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Sara Wilkie

The challenge of responding to off-the-mark comments | Granted, and... - 0 views

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    I have been thinking a lot lately about the challenge we face as educators when well-intentioned learners make incorrect, inscrutable, thoughtless, or otherwise off-the-mark comments. It's a crucial moment in teaching: how do you respond to an unhelpful remark in a way that 1) dignifies the attempt while 2) making sure that no one leaves thinking that the remark is true or useful? Summer is a great time to think about the challenge of developing new routines and habits in class, and this is a vital issue that gets precious little attention in training and staff development. Here is a famous Saturday Night Live skit, with Jerry Seinfeld as a HS history teacher, that painfully demonstrates the challenge and a less than exemplary response. Don't misunderstand me: I am not saying that we are always correct in our judgment about participant remarks. Sometimes a seemingly dumb comment turns out to be quite insightful. Nor am I talking about merely inchoate or poorly-worded contributions. That is a separate teaching challenge: how to unpack or invite others to unpack a potentially-useful but poorly articulated idea. No, I am talking about those comments that are just clunkers in some way; seemingly dead-end offerings that tempt us to drop our jaws or make some snarky remark back. My favorite example of the challenge and how to meet it comes from watching my old mentor Ted Sizer in action in front of 360 educators in Louisville 25 years ago. We had travelled as the staff of the Coalition of Essential Schools from Providence to Louisville to pitch the emerging Coalition reform effort locally. Ted gave a rousing speech about the need to transform the American high school. After a long round of applause, Ted took questions. The first questioner asked, and I quote: "Mr Sizer, what do you think about these girls and their skimpy halter tops in school?" (You have to also imagine the voice: very good-ol'-boy). Without missing a beat or making a face, Ted said "Deco
Sara Wilkie

Teaching Nonfiction Reading Skills in the Science Classroom [ACTIVITY] | CTQ - 0 views

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    "teach nonfiction reading skills in my sixth grade science classroom. Each lesson is tied directly to a standard in the Common Core Literacy in History, Science and Technical Subjects curriculum -- and each lesson is designed to be used in tandem with a current event connected to the concepts that our students study. If you like the lessons, all you'll need to do is find a current event to teach them with!"
cynthiahori

Doing It Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary | Edutopia - 0 views

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    great insight about new ways to teach vocabulary
Sara Wilkie

'The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching' - Knowledge@Wharton - 0 views

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    "In their book, Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track, authors Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg point out that today's education system is seriously flawed -- it focuses on teaching rather than learning. "Why should children -- or adults -- be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can?" the authors ask in the following excerpt from the book. "Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create?" "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught." -- Oscar Wilde"
Sara Wilkie

21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times: Bernie Trilling, Charles Fadel: 97... - 0 views

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    "The new building blocks for learning in a complex world This important resource introduces a framework for 21st Century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. 21st Century content includes the basic core subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic-but also emphasizes global awareness, financial/economic literacy, and health issues. The skills fall into three categories: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills. This book is filled with vignettes, international examples, and classroom samples that help illustrate the framework and provide an exciting view of twenty-first century teaching and learning. Explores the three main categories of 21st Century Skills: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills Addresses timely issues such as the rapid advance of technology and increased economic competition Based on a framework developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) The book contains a DVD with video clips of classroom teaching. For more information on the book visit www.21stcenturyskillsbook.com."
Sara Wilkie

Kids can't use computers... and this is why it should worry you - Coding 2 Learn - 0 views

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    "e should be teaching kids not to install malware, rather than locking down machines so that it's physically impossible. We should be teaching kids to stay safe on-line rather than filtering their internet. Google and Facebook give kids money if they manage to find and exploit security vulnerabilities in their systems. In schools we exclude kids for attempting to hack our systems. Is that right?"
Chris English

Three lessons from the science of how to teach writing | Education By The Numbers - 5 views

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    Troubled by the vagueness in some places, but it's a review of an unpublished paper that's in press, so reading the original would solve a lot of that. #2 - This is dangerous, I think, without a lot more context. The rationales given for "why" were all completely speculative, and the evaluation was based on readers. Again, love to see the numbers/controls used. A big one for ESL (which I'm sure this doesn't address, and which is problematic on a whole different level, of course) is that the definition of "word processing" -- DOES it include using grammar/spell check? Controls could include NOT using MS Word or its ilk, but instead just typing in email or a form, or using TextEdit. Another could be the relative ages of the readers -- has a whole generation been "Microsoftened"? #3 I'd absolutely need more evidence to buy into completely. The real issue that is not addressed is CONTEXT. If I teach you the physics of internal combustion, I'm not going to expect that you can now fix a car... unless I do a lab on fixing car engines to go along with that physics lesson. I'd hold that the same could apply -- but we don't know if THAT study has even been attempted.
Sara Wilkie

Tips on Inspiring Student Curiosity - Teaching Now - Education Week Teacher - 0 views

