8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language "Change your language and you change your thoughts." -- Karl Albrecht Understanding Academic Language Academic language is a meta-language that helps learners acquire the 50,000 words that they are expected to have internalized by the end of high school and includes everything from illustration and chart literacy to speaking, grammar and genres within fields. Think of academic language as the verbal clothing that we don in classrooms and other formal contexts to demonstrate cognition within cultures and to signal college readiness. There are two major kinds: instructional language ("What textual clues support your analysis?") and language of the discipline (examples include alliteration in language arts, axioms in math, class struggle in social studies and atoms in science). Where to Start It would be a mistake to think that academic language is a garbage pail category involving any word, depending on the context. Teaching Academic Language 8 Specific Strategies 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
5 Free Twitter Curation Tools To Enhance Your PLN Your personal or professional learning network (PLN) is alive and seemingly awake 24-7 when it comes to Twitter. You’ve probably faced a few scenarios where your real-world obligations got in the way of a hashtag chat, your vacation meant you weren’t able to connect as often, etc. What you need is some free Twitter curation tools to help stop the madness. The following short list of tools should help you enhance your experience with your PLN by making it more manageable and easier to surface high quality tweets and resources. I realize I sound like a used car salesman but it’s really just because I’m a fan of twitter tools that help you get the most out of your experience on the social network. They’re perfect for anyone of any skill level as they’re designed to make your tweeting experience easier and more productive. Storify Storify is a popular tool among teachers and students as it lets you create stories using social media and works exceptionally well with Twitter. Paper.li
Express 9.15 - Supporting Effort by Pairing Rubrics with Checklists Supporting Effort by Pairing Rubrics with Checklists Cynthia Kube In my position as a gifted resource teacher, I often see students struggle with the planning required for a challenging task. Too often, they have only a vague idea of what is required and are easily overwhelmed by the effort involved. To demonstrate an understanding of content with an authentic performance task, students need clear direction on the criteria for success and support in managing the work required for the task. It is crucial for teachers to carefully construct a task rubric and explicitly review it with their students, clearly delineating performance level criteria. As Kay Burke explains in her book Balanced Assessment: From Formative to Summative (2010), checklists can be used as thinking tools to provide students with a self-monitoring strategy. Checklists not only serve as a self-assessment for students, but can also be used as a formative assessment by teachers, as well as a tool for feedback. Reference
Why Mobile Learning Is Inevitable This may sound like a lofty title, but it’s not wrong. There’s an impressive presentation making the rounds dubbed “Mobile is eating the World” by Benedict Evans. In the presentation, Evans shows some staggering charts, interesting factoids, and all the other statistics you’d expect with a title so grand. It makes me think about mobile learning, mobile browsing, and mobile everything. But the real story here is about education. Mobile learning is not only on the rise, it’s inevitable. As you can see in the presentation below (there’s just 24 slides, pretty easy to scroll through and worth it!) So not many people will care about the Macbook announcement(s) but they will care about the internet radio service which some are calling iRadio. Same goes for education. Source: Mobile is eating the World
MET Project :: Welcome 10 Resources To Learn About Memorial Day This weekend is Memorial Day. It’s a time for family and picnics–a solid day off on Monday. I struggle with this. Too many Memorial Day sale fliers are mailed to the house and stuffed into newspapers, “Memorial Day Sale–Half Off!” We should never forget the reason for this day of observance. Women in the Military Women have served in the military in many capacities. their role is expanding, however. Military Careers Are you a student interested in a military career? Discovery Channel: The Military Channel: Backyard to Battlefield This Discovery Channel show follows weapons makers as they develop military weapons in small shops, bringing them truly “from backyard to battlefield.” The Month of the Military Child It’s very difficult to be a military child. The USO The United Service Organization , given a face by Bob Hope, is a non-profit Congressionally chartered organization that supports service members and their families during times of conflict and deployment. Homeless Veterans
Educational Leadership:Getting Students to Mastery:The Value of a Pointless Education Jay C. Percell I decided to restructure my classes to foster authentic mastery learning and increase my students' intrinsic motivation, as opposed to simply having them accumulate points to get a grade. This journey would lead me to experiment with grading and to ultimately develop what I call the No-Points Grading System. The Problem with Points Reflecting on my seven years as a secondary teacher, I concluded that the point values ascribed to assignments hindered true, authentic leaning among my students. Points as a Means to an End Many of my students' primary concern was not what they learned or what skills they gained but what final grade they would receive. Points as Extrinsic Rewards How many times has a teacher lamented, "That assignment was worth 50 points! Points Ascribe Value As Weimer (2011) indicates, points detract from collective learning in our school cultures. Solution: The No-Points Grading System Earning an A the Point-less Way FIGURE 1. Mastery in Practice Student Reactions
5 Educational Videos Recorded With Google Glass We’re pretty excited about the prospect of using Google Glass in education. So much so that we wrote a whole ‘Teacher’s Guide To Google Glass’ and have chatted with a few teachers and early adopters who are already using the hardware. One of those instructors is Andrew Heuvel. You might remember him from a previous article we ran on Edudemic about Andrew’s trip to CERN which he recorded using Glass and brought it into the classroom. It was pretty impressive and showed the power of Glass to unlock learning like never before. But Andrew has taken his teaching-using-Glass passion to a whole new level. The Physics of Singing in the Shower Duckpond Weirdness Unstable Rotation Standing Waves How Trees Grow About Andrew and his site AGL Initiatives AGL Initiatives started in 2009 when I created an astronomy project for my students.
Express 10.07 - Field Notes: Three Ways I Changed What My Grades Say Field Notes Three Ways I Changed What My Grades Say Nancy DeRego "I got a 3 out of 5 on that journal assignment. The Problem with Percentages Rubrics that break complex assignments into skills or tasks allow teachers to give clearer, more detailed feedback on student performance. To adjust for this potential pitfall, I translate rubric scores into percentage points by considering the each score as a range of possible percentage points. Stop Single Grading A single grade for a complex assignment can hide the true range of student achievement. Report Lateness Separately Often, grades are made even murkier when measures of compliance—appearance and punctuality, for example—are hidden in an overall achievement grade. Being fair and accurate in translating rubric scores to percentages, breaking assignments down into criteria-based scores, and allowing for revision—even if it means late work—gives my students the impetus to improve. ASCD Express, Vol. 10, No. 7.
5 Steps To Developing Your Child’s Learning Style Learning is a fundamental skill that everyone possesses. Babies learn how to survive, as well as critical language skills, and movement from the moment they are born. Parents can help to enhance their child’s learning process, and help their children develop skills that they will use for a lifetime. 1. The first step is to learn more about the different learning styles. Auditory: This encompasses children that learn and memorize things by listening to them being spoken. 2. Now that you are aware of the different learning styles and what each of them entails, you need to determine which style best fits your child. Find your child’s interests. 3. Whether you are deciding on a good school curriculum for your child, or you simply want to supplement your child’s education at home, knowing the learning style of your child can help you to decide where to start. 4. When strategizing lesson plans for your child, think of something that will involve their particular learning style. 5.