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Keri-Lee Beasley

Failing Forward: 21 Ideas To Use It In Your Classroom - 0 views

www.teachthought.com/...p-students-keep-their-momentum

failure classroom growth_mindset professional_development

shared by Keri-Lee Beasley on 01 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Keri-Lee Beasley on 01 Mar 15
     
    "Failing Forward" is a relatively recent entry into our cultural lexicon-at least as far has headlines go anyway-that has utility for students and teachers. Popularized from the book of the same name, the idea behind failing forward is to see failing as a part of success rather than its opposite. Provided we keep moving and pushing and trying and reflecting, failure should, assuming we're thinking clearly, lead to progress, So rather than failing and falling back, we fail forward. Tidy little metaphor.
Jeffrey Plaman

Why Teacher Coaching Can Fail - Julie Boyd - 2 views

julieboyd.com.au/why-teacher-coaching-can-fail

coaching fail policy technology

shared by Jeffrey Plaman on 18 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Jeffrey Plaman on 18 Feb 13
     
    Coaching is a highly sophisticated form of reflective practice. When done well, it can transform a person's professional, and often personal, life, and provides many benefits to the employer in sustaining high performance and morale. The question is, however, whether it's the coaching itself that produces the results, or if it's down to an enlightened management team, which believes in people's development and so encourages coaching, which in turn produces results. When coaching is done badly, though, it has the power to decimate a person's sense of professional worth for years into the future and to incur substantial cost while returning no benefits, or worse, significant professional damage. Leadership can become cynical about the coaching process.  Money is wasted.  Time and attention are frittered away.  Ineffective coaching is counterproductive and should be stopped as soon as it is recognized.
  • James Dalziel on 19 Feb 13
     
    If we value coaching, and we do, the question then becomes: "what are the elements of effective coaching that we can train, support, measure, and improve" - especially those that have the highest leverage for shifting those being coached perspectives and practices. The more I come to understand the power of coaching the more I appreciate that the best leaders see their primary role within an organisation as an influencer and coaching as the structure behind the myriad of interactions. I think an enlightened management team would not only be encouraging coaches but utilizing coaching strategies themselves on a regular basis.
Sean McHugh

Let's Ban Bans in The Classroom | DMLcentral - 0 views

dmlcentral.net/...t%E2%80%99s-ban-bans-classroom

distraction technology laptops pedagogy

shared by Sean McHugh on 31 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • I’ve yet to read an earnest blog post calling for a ban on pencils in the classroom — but rather portable electronics, most notably the laptop.
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 31 Jan 15
       
      Especially the tedious, laborious stultifying mode of lecturing that is so pervasive in FE.
  • but then one wonders why the shoddy outcomes of the lecture format are worth defending.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Shirky almost completely ignores pedagogy in this article. While this paragraph addresses learning and course structure, he doesn’t address or attempt to justify the learning modes that banning laptops is meant to protect. The assumption of his argument is that the classroom is a place where mostly lectures (and some discussions) happen. I do not doubt that portable electronics provide unique challenges to lecturing; but is this narrow definition of the classroom — a place where an instructor delivers knowledge to students who must pay attention — one we should be defending from these increasingly ubiquitous technologies?
  • Yet, what goes unremarked on in the study is how abysmally all of the students did on the comprehension tests.
  • Students didn’t start being distracted in class with the introduction of laptops, so instructors are better off addressing the root problem: making their courses engaging and interesting.
  • why must we ask the 21st century to wait outside our classes? Is it just to protect the lecture? We know what a classroom designed around lectures, notes, and quizzes can do, and it is not impressive.
  • Perhaps by embracing the new forms and structures of communication enabled by laptops and other portable electronics we might discover new classroom practices that enable new and better learning outcomes.
  • what is the value of pedagogies like lecturing? What is the value of attention-structuring activities like note-taking?
  • I’m not for banning lectures, either. What I am for is pedagogies that are nimble and responsive to a range of needs and outcomes for both instructor and student. The lecture has its place. Asking students to close their laptops has its place. But, failing to explore new possibilities for education prompted by emerging technologies does not serve the interests of either group.
  • Sean McHugh on 31 Jan 15
     
