Group items tagged

Children, Reading Champions, Reading Connects, Reading The Game, Schools & teaching, Words for Work, Young People

Oracy the ugly sister to numeracy and literacy how children hear and develop the capacity to speak in their communications has profound impact. Teachers are assuming behaviors are personality rather than oracy. Strategies can be developed to observe and assist with oracy. An ABC Radio interview listen or read transcript also there's a follow up session regards self efficacy and oracy. Short!

Society confronts educational change in an odd, entirely counter intuitive manner. On one hand we acknowledge that education can and should do a better job of preparing our children for the future while on the other we cling to the models of education that we knew. This led educational writer Will Richardson to state that 'the biggest barrier to rethinking schooling in response to the changing worldscape is our own experience in schools'. Our understandings of what school should be like and our imaginings of what school could be like are so clouded by this experience that even the best evidence for change is overlooked or mistrusted.

What will tomorrow bring? What will life be like in 2028 as our youngest students of today exit school? What occupations will they enter and what challenges will they face? These are not new questions but with the rate of change in society and the pace at which technology evolves they are questions without clear answers. How then do schools prepare students for this uncertain tomorrow? What shall we teach our children today such that are well prepared for the challenges and opportunities of their tomorrow?

Learning is a social endeavour. Schools need to understand that for our students the social landscape has changed. Rather than turning away from this reality we need to understand what it means and what our children need to know and learn to safely maximise the opportunities it brings.

"The days of being shooshed in the library are well and truly over at The Illawarra Grammar School. After a $1 million facelift, the school's staid old library reopened this week as a bright, open space where children are allowed to draw on walls, watch TV, play games, gather to chat, or wander around on their own while listening to stories on headphones."

Learning environments of the future are in incubation. And therein lies the challenge: Learning environments that don't exist can't be analyzed. Moving into the unknown requires a pioneering spirit. Helen Keller reminds us that is the truth of not only our age, but of all ages: "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

"The eSmart Digital Licence is designed to assist parents and carers to discuss smart, safe and responsible online behaviour with their children. Through a stylised, game-like, online program, topics ranging from cyberbullying to sexting will be addressed to evaluate comprehension and corresponding actions."

Today's world is full of exciting technology to help families' daily lives and provide opportunities for children's future. But how do you find out what's suitable, safe or educational? At Quib.ly parents can ask questions about the technology their children are using, reply to others with answers, and get great advice from like minded parents and our knowledgeable experts."

"The "Unplugged" project, based at Canterbury University,uses activities, games, magic tricks and competitions toshow children the kind of thinking that is expected of acomputer scientist. All of the activities are available freeof charge at csunplugged.org ... This paper will explore why this approach has become popular, and describe developments and adaptations thatare being used for outreach and teaching around NewZealand, as well as internationally."

"The sharp increase in mobile phone ownership amongst children has resulted in cyber safety experts calling for parents to ditch smart phones for "dumb phones'' ... Mobile phones have also saturated the teenage demographic with 94 per cent of 16 and 17-year olds now owning a phone."

Posted on June 2nd, 2010 Back at the turn of the century, education was gripped by the diffusion of amazing hand-held devices for children. These tools, at first considered an expensive and delicate novelty, soon became standard for every child in wealthy education systems and from there defused around the world to nearly every classroom. This is actually a description of slate tablets in the early 1800's, but it could aptly describe the technological revolution we are seeing in education today with low-cost ICT devices.

The netbooks have been popular with teachers and parents alike; hundreds of parents have bought the devices voluntarily so their children could take them home. "The netbooks have exceeded our expectations," adds fourth-grade teacher Eric Greenfield. "To see kids sharing information, working collaboratively, and sharing ideas has been very exciting." HT Ben Jones Esq

The mychild.gov.au site is an initiative of the Australian Government. This site is about children, with the main focus being on early childhood learning and child care. You will also find helpful links to other information for families in this site

A post from Richard Byrne. Read Write Web and Latitude recently conducted a survey of children in which they asked the kids to share the things they think computers and the Internet should do. As you might expect some of the responses were very imaginative. I look at the results of the survey as a preview of what computers and the Internet will do in the next decade or two. If you don't want to read the reports here and here, at least watch the video below summarizing some of the students' responses

"The principal of Northern Beaches Secondary College, Steve Pickering, and his colleagues were inspired to introduce this project-based learning after visiting progressive schools in Adelaide and the US a few years ago. He believes working in groups on real issues improves student engagement, especially in middle years, by leveraging team loyalty and promoting a sense of achievement. It also moves education towards student-centre learning and lets children make unique contributions they would not be able to on their own."

"We know how important it is to protect and educate young people on using the Internet and want to provide all of our users with a safe experience. When it comes to family safety, we aim to: * Provide parents and teachers with tools to help them choose what content their children see online * Offer tips and advice to families about how to stay safe online * Work closely with organisations such as charities, others in our industry and government bodies dedicated to protecting young people "

Read Alouds are a vital component of the literacy curriculum, yet many autistic children do not respond well to them. Advice on this issue is from the Readers with Autism blog