Diigo In Education

"How girls in an area of Pakistan are quietly fighting for their right to get an education."

"Thousands of new school places are being created for children with special educational needs or those facing additional challenges in mainstream education, providing tailored support to help children thrive. Every region in the country will benefit from a new school, which include 37 special free schools and two alternative provision free schools. This will create around 3,500 additional school places, boosting choice for parents and providing specialist support and education for pupils with complex needs such as autism, severe learning difficulties or mental health conditions, and those who may have been or are at risk of being excluded from mainstream schools."

"With the EU Referendum creating a divide Britain, many of us have been left wondering how we as educators can help heal the wounds. I was pondering this exact dilemma and came to a conclusion - Through the classroom. This week, I have been on an English as an Additional Language placement as a student in a school with a high concentration of pupils that are Black minority ethnic and/or have English as an additional language. It was a school-rich in all languages, that celebrates six religious days as well as observing all nearly all social action justice days. The children were welcoming and accepting of everyone that didn't look or sound quite like them. "

In this blog post we are going to take a look at seven creative activities that can be done with screencasting. Although these activities can likely be done with many of the common screencasting tools available, for the demonstrations I have included here I will be using the free Screencastify Chrome web extension.

"It was October and I was standing on the roof of a high rise building in the middle of Shanghai. Flight after flight of stairs interspersed with several elevator journeys had brought me to the summit, and the rooftop on which I now stood served as a primary school playground for hundreds of pupils. As I made my way to the edge of the building I was amazed to find that the only barrier between me and the pavement - 16 stories down - was a small wall, waist height at most. I peered over the edge and can still recall that instant feeling of danger and dizziness washing over my entire body. I stepped back and turned to the Chinese headteacher whose school I was visiting."

"I am of an age where if, as a child, you said you were bored the answer was likely to be, "Only boring people are bored," and be left to find something to do. There was always something to do, go outside and throw a tennis ball against a wall, go out on your bike, do some colouring, play with the Lego, do a jigsaw OR if you really got bored do your homework or tidy your bedroom! Nowadays it seems that the majority of children do not often seem to say that they are bored. They don't often have to find their own entertainment, use their imagination or even have several hours at a time that are not pre-filled with activities. Parents (normally) want to do their best for their children. Charlie wants to do football - that's 5:30 on Wednesday, Sammie wants to do ballet - that's 4:00 on Thursday, extra maths, Judo, trampolining, swimming, cubs… the list goes on, frequently only limited by the time to fit the activities for 2/3/4 children into a week."

If we are to cultivate the dispositions required in these times of postnormality and post-truth we need to establish cultures in our classrooms which will allow them to thrive. 

This is a segment from NPR's HIdden Brain about Dr. Martin Levy's use of a clicker, usually used to train dogs, to train surgical students. It's fascinating. Essentially, the argument is made that clickers work so well because it is a form of feedback that does not use any verbal signals - no praise, no reprimand, no "good job," no "not like that." Praise and criticism distract a learner from mastering the skill being taught, making a learner focus instead on pleasing the teacher. With nonverbal feedback, the learner doesn't focus on the teacher but on the skill being taught

"Having a young grandson really brings home the intuitive nature of technology these days. Without any training whatsoever he navigates and investigates any devices to which he has access and there are many he encounters in his daily life. He is able to find features that we as adults didn't even know exist let alone use."

"Research in the past several years has shown that children can outgrow a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), once considered a lifelong condition. In a new study, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health Systemhave found that the vast majority of such children still have difficulties that require therapeutic and educational support. The study was published online today in the Journal of Child Neurology."

"A report out examined the factors that influence 'maths anxiety' among primary and secondary school students, showing that teachers and parents may inadvertently play a role in a child's development of the condition, and that girls tend to be more affected than boys."

"We are delighted to announce the start of a series of webinar sessions, designed at supporting teachers develop skills, knowledge and resources for daily classroom practice. Through 2019, we will be releasing webinar series on a variety of essential topics for educators worldwide, and although the webinar sessions will be live, registered participants will be able to watch the replay at any time."

what if our expertise is imagined or false. What if what we think is so, just ain't so. This might be more common than we care to admit, and it is worth considering the source of this difficulty and its implications. 

"We all hide things. From our friends and even from ourselves. Because of this, the pupils showing clear signs of distress and of need of social and/or emotional support are probably only a fraction of the real need at any one time. We also all experience difficulties at times, yet the object of our distress is often fleeting, or in hindsight trivial in the grand scheme of things. However, many of the young people we teach have chronically stressful situations to deal with on a daily basis, both at home and at school. This can exhibit in the classroom as anxiety, poor concentration or disruptive behaviour."

"Teens who choose to spend time alone may know what's best for them, according to new research that suggests solitude isn't a red flag for isolation or depression. The key factor is choice, say researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Wilmington College: When solitude is imposed on adolescents and young adults, whether as punishment or as a result of social anxiety, it can be problematic. But chosen solitude contributes to personal growth and self-acceptance, they found."

"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.""