K-12 teachers have long experienced multilingual students code-switching - or simultaneously using more than one language variety - in the classroom...
So what we're seeing is less of a notion of a big idea carried through and much more little bursts and snippets. And we see that across media, across film, across, in Web sites, this idea of just do a little bit and then you can run away.
I consider this to fit in with my 'plate spinning' analogy.
anytime you switch from one task to another, there's something called the "task switch cost," which basically, imagine, is I've got to turn off this part of the brain and turn on this part of the brain. And it's not free; it takes time.
I make use of this task switch time by noting things that pass through my brain during this lapse in work time. I keep post-its around all the time and carry a jot it down notebook. It's rationalizing, but I do feel like I make use of the 'lost' time.
One of the biggest delusions we hear from students is, "I do five things at once because I don't have time to do them one at a time." And that turns out to be false. That is to say, they would actually be quicker if they did one thing, then the next thing, then the next. It may not be as fun, but they'd be more efficient.
Poor idea.
First of all, it models disrespect for terms of service: One item on Facebook's terms of service page says "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13."
Second, we know from a growing body of psychological and neuroscience research that once people (esp young people) have developed friends networks, that they spend hours and hours of their time at home doing facebook, at the expense of real-time face-to-face socializing, exercise, and homework. The quality of work they do goes down dramatically when they switch back and forth from Facebook to their homework (the Facebooking activity impairs their ability to remember what they were doing before they switched). This can also contribute to sleep deprivation, which itself results in a whole host of poor health/cognitive problems.
A better alternative: teaching kids alternative exciting ways of social networking and working collaboratively online that don't have the massive distraction factor of Facebook: teach them how to make flip videos and post them on drop box; teach them how to make wikis; use a Ning social network; teach them how to use Google Docs, forms, etc. Teach them how to use Diigo! Even teaching them how to twitter is a wiser idea. . . just.
This only works if you are honest about the other commitments. Saying no when there are no other commitments is slothful.
The other problem is, you may not have the same priorities as the one asking. That might be an important conversation.
autoresponder that lets senders know when they’ll be checking their e-mail again.
people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching
"A fun site for learning html/CSS coding which uses emojis to help learners remember the syntax. You can run the code within the site to test it and you can switch between emoji and text based code at the click of a button. There are also lessons to follow to help users become a coding pro."
"Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches."
I love this online tool. Bunch a set of links together into one url and share the link to view the sites. Switch between the sites using the convenient bar at the top of the screen. Great for making sets of resources.
Excellent tool for those who get frustrated with the limited opportunities in a blog post constrained by a specific .css-based theme. In the blog, switch to HTML view and place cursor where you want to insert the revised version. Then open a new window for Textfixer. From within MS Word, highlight and paste the text you want to convert, then past it into the Text Fixer box, and click "Convert Word to HTML. Recommended by ProfHackers at CHE
This is a great downloadable application that give you up to 4 desktops on your computer for different activities and tasks. Have one for children and one for teachers. Switch with a keyboard hotkey and you can even set a password to keep your desktop private.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/page/edit/ICT+%26+Web+Tools
"After stumbling upon the article, "Switch to e-books was 'an unmitigated disaster,' says school principal," in my feed this past week, it occurred to me that there are increasingly predictable patterns surrounding stories of failed "innovation" in digital learning initiatives. Schools have been assigning computers to each child for some time now. And still, we continue to see stories like this in the media.
In short: we can do better than this."
What did you make today that was meaningful?
What did you learn about the world?
Who are you working with?
What surprised you?
What did your teachers make with you?
What did you teach others?
What unanswered questions are you struggling with?
How did you change the world in some small (or big) way?
What’s something your teachers learned today?
What did you share with the world?
What do you want to know more about?
What did you love about today?
What made you laugh?
In a couple of weeks, both Tess and Tucker will be starting their first day at brand new schools. They'll know no one, have all new teachers, new surroundings, and, hopefully, new opportunities. I'm not sure they're totally at peace with these changes, but as I keep telling them, it's the kind of stuff that builds character. (I keep regaling them with school switching stories of my own, the most challenging being when my mom moved us out to New Jersey from Chicago when I was beginning 6th grade and three days before school started I was wading barefoot in a creek, stepped on a broken bottle, and ended up with 10 stitches in the bottom of my foot and a pair of crutches for the first week of classes. Talk about character building.) Wendy and I have been trying to prepare them for this shift as best we can, and while I know it's a bit scary for them, I'm really hopeful the change will be good for them on a lot of different levels.
We complain about students switching out in class, but perhaps if we find ways to build in personal device time (5min social media breaks?) as a reward for focus time, the we may get better student engagement through the course of the class. Explicit permission to check email and social media - transparency.
Standardized tests certainly aren’t going anywhere. States that have dumped exams aligned with the Common Core aren’t dumping high-stakes testing; they’re just switching to new tests, like the ACT’s Aspire. (Other ACT offerings include the Explore, the Engage and the Compass. Apparently standardized tests are titled by the same people who name midsize sedans.)
The Common Core is the way math was taught before. True, the new South Carolina standards are 92 percent aligned with the Common Core. But the Common Core was 97 percent aligned with the math standards South Carolina was using before! The term “number sentence,” which the comedian Stephen Colbert mocked, is 50 years old, and the kind of problem it describes appears in textbooks from the 1920s.
"Standardized tests certainly aren't going anywhere. States that have dumped exams aligned with the Common Core aren't dumping high-stakes testing; they're just switching to new tests, like the ACT's Aspire. (Other ACT offerings include the Explore, the Engage and the Compass. Apparently standardized tests are titled by the same people who name midsize sedans.)"