    Great Article via Ali F. The lecture has its place. Asking students to close their laptops has its place. But, failing to explore new possibilities for education prompted by emerging technologies does not serve the interests of either group.
Sean McHugh

Are We Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids? | Mickey Goodman - 2 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...sing-a-generati_b_1249706.html

Parenting resilience grit tenacity

shared by Sean McHugh on 30 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Sean McHugh on 30 Nov 13
     
    The uncomfortable solutions: "We need to let our kids fail at 12 - which is far better than at 42," he says. "We need to tell them the truth (with grace) that the notion of 'you can do anything you want' is not necessarily true."
Sean McHugh

11 Ways Finland's Education System Shows Us that "Less is More". | Filling My Map - 0 views

fillingmymap.com/...tem-shows-us-that-less-is-more

teaching assessment

shared by Sean McHugh on 26 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Finland follows the basic formula that has been performed by math teachers for centuries: The teachers go over homework, they present a lesson (some of the kids listen and some don’t), and then they assign homework.
  • What if we didn’t force students who know that their talents reside outside of the world of formal academics to take three years of high school classes that they found boring and useless?  What if we allowed them to train in and explore vocations they found fascinating and in which they were gifted?
  • This system allows the Finnish teacher more time to plan and think about each lesson.  It allows them to create great, thought provoking lessons.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Elementary students in Finland often have the SAME teacher for up to SIX YEARS of their education.
  • Finland understands that the ability to teach isn’t something that can be gained from studying. It is usually a gift and passion.  Some have it, some don’t.
  • They do not try to interfere or usurp their authority and decisions.
  • Study after study
  • Imagine all of the exciting things you could do with your students if there wasn’t a giant state test looming over your head every year.  Imagine the freedom you could have if your pay wasn’t connected to your student’s test scores.  Imagine how much more fun and engaging your lessons would be!
  • teachers take their time.  They look deeper into the topic and don’t panic if they are a little behind or don’t cover every topic in the existence of mathematics in a single year.
  • math ONCE a week
  • The students get to actually understand the material before they are forced on to a new topic.
  • Finnish students have the least amount of homework in the world.  They average under half an hour of homework a night.  Finnish students typically do not have outside tutors or lessons either.
  • I won’t give you homework if you work on this while you are in my classroom.”
  • Trust is key
  • Sean McHugh on 26 Apr 15
     
    ...why are Finnish students succeeding and ours are failing?  The difference is not the instruction. Good teaching is good teaching and it can be found in both Finland and in the US.   (The same can be said for bad teaching.)  The difference is less tangible and more fundamental.  Finland truly believes "Less is More."  This national mantra is deeply engrained into the Finnish mindset and is the guiding principal to Finland's educational philosophy.
Sean McHugh

Anne Murphy Paul: Why Floundering Makes Learning Better | TIME.com - 0 views

ideas.time.com/...why-floundering-is-good

learning teaching research floundering grappling

shared by Sean McHugh on 24 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • the “learning paradox”: the more you struggle and even fail while you’re trying to master new information, the better you’re likely to recall and apply that information later.
  • let the neophytes wrestle with the material on their own for a while, refraining from giving them any assistance at the start.
  • These students weren’t able to complete the problems correctly. But in the course of trying to do so, they generated a lot of ideas about the nature of the problems and about what potential solutions would look like. And when the two groups were tested on what they’d learned, the second group “significantly outperformed” the first.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The apparent struggles of the floundering group have what Kapur calls a “hidden efficacy”: they lead people to understand the deep structure of problems, not simply their correct solutions.
  • they’re able to transfer the knowledge they’ve gathered more effectively than those who were the passive recipients of someone else’s expertise.
  • “design for productive failure” by building it into the learning process.
  • Sean McHugh on 24 Mar 13
     
