Rethinking Whole Class Discussion
Whole class discussions are, after lecture, the second most frequently used teaching strategy, one mandated by the Common Core State Standards because of its many rewards: increased perspective-taking, understanding, empathy, and higher-order thinking, among others. These benefits, however, do not manifest without a skillful and knowledgeable facilitator. Unfortunately, a preponderance of evidence demonstrates that many teachers mistakenly conflate discussion with recitation. "Typical teacher-student discourse resembles a quiz show, with teachers asking a question, the student replying, and the teacher evaluating the student's response. This is called initiation-response-evaluation, 'I-R-E,' or recitation."1 In contrast to recitation, quality discussion, according to the University of Washington's Center for Instructional Development and Research, involves purposeful questions prepared in advance, assessment, and starting points for further conversations. Follow-Up Questions Notes
Selling SEL: An Interview with Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman: What we’re calling today social and emotional learning actually has many of its roots back in the ‘80s when kids were having lots of problems with things like drugs, unwanted teen pregnancies, drop outs, violence in schools and the federal government mandated programs to prevent these things. There was a war on bullying, there was a war on drugs, there was a war on violence in schools and about the time I as a science journalist at the New York Times was looking around at what I ended up calling emotional intelligence. About that time a foundation, the WT Grant Foundation funded study of all of these programs because people realized some of these programs work and a lot of them don’t and they want to know what’s working and so they did an analysis of the different components and so on and they realized that the programs that worked all shared a common set of ingredients and what were they?
1st Annual MTSS Conference Evaluation
Thank you for your interest in MTSS. Please take a few moments and provide your feedback regarding the 1st Annual MTSS Conference that was held March 13, 2012. As a result of the conference, do you feel you now have a better understanding of connections between the Massachusetts Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and the following? As a result of the conference do you feel you now have a better understanding of the core components of MTSS, including why both academic and non-academic components are essential? As a result of the conference do you feel you now have a better understanding of how to teach more effectively through considering the variability of learners (UDL)?
Change Magazine - September-October 2010
by Cedar Riener and Daniel Willingham There is no credible evidence that learning styles exist. While we will elaborate on this assertion, it is important to counteract the real harm that may be done by equivocating on the matter. In what follows, we will begin by defining “learning styles”; then we will address the claims made by those who believe that they exist, in the process acknowledging what we consider the valid claims of learning-styles theorists. What is a Learning Style? The claim at the center of learning-styles theory is this: Different students have different modes of learning, and their learning could be improved by matching one's teaching with that preferred learning mode. The most popular current conception of learning styles equates style with the preferred bodily sense through which one receives information, whether it be visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (for some reason, no one claims that there are tactile or olfactory learners). Why Should College Educators Care? 1.
Brain-Based Learning: Resource Roundup
Edutopia's list of resources, articles, videos, and links for exploring the connection between education and neuroscience. (Updated: 12/2013) Building Brain Literacy in Elementary Students, By Judy Willis, M.D. (2013) Neurologist, teacher, author and Edutopia blogger Willis discusses the benefits of teaching elementary students how their brains work. Brains, Brains, Brains! How the Mind of a Middle Schooler Works, by Heather Wolpert-Gawron (2013) Blogger Wolpert-Gawron launches this three-part series by advising middle school teachers to read up on brain research with insight on how the 'tween brain works.
