Group items tagged

Here is a great use of a Wiki for students and teachers: a compilation of videos about grammar. The concept is really simple : contributors to the wiki add embeds of videos from YouTube about grammar concepts. Videos currently included on the wiki include the passive voice, negative forms of "must" and "have to", prepositions of place (at, on, in), who vs. whom, I vs. me, which vs. that, personal pronouns and many more.

This is an interesting breakdown of the 2010 stats related to Facebook vs Twitter.

We struggle to achieve balance with so many parts of our lives. We see things in dichotomies and try to weigh one against the other believing that we must give time to one and not the other. This tendency to see things in often false dichotomies leads to the problem of the "want to' vs the 'have to'. Unfortunately, when we are faced with this dilemma we often make a choice in favour of the 'have to' but we chose this option for the wrong reasons.

Agen Bola Indonesia, Prediksi Skor FC Dordrecht vs Heerenveen Eredevise Belanda sudah memasuki pekan ke 20 akan mempertemukan FC Dordrecht melawan Heerenven.Dordrecht yang saat ini masih berada di dasar klasemen sementara dan hanya mengumpulkan sebanyak sepuluh point dan terpaut delapan belas point dari lawannya Heerenveen yang saat ini berada pada posisi tujuh klasemen sementara.

The maker movement and with it maker-centered learning brings new possibilities and challenges into the classroom. It has spawned makerspaces and students are busy designing and making products. The danger with all this frenzied making is that it is very easy to miss the point, to focus on the product and not the journey.  

Earlier this year a group of teachers I work with explored the 'Eight Cultural Forces' identified by Ron Ritchhart of Harvard's Project Zero. In doing so we decided to focus on our use of the term learning instead of the word work. Our goal was to bring our language choices into the spotlight and explore how a more deliberate focus on learning might alter the culture of our classrooms. Two terms later this focus persists and it is worth reflecting on the effect that this has had.

Apple in its next release of its iOS operating system for mobile devices will introduce a new feature called 'Emojification' that aims to make this new style of communication easily accessible to all. So, what does this mean for the language arts and how might the emojification of language alter the way in which we communicate.

The ABC's Four Corners program last night 'A Revolution in the Classroom', was a genuine attempt to re-focus public attention away from the old public vs private school debate and on to the core challenges of schooling.  I don't believe quality learning and teaching in public, private or independent schools is a revolution but rather a necessary requirement in today's world. 

In a time where much of the debate around education is linked to performance on national and international assessments such as PISA, TIMMS, PIRLS and in Australia, NAPLAN combined with calls for market-driven reforms there is a danger that a climate of competition between schools and systems will grow.

This site is "concerned with using Apple's iPad for teaching and learning. Although this is based in the UK, the site's content will reflect practice from other counties and contexts in order to explore and learn from a wide field." Of particular interest is the iPad vs netbooks page.

Professor MacFarlane discusses many issues which ring true to me. In particular: - lack of vision for what education could be like with new technology (around 4 min mark) - the web2.0 and technology revolution is great for the 15% of people who have a good life anyway because of their suituation and culture (5:30) - others don't benefit from the access to the technology - they need help (6:00) - no change in classroom over last 20 years with computers and in danger of no change in next 20 years (7:30) - instruction vs. construction (8:30) - expect learning to change with introduction of technology (10:30) - but hasn't really done so - student self-directed learning is separate from school work i.e. at home and not related to school (14:30) - much of what kids do on computers at home is trivial (16:00) - the ones that do have good experiences are the same 15% (16:30) - kids that are missing out have a computer at home probably but no access to the community that enables them to have these experiences (17:10) - doing something by themselves does not really benefit them - it is being part of a community that had benefit for learning - what are we dong for these people? (19:10) - talking about missing pedagogical model for how to teach (22:00) - teachers are expected to use technology to provide innovative learning but no model against which to do so, some don't use it at all, some use it inappropriately - there maybe some individual examples but not overall (23:00) - schools bad at connecting with their communities in a learning sense (26:00) - talks about chinese online writing community and how they comment, collaborate (34:00) - community (47:30) - communitites aren't formed when people are brought together in schools etc. - need to have a common problem or interest (48:30) - Plant's definition? - in education the problem is because assessment is done individually (49:00) - so forming groups and sharing ideas is not attractive for students - worried about not getti

"you can use wallwisher for: * Personal note taking * To-do lists * Party Invitations * Feedback Collection * Wishing people on occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries * Anything that might need input from a lot of people, eg. a Mac Vs PC wall (that'll be a war, not a wall actually). "

Uses the sticky note concept and looks very promising. Reminds me of when my HSC daughter had Post It Notes all over her walls in her bedroom while doing the HSC.

"An infogragphic to help explain the differences between formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment as assessment for learning and summative assessment as assessment of learning"

Finland recently made the news for its decision to shift away from a focus on handwriting. Beginning in 2016 students will not be required to learn cursive handwriting and instead will be taught typing skills. But what is lost in a move away from handwriting and should schools teach typing skills?