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    "teacher-ready tips for stimulating curiosity in others. First, she suggests starting with the question, rather than the answer-which teachers will recognize as the foundation of inquiry-based or discovery learning (see: math teacher Dan Meyer's take on how to make math "irresistible" to students). She then suggests offering some initial knowledge on the subject. "We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about," she writes. Again, teachers may know this as "activating prior knowledge" or "setting the stage" before a lesson. Finally, she says it helps to require communication, or "open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it." The think-pair-share technique and vocabulary activities that require students to teach each other their words both exemplify this. What would you add to the list? How does stimulating curiosity gel with other motivation tactics-or should teachers think of curiosity and motivation as one and the same?"
Jason Friedman

"She Didn't Teach. We Had to Learn it Ourselves." | Faculty Focus - 4 views

    • Chris English
       
      I highlighted a few key phrases
  • If teachers are going to refuse to do something students expect, especially if students think it’s something they believe makes the learning easier, how teachers refuse to help is important. “I will help, but not until you’ve got some answers, part of the solution, a few examples.” “I am not going to give you the answers, but I will give you feedback on your answers. By the end of class, we’ll have a set of good answers.”
    • Jason Friedman
       
      I really like this part.  Having a strong method is good but communicating that to ones students is paramount.  Some might be perceptive and pick up what's going on but it is short sighted to expect all students to make that connection on their own.
    • Matt Duncan
       
      What Jason said. Vital piece of this whole thing. Definitely.
Sara Wilkie

The Simple Things I Do To Promote Brain-Based Learning In My Classroom - 0 views

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    "If we want to empower students, we must show them how they can control their own cognitive and emotional health and their own learning. Teaching students how the brain operates is a huge step. Even young students can learn strategies for priming their brains to learn more efficiently; I know, because I've taught both 5th graders and 7th graders about how their brains learn."
Sara Wilkie

What are the 4 R's Essential to 21st Century Learning? | HASTAC - 0 views

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    "The classic "3 R's" of learning are, of course, Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. For the 21st century, we need to add a fourth R--and it will help inspire the other three: Algorithm. I know, it isn't a very graceful "R"--but 'riting and 'ritmetic are fudges too. And the beauty of teaching even the youngest kids algorithms and algorithmic or procedural thinking is that it gives them the same tool of agency and production that writing and even reading gave to industrial age learners who, for the first time in history, had access to cheap books and other forms of print. "
Sara Wilkie

Schoology Blog | Schoology - 0 views

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    "Jennifer Symington, the Leader of Pedagogy at at the All Saints Catholic Girls College in Liverpool (Sydney), Australia. Teaching 12-16 year old students geography, English, math, history, and science, Jennifer has used Schoology for two years in her integrated studies course where she blends all the aforementioned subjects. Her video is a shining example of the incredible power of technology to foster global learning."
cynthiahori

Empathy: The Most Important Back-to-School Supply | Edutopia - 0 views

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    Great article about teaching empathy in our classes
Sara Wilkie

Teach Kids to Use the Four-Letter Word | Edutopia - 0 views

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    "Grit." A four-letter word that every teacher and student should know and use. 3 Steps: Powerful Words, Weekly Reflection Journals, Community Meetings
Sara Wilkie

8 Big Ideas of the Constructionist Learning Lab | Generation YES Blog - 0 views

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    "The first big idea is learning by doing. We all learn better when learning is part of doing something we find really interesting. We learn best of all when we use what we learn to make something we really want. The second big idea is technology as building material. If you can use technology to make things you can make a lot more interesting things. And you can learn a lot more by making them. This is especially true of digital technology: computers of all sorts including the computer-controlled Lego in our Lab. The third big idea is hard fun. We learn best and we work best if we enjoy what we are doing. But fun and enjoying doesn't mean "easy." The best fun is hard fun. Our sports heroes work very hard at getting better at their sports. The most successful carpenter enjoys doing carpentry. The successful businessman enjoys working hard at making deals. The fourth big idea is learning to learn. Many students get the idea that "the only way to learn is by being taught." This is what makes them fail in school and in life. Nobody can teach you everything you need to know. You have to take charge of your own learning. The fifth big idea is taking time - the proper time for the job. Many students at school get used to being told every five minutes or every hour: do this, then do that, now do the next thing. If someone isn't telling them what to do they get bored. Life is not like that. To do anything important you have to learn to manage time for yourself. This is the hardest lesson for many of our students. The sixth big idea is the biggest of all: you can't get it right without getting it wrong. Nothing important works the first time. The only way to get it right is to look carefully at what happened when it went wrong. To succeed you need the freedom to goof on the way. The seventh big idea is do unto ourselves what we do unto our students. We are learning all the time. We have a lot of experience of other similar projects but each one is differ
cynthiahori

http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Research_News_and_Advocacy/Research/Clips_and_Briefs/... - 0 views

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    A quick read to help math teachers with teaching some strategies
Chris English

Drill the Teachers, Educate the Kids | November Learning - 1 views

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    I think there's a lot of value in the way the article approaches "why tech doesn't work as pedagogy." What I worry about is that there's a real danger of an either/or approach. Sometimes people need training, and we know that not all people can figure things out alone. Some need step-by-step instruction for technology that seems easy if you have certain aptitudes. It's all well and good to focus on the learning, but if you can't work the gizmo, you're not going to be facilitating much learning. This is aggravated when the tool is a communication channel, and you can't send the messages that need to be sent (e.g. Haiku and assignments, attendance, notes on grades, etc.)
Sara Wilkie

Maths Maps - an engaging way to teach Maths with Google Maps - 0 views

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    "It's been around for a few years now and had plenty of interest from around the world already, but Mr G Online has only just discovered Maths Maps. From first impressions, I am absolutely blown away by the idea. The brainchild of leading UK educator Tom Barrett, (now based in Australia), Maths Maps uses Google Maps as the launching pad for Maths Investigations. Barrett's vision was for teachers around the world to collaborate on building Maths Maps, examples of some seen in the screenshots on the left. Here is a brief description of how it works from the Maths Maps website. Elevator Pitch Using Google Maps. Maths activities in different places around the world. One location, one maths topic, one map. Activities explained in placemarks in Google Maps. Placemarks geotagged to the maths it refers to. "How wide is this swimming pool?" Teachers to contribute and share ideas. Maps can be used as independent tasks or group activities in class. Maps can be embedded on websites, blogs or wikis. Tasks to be completed by students and recorded online or offline."
Jason Friedman

Is the Lecture Dead? - Richard Gunderman - The Atlantic - 2 views

  • e lecture as the prototypically old school, obsolete learning technology,
    • Chris English
       
      Is it difficult to view the lecture as a technology? What physical objects support the lecture? 
    • Jason Friedman
       
      Isn't technology just the delivery of information?
  • placed one of Texas's medical schools on probation, in part because its curriculum relied too heavily on "passive" approaches to learning -- foremost among them, lectures. In medical education circles, "lecture" is fast becoming a term of derision.
    • Chris English
       
      LCME accreditation is serious business.  Check out the standards here :  http://www.lcme.org/publications.htm#standards-section
  • And yet
    • Chris English
       
      What is the rhetorical effect here?  What signal is the author giving the reader with these two words?
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • e should attempt to understand better the features that distinguish effective, engaging lectures from those that leave learners limp.
    • Chris English
       
      Good idea.  I'm on board with understanding the difference between a good lecture and a bad one.
    • Chris English
       
      Let's highlight these with pink.
    • Jason Friedman
       
      I agree.
  • we lecturers
    • Chris English
       
      What revelation do we have here about the author's persona and the intended audience for this article?
  • What will I be able to get across to learners through a lecture that they could not get just as well and with less inconvenience by reading a book or working through an online learning module?
    • Chris English
       
      Golden question.  Essential to good practice and pedagogy
  • The real purpose of a lecture is to show the mind and heart of the lecturer at work, and to engage the minds and hearts of learners.
    • Chris English
       
      Primary assertion of the text.  Is this an appeal to ethos, logos, or pathos?
  • pens learners' eyes to new questions, connections, and perspectives
  • Great lecturers not only inform learners, they also engage their imaginations and inspire them.
  • A great lecturer tells a story
  • Great lecturers often share responsibility for solving these problems with learners, working with them in real time to find a solution
  • Learners are not merely sitting and passively listening
    • Jason Friedman
       
      I always say learning shouldn't be a spectator sport.
  • actively thinking and imagining right along with the lecturer as both struggle toward new insights
    • Chris English
       
      Sharing responsibility, collaborating in real time, solving problems, active thinking and imagining - these are all valued in the classroom.  What does that look like during a lecture?  What should I be seeing?  How do I gauge whether or not a students is engaged?
  • Pausch and Jobs could have confined their presentations to small groups, relying on much more direct interaction with a few audience members. They could have embedded their messages in interactive computer software programs that asked learners numerous questions and provided constructive feedback on their responses. They could have phoned their lectures in, using the latest distance-learning technology. Fortunately, however, they did not, and our world and the world of today's health professions students is the richer for their choice to lecture.
    • Chris English
       
      These are good examples of great speeches, but I hesitate to buy the idea that they are reflective of classroom lectures.  Neither example is comes form a classroom setting where students are meeting on a regular basis to learn.
  • Nor can efforts to cut down on the amount of lecturing be justified on the grounds that the lecture is dead or even moribund.
    • Chris English
       
      I'm willing to accept the argument that the lecture has a place in education.  Lectures can be an effective and inspirational teaching tool.  I don't think the argument leads to the second part of the conclusion - that we shouldn't reduce the number of lectures.  Lecturing is one tool.  As educators, we should have more than one tool.
  • I believe that we should revisit this venerable educational method before we sign its death certificate.
    • Jason Friedman
       
      I think this is important.  The lecture need not die but it can be improved.  Any technology if not used effectively is a disservice to the classroom.
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