Learning Menus: Textbooks a la Carte Why do it? Elementary and middle school classrooms often require students to read history textbooks. Historical accounts in textbooks, however, can often be dry or difficult to grasp. What is it? Learning Menus are forms of differentiated learning that give students a choice in how they learn. Learning Menus come in various forms and can include tic-tac-toe boards, restaurant-like menus, matrices, and multiple-choice grids. In the dinner menu example, “Appetizer” activities focus on summarizing the overall content in each section of the textbook reading with activity choices like “Flash Cards,” “Outline,” and “Summary.” Example For an example of a Learning Menu in action, see the video Differentiating with Learning Menus on the Teaching Channel website. Why is this a best practice? Learning Menus are a method of differentiating instruction that provides flexible ways to engage students, and that can be adapted to various classroom environments.
20 Places to Educate Yourself Online for Free It seems like these days you can learn just about anything online for free, but of course some of that information is better than others. The good news is there are plenty of reputable places to educate yourself online for free, and here’s a good 20 of them to get you started. 1. The coolest thing about Internet learning is that you can take college courses which in the past were only available to people who forked over immense sums of money to attend elite colleges. Courses typically include videos and certain coursework (such as online quizzes) that must be completed in a certain amount of time, as these courses are monitored by a professor. 2. Home to more than 3,000 videos on subjects ranging from SAT prep to cosmology, art history to calculus, Khan Academy is a great place to learn. You can also leave comments or ask questions if you want more information or if something isn’t clear in the lessons. 3. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. iTunes U Love videos by experts on all sorts of topics? 13. 14.
How To Use An iPad To Add Voice Comments To Grading Offering timely and effective learning feedback is a critical part of the learning process. This is a concept that’d seem to be more accessible than ever with technology, but sometimes technology is two steps forward, one step back. Take for example grading papