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For over a decade, professional learning communities (PLCs) have been touted as an effective way to build upon the knowledge and skills of experienced teachers, yet much of the evidence base is derived from self-reports by practitioners. Although several generations of school reform (the standards movement, No Child Left Behind, and now the Common Core State Standards) have cited improving teacher effectiveness as key to improving student achievement, little change has occurred in the nature of professional development. This article argues that professional development generally, and PLCs in particular, would benefit from the insights gleaned from the extensive literature on teacher expertise that focuses on how well teachers understand the content they teach and how well they understand how students learn that content.

"Instantly transform your iPhone or iPod touch into motion based mouse, trackpad, and wireless remote for your computer! Sit back and surf the web, browse your photo library or control your music player from the comfort of your couch. Our app uses the built in accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a trackpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single finger."

Article about new testing movement

mattrenwick.com

How will schools evolve in relation to the disruptive change inspired by expansive availability of informal learning networks? This blog post shares some considerations around the maker space movement.

Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), was recently launched to provide free access to documentary films highlighting some of the most dramatic events in recent American history. As America marks the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in 2013, NEH is introducing a website making four outstanding NEH-supported documentaries about the civil rights movement available for use in communities and schools across the nation.

In Social Studies this year your child's learning will focus on the world's continents via the "Five Themes of Geography." The five themes are Location (the specific or general positioning of something on the earth), Place (the physical and human characteristics of an area), Human-Environmental Interaction (the way the world appears a a result of how humans have interacted with the environment), Movement (the way people, ideas, and goods travel from place to place), and Region (areas of the world that have common characteristics).

"Children's positive perception of moving is an important supporter for natural physical activity and developing motor skills. A study at the University of Jyväskylä suggests that children had high perceptions of motor skills. Some gender differences were identified, however: girls were better in locomotor skills and boys had higher perception and actual skills in ball skills. "Because ball skills are typically utilized in versatile surroundings and good ball skills are a predictor for more frequent physical activity levels in adolescence, we should encourage girls to play more with balls already in early education," says PhD student Donna Niemistö from Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. "In boys, there could be more locomotor skills like galloping and hopping involved. Niemistö concludes, "All children regardless of gender have a right to have positive and encouraging experiences of movement.""

"Failure happens. We should come to expect it and dealt with it when it happens. But learning to welcome failure? That is a big ask and one which many of us are not comfortable in doing. Yet there is a growing movement of educators who think that failure is not only a learning opportunity but something which should be celebrated. How does this fit into a schooling system which has been intolerant of failure from both staff and pupils, and punish those who attempt to reach higher and but don't succeed?"

"Ideas for re-engaging students who seemed disengaged acknowledged that disengagement is a mutli-dimensional construct and that it does not simply refer to behavioural engagement, but emotional / relational engagement (including relationship with peers, staff and home) and psychological and cognitive engagement (how challenging and relevant the content of the lesson is). Therefore, suggestions to improve engagement ranged from using music or movement at the start of the lesson to set a tone / pace and expected participation, to demonstrating your own enthusiasm or passion as a teacher, showing them ' you are there for them not the job…knowing them as a person" (@TheBenHornbury)"

Episode 3 - A great comic looking at the problem of education reform!

Episode 2 - A great comic looking at the problem of education reform!

Episode 1 - A great comic looking at the problem of education reform!