I nod in agreement with many of these ideas. Yes, we are living in an intensely stimulating world. Yes, students must own their own learning. Yes, learning is more than recall. Yes, we must make real-world links. Yes, yes, yes! But how, how, how in class sizes that are upward of 27 students? How can I stay current and interesting and relevant? How do I engage this new breed of techno-savvy, overstimulated youngsters who are bored to distraction in school? This is what I think about in August. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/21st+century+classroom+daunting+place/5315656/story.html#ixzz1WQz26soY

Read this teacher-friendly article for an overview of the rationale for using rubrics and tools and tips for implementing rubrics as an assessment tool in your classroom. You will be able to create and start using rubrics for student assessment within an hour.

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My favorite vocabulary assessment involved discussion.  This is one of the reasons it was different but another is that the discussion was one on one -the student and I had a 3-5 minute uninterrupted conversation

I was prompted to publish it sooner than I would have ordinarily done after reading the exceptional Gail Collins column in today's The New York Times, Reading, 'Riting and Revenues, which is a must-read about the dangers of privatizing public education.

Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change: The 21st century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic. Our understanding of what constitutes "a new culture of learning" is based on several basic assumptions about the world and how learning occurs:

a more positive view.

Sort of Negative view of Differentiated Instruction. Odd. They don't talk about differentiated instruction groupings other than by readiness.

In general, I think that different approaches for that situation may be a safer bet.  Such approaches include lesson planning which create tasks with access points for students at all levels, or structuring group-work and assigning status such that all students know they have skills to help others as well as something to learn from others.

Recently I've come to the idea that the question "how do you differentiate?" is the wrong question to ask (or at least coming in the wrong sequence). The essential question should be "what do you differentiate?" By differentiating instruction I am changing something for some group of students. To do this I have to ask myself "what can I change and what do I need to keep the same?" What follows are three cases of differentiation, all of which change a different facet of learning.

Sometimes gifted children think they know what their parents do and do not want to hear; therefore, these children will tell parents only certain information and avoid telling them other things, such as their fears.

However, the deeper questions didn't happen in a vacuum.  Students have spent hours learning the art of questioning.  Here are ten things I've done in class to encourage students to ask better questions:

Born to Learn is the first animation in a fascinating series aimed to provide easy-access to the exciting new discoveries constantly being made about how humans learn! Narrated by Damian Lewis

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The graphic below is a clickable image map. Simple click on the tool to visit it!

I've written previously on how your resume is meaningless, on building career security, not job security and on the rise of personal branding.  To summarize the overarching themes of those three posts quickly: Your work should be working for you, building your reputation, not locked away in a resume. A resume proves nothing, a living case study proves everything. Creating a name for yourself in your industry provides you the ultimate freedom:  career security. The tools exist for you to influence your industry in deep ways to make positive change and carve out a name for yourself. Building your personal network enables incredible connections with the world around you not previously possible. A blog is the ideal avenue to accomplish all of this and so much more.

Infographics can change the way we learn, the way we see information put in front of us.  They help us digest that information and leads us to draw important conclusions more swiftly. After doing a little research online I was able to discover 10 gorgeous infographics on education that do more than simply show information, they relay it in a really potent and amazing way.

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