Group items tagged

"Knowledge often comes to us via transcribed content or artifacts, which is derived from other's knowledge. These are facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles (Clark & Chopeta, 2004). Thus, artifacts are used in the learning process for creating knowledge, while in turn, knowledge creates new artifacts. Content There are five primary types of content (artifacts of knowledge): facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles (Clark, Mayer, 2007): "

I gave a final exam designed to do just that - provide the opportunity for students to see, touch, and feel that information is cheap and freely available and therefore, there is little inherent value in finding it and especially in spitting it back!. Either my mission was flawed (no surprise), or the deck is seriously stacked against the effort. The result: MUST FIND ANSWERS! Wow, look at me, I have the answers....Couldn't apply it if my life depended on it, but man, just look at my answers! I was preaching the Problem Solver, PBL mantra in a recent conversation and was told bluntly, providing that opportunity in the real isolation of 1 45 minute period out of 7 is a complete waste of time. Man, that stung and I continue to resist it, but there is a very large kernel of CAP T Truth present there.

"Poet, playwright, and cultural critic T. S. Eliot was born 124 years ago today. In this passage from The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (public library), cited in the 1942 gem Anatomy of Inspiration, Eliot adds to previously explored theories of how creativity works by taking a curious look at how physical illness brings a near-mystical quality of poetry, driven by two key elements of creativity: the presence of an incubation period when unconscious processing of existing ideas takes place, and the removal of habitual inhibitions, or something John Keats has termed "negative capability"."

"As teachers, we all know that we should create time to reflect on our professional practices… we need to experience the process of reflecting, in order to be able to guide our students… ….but what get's cut the easiest from our schedule if there is little time available? How can we see reflection as a high priority item on our never ending list of things to do? How can we get into the habit of making reflection time?"

"Reflective practice is an important sub-component of teacher research. It includes journaling and talking about one's instructional practice. However, doing reflective practice is not the same as doing teacher research. Teacher researchers hypothesize and systematically test their ideas. They look to triangulate their ideas with multiple forms of evidence multiple perspectives (inside and outside of their research group) the research literature on this topic Teacher researchers also write about their projects. Writing is an important part of the process because it requires organization of ideas within a framework."

"the hidden skills and cognitive processes that underlie reading comprehension. A number of researchers (see, for example, Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Wyatt et al., 1993) focused their attention on a simple but unexplored question: What do great readers do when they read? By studying the behaviors of skilled readers, these researchers reached some important conclusions about what it takes to read for meaning, including these three:"

"Established Goals (ISTE NETS Standards) 2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. 4. Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students: b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project. 5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students: d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship. 6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems and operations. Students: b. select and use applications effectively and productively. d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies. Enduring Understandings: Students will understand that: Responsible digital citizens demonstrated shared characteristics, habits and attitudes. We can work together to teach others what we have learned. We can use web 2.0 tools to collaborate and communicate with a global audience. Essential Questions: What are the characteristics, habits and attitudes of a responsible digital citizen? How can we work together to teach others about responsible digital citizenship? How can we collaborate and communicate with others online? Assessment Evidence GRASPS Task Goal: Your goal is to produce a multimedia handbook about basic technology tools and digital citizenship for ISB

Seven-step process for planning problem-based learning experiences.

"The Internet has allowed us to retrieve as much information on any topic from pretty much any source we want. Wading through the junk can be tough. We have to rely on the collective knowledge of our friends and colleagues to help us sort the good from the bad. (Because remember, alone we are smart but together we are brilliant.) But that is only half of the curation process. Once we find the good we have to be able to store it and find it again. Having good tools at our disposal is crucial so that the hard work we go through to vet resources doesn't go to waste. These tools also allow us to share our learning and curated resources, adding to the global knowledge."

It has been a desired "central" lesson when I introduce Symbaloo - COllection & storage certainly, but in the curator aspect, lies evaluation and critical thinking. When I take kids to the art museum, we are looking at the concept of a "collection" - noun and those that assemble the collection are curators - what factors are considered to place an artifact in one collection as opposed to another? I admit that the curation aspect tends to become a mere add-on and gets buried under a mountain of other "stuff". But, as with all things, we endeavor to persevere...

"We need to develop more learning opportunities where students constitute the actual evaluators for the work itself. Imagine if students, teachers and others evaluate and provide feedback to determine the effectiveness of a student's creation: Develop an 60-second speech to be shared with the student council and three advertising posters to be copied and placed around school to decrease bullying. Your work will be evaluated according to our rubric by the students in our class, outside professionals and me - as the teacher. These are the experiences that push learning beyond a one-way conversation between student and teacher. They demystify the assessment process and allow each student to be a creator and simultaneous evaluator, providing multiple experiences for students to recognize and apply the criteria for quality."

"Evaluate websites with variations and extensions of skills you use to evaluate print materials."

How do we measure the efficacy of change? What are the benchmarks to prove that we are on the right track? Bascially, a change in the education process boils down to funding and to get funding you have to prove(through control groups) that the concept or innovation is better than the current method of teaching.

"Publishing student thinking can be among the most powerful ways to improve learning. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that the "threat" of publishing moves the lodestone from the classroom to the "real world." This, of course, changes everything."

"Students who view mathematics as only memorizing facts and procedures are often unsure of when or how to apply what they have learned. "

I laughed so hard when I read this part: First, stop expecting kids to pay attention. They don't owe you anything. They're only in school because it's the law and their friends are there. He also lists some good strategies - none that are new, but it is always good to review!

Great information on personalized learning. This site is really packed with good reads!

""What are you doing in your classroom now, that you could turn over to your students to do themselves?""

How do we engage more teachers in the conversation? We are doing it one by one...is that the only way? How do we get teachers to see themselves as professionals that need to be interested in not only their content but in their pedagogy as well?

You give me the chance and I will take it! Essential Quote: "If you want teacher buy-in, let the teachers buy!" - Damn straight, better-believe-it-buddy! What is this really saying? Give educators the chance to determine their own needs and allow them to create their own PD - WOW, democracy in the work place, professional autonomy, release of control...Stop right there Mister Radical Man! All this student centered, student owning the learning may be the cool buzz words of the day, and we may wave its flag high and proud, but we ain't goin' to apply it to the employee serfs charged with implementing that pith! Pahleese, teachers in control - teachers deciding how best to teach and facilitate learning? Chaos, Anarchy, Socialism! Dog and Cats living together, mass hysteria...Ain't happenin'...not now, not ever! I actually know this to be true. I designed, proposed, pleaded for a number of programs incorporating this approach and was rebuffed (vehemently and sternly) in two districts, ignored in two others in favor of completely top down, admin centered, and strictly dictated, carrot and stick approach of standard seat time, nothing required but attention or comment, 11, 23, (whatever) Tools! Shocking that we have the PD results we have? Hardly - Continuing to do the same things we have always done and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity - A. Einstein - what an idiot!