Virtual Information Inquiry: 8Ws - 92 views
A New Measure for Classroom Quality - NYTimes.com - 84 views
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Test scores are an inadequate proxy for quality because too many factors outside of the teachers’ control can influence student performance from year to year — or even from classroom to classroom during the same year.
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there’s a far more direct approach: measuring the amount of time a teacher spends delivering relevant instruction — in other words, how much teaching a teacher actually gets done in a school day.
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Thirty years ago two studies measured the amount of time teachers spent presenting instruction that matched the prescribed curriculum, at a level students could understand based on previous instruction. The studies found that some teachers were able to deliver as much as 14 more weeks a year of relevant instruction than their less efficient peers.
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Action Researches done by educators - 3 views
Encyclopedia of Life - 90 views
Methods and Materials - PER User's Guide - 11 views
Digitally Speaking / Blogging - 169 views
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Using Feed Readers
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.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
It's not! Here's a Commoncraft tutorial explaining RSS Feeds in Plain English:
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:
Student Blogs
http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/20982438
This feed list includes several elementary, middle and high school blogs that students can explore during silent reading or while online at home.
Current Events
http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/16714925
This feed list includes links to several news websites that cover topics that are a part of one teacher's required social studies curriculum.
Global Warming
http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/22534539
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 and Google 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 developing a teacher version of their tool just 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:
http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2008/02/pageflakes-for.html
For more information on using feed readers to organize and manage information, check out this handout:
Art Makes You Smart - NYTimes.com - 75 views
Education Week: Teachers, Don't Forget Joy - 24 views
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Joy isn't about a carefree life. It is about a deep-felt sense of wonder, of expectation, of delight, of engagement.
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consider classrooms where everyone is both teacher and learner
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dream of places where expertness and smartness grow out of inquiry and talk and wonder
Innovating Pedagogy 2013 - 66 views
Dealing with organizational hubris and humility - Jeffrey Braithwaite - 27 views
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"Maybe this ego-driven reporting of one's capabilities only happens among American college professors? Hardly. You do not have to stretch your observational powers too far to see that most of those at the helm of big companies, political parties, prestigious legal practices, or accounting and consulting groups have large doses of self-belief. It's only a small step to hubris."
Gamestar Mechanic - 46 views
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Play, design and share games. Focuses on game design
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a very popular web-based game design environment. Global Kids http://olpglobalkids.org/ is using it to run social benefits game design contests and badging programs. They are getting 100+ new game design entries per week. From the parents' guide: Gamestar Mechanic is currently supported by a partnership between the Institute of Play and E-Line Media. The game was originally developed by Gamelab in partnership with the Institute of Play and the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab (AADLC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Initial funding for the game and companion learning guides came from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The design of the game is based on research by some of the leading academics in the field including Katie Salen (Executive Director of the Institute of Play and curriculum author for the New York City Public School Quest To Learn) and James Paul Gee (author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy).
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This site has students creating games from scratch and putting them out into the world for feedback within the Gamestar Mechanic community. Students use math, problem solving, writing skills and more to make their games interesting. I think this could be used in the classroom as a theme-based project or just to get students interested in coding.
Home - Big6 - 5 views
Economic Scene - Study Rethinks Importance of Kindergarten Teachers - NYTimes.com - 19 views
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Early this year, Mr. Chetty and five other researchers set out to fill this void. They examined the life paths of almost 12,000 children who had been part of a well-known education experiment in Tennessee in the 1980s. The children are now about 30, well started on their adult lives.
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Just as in other studies, the Tennessee experiment found that some teachers were able to help students learn vastly more than other teachers. And just as in other studies, the effect largely disappeared by junior high, based on test scores. Yet when Mr. Chetty and his colleagues took another look at the students in adulthood, they discovered that the legacy of kindergarten had re-emerged.