AnnotateIt - Annotating the Web Quality teaching neglected in relentless funding focus - The Drum Opinion - With the Gonski funding reforms quietly shelved, Julia Gillard has the opportunity to tweak the current model then focus on what really matters: quality teaching. (Australian Broa Find More Stories Quality teaching neglected in relentless funding focus Alan Tudge The Prime Minister's long-awaited school funding reforms outlined in the Gonski Review have been quietly shelved. After two years of work, it will back to the drawing board for Gillard, but she now has the opportunity to do what she should have done at the outset: tweak the current funding model and then focus attention on what really matters - quality teaching. It is common for government reviews to be sidelined or shelved, but rare for ones of Gonski's significance. Gonski was to finally provide an acceptable alternative; one that would address perceived problems with the current system, but avoid the political pain that Labor's last effort – the 'hit list' policy – inflicted in 2004. As a piece of intellectual work, the Gonski Review is reasonable. As a policy blueprint, however, Gonski has failed to deliver. The most substantial policy flaw is that it is not based on financial reality. Email Share x Digg
Character Traits and the Books that Teach Them When I think about my goals as a teacher, character education has always been at the top of my list. I get just as excited when my students greet other teachers by name, hold doors open for adults, and show a true sense of appreciation as when they master their multiplication facts. I believe that intelligence and character must be intertwined, and that the classroom is the perfect place to develop this. I try to integrate character education into all subjects that I teach, however I have found that it lends itself perfectly to Language Arts. There are so many wonderful children's books that teach important values and lessons. One way that I infuse character education is discussing the theme, or "THE MEssage" of the stories we read. After reading a story, we will have one student read to us some of the previous themes we have determined as a class. Here are just a few of my favorite character traits/themes and books that I use to teach them with my class: Integrity Compassion Courage
Garbology: Easy Way to Teach Students about Recycling Garbology is a great website where students can learn about nature-friendly ways of disposing of trash. Yes it does start from home but schools and teachers can help a lot in reinforcing those noble values that parents teach their kids especially in matters concerning the preservation of our nature. Teachers will find Garbology a great resource full of tips and ideas together with animations showing students how to correctly get rid of their everyday garbage. Garbology is basically an interactive game that provides a convincing answer to the question " Where should my waste go ". It is very easy to use Garbology, students first sort out trash according to the bin it belongs to. Garbology is really a great resource for teachers to use with their students.
Flip this lesson! A new way to teach with video from TED-Ed Announcing a new way to use video to create customized lessons: the “Flip This Lesson” feature from TED-Ed, now in beta at ed.ted.com. With this feature, educators can use, tweak, or completely redo any video lesson featured on TED-Ed, or create lessons from scratch based on a TEDTalk or any video from YouTube. How? Watch the short video to learn how it works: “Flip This Lesson” is an open platform — you can create a lesson from any video, whether from the TED-Ed library, from more than 1,000 TEDTalks, or from any video on YouTube. Then — go forth and write lessons of your own!
My Classroom Design & Seating Chart Tips Another school year is coming to a close and before you know it, September will roll around with a new group of students eager to learn. Many of us will use the summer to reflect on the past year and plan changes we want to implement the following year. One of those areas for reflection is the design and arrangement of the classroom. Since this year was spent in long term substitution positions in various classrooms, I had the opportunity to experience various classroom designs. Some classrooms were extremely detailed and organized, while others were cluttered and overly engaging. Ever feel buried under the stack of assignments, tests, and quizzes just... With last month’s conventions and next month’s debates, it’s a perfect time to... After over 25 years in the high-tech field, Dave, aka Mr. Teacher evaluation is at the top of the list of things to talk about in the... Do your traditional book report assignments seem old and tired? The Cluttered Classroom
Changing Assessment Presentation I am putting on a session called "Globablization of Assessment" Below is my presentation and talking points:My Talking points: Math teachers indicated that they rely on a textbook for more than 80% of their teaching and most math teachers (at least 60%) reported that their instruction is quite similar to textbook tests. – Center for the study of testing, evaluation, and education policy. Mayor of New Jersey strongly backed the pedagogical approach of using “constant drill and repetition” and even said “It is not that hard to give answers if someone just told you what to say. They memorize back and know and get used to a lot of A’s on quizzes” But when asked if he would send his own children to this type of school, he answered “no, those schools are best only for certain children”. Research has shown that an overemphasis on achievement: 1) Undermines students interest in learning 2) Makes failure overwhelming 3) Leads students to avoid challenging themselves 4) Reduces the quality of learning
How Does Music Stimulate Left and Right Brain Function and Why is this Important in Music Teaching? | The Music Teachers Blog « Confused About Interactive Whiteboards? | Home | Music Teaching Quotes » Music research indicates that music education not only has the benefits of self-expression and enjoyment, but is linked to improved cognitive function (Schellenberg), increased language development from an early age (Legg), and positive social interaction (Netherwood). Music listening and performance impacts the brain as a whole, stimulating both halves – the analytical brain and the subjective-artistic brain, affecting a child’s overall cognitive development and possibly increasing a child’s overall intellectual capacity more than any other activity affecting the brain’s bilaterism (Yoon). How does music stimulate the right and left hemispheres? We often hear about an analytical person, like an accountant, being left-brained while a more “free spirit”, like an artist or poet, is considered “right-brained”. Music Listening vs. Some key points to remember: SOURCES: Legg, R. (2009). Schellenberg, E. (2005). Moreno.
How Do We Teach Critical Thinking in a Connected World? As a child, I grew up in a world that was dominated by left-brained thinking. Both my parents were in professions that required in-depth analytical thinking. The “rule” in my house was: “If you break something, try to fix it. Only THEN come ask Dad for help.” Looking back now, I realize something I never understood then — what he had instilled was an ability to think critically. Several months ago, as I was visiting one of our diocese schools, I was fascinated that a first grade teacher was actually teaching critical thinking to her students within a math lesson. The addition sentences were easy for the six and seven-year olds. Shortly after my classroom visit, I came across a website dedicated to teaching critical thinking. Reflection always includes stopping and thinking before making rash judgments about the topic at hand. It never ceases to amaze me how deep the learning experience can become when ideas are critiqued by others. ‘How do you know what you know?’ About the author
Preschool lessons: New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they're reading books to babies in the womb. There are skeptics, of course, including some parents, many preschool teachers, and even a few policy-makers. What do we already know about how teaching affects learning? Developmental scientists like me explore the basic science of learning by designing controlled experiments. In the first study, MIT professor Laura Schulz, her graduate student Elizabeth Bonawitz, and their colleagues looked at how 4-year-olds learned about a new toy with four tubes. All of the children pulled the first tube to make it squeak. Does direct teaching also make children less likely to draw new conclusions—or, put another way, does it make them less creative? Daphna ran through the same nine sequences with all the children, but with one group, she acted as if she were clueless about the toy.