Literature circles / ELP years 5–8 / Comprehension / Reading / Reviewed resources Many teachers use literature circles as a way of encouraging their students to think and talk about a wide range of literary texts. A literature circle is like a book club for students. Small groups of students read the same text independently and share their interpretations and personal responses with others in the group. The students generate the discussion. found a passage particularly impressive, interesting, or confusing;want to ask the group questions about the plot, characters, or information;want to clarify their thoughts about the theme or meaning of the text;found the language or writing style impressive or memorable;can relate an event or episode in the text to personal experience;can relate the text to other texts on the same topic or theme or by the same author. Literature circles enable students to extend their comprehension and critical analysis skills as they explore, in depth, texts by a particular author or on a specific theme.
Tech Isn’t Everything – Teachers Are! | Teachers Matter “Technology has exceeded our humanity” (Photo credit: Toban B.) As a lover of all things tech, I sometimes forget that everyone doesn’t feel the same way that I do about it. In fact, there are many teachers who become uneasy and even anxious when technology in education is discussed. My father, a professor at a local university, is one of those educators. This edict caused a tremendous amount of stress among the faculty members at my father’s university. I’ve been in the classroom for 24 years now and I’ve seen a lot of educational fads come and go (and come back again with new names). Teachers have always been and are always going to be the driving force in education. Teachers are on the front-lines with their sleeves rolled up, working closely with their students. Teachers have the power to motivate, inspire and instill a love of learning onto their students. In the school community, teachers have a direct influence on the children. Tech can assist in this, but it CANNOT do it alone.
Modern Learning Environments – the underlying philosophy to success | Karen Boyes Speaker Modern Learning Environments (MLE) are all the talk in educational circles right now. Schools, around the world, are knocking out walls and creating bright stimulating classrooms with multi purpose furniture and giving students access to technology. On the surface it looks fantastic, however I am concerned that without a big pedagogy shift, students will be simply just learning the same way many teachers have been teaching – just in bigger classrooms with new furniture. MLE’s are so much more than the bright new furniture and the technology. What makes an MLE work, and in fact ANY successful classroom is the relationship between the teacher and student and the underlying ethos of learning to learn. When moving from a structured, and often heavily teacher-dominated classroom, to a less formal student led environment it is paramount students understand their role and responsibilities as the learner and indeed the learning process. Be clear on your underlying philosophy of learning.
The Differentiator Try Respondo! → ← Back to Byrdseed.com The Differentiator The Differentiator is based on Bloom's Taxonomy, Kaplan and Gould's Depth and Complexity, and David Chung's product menu. Try It In: French Dutch • Tweet It • Like Byrdseed • Pin It Students will judge the ethics of the [click to edit] using a textbook and create an essay in groups of three. Revised Bloom's Taxonomy adapted from "A Taxonomy for Learning,Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" by Anderson and Krathwohl Depth and Complexity adapted from The Flip Book by Sandra N. Depth Big Idea Unanswered Questions Ethics Patterns Rules Language of the Discipline Essential Details Trends Complexity Multiple Points Of View Change Over Time Across the Disciplines Imperatives Origin Convergence Parallels Paradox Contribution Key Words Consequences Motivations Implications Significance Adapted from David Chung and The Flip Book, Too by Sandra N. Group Size One Two Three Four
8 ways teachers can talk less and get kids talking more If you do fewer teacher-directed activities, that means the kids will naturally do more talking, doesn’t it? Not necessarily. I have often found myself talking almost constantly during group work and student-directed projects because I’m trying to push kids’ thinking, provide feedback, and help them stay on task. Even when the learning has been turned over to the students, it’s still tempting to spend too much time giving directions, repeating important information, and telling students how they did instead of asking them to reflect on their work. 1. It can be uncomfortable to watch kids struggle to figure out an answer, but they need time and silence to work through it. 2. It’s easy to get in an instructional rut when you stand at the same place near the board all day long. 3. Cut down on conversations about bathroom/water/pencil sharpening/etc by teaching kids to use sign language to request permission: use sign language to indicate your answer back: yes, no, or wait. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
A Parent's Guide for Getting Girls Into STEM Careers Edutopia Readers, I'm Dr. Rob Garcia, a former high school dropout turned PhD. High school was awful for me. The reason I'm sharing this is because I want great things for your children and I want to give you every resource to encourage your daughters to get high paying, successful STEM careers if that's their passion. My journey was unnecessarily difficult and I want better for your teens. By some weird twist of fate, I ended up teaching high school Engineering in San Diego for five years. Keep in mind that STEM careers can be mistakenly thought of as boring or not feminine or female friendly. hands on projects bright colors for diagrams working with friends or in groups association with real life events/concepts fun projects that mix creativity and design with STEM topics immersion and experiences related to STEM My ADD was kickin' pretty bad in high school because I was a tactile learner. The two best resources I found have everything you will need. Age 6-9 (key goal is "new concepts")
Taking Classroom Tech Use to the Next Level: Specific Traits to Look For “They don’t live in Saskatoon!” a seventh-grade girl says vehemently. She’s working with her class to figure out where another mystery class is located somewhere else in the world. The two classes are competing to figure out the other’s location first. Students must work together to develop good yes or no questions to ask the other class, like the age-old car game “20 Questions.” It looks like fun and students are certainly engaged in the project. “They were practicing important skills, asking questions, problem-solving,” said one teacher. These are typical reactions to activities that use technology in the classroom, but they aren’t sufficient for Julie Graber, an instructional technology consultant for Prairie Lakes Educational Agency in Iowa. “What we’re finding is that there’s really nothing that’s helpful for moving a system in terms of knowing where am I at and where am I trying to go,” Graber said during the ISTE session. “What did they just learn?”
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What's the difference between accuracy and precision? - Matt Anticole Scientists (and engineers) are used to taking measurements and working with numerical data. With numerical data, we can try to identify patterns hidden in nature. With those patterns, we can begin to understand, predict, and perhaps ultimately control the world that surrounds us. Because data is so important to scientists and engineers, sometimes they need to worry about more than just whether they are right or wrong. What is the difference between a Number and a Measurement? Taking a measurement requires you to use a measuring tool of some sort: a ruler, a thermometer, a graduated cylinder, etc. What is accuracy? What can change the accuracy of a measurement? While accuracy is easy enough to understand, it does have an underlying weakness. Be careful though, some people assume that if you write a lot of digits after the decimal point, the measurement has to be accurate. What is precision? Significant Digits (or Figures) What are significant digits?