    " Kapur has identified three conditions that promote this kind of beneficial struggle. First, choose problems to work on that "challenge but do not frustrate." Second, provide learners with opportunities to explain and elaborate on what they're doing. Third, give learners the chance to compare and contrast good and bad solutions to the problems. And to those students and workers who protest this tough-love teaching style: you'll thank me later." Originally shared by JPL! Still awesome. (yes, you Jeff, and this article)
Sean McHugh

The Overselling of Ed Tech - Alfie Kohn - 0 views

www.alfiekohn.org/ed-tech

shared by Sean McHugh on 17 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • the rationale that I find most disturbing — despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that it’s rarely made explicit — is the idea that technology will increase our efficiency . . . at teaching the same way that children have been taught for a very long time
  • We can’t answer the question “Is tech useful in schools?” until we’ve grappled with a deeper question: “What kinds of learning should be taking place in those schools?” If we favor an approach by which students actively construct meaning, an interactive process that involves a deep understanding of ideas and emerges from the interests and questions of the learners themselves, well, then we’d be open to the kinds of technology that truly support this kind of inquiry. Show me something that helps kids create, design, produce, construct — and I’m on board. Show me something that helps them make things collaboratively (rather than just on their own), and I’m even more interested
  • these are examples of how technology may make the process a bit more efficient or less dreary but does nothing to challenge the outdated pedagogy. To the contrary: These are shiny things that distract us from rethinking our approach to learning and reassure us that we’re already being innovative
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The first involves adjusting the difficulty level of prefabricated skills-based exercises based on students’ test scores, and it requires the purchase of software. The second involves working with each student to create projects of intellectual discovery that reflect his or her unique needs and interests, and it requires the presence of a caring teacher who knows each child well
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 17 Mar 16
       
      Yeah, so?
  • even if ed tech were adopted as thoughtfully as its proponents claim, we’re still left with deep reasons to be concerned about the outmoded model of teaching that it helps to preserve — or at least fails to help us move beyond
  • teachers are far more likely to use tech to make their own jobs easier and to supplement traditional instructional strategies than to put students in control of their own learning
Jeffrey Plaman

Educational Leadership:The Transition Years:Positive Digital Footprints - 1 views

www.ascd.org/...sitive-Digital-Footprints.aspx

digitalfootprint footprint reputation blogging ascd article

shared by Jeffrey Plaman on 21 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • One of my worst fears as [my children] grow older is that they won't be Googled well. … that when a certain someone (read: admissions officer, employer, potential mate) enters "Tess Richardson" into the search line of the browser, what comes up will be less than impressive. That a quick surf through the top five hits will fail to astound with examples of her creativity, collaborative skills, and change-the-world work. Or, even worse, that no links about her will come up at all. (p. 16)
  • Students who see digital tools as vehicles for collective action around ideas they believe in are less likely to engage in risky behaviors online because they see social media spaces as forums for learning first and entertainment second
  • begin to paint complex digital portraits of themselves by networking with like-minded peers, joining groups committed to studying topics of deep personal interest to them, and creating products that are an accurate expression of who they are and what they believe in.
  • Jeffrey Plaman on 21 Sep 11
     
    Good article illustrating the need for students to develop a positive digital presence.
Sean McHugh

The Scientific Case For Teaching Cursive Handwriting to Your Kids Is Weaker Than You Think - 2 views

nautil.us/...ting-and-other-education-myths

teaching handwriting research

shared by Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • here is ample evidence that writing by hand aids cognition in ways that typing does not: It’s well worth teaching. And I confess I’m old-fashioned enough to think that, regardless of proven cognitive benefits, a good handwriting style is an important and valuable skill, not only when your laptop batteries run out but as an expression of personality and character.
  • if they have the time and inclination.
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
       
      But should we be dedicating swathes of curriculum time towards this? Surely not.
  • what teachers “know” about how children learn is sometimes more a product of the culture in which they’re immersed than a result of research and data.
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
       
