease out what happens in the virtual setting of the game and how the people involved consider their own activities, the activities of others, and the contexts in which those activities takes place
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a reasonable level of generalizability (random assignment to condition in the first study) and contextualization (ethnographic description of existing in-game social networks and practices in the second)
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brick-and-mortar "third places" in America where individuals can gather to socialize informally beyond the workplace and home
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virtual environments have the potential to function as new (albeit digitally mediated) third places similar to pubs, coffee shops, and other hangouts.
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the default assumption is that no one person is compelled to participate legally, financially, or otherwise.
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Unless one transforms the virtual world of the game into a workplace (e.g., by taking on gainful employment as a virtual currency "farmer" for example, Dibbell, 2006; Steinkuehler, 2006a) or enters into such agreement, no one person is obligated to log in
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Yee's (2006) interviews also reveal that individuals who game with romantic partners or family find that such joint engagement in the "other world" of MMOs allows them to redefine the nature and boundaries of their offline relationships, often in more equitable terms than what may be possible in day-to-day offline life
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the relationships that play-partners have with one another offline are often "leveled" within the online world
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appeal to people in part because they represent meritocracies otherwise unavailable in a world often filled with unfairness
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"In all such systems, linguistic interactions have been primary: users exchange messages that cement the social bonds between them, messages that reflect shared history and understandings (or misunderstandings) about the always evolving local norms for these interactions" (p. 22).
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such that "one may go alone at almost any time of the day or evening with assurance that acquaintances will be there"
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accessible directly from one's home, making them even more accommodating to individual schedules and preferences
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"What attracts a regular visitor to a third place is supplied not by management but by the fellow customer,"
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"It is the regulars who give the place its character and who assure that on any given visit some of the gang will be there"
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As one informant satirically commented in an interview, "You go for the experience [points], you stay for the enlightening conversation.
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Oldenburg argues that third places are characteristically homely, their d�cor defying tidiness and pretension whenever possible. MMOs do not fit this criterion in any literal sense
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In neither of our investigations did the degree of formality exhibited by players within the game bear any relation to the degree of visual ornamentation of the players' immediate vicinity.
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Thus, while the visual form of MMO environments does not fit Oldenburg's (1999) criterion of "low profile," the social function of those environments does.
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Oldenburg (1999) argues that seriousness is anathema to a vibrant third place; instead, frivolity, verbal word play, and wit are essential.
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The playful nature of MMOs is perhaps most apparent in what happens when individuals do bring gravity to the game.
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Participation becomes a regular part of daily life for players and, among regular gamemates such as guild members, exceptional absences (i.e., prolonged or unforeseen ones) are queried within the game or outside i
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create an atmosphere of mutual caring that, while avoiding entangling obligations per se, creates a sense of rootedness to the extent that regularities exist, irregularities are duly noted, and, when concerning the welfare of any one regular, checked into
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Anderson (1991), who suggests that geographic proximity itself is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the emergence and preservation of "community."
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Social capital (Coleman, 1988) works analogously to financial capital; it can be acquired and spent, but for social and personal gains rather than financial
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This form of social capital is marked by tentative relationships, yet what they lack in depth, they make up for in breadth.
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On the one hand, bridging social capital provides little in the way of emotional support; on the other hand, such relationships can broaden social horizons or worldviews, providing access to information and new resources.
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shows that bridging and bonding social capital are tied to different social contexts, given the network of relationships they enable.
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Virtual worlds appear to function best as bridging mechanisms rather than as bonding ones, although they do not entirely preclude social ties of the latter type.
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One could argue that, if the benchmark for bonding social capital is the ability to acquire emotional, practical, or substantive support, then MMOs are not well set up for the task:
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While deep affective relationships among players are possible, they are less likely to generate the same range of bonding benefits as real-world relationships because of players' geographic dispersion and the nature of third places themselves.
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Despite differences in theoretical grounding and methodologies, our conclusions were remarkably similar across complementary macro- and micro-levels.
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It is worth noting, however, that as gamers become more involved in long-term social networks such as guilds and their activities become more "hardcore" (e.g., marked by participation in large-scale collaborative problem-solving endeavors such as "raids" into difficult territories or castle sieges), the function of MMOs as "third places" begins to wane.
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It may be, then, that the structure and function of MMOs as third places is one part of the "life cycle" for some gamers in a given title.
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In such cases, MMOs appear to enable a different kind of sociability, one ostensibly recognizable as a "community" nonetheless.
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However, our research findings indicate that this conclusion is uninformed. To argue that MMO game play is isolated and passive media consumption in place of informal social engagement is to ignore the nature of what participants actually do behind the computer screen
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Perhaps it is not that contemporary media use has led to a decline in civic and social engagement, but rather that a decline in civic and social engagement has led to retribalization through contemporary media (McLuhan, 1964).
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Such a view, however, ignores important nuances of what "community" means by pronouncing a given social group/place as either wholly "good" or "bad" without first specifying which functions the online community ought to fulfill.
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Moreover, despite the semantics of the term, "weak" ties have been shown to be vital in communities, relationships, and opportunities.
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In light of Putnam's evidence of the decline of crucial civic and social institutions, it may well be that the classification "lacking bridging social capital" best characterizes the everyday American citizen. T
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Without bridging relationships, individuals remain sheltered from alternative viewpoints and cultures and largely ignorant of opportunities and information beyond their own closely bound social network.
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it seems ironic that, now of all times, we would ignore one possible solution to our increasingly vexed relationship with diversity.
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Teaching How to Teach: Coaching Tips from a Former Principal | Edutopia - 2 views
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Done well, coaching can help you sort through your pedagogical baggage, develop or hone new skills, and ultimately find your best teaching self. Done poorly, it might turn you off to the entire notion of support. But what if it's not done at all?
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I was reminded that good coaching is not about dynamic coaches serving as heroic educators, but rather stems from the simple habits of connecting teachers to resources and asking them reflective questions.
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I met with each teacher one-on-one to ask questions and understand their hopes, fears, and support needs in the upcoming year. By choosing to listen rather than to talk, I conveyed that I saw my primary duty as supporting good teaching.
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As his coach, I sought to model, little by little, some strategies I had learned on the job, such as literacy-building techniques, structuring controversial debates, and charting student discussions on the board for visual impact.
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"High-quality coaching lies somewhere near the crossroads of good teaching and educational therapy. Done well, coaching can help you sort through your pedagogical baggage, develop or hone new skills, and ultimately find your best teaching self. Done poorly, it might turn you off to the entire notion of support. But what if it's not done at all?"