The Best Posts On The Gates’ Funded Measures Of Effective Teaching Report The Gates’ funded Measures Of Effective Teaching released their latest studies today. There have been a few posts about it, and I’m sure there will be many more. I thought I’d get a hard start on collecting them in one “The Best…” list. Here are my picks for The Best Posts On The Gates’ Funded Measures Of Effective Teaching Report: Gates Foundation study paints bleak picture of teaching quality is from Gotham Schools. (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip) Fire first, ask questions later? I’ve written two posts: Gates Just Releases Big Teacher Evaluation Report Great Response To Gates Report From Randi Weingarten How the Gates Foundation Spins its Research is by Jay Greene. Why Reformers Misunderstand Their Own Research is by John Thompson. This Post By John Thompson On Gates Is Candidate For Best Ed Policy Commentary Of The Year Guest Post: Here’s What Was Missing From The Wall Street Journal’s Column On Teacher Evaluation Feedback is always welcome.
Three Steps to Layering the Curriculum « How the Brain Learns: The Blog Layering the curriculum is a simple way to differentiate instruction, encourage higher-level thinking, prepare students for adult-world decision making and hold them accountable for learning. Any lesson plan can be converted into a layered unit with three easy steps (Nunley, 2004, 2006). Step One: Add some choice. Take your teaching objectives and offer two or three assignment choices as to how students can learn those objectives. Step Two: Hold students accountable for learning. A key to layering the curriculum is to award grade points for the actual learning of the objective rather than the assignment that was chosen for the learning.For example, if our objective is that students learn how to determine the area of a triangle, then points are awarded for the assignment based on whether or not the student can do that. Step Three: Encourage higher-level thinking. The C layer consists of all the objectives that have to do with the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. References: Like this:
An Interview with Grant Wiggins: The Power of Backwards Design When Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe wrote Understanding by Design (UbD) they did what no other educator had ever accomplished. They unequivocally cast assessment in the central role of teaching and learning by making the forceful argument that testing should not be the afterthought of instruction, but the central point of instruction. After all, how do we know students have learned anything after we have taught them if we don't assess them on what we hope they have learned? As a result, I had a very encouraging chat with Dr. Edutopia: Dr. Grant Wiggins: Elementary teachers seem to do a much better job of this than secondary. Edutopia: What are some ways to get around that difficulty? Grant Wiggins: Some high school teachers use Socratic Seminars to provide students with feedback on their thinking and literacy -- similar to an athletic coach that has to stand on the sidelines while the athletes perform. Let's consider the Common Core sixth-grade content in fractions and decimals.
12 Ways Teachers Are Right. The 10 Skills Modern Teachers Must Have 34.43K Views 0 Likes In order to implement modern technology in your classroom, you better know about the important skills modern teachers must have in order to succeed. 2 Simple Ways To Use QR Codes In Education 7.84K Views 0 Likes If you have a smartphone in your classroom, you can leverage the power of the QR code! Rhee Finances One problem with the education "reform" industry is not merely that it generally looks at "education" as though it were a commodity, like soybeans, and that the problems with how we educate a great many children of our fellow citizens can be solved if we just refine the delivery systems for the product. In other words, most education "reform" proponents treat "education" as though it exists in a vacuum unaffected by the factors — like, say, joblessness and poverty — in the real world outside the classroom. (How many prominent school "reformers" have stepped up and said anything about the increasingly effective campaign by the NRA to arm public school teachers? Thought so.) Thus do we come to the second problem with the education "reform" movement — it is shot through root and branch with patent-medicine remedies pitched by for-profit grifters and hustlers. They have their own genre of richly financed propaganda, like 2010's Waiting for Superman and this year's Won't Back Down.
Video Resources for PBL and Deeper Learning I am excited to announce that Envision Schools is now Envision Education. Envision Education encompasses our schools division, with our four high-performing college prep schools in the Bay Area, as well as our consulting division, Envision Learning Partners, which is bringing professional development and coaching to schools and districts around the country. These two divisions support and are accountable to each other, and together work toward our mission of making college attendance and success a reality for students. Envision Education is now better positioned to transform the lives of students everywhere and to ensure that we are sending graduates to college prepared for that challenge. As we prepare to celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2013, we are reflecting on all of Envision's accomplishments over the last decade. I thought it would be fun to highlight a collection of videos that show our model over the last ten years. Video #1: The Four C's: Making 21st Century Education Happen
12 Mistakes Schools Make When Introducing The Next Big Thing - 12 Mistakes Schools Make When Introducing The Next Big Thing by Grant Wiggins Ed note: This post by Grant focuses on mistakes schools make when introducing Understanding by Design in schools. Certainly for that focus, it makes sense as Grant and Jay McTighe designed the framework and would be considered a credible source on how to mess it up. Sigh. 1. Start with common sense through an exercise: “You really understand if you can…” and use staff answers as the basis for initial experiments in understanding-focused learning.Delay showing all the Template boxes with all their names.Concentrate on making clear that the aim is a better focus on understanding as opposed to superficial coverageUse whatever language makes sense locally to make the process and design tools transparent 2. INSTEAD: Think big, but start small and smart – 3. 4. INSTEAD: Develop a multi-stage multi-year plan to improve current initiatives via UbD – 5. 6. 7. Establish parallel tracks of training for Principals and Asst.
2iswgnm.jpg 615×430 pixels Tennessee lawmaker wants to tie welfare benefits to good grades A Tennessee lawmaker is pushing a controversial new bill that would tie welfare benefits to students' performance in school. Republican state Sen. Stacey Campfield last week introduced the legislation, which calls for the state to cut welfare benefits to parents whose kids don't do well in class. Critics are already panning the proposal as unfair, and one that could hurt students in the end -- but Campfield is defending his idea, which he says would force parents to take a more active role in their children’s education “We’re not asking children to re-write the Magna Carta,” Campfield told FoxNews.com Monday. But state Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the bill would “stack the deck against at-risk children.” “How does Sen. Currently, parents of children who receive welfare benefits through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program can see their benefits cut by 20 percent if their child doesn't show up for school.
Learning to learn: 10 essential skills for teachers! August 19, 2012 by NovaNews Learning to learn – an interesting phrase which holds an interesting thought, don’t you think? They are words that popped into my mind just now when I was reading the words of another: Leo Babauta: 9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn. I found my thoughts getting mixed up though with the words of a colleague who had just posted a reflective comment. to successfully engage with an audience it’s necessary to feel passionate about the subject.” I admit to being taken aback a little. Is this a case of presuming that everyone thinks like me? So when I was reading the post about essential skills that kids should learn, my mind kept flicking to a list of essential techniques and skills needed by teachers to successfully teach. Passion: To successfully impart knowledge or light the flame of inspiration in students, teachers just have to feel passionate about the subject matter they are teaching. Teaching is an all-encompassing occupation. Like this: Like Loading...
Understanding by design Innovation – The Leadership Soft Skills | KaurSkills A summary of the role of leadership and soft skills in innovation. ‘A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.’ - Lao Tzu There are a lot of blogs and worthy peer journals, sharing the importance of innovation in business success and survival. We all agree innovation is important, but how do we nurture innovation, as something which is integral to business process, and creates value within an organisation? Exceptional leaders and authors highlight the importance of ‘soft’ skills for successful management and leadership. Just recently, Tom Peters tweeted: ‘So called “soft” people skills drive implementation. In management practice you could: (a) Ignore soft skills or give credence to ‘soft’ skills, as a key factor to nurturing performance, teamwork, in creativity and ultimate innovation; (c) Prioritise performance targets, financial measures and delivery of products and services. Like this: Like Loading...