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Why Kids Need Schools to Change

Why Kids Need Schools to Change
Big Ideas Flickr: Elizabeth Albert The current structure of the school day is obsolete, most would agree. Created during the Industrial Age, the assembly line system we have in place now has little relevance to what we know kids actually need to thrive. Most of us know this, and yet making room for the huge shift in the system that’s necessary has been difficult, if not impossible because of fear of the unknown, says educator Madeline Levine, author of Teach Your Children Well. “People don’t like change, especially in times of great uncertainty,” she said. “I’m astounded at the glacial pace of change in education.” During this time of economic uncertainty, especially, Levine said parents want to make sure their kids won’t fall into the ranks of the unemployed and disenfranchised young people who return home because they’re unable to find jobs. Yet therein lies the paradox. “I’m astounded at the glacial pace of change in education,” she said. PROJECT BASED LEARNING.

What’s So Great About Schools in Finland? Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Flickr: Leo-seta The world looks to schools like this in Vantaankosken, Finland, as the model of success. Finland has been hailed for exemplifying the ideal model of a thriving, innovative education system that prioritizes the most important stakeholders: students. International and American media are fascinated by the Scandinavian country’s approach to designing the education system. So what makes the Finland story so compelling? THERE ARE NO PRIVATE SCHOOLS. Clearly, the Finland system can’t simply be picked up and dropped into the U.S. — in fact, Sahlberg himself advised against it: “Don’t try to apply anything,” he said in the Times article. There are too many divergent factors for that to happen. “You know, one big difference in thinking about education and the whole discourse is that in the U.S. it’s based on a belief in competition,” Sahlberg said. Related Explore: assessment, Finland, PISA

Family Diversity in the Classroom - Teaching Family Diversity | Welcoming Schools Family is the most basic element of self-identification for young children; it shapes and informs their sense of self and who they are in the world. It is important for students to see their families reflected in the world around them, while at the same time seeing the diversity of families that also exists in our communities. Organize evening events to bring your school community together and involve more parents and guardians in your school.

39 Sites For Using iPads in the Classroom Pages Friday, October 7, 2011 39 Sites For Using iPads in the Classroom How Much Did Steve Jobs Change the World? 5 Great iPad Apps For Early Childhood Teachers10 iPad Apps Everyone Should Have- from PC Magazine10 Must Have iPad Apps for Students and Teachers10 Ways to Use iPads in Your Classroom40 iPad Apps Librarians Love40 Most Awesome iPad Apps for Science Students50+ iPad Apps By a Geography Teacher62 Interesting Ways to Use an iPad in the Classroom100 Incredibly Useful and Free iPad AppsBest Academic Reference Apps for the iPad- some $$, some freeA Day in the Life of the iPad ClassroomThe Debate Over iPads in EducationDigital Storytelling with the iPad ShareThisFacebookTweetLinkedInPinterestEmail Posted by Julie Greller at 7:24 AM Labels: ipads, ipads in the classroom, using ipads in the classroom 16 comments: MorganOctober 15, 2011 at 5:25 PMThanks for posting my blog on this site. Add comment Load more... Links to this post Create a Link Newer PostOlder PostHome LinkWithin AddToAny t

Dynamic Assessment: Components of a Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) Modifiability is the way we describe the child's response to a MLE based on our observations during a teaching session. It is important to consider a child's modifiability when applying the MLE. Specifically, we are looking at child responsivity, transfer skills, and examiner effort. Child Responsivity How well does the child respond to the MLE?Does the child attend to the task, and maintain attention? Transfer How well does child apply the target skills from one item to the next? Examiner Effort How much support does the child need? The other thing that we're doing during mediated learning is we're looking at child modifiability, and here we're describing what the child does in response to mediated learning. One is responsivity: How responsive is the child to intervention? The other is watching how they transfer. The third area that we look at is examiner effort. Previous Page | Continue to Example: Using Dynamic Assessment for Vocabulary Testing

Aprendizaje por competencias l primer párrafo de la página web del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de Finlandia, dice lo siguiente: Las inversiones en competencias, educación, capacitación y cultura son la mejor política de futuro. La educación siempre ha sido para Finlandia un factor de éxito, y en el mundo global las competencias adquieren una importancia aún mayor. La cultura, el conocimiento, la capacidad de innovación y la creatividad son elementos decisivos. En un documento ya citado en este espacio (ED/BIE/CONFINTED 47/4), formulado conjuntamente por el Ministerio de Educación e Investigación de Noruega y la Unesco, se hace la siguiente referencia en su primer párrafo: Los resultados del último Programa Internacional de Evaluación de Estudiantes (PISA) de la OCDE convirtieron a Finlandia en la Meca de los peregrinos de la educación, determinados a descubrir el secreto del éxito del sistema educativo finlandés. La noción de competencia tiene muchos significados.

Opening Doors to a Class Blog Lay the Groundwork It may seem a pain, but it’s worth it! As you consider trying a class blog, ask your principal or supervisor if district policies allow a class blog with certain limitations (and what limitations, if any, would be required for you to have a blog). Different schools interpret recent U.S. laws requiring archives of student computer activity with varying degrees of stringency, so no two schools will have the exact same policy. Roll over the topics at the left for the details or skip to the tools to get started. As you consider trying a class blog, ask your principal or supervisor if district policies allow a “gated” class blog with the stipulations listed here (and which of these, if any, would be required for you to have a blog). What's all the worry? We have listed a "worst case" scenario that covers just about any administrative concern regarding blogs. What do I ask, exactly? May I set up a "gated" class blog under these conditions? Check out some examples: Then What?

The Reflective Student: A Taxonomy of Reflection Part 2 reflective student Reflection can be a challenging endeavor. It's not something that's fostered in school - typically someone else tells you how you're doing! At best, students can narrate what they did, but have trouble thinking abstractly about their learning - patterns, connections and progress. In an effort to help schools become more reflective learning environments, I've developed this "Taxonomy of Reflection" - modeled on Bloom's approach. 1. See my Prezi tour of the Taxonomy 2. Each level of reflection is structured to parallel Bloom's taxonomy. taxonomy of reflection Bloom's Remembering: What did I do? Bloom's Understanding: What was important about what I did? Bloom's Application: When did I do this before? Bloom's Analysis: Do I see any patterns or relationships in what I did? Bloom's Evaluation: How well did I do? Bloom's Creation: What should I do next? Image credit: flickr/Daveybot Trackback URL

The Teacher’s Survival Kit for Lesson Planning! Tips & 1000s of Free Lesson Plans Posted by Shelly Terrell on Saturday, August 18th 2012 Goal 16: Plan An Engaging Lesson of The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. – Socrates Lesson planning is stressful and time-consuming, but is important in giving us an action plan for the entire school year. The way we design our curriculums and the activities we use will determine how successful our learners will be in grasping new knowledge. Lesson design and planning is important. A Few Tips … When planning a lesson, I think we need to keep objectives in mind but there are other factors that make up a great lesson. G- group dynamic R- relevance to learners’ lives and needs E-emergent language and ideas focus A- attentiveness T- thoughtfulness To this list I would add flexibility. Templates Some of us will need a framework from which to build our lessons. Structured Templates: Another idea: Map our your lesson plan in a mindmap More Lesson Planning Tips: 1000s of Free Lesson Plans

7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals Leadership | In Print Page 6 of 7 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals "We have seen a dramatic shift in pedagogy and technology integration since starting this conference, because teachers are realizing that it's not that hard to integrate a lot of these web 2.0 tools, and they're also being provided with the foundation they need to get started," explains Sheninger. 6. The Expert's Perspective: Farrace: "There really has to be a concerted effort on the part of the principal to allow the faculty to believe that risk-taking is okay. "The fact is, what could go wrong? "All of these things aren't deal killers, they're just obstacles. The Habit in Action: Is there anything educators see as more risky than allowing students to access their mobile devices during the school day? "As I started to learn from other educators in my PLN, I became much more sensitive to the fact that student-owned devices could be a powerful tool for learning," explains Sheninger. 7.

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