      Never were truer words written.
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • What does research say on these issues? It has consistently failed to find any real advantage of cursive over other forms of handwriting
  • our real understanding of how children respond to different writing styles is surprisingly patchy and woefully inadequate
  • Evidence supports teaching both formats of handwriting and then letting each student choose which works best for him or her
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
       
      Shouldn't we include touch typing here as well?
  • So was cursive faster than manuscript? No, it was slower. But fastest of all was a personalized mixture of cursive and manuscript developed spontaneously by pupils around the fourth to fifth grade
  • They had apparently imbibed manuscript style from their reading experience (it more closely resembles print), even without being taught it explicitly
  • While pupils writing in cursive were slower on average, their handwriting was also typically more legible than that of pupils taught only manuscript. But the mixed style allowed for greater speed with barely any deficit in legibility.
  • The grip that cursive has on teaching is sustained by folklore and prejudice
  • freeing up cognitive resources that are otherwise devoted to the challenge of simply making the more elaborate cursive forms on paper will leave children more articulate and accurate in what they write
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
       
      Likewise if they can touch-type instead of wrestling with ascenders and descenders...
  • for typical children, there’s some reason to think manuscript has advantages
  • the difference in appearance between cursive and manuscript could inhibit the acquisition of reading skills, making it harder for children to transfer skills between learning to read and learning to write because they simply don’t see cursive in books.
  • There’s good evidence, both behavioral and neurological, that a “haptic” (touch-related) sense of letter shapes can aid early reading skills, indicating a cognitive interaction between motor production and visual recognition of letters. That’s one reason, incidentally, why it’s valuable to train children to write by hand at all, not just to use a keyboard.
  • even if being taught both styles might have some advantages, it’s not clear that those cognitive resources and classroom hours couldn’t be better deployed in other ways.
    • Sean McHugh
      Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
       
      In other ways... the time it takes for kids to learn cursive, spread over years, compared to the relatively short time it takes to master touch-typing being a case in point.
  • that cursive is still taught primarily because of parental demand and tradition, rather than because there is any scientific basis for its superiority in learning
  • inertia and preconceptions seem to distort perception and policy at the expense of the scientific evidence
  • How much else in education is determined by what’s “right,” rather than what’s supported by evidence?
  • Beliefs about cursive are something of a hydra: You cut off one head, and another sprouts. These beliefs propagate through both the popular and the scientific literature, in a strange mixture of uncritical reporting and outright invention, which depends on myths often impossible to track to a reliable source.
  • the reasons to reject cursive handwriting as a formal part of the curriculum far outweigh the reasons to keep it.
  • This must surely lead us to wonder how much else in education is determined by a belief in what is “right,” unsupported by evidence.
  • it’s often the case that the very lack of hard, objective evidence about an issue, especially in the social sciences, encourages a reliance on dogma instead
  • There needs to be wider examination of the extent to which evidence informs education. Do we heed it enough? Or is what children learn determined more by precedent and cultural or institutional norms?
  • Sean McHugh on 01 Oct 16
     
    There needs to be wider examination of the extent to which evidence informs education. Do we heed it enough? Or is what children learn determined more by precedent and cultural or institutional norms?
Sean McHugh

https://quillette.com/2021/02/20/thinking-critically-about-critical-thinking/ - 0 views

quillette.com/...ically-about-critical-thinking

thinking critical thinking

shared by Sean McHugh on 22 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • critical thinking is not a skill that can be improved through practice—like a golf swing—nor is it a “general” capability. Instead, it is an abstract description of what humans can do as a result amassing a wealth of underpinning knowledge and skills relevant to the particular context in which thinking is to be deployed
  • young children are capable of thinking critically about subjects they know a great deal about, whereas trained scientists can fail to think critically in areas where they are less knowledgeable
  • not all knowledge is created equal. We need to differentiate between knowledge and information. Much of the information stored on the Internet is pictures of kittens or videos of people singing sea shanties. This can keep increasing exponentially without any need for school children to become acquainted with it
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • we want to create a generation of critical thinkers then we must introduce them to their birthright, giving them the tools to analyze the world by teaching a structured curriculum full of powerful ideas
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