Maple Links

"In a way, the current education system is already set up like a game-just not a very well designed one. Students earn points (grades), gain levels (grades), and in a way, have leaderboards. There are class valedictorians and students are essentially ranked based on their grades when colleges are deciding who to accept. Currently, the typical grading system in schools has students starting off with a 100 average, which slowly (or quickly, depending on the student's performance) gets lower and lower as the student receives anything less than a 100 on any assignments, tests, etc."

"The role of empathy in learning has to do with the flow of both information and creativity. A dialogic interaction with the world around us requires us to understand ourselves by understanding the needs and condition of those around us. It also encourages us to take collective measurements rather than those singular, forcing us into an intellectual interdependence that catalyzes other subtle but powerful tools of learning."

"The new digital divide is not between the haves and have-nots. It's between kids and grown-ups."

"Being connected is not easy. I've spent three years on Twitter building relationships and co-moderating and participating in education chats. I am constantly reading (and writing!) blogs; all this in the pursuit of being a better teacher. Although the time it takes to develop a network is substantial, the benefits of connection far outweigh the efforts. Here are seven ways that my students benefit from the online Professional Learning Network I have built over the years:"

"The various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy are well known to teachers, students, and the rest of the education world at this point. You need to slowly ascend the pyramid in order to effectively reach your goal(s). That's great. But what happens when you try to apply other time-tested methodologies to the famous taxonomy? This happens. The visual guide you see below is from Flickr via Kris McElroy's Pinterest board (she shares a lot of fabulous resources so check 'em out!). It details the many critical thinking skills and related questions that you should use."

"I've posted many resources providing parent engagement for teachers, and thought I'd bring them all together in a "The Best…." list. The resources listed here provide practical advice to teachers. You can see all my parent engagement-related "The Best" lists here."

"Project-based learning is not 'doing projects'. PBL is student-driven and specifically open to interpretation to ensure students learn through carrying out a project and not doing a project pre-designed by the teacher. They are driven to answer a 'big' question and carry out their inquiry and design in teams. They are also under pressure to present their results to a third party of some kind. The students decide on how to achieve the goals and are not carrying out teacher-designed tasks."

"Like all teachers I have found that the right visual aids can make all the difference between students understanding a term or walking away shaking their heads. This pattern is carries over to learning new vocabulary words and or seeing the connections between similar words. Here are five visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students learn new vocabulary words."

"In The eLearning Coach New Year's tradition, I'm presenting another list of compelling ways to learn online this year. Opportunities for learning seem limitless, applications get smarter and the content gets richer. I just hope we don't all evolve into robot heads at some point. Enjoy! At the end you'll find links to lists from the three previous years."