Graphic Organizers for Content Instruction One of our roles as ESL and bilingual specialists is to encourage mainstream teachers to employ teaching techniques which make content area information more accessible to second language learners. Content materials present text which is too dense for ELLs. Teach your students to use graphic organizers such as webs, Venn diagrams, and charts to help them better comprehend these texts. These are visual tools that help ELLs understand and organize information. They are like mind maps which promote active learning. One of our goals in teaching our English language learners is to help them summarize and interpret text. Download the PDF files listed below or try a customized graphic organizer at Teach-nology.com.
Better Teaching: Why You Bore Students & What You Can Do About It Preface: You don’t mean to bore students. In fact, sometimes you’re downright interesting–the students are engaged, the buzz in the room is palpable, and even the hesitant students are asking questions. But the fact of the matter is, even the most charismatic and experienced teachers bore students sometimes. by Judy Willis M.D., M.Ed., radteach.com Better Teaching: Why You Bore Students & What You Can Do About It A few thousand years ago, in 360 B.C., Plato advised against force-feeding of facts to students. “Elements of instruction…should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing education. We now have neuroscience of learning research to support these recommendations to avoid forced instruction and provide children with the best environment and experiences for joyful learning. Social, emotional, hormonal, and nutritional influences are overtaking the attribution of intelligence to primarily genetic factors. Now What? Curiosity
Six Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning Project-based learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven, and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. 1. We all know that heterogeneous grouping works, but sometimes homogenous grouping can be an effective way to differentiate in a project. 2. Reflection is an essential component of PBL. 3. This is probably one of my favorites. 4. Another essential component of PBL is student voice and choice, both in terms of what students produce and how they use their time. 5. Formative assessments can look the same for all students. 6. Teamwork and collaboration occur regularly in a PBL project. As you master the PBL process in your classroom, you will intuitively find ways to differentiate instruction for your students. Please share some of your successful strategies with us!
The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the biggest sources inspiration and innovation when it comes to cooking, design, and education. That’s right, education is a prominent fixture on Pinterest now and that, of course, means that education technology plays a starring role. In an effort to help curate the massive amount of Pinterest boards about education technology, you can use the following list as a jumping off point to start your Pinterest journey. The following boards are curated by teachers, admins, and other education enthusiasts. You’ll likely find some new blogs, tools, and ideas among them. Don’t forget to check out the Edudemic Pinterest board where you can keep track of all the stuff we’re up to. Patricia Brown: Patricia showcases a myriad of videos, articles, tutorials, and lots of other resources all about education technology.Vicki Davis: We love Vicki! We want to see what YOU are pinning!
Disruptions: Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool Michael CitroneLuca Citrone, 8, and his sister Willow play Minecraft before they go to bed. If you were to walk into my sister’s house in Los Angeles, you’d hear a bit of yelling from time to time. “Luca! Get off Minecraft! Luca, are you on Minecraft again? Luca is my 8-year-old nephew. For those who have never played Minecraft, it’s relatively simple. Unlike other video games, there are few if any instructions in Minecraft. The game was first demonstrated by Markus Persson, a Swedish video game programmer and designer known as Notch, in 2009 and released to the public in November 2011. While parents — my sister included — might worry that all these pixels and the occasional zombie might be bad for children, a lot of experts say they shouldn’t fret. Earlier this year, for example, a school in Stockholm made Minecraft compulsory for 13-year-old students. A history teacher in Australia set up “quest missions” where students can wander through and explore ancient worlds. Mr.
Food security What is food security? Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. World Food Summit, 1996 To be food secure means that: food is available – The amount and quality of food available can be affected by many factors including climate, disasters, war, civil unrest, population size and growth, agricultural practices, social status and trade.food is affordable – When there is a shortage of food, prices increase and while richer people will likely still be able to feed themselves, poorer people may have difficulty obtaining sufficient safe and nutritious food without assistance.food is utilised – At the household level, sufficient and varied food needs to be prepared safely so that people (male and female) can grow and develop normally, meet their energy needs and avoid disease. What is the impact of food insecurity? Poverty Health Trade
25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom's Taxonomy 25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom’s Taxonomy While critical thinking is a foundation rather than a brick, how you build that foundation depends on the learning process itself: exposing students to new thinking and promoting interaction with that thinking in a gradual release of responsibility approach. Question stems can be a powerful part of that process no matter where the learner is. Assessment (pre-assessment, self-assessment, formative and summative assessment), prompting and cueing during discussion, etc. Image attribution flickr enokson; 25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom’s Taxonomy
Graphic Organizers What are Graphic Organizers ? A graphic organizer is a visual communication tool that uses visual symbols to express ideas and concepts, to convey meaning. A graphic organizer often depicts the relationships between facts, terms, and or ideas within a learning task. It is often referred to as a "map" because it can help teachers and students "map out" their ideas in a visual manner. There are many similar names for graphic organizers including: knowledge maps, concept maps, story maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, or concept diagrams. What is its purpose? The main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction. How do I do it? In 1992, Jay McTighe in his book Graphic Organizers: Collaborative Links to Better Thinking outlined three main ways teachers may use graphic organizers in their teaching and a number of ways that students can use them to aid in the learning process. How can I adapt it? Early Childhood Adaptations
40 Interesting Ways To Use Word Clouds For Learning If we’re being honest (and we are), we were of the opinion that the primary use of word clouds for learning–most notably with Wordle and Tagxedo-were to help support the analysis of diction and tone. There were some other “cute” uses, but little that made it stand out above other more versatile tools. But then we saw this list. Slideshare user vreed17 has put together 40 interesting ways to use word clouds for learning, including visualizing a syllabus, using clues to make inferences for literacy practice, or to do simple character analyses. -Content Overview: How does the past impact the present? -Concept practice: What are 10 characteristics of a circle? -Non-prose response: What is the most important step of the scientific method?
Essay Map Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson How-To Writing: Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose It’s not easy surviving fourth grade (or third or fifth)! Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters Students explore the nature and structure of expository texts that focus on cause and effect and apply what they learned using graphic organizers and writing paragraphs to outline cause-and-effect relationships. Persuasion Map
The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars / Assessment tools & resources / Home - Assessment You are here: To view exemplars of students' work in English, mathematics, the arts, science, technology, health and physical education, and social studies, select one of the links below. Please be aware that these exemplars relate to the curriculum levels and achievement objectives described in the previous New Zealand Curriculum, published in 1994. The Ministry of Education would like your feedback and recommendations about the future of the online exemplars that pre-date the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum on TKI. Please complete this short survey (3 questions). Māori medium exemplars Te reo Māori , pāngarau , pūtaiao , hangarau , tikanga ā-iwi , ngā toi and hauoraexemplars are now available online. Print versions of te reo Māori, pāngarau, pūtaiao, and hangarau exemplars have been distributed to schools. What is an exemplar? The purpose is to highlight features that teachers need to watch for, collect information about, and act on to promote learning. Return to top