"…students who do not have access to a computer at home tend to be lower achievers than the others and, secondly, it would also seem to be the case that students using computers at home less often had below-average results."
Teacher autonomy and a flexible curriculum are reasons often cited when explaining the Nordic powerhouse's chart-topping performance. But having taught there, Nicki Berry has some reasons of her own...
"Thea Nicholas, Science and Sustainability Educator from the not-for-profit organisation Cool Australia, conducts an interesting experiment by separating teenagers from their technology. Find out how long they last...
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Simple. They don't have instructional beliefs that they all agree upon. These teachers work as independent contractors, and take any criticism of their practice personally. But they forget that it is not about them. It's about the students.
I think that you have forgot to include a lack of professional development (training) to demonstrate successful educational strategies. Telling someone (a teacher) they must change is just like a lecture. Showing them how they can change their practice to make a difference is needed as well.
Daniel Pink observed, traditionally neglected talents, which he refers to as Right-brained directed skills, including design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning, will become more valuable (Pink, 2006).
YES! We need to address these things. I don't see them as incompatible w CC, however.
international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS, which are mostly left-brained cognitive skills.
Common Core does not include an element to prepare the future generations to live in this globalized world and interact with people from different cultures.
Common Core, by forcing children to master the same curriculum, essentially discriminates against talents that are not consistent with their prescribed knowledge and skills.
Is this any different from the current situation? Is this author arguing that we should not have common standards, or that we should maintain our current status quo of a patchwork of test-driven standards?
A well organized, tightly controlled, and well-executed education system can transmit the prescribed content much more effectively than one that is less organized, loosely monitored, and less unified. In the meantime, the latter allows for exceptions with more room for individual exploration and experimentation
I think the problem lies in seeing this as an either-or question. Any system that relies solely on testing as the measure of success is short-sighted and archaic. Having no identified common ground puts at risk the learners who most need a firm starting point. To say that the current system allows "more room for individual exploration and experimentation" is naive at best and disingenuous at worst. Where in test-crazed American schools do you see this happening??
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: