The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland Approaching the school’s playground that morning, I watched as an army of 5- and 6-year-old boys patrolled a zigzagging stream behind Niirala Preschool in the city of Kuopio, unfazed by the warm August drizzle. When I clumsily unhinged the steel gate to the school’s playground, the young children didn’t even lift their eyes from the ground; they just kept dragging and pushing their tiny shovels through the mud. At 9:30 a.m., the boys were called to line up for a daily activity called Morning Circle. (The girls were already inside—having chosen to play boardgames indoors.) They trudged across the yard in their rubber boots, pleading with their teachers to play longer—even though they had already been outside for an hour. As they stood in file, I asked them to describe what they’d been doing on the playground. “Making dams,” sang a chorus of three boys. “Nothing else?” “Nothing else,” they confirmed. “Play is a very efficient way of learning for children,” she told me. Timothy D.
Lessons in School Design from Crow Island Elementary What messages does your school building convey to the children and teachers who spend their days there? Does the architecture set the stage for engaging learning experiences that will prepare students for future challenges? Or are constant work-arounds required to make room for collaboration, creativity, and real-world problem solving? An increasing number of communities are confronting these questions as they prepare to update or replace outdated school facilities. It's a daunting challenge, to be sure. To advance this conversation, the American Architectural Foundation recently convened the fourth National Summit on School Design. Welcome to Crow Island: "Philosophy in Brick" Crow Island Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois, is a public school celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Classrooms are L-shaped, each with a workroom area where long-term projects can unfold (an early version of today's makerspaces). For educators, the school affords flexibility. Shaping the Future
8 Living Artists Every Educator Should Know By staying aware of artists who are working today, educators can invigorate their lives and their classrooms with new and expansive ways of looking at contemporary life and the world. Here are a few artists to get started, along with suggested connections that can be made to subjects and themes that you might be addressing with your students. Marina Abromivic Marina Abromovic is a performance artist based in New York. Like other performance artists, her work uses the body and time as the primary mediums. Abromovic's most famous work involved her sitting in a flowing red dress at MoMA and holding the gaze of museum visitors over the course of a week. Connection: Abromovic makes us reconsider society's relationship to the body. El Anastui El Anastui is a Ghanaian sculptor who works with found materials that others might consider junk, such as bottle caps and rusted sheet metal. Edward Burtynksy JR is a French street artist and photographer of Algerian decent. Maya Lin Sarah Sze Kara Walker
What if All they want to do is Play Video Games? | Sheila Baranoski “Easy for you to say unschooling works,” someone told me. “Your kids are interested in academic things. You don’t know my kids. If I unschooled, all my kids would do is play video games all day.” To which I can only laugh. Or I could tell you that all they want to do is play video games. Both versions of the story would be true. Because of the hours and hours and hours and hours, day after day after day after day, month after month after month, year after year after year of video game playing, they naturally became immersed in Japanese things because that’s where Nintendo headquarters is. Their games sometimes have historical or mythological creatures in them, which gets them curious, resulting in google searches and family conversations. Because of their love of Japan, I got them each a subscription to Japan crate for their birthdays, where they get a box of Japanese goodies each month. The symphonies I mentioned? We used Sculpey clay to make triforces and our own ocarinas.
Who we are | The Ron Clark Academy The Ron Clark Academy (RCA) is a highly-acclaimed, nonprofit middle school located in Southeast Atlanta. The Academy has received both national and international recognition for its success in educating students with academic rigor, passion, and creativity balanced by a strict code of discipline. Our 5th - 8th grade students represent various socio-economic and academic backgrounds and communities from across the metro region. The Academy seeks to extend its reach beyond its student body by having an impact upon students everywhere. Our History
Giving Advice: A couple excellent resources - EFL 2.0 Teacher Talk Recently on EFL Classroom 2.0, I created for members 2 excellent resources about giving advice. EFL Classroom 2.0 members get all the resources to download, including presentations and videos. 1. Here are the lesson ideas. Dear Abby. Students are shown real questions sent in by readers. Ways to relieve stress. This is a nice writing / brainstorming activity to get students thinking of ways to reduce stress (and they usually are under a lot of it!). First ask students about stress, what it is, how you can tell you are “under” it.Next, list some things you can do to reduce stressAfter that, watch the video – 10 ways to reduce stress. Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0
Could Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose Be the Keys to Motivating Students? Daniel Pink has studied motivation in the business world for a long time and he’s come to the startling conclusion that traditional ways of motivating employees with financial incentives doesn’t work. In study after study, social scientists have found that external rewards narrow the focus and restrict possibilities, making it difficult for people to come up with creative solutions to complex problems. The only time incentives worked, in fact, was when the problem was mechanical and the path to the solution was straightforward. Instead, companies around the world have shown that employee motivation increases when people have autonomy, a driving purpose and the desire to perfect their craft. Watch Dan Pink lay out his case.
Parhaat koulupihat saadaan, kun lapset ovat mukana tekemässä – eikä maksa maltaita Hämeenlinnan Hauholla on ehkä Suomen kivoin koulupiha, ja tieto siitä on levinnyt laajalle etenkin sosiaalisessa mediassa. Facebook-videota Hauhon yhtenäiskoulun monipuolisesta, liikunnallisesta pihasta on katsottu maanantai-iltapäivään mennessä noin 70 000 kertaa. Rehtori Pekka Paappanen pitää toimivaa pihaa oppilaille tärkeämpänä kuin sen somesuosiota. – Meille piha on tärkeä, on sitä kehitetty vuosien mittaan ja tiedetään, että se on hyvässä mallissa ja kehittyy koko ajan. Paappanen antaa tunnustusta oppilaiden omalle aktiivisuudelle pihan kehittämisessä sekä yhteistyökumppaneille, jotka ovat työssä auttaneet. – Esimerkiksi mopopelto tuli ystävällisesti käyttöön maanomistajalta, siinä ei juuri kustannuksia mietitty. Muita kouluja rehtori Paappanen kannustaa olemaan rohkeita ja näkemään lähiympäristönsä mahdollisuudet. – Antaa arvostusta sille ympäristölle, mikä koulun ympärillä on. – Meillä käy paljon delegaatioita myös koulun sisäpuolella oppimisympäristöratkaisuja katsomassa.
Vicces illusztrációk mesélik el, hogyan változott meg a világ 20 év alatt – Lemon A tévénk vékonyabb, a telefonunk okosabb, de nemcsak ezek a dolgok változtak meg az utóbbi húsz évben… George Lucas akkor és most Régen: Megnézem a Star Warst, a Supermant, a Jurassic Parkot, a Karib-tenger kalózait, a Rettegés házát… és most ugyanezeket. Játszótér 1967-ben és 2011-ben Régen: Öntsd rájuk a forró olajat! 1848-ban a kaliforniaiak abban reménykedtek, hogy aranyat talának a vízben… 2015-ben abban reménykednek, hogy találnak vizet Régen: Apa, segítesz elemet cserélni a játékautómban? Így futottunk régen: bemelegítettünk, futottunk, aztán ittunk és törülköztünk. Igen drágám, az őseinknek farka volt Régi telefon: leesik a padlóra, betöri a padlót. Nyaralós képek az okostelefonok megjelenése előtt, és most Tíz éve így örültünk egy emailnek, manapság így örülünk, ha valaki egyáltalán levelet vagy képeslapoit küld nekünk 1960-ban még a gyereket hibáztatták azért, mert rossz jegyeket kapott, ma már a tanárokat No comment Forrás: Architecturendesign
How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty In the classroom, subjects are often presented as settled and complete. Teachers lecture students on the causes of World War I, say, or the nature of matter, as if no further questioning is needed because all the answers have been found. In turn, students regurgitate what they’ve been told, confident they’ve learned all the facts and unaware of the mysteries that remain unexplored. Without insight into the holes in our knowledge, students mistakenly believe that some subjects are closed. They lose humility and curiosity in the face of this conceit. But our collective understanding of any given subject is never complete, according to Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty. He wants students to grapple with uncertainty to spark their curiosity and better prepare them for the “real world,” where answers are seldom clear-cut or permanent. “We’re much more certain about facts than we should be,” Holmes said. Assign projects that provoke uncertainty.
Modern Learning Environments: Three NZ Case Studies Let's have a look at how the research into flexible, open learning spaces translates into action. Below are three New Zealand schools that have been developed using the latest theories on modern learning and spaces. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that the building are a container for the learning we choose to place into them; and that curriculum, pedagogy, assessment practices, relationships and culture are just as important as the spaces, if not more important. Case study: Stonefields School, Auckland Stonefields is made up of a series of ‘Learning Hubs’ which are large shared classroom spaces surrounded by breakout spaces that offer students a range of different learning activities: digital making, quiet and reading space etc. Case study: Albany Senior High School Albany’s large ‘learning commons’ host three-four concurrent classes at any one point in time. Case study: Hingaia Peninsula School The following two tabs change content below.
9 kulturális sokk, ami a külföldieket éri Magyarországon – Lemon Colm Fitzgerald Dél-Kaliforniában nevelkedett, és élt, amíg meg nem ismerkedett magyar feleségével, akivel Magyarországra költöztek. Colm összegyűjtötte azokat a kulturális dolgokat, amik sokkolták őt. 1. Amerikában nem igazán szoktak családilag jól megtermett disznót üldözni hajnalban jópár kupica pálinka után, ezért Colm eléggé megrendült, amikor a szeme előtt kést vágtak az állatba, kifolyatták és megsütötték a vérét, aztán megperzselték, csutakolták, kibelezték, feldarabolták, aztán főzték, végül hurkát és kolbászt töltöttek és így tovább. 2. Bár a statisztikákban ott van, hogy minden harmadik magyar dohányzik, ezt élőben látni elég sokkoló volt a férfinak. 3. A magyarok bizony komolyan veszik az evést, itt nincs olyan, hogy vasárnap a család elmegy egy gyorsétterembe, és bizony a vendégségben is végig kell enni a menüt, különben sértődés van. 4. Ahogy a férfi elmeséli, azt is meg kellett szoknia, hogy mi magyarok másfajta toalettet használunk. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Forrás: Matadornetwork
Millainen on parempi oppimisympäristö, Verstas Arkkitehdit? | Arkkitehtuuri | Kulttuuri Tulevaisuuden koulussa ei opiskella luokassa pulpettiin niitattuna. Oppimisympäristöt muuttuvat. Mutta luottamus on suomalaisessa koulujärjestelmässä edelleen hyve, jota tullaan Yhdysvalloista Espooseen ihmettelemään. Hirvensaloon tulee suuri tiilinen koulu yli 800 oppilaalle. Isoissa kouluissa muodostuu haasteeksi, että miten saadaan oppimisympäristöstä pienen ihmisen mittakaavaan sopiva. Ensimmäisenä koulupäivänä Riina Palva astui sisään Rauman vanhan tyttölyseon ovesta. - Se oli aikansa tyypillinen rakennus, korkeat huoneet, paljon portaita. Verstas Arkkitehtien Espooseen suunnittelemissa kahdessa koulussa on enemmän ovia ja valtavasti enemmän oppilaita. Tuleva Syvälahden koulu sisältä Hirvensalon koulu, havainnekuva Kuva: Verstas Arkkitehdit - Isoissa kouluissa muodostuu haasteeksi, että miten saadaan oppimisympäristöstä pienen ihmisen mittakaavaan sopiva. Verstas Arkkitehdit on ratkaissut sen muun muassa rakentamalla kouluista laatikon sijaan ison linnun tai sormikkaan muotoisia.