Dr. Kinsella 2 -- Teaching Vocabulary in the Middle Grades - Taking Center Stage-Act II (TCSII) (CA Dept of Education)
In this Professional Learning Activity, Dr. Kinsella presents an instructional approach that bolsters students’ expressive vocabulary knowledge, outlines key steps for teaching a word, and explains the pivotal role of vocabulary in literacy and learning. Take Stock: pre-video reflection exercise Take Time: watch the video Take Action: initial activities designed to help educators implement the practices suggested Take it Away: answer questions designed to help educators identify support and resources needed to implement the suggested practices This professional learning activity is one of several in the TCSII Get into the Act! Dr. Back to Top
Anchor Charts 101: Why and How to Use Them, Plus 100s of Ideas - WeAreTeachers
Spend any time browsing teacher pages on Pinterest and Instagram, and you’ll run across hundreds of ideas for classroom anchor charts. But you may have lingering questions about what they are, what purpose they serve, how to get started, and when to use them. Have no fear! WeAreTeachers has created this primer to inform you, and we’ve also included a huge list of resources to get you started. We have a feeling that once you get started, anchor charts are going to your new favorite thing. What is an anchor chart? SOURCE: Teaching With Simplicity An anchor chart is a tool that is used to support instruction (i.e. How do I create anchor charts? The first thing you need to know about creating them is that you do not need any special materials or artistic skills—just chart paper and a colorful assortment of markers. As you model a lesson or learning strategy and interact with your students through discussion, you fill in the blank spaces of the anchor chart. SOURCE: The Thinker Builder
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Given the difficult-to-digest subject matter in many STEM classrooms, educators have customarily relied on traditional lecture-based educational methods where they spend class time walking through content and then assign homework problems to supplement that learning. Liberal arts classrooms, on the other hand, often invert that structure. They task students with learning the material from a book outside the classroom and then turn class time into active discussion periods where they expand and develop what they've read. "It's difficult for an engineering student to extract the technical information from a book on their own," said Stephanie Butler Velegol, instructor in environmental engineering. The issue with the traditional lecture-based approach in STEM education is that even with capable and committed faculty, the method just doesn't engage some students and keep them interested. That's where the flipped classroom comes in. So Velegol decided to flip her class around.
Kinsella 4 Index -- Building Language and Literacy Skills - Taking Center Stage-Act II (TCSII) (CA Dept of Education)
In this Professional Learning Activity, Dr. Kinsella explores steps in effectively setting up discussion tasks for students. Take Stock: pre-video reflection exercise Take Time: watch the video Take Action: initial activities designed to help educators implement the practices suggested Take it Away: answer questions designed to help educators identify support and resources needed to implement the suggested practices This professional learning activity is one of several in the TCSII Get into the Act! Professional Learning Series. Dr. Back to Top
…a child first has to learn the foundational skills of math, like______? – Thinking Mathematically
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately observing students who struggle with mathematics, talking with teachers about their students who struggle, and thinking about how to help. There are several students in my schools who experience difficulties beyond what we might typically do to help. And part of my role is trying to think about how to help these students. However, first of all I want to point out just how difficult it is for us to even know where to begin! So where do we start? Take a look at the following quote. Really, take a minute to think about this. I’ve asked a few groups of teachers to fill in the blank here in an effort to help us consider our own beliefs about what is important. Here is the complete quote: Is this what you would have thought? Think about it for a minute. Visual perception and visual memory are used when we are: Symmetry games: Composing and decomposing shapes: Relating nets to 3D figures: Constructing unique pentominoes: So I leave you with a few questions:
Defining Digital Courseware - Courseware in Context
Digital courseware is a solution with the potential to support student-centered learning at scale in postsecondary education. While millions of students use digital courseware today in their college courses, significant opportunity remains for effective digital courseware use to support new teaching and learning strategies, improve course accessibility, and drive improvements in learning outcomes for postsecondary students. What is Digital Courseware? The first step in building clarity around “digital courseware” is to establish a common definition for the category. Definitions used around the postsecondary community range broadly, from e-textbooks, to clickers and projectors, to an LMS. From our study of the market, including its historical evolution and where digital learning is headed, we define digital courseware as: Digital courseware is instructional content that is scoped and sequenced to support delivery of an entire course through purpose-built software.
The Tyranny of Being On Task
I remember when I was first teaching and was getting ready for my first official observation and evaluation. I was very nervous. My principal had told me she would be looking for a classroom where students were on task. Heaven forbid that any students were off task. I thought that if my classroom even hinted that some students were off task, I would never be a successful teacher, and perhaps told to leave the teaching profession. I now know that it is unreasonable to ensure complete on task behavior from every student at all times, but back then I wanted a good evaluation, and I wanted my students to be on task so that they would learn and I could support them. Many years later, I taught in a school with a focus on project-based learning. There seem to be forces in education that push us to make sure students are on task. What Does the Science of the Brain Tell Us? Adults have built executive functions of the brain, and we receive a dopamine reward when we do the right thing.
Growth Mindset: How to Normalize Mistake Making and Struggle in Class | GROWTH MINDSET | MindShift | KQED News
Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset has become essential knowledge in education circles. The Stanford psychologist found that children who understand that their brains are malleable and can change when working through challenging problems can do better in school. Now, many school districts are attempting to teach growth mindset to their students. At the core of this practice is the idea of “productive failure” (a concept Dr. Manu Kapur has been studying for over a decade)* and giving students the time and space to work through difficult problems. These mindset changes are easy to describe and dictate, but more challenging to implement. In the video below on classroom struggle, second grade teacher Maricela Montoy-Wilson repeatedly asks her students to justify their thinking using reasoning and evidence. “Everyone is going to feel stuck,” Montoy-Wilson said. *A previous version of this article neglected to mention the scholarship of Dr. Katrina Schwartz
