Professional Development Guides These free instructional guides, formerly known as the Teaching Modules, were developed by education faculty and professional developers for their colleagues. They can be employed as extension units in existing courses or can be used independently in workshops and meetings. Each guide includes articles, links to video footage, PowerPoint presentations, and class activities. We will update these modules over time, and we welcome your suggestions for future topics and feedback. Mountlake Terrace High School: Eeva Reeder (pictured) developed and implemented an architecture assignment for her geometry students in which they design a school and consult with local experts. Project-Based Learning Professional Development Guide Project-based learning, as with all lessons, requires much preparation and planning. Handhelds Go to Class: Teacher Josh Barron and one of his students often go through the strange-looking rite of "beaming" information to each other. Assessment Professional Development Guide
Thoughts on Leadership, Teaching & Learning - Moving Teaching from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’: Part 1 Colleagues Supporting Colleagues Ross McGill, 29th January 2013 on the state of CPD: “CPD can be a gloomy picture in most schools. Inset days, at worst, are one-size-fits-all chalk and talk in the school hall or even self-directed time which we will inevitably be used for marking or planning. At a Spectator ‘Schools Revolution’ conference, Dylan Wiliam summed up the problem: “The standard model of teacher professional development is based on the idea that teachers lack important knowledge. For the last 20 years, most professional development has therefore been designed to address those deficits. I don’t want to play the Ofsted game, but I want my colleagues to have opportunities to develop their teaching, to be able to move to really excellent (or ‘outstanding’ in Ofsted speak) teaching. After Ross Mc Gill’s article, I mwant to develop our in-hiouse training to take CPD forward. 1. This is the only way to share good preactice. t promotes ther sharing of good ideas and practice. 1. 2.
What makes a good teacher as far as technology is concerned? I'm interested in exploring this question, which I have phrased very carefully. I think whether you're a teacher of information and communications technology, or someone who teaches with educational technology, there are some common denominators of what makes the teaching good. These are all my ideas and conjectures; I have stated them as though they are facts purely in order to avoid clumsy circumlocutions. The first requirement is a willingness to experiment and take chances. You never really know whether something is going to work until you try it. For example, I came across a program a few years ago which made commenting on a student's work very easy: it was possible to give comprehensive feedback in only 5 minutes by clicking various buttons. Clearly, it was the sort of 'solution' you may wish to use with one or two special case students, but not with whole classes. Not everything is within the individual teacher's control. A third requirement is for intellectual honesty.
How Does #Edchat Connect Educators August 7, 2012 by tomwhitby For educators who have been connected since the early days of social media, it is difficult to understand the reason people would ask, “What is #Edchat?” We must remember that many educators using social media for professional reasons have joined only recently. The idea of using social media for professional reasons is a relatively new concept. One would hope that it is having a positive effect because the Department of Education declared August Connected Educators Month. #Edchat began on Twitter three years ago. The popularity of Twitter for many is a result of its simplicity: Tweets are limited to 140 characters, so the writer isn’t required to say much. Shelly Terrell (@ShellTerrell), Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) and I (@tomwhitby) created such a chat to focus on topics for educators. The power of the hashtag was still developing in those days. There are about 70 education chats working for specific focuses. Like this: Like Loading...
Is CALL outdated? Through both my own interest and the influence of my MA course, I’ve been sending out prompts for dialogue on Twitter, on Facebook and in my office regarding the integration of technology in our classes in terms of the familiar (and purportedly outdated) abbreviation CALL (Computer-assisted language learning), which has been met with a polarised set of opinions. Feel free to chime in. My desire for discussion stems from the Bax article, “CALL – Past, Present and Future” (2003), which responds to CALL’s phases put forth by Warschauer & Healey’s “Computers and language learning: An overview” (1998) and develops the concept of technology’s normalisation in the language learning classroom. This discussion is by no means new1, but maybe we’ve been discussing what’s not practical at this point. So integrated into daily life that we don’t consider it special (Source: The New Yorker, 2011) But first, I think it’s warranted to summarise one of Bax’s points. 1984 was a big year for computers
The 10 Skills Modern Teachers Must Have The above image is 8.5×11″ so you can print it out. PDF is available here . There’s been a lot of talk about 21st century learners, 21st century teachers, and connected classrooms. There’s a daily influx of new technology into your inbox and your classroom feels woefully behind the times even if you’re flipping your 1:1 iPad classroom that’s already online and part of a MOOC . What are modern teachers to do with all this jargon and techno-babble being thrown at them all day long? Simple. In my experience, I’ve seen teachers attempt to integrate 30 iPads into their classroom by handing them out and then trying to figure out which apps are worth using. In order to do this, you’ll need skills modern teachers must have. 1) Build Your PLN Whether you call it a ‘personal learning network’ or a ‘professional learning network’ is not important. 2) Establish Real Relationships Whether it’s online or offline, the ability to establish real relationships is critical to any modern teacher. 7) Slow Down
Lessons from the past, lessons for the future: 20 years of CALL Links checked 19 April 2012 This article was written in late 1996 and published as a chapter in Korsvold A-K. & Rüschoff B. (1997) (eds.) New technologies in language learning and teaching, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, ISBN 92-871-3255-0. Inevitably, an article like this dates very quickly and there are many revisions in this Web version. Lesson No. 1 focuses on the importance of ongoing training. Lesson No. 2 is full of warnings about regarding technology as the panacea. Lesson No. 3 on choosing the right hardware is less relevant now than it was in the 1990s. Lesson No. 4: I was a bit hard on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Lesson No. 5 focuses on the importance of new ideas - still as valid as ever. Lesson No. 6: I was probably a bit too harsh about "Doing it yourself", as new authoring tools have made life a lot easier for the teacher who wishes to create his/her own learning materials. Lesson No. 7: The Internet has changed immeasurably since this article was written. i. ii.
The Value of Self-reflection - Blog Self-reflection – a powerful tool for every teacher What if taking control of your professional development meant you understood not only what is, but also began creating what could be? Educational Reformer John Dewy once said “We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience.” Regularly examining what has and what hasn't worked in the classroom is a valuable tool to help you grow as a teacher, but why? The answer is threefold: Job Satisfaction If you leave your career unexamined it will get stale. Making a difference While following routines can help you to manage the task of teaching it can also leave you feeling powerless to really make a difference to student’s lives. Meeting Demands What does it take to be a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ teacher? One of the best things about teaching is that every school term or even half term, offers a fresh start. What are my teaching goals for the coming year?
Why Curation Will Transform Education and Learning: 10 Key Reasons There is a growing number of key trends that are both rapidly revolutionizing the world of education as we know it and opening up opportunities to review and upgrade the role and scope of many of its existing institutions, (as the likeliness that they are going to soon become obsolete and unsustainable, is right in front of anyone's eyes). George Siemens, in his recent Open Letter to Canadian Universities, sums them up well: 1) An Overwhelming Abundance of Information Which Begs To Be OrganizedThe goal is not (and probably it never was) to learn or memorize all of the information available out there. It's just too much even if we focus only on the very essence of it. The goal is to learn how to learn, to know where to look for something and to be able to identify which parts of all the information available are most relevant to learn or achieve a certain goal or objective.This is why new digital literacy skills are of such great importance. From the New York Times: "...Mr.
10 Secrets To Staying Motivated Having dreams and goals is not enough to attain success. You need to stay motivated constantly to reach the finish line. Like life, success in your profession also involves a lot of obstacles and struggling phases. However, you need to keep moving on and not give up. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. To conclude, your meticulous efforts in following these and other tips will help you stay motivated in order to reach your goals not only in a business scenario, but in any other scenario in life.
You have a Twitter account... now what? So you have a Twitter account. Great! But what's next? Maybe you've had this account for months or years and you haven't figured out what to do with it. Here are a few quick tips to enhance your experience! 1. Say who you are and why you are using Twitter. 2. Who? How I decide who to follow? 3. Time to get going! Should you tweet about matters that are not about your work or study? If you have any questions or tips for others, please post them in the comments. Remember it is fun. tesResources: How about this for an idea:... Online friend or foe? | Learning out and about with tech When we advise children about being safe online, we often tell them to be aware that who they are talking to online may not be who they think. But as adults how many of us think that could happen to us? I thought I was pretty careful but along with many of my twitter friends, I was duped by someone in a rather impressive way. Why do I say impressive? This week through some mistakes by this person and some pretty good detective work by other twitter friends, it was discovered that the pictures of the twins were taken from a blog in the States and the wedding pictures were fake too. How do I feel about this? We came with our families to a Helen’s mums farm in Yorkshire where we spent a fantastic two days doing a variety of activities such as: daytime astronomy, geocaching, den building, football, painting, mission explore, walking, weird science, origami etc.