Teaching Fact vs. Opinion at Every Grade As a busy election season always seems to demonstrate, learning how to tell fact vs. opinion is not only a skill that will serve students across the curriculum and on standardized tests, but also throughout their lives. This is especially true in an information-driven world where anyone can disseminate “facts” via tweets, Wikipedia entries or blog posts. With that in mind, here are some of our favorite ways to teach this valuable skill at every grade level. In Grades K–2: Write simple facts and opinions on strips of paper, such as “Ice cream is made of milk and sugar” and “Vanilla ice cream is the best.” In Grades 3–5: Teach students about opinion “trigger words,” such as believe, think feel, always, never and none. In Grades 6–8: Discuss how nonfiction writers bring their own biases and opinions to what they write. In Grades 9–12: Question for you: How do you teach students to tell the difference between fact and opinion?
The Guide on Learning Styles and Style Discovery Test Everyone has different styles of learning – some people learn knowledge through visual diagrams and charts, some people learn things from logical reasoning and analysis system. To able to increase your learning speed and quality, it is important to understand which types suit you: … Many people recognize that each person prefers different learning styles and techniques. Learning styles group common ways that people learn. Everyone has a mix of learning styles. There are different learning styles: Visual (spatial). To found out what is your own personal learning styles, you can take learning-styles-online.com’s free learning styles inventory test. Resources:
Reading nonfiction is not optional SmartBlogs When Walter Dean Myers — noted young adult novelist — became the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in January, he said something particularly profound in one of his first interviews with Publisher’s Weekly. “We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it’s this wonderful adjunct…We’re still thinking in terms of enticing kids to read with a sports book or a book about war. We’re suggesting that they’re missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.” I’d take Myer’s message one step further: Reading NONFICTION is not optional. The sad truth is that fiction still dominates the literacy lives of young readers. That’s why Benny — one of my former students — made my day yesterday. Pretty geeky, right?
Writing Multiple Choice Questions For Higher Order Thinking: Instructional Design and eLearning One of the biggest criticisms of multiple choice questions is that they only test factual knowledge. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can also use multiple choice questions to assess higher-order thinking. Higher Order Thinking in a Nutshell Higher order thinking goes beyond memorizing and recalling facts and data. The concept is based on various learning taxonomies. Because test items must be aligned with learning objectives, you’ll need to include higher-order thinking skills from the start. 1. One of the best ways to promote and assess higher-order thinking is to use scenario-based questions, particularly ones that simulate real work experiences. Before: What symbol does a formula always start with in Excel? After: If you want to total the first ten data cells in column B, which one of the following formulas should you use? Before: What is the first concern of an emergency worker? After: You arrive at the scene of an accident where people are panicked and yelling. 2. 3.
Classroom Techniques: Formative Assessment Idea Number Three We’ve touched on a couple of formative assessment ideas in our blogging thus far, namely using Popsicle™ sticks as an all-student response system during class and using exit tickets to assess student learning. These formative assessment ideas involve all students, while giving teachers the information they need to make adjustments to their teaching. Ideas like these and others have proven to increase student learning. Another formative assessment idea that engages the entire class and provides evidence of student learning is the white board. As technology makes its way into classroom environment, tools such as the iPad™ or iPod™ can act in a similar fashion – providing real-time understand of subject matter. Have you used or seen whiteboards or something similar in action?
For Students, Why the Question is More Important Than the Answer Thinkstock In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the center of attention, the owner of knowledge and information. Teachers often ask questions of their students to gauge comprehension, but it’s a passive model that relies on students to absorb information they need to reproduce on tests. What would happen if the roles were flipped and students asked the questions? That’s the premise of the Right Question Institute and a new book by its co-directors Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. Coming up with the right question involves vigorously thinking through the problem, investigating it from various angles, turning closed questions into open-ended ones and prioritizing which are the most important questions to get at the heart of the matter. “We’ve been underestimating how well our kids can think.” “We’ve been underestimating how well our kids can think.” On the teacher’s part, the role becomes more a facilitator than an instructor. It’s a bit like the Socratic method flipped on its head.
Instructional Pacing: How Do Your Lessons Flow? Pacing a lesson so its nearly seamless takes expertise and practice -- and can be one of the greatest challenges for new teachers. For those more seasoned out there, here's a scenario many of us can relate to from the early days: way too much time for one learning activity, while not enough for another and clunky transitions in between. Also on the teacher plate when it comes to instructional decisions that effect pacing? How best to chunk and scaffold content so it's grade-level appropriate and then deciding on the best instructional mode. So let's take a look at the essentials when it comes to pacing the lesson and the learning: 1. Using a timer on your desk (or try this one) can help create that "were on the clock" feeling. 2. 3. 4. Photocopying can be the bane of the teacher's day. 5. 6. Pair and share creates energy in the room following direct instruction. 7. When that pacing seems off, is it time to switch the mode of delivery? How do you set up lessons so they flow?
5 Useful Places To Find Online Lesson Plans Whether you’re in need of a little help with a new lesson you’re trying to master or simply looking to find out what other teachers are doing around the world, the internet is a wonderful place to turn. So if you’re searching for online lesson plans, Edudemic has you covered. We’ve been looking into this kinda stuff for literally years upon years and can recommend the following five sources of online lesson plans. Some are free, some aren’t, it’s worth checking each out (and reading our description of course) to see which fits your needs. NOTE: click the title of each site below to view the site. Teachers Pay Teachers Probably one of the better known sites, Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace for teachers to buy and sell their lesson plans. Learn Zillion LearnZillion is a site that aggregates lesson plans that focus on common core standards. ThirteenEd Online Thirteen Ed Online is a web service for teachers offered by public television. Better Lesson Share my Lesson
Improved Learning in U.S. History and Decision Competence with Decision-Focused Curriculum Decision making is rarely taught in high school, even though improved decision skills could benefit young people facing life-shaping decisions. While decision competence has been shown to correlate with better life outcomes, few interventions designed to improve decision skills have been evaluated with rigorous quantitative measures. A randomized study showed that integrating decision making into U.S. history instruction improved students’ history knowledge and decision-making competence, compared to traditional history instruction. Thus, integrating decision training enhanced academic performance and improved an important, general life skill associated with improved life outcomes. Figures Citation: Jacobson D, Parker A, Spetzler C, Bruine de Bruin W, Hollenbeck K, et al. (2012) Improved Learning in U.S. Editor: James AR. Received: March 1, 2012; Accepted: August 23, 2012; Published: September 21, 2012 Copyright: © Jacobson et al. Introduction Results Figure 1. Discussion Methods Text_S1.pdf
Six Teaching Tools for Black History Month Although Black History Month provides a great opportunity for students to explore black history, it's important that teachers "reinforce that 'black history' is American history," writes Pat Russo in Dos and Don'ts of Teaching Black History Month. Keeping that in mind, in February, teachers can dig deeper into the history, provide students context, and connect the past to the present. Each year since 1928, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History has provided a theme for Black History Month. This year's theme, "At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington," corresponds with the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. To help celebrate Black History Month 2013, there are a plethora of valuable teaching resources on the Web, from interactive timelines and rich multimedia to lesson plans and study guides. Here are some suggestions: