Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

I've uploaded the portfolio assignment that I use for my one semester 8th grade keyboarding class. It includes movie making, self creation of rubrics, MLA paper writing, memos, block letters, blogging, and an efolio component along with QR Codes. I wanted to share this but also was testing the functionality of the site for sharing resources. Hope you'll share. (Note: KS3 in the UK means grades 7-9 - the site will be adding US grade levels soon.)

How to make a self grading google quiz using Google spreadsheets.

How to make a self grading quiz using Google forms. This is great for those who don't have access to online tools that will let you do this. As a benefit of being a Google Certified Teacher (GCT) - I have access to these forums that have great tutorials and information that other GCT's have shared. This is from GCT, Jesse Spevak.

At its best, Twitter is a place to share a resource, a link to a new blog post, or an insight, and even a place to have a little fun. It's a place that could be about learning. At its very worst, Twitter is a self-indulgent exercise in self-promotion and pettiness.

An awesome graphic (click on the buttons on the graphic) from Edudemic sharing some excellent ways to use Google Drive in Education including templates, writers workshop, self grading quizzes, assignment tracking and more.

"I was introduced to the Good/Great/Awesome techniques in some TEEP training in November last year. I immediately placed it in my "to-do right away" pile. As an intrinsically positive person, and teacher, who always strives to build students' self esteem and promote the growth mindset in all who pass through my classroom; I found the idea of offering 3 levels of positivity much more appealing that the previous wording. I implemented this strategy quickly and personally added in an overarching learning objective, so students could see each stage of G/G/F as building blocks. I coloured coded them, as is common, and occasionally colour coordinate to grades or tasks."

Some students believe they are entitled to grades just for showing up, according to new research, especially if they are paying for their education (like college or private school). On this Radio show at the BAM Radio Network hosted by RAE Pica, she talked with researchers, an anonymous teacher, and I had a small reflection from my own experience about entitlement. It was a fun show to record and is pretty short.

Interesting study of children, preschool and later school success. "Children's later school success appears to have been enhanced by more active, child-initiated early learning experiences. Their progress may have been slowed by overly academic preschool experiences that introduced formalized learning experiences too early for most children's developmental status."

Flubaroo is a free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice or fill-in-blank assignments in Google Spreadsheets.

"We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to have students become self evaluating. If students graduate from our schools still dependent upon others to tell them when they are adequate, good, or excellent, then we've missed the whole point of what education is about."    - Costa and Kallick (1992)

This great maths site has an amazing collection of maths self-marking problem solving questions. Search by age level or topic. This covers both Primary and Secondary levels. Topics include numbers, geometry, algebra, data analysis, probability and more. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

His first strategy - Smart Secret #1 "You're a Genius" is both a mix of self-fulfilling prophesy and changing the way you view a situation. "Learning is connecting new information to what you already know. Genius is the art of non-habitual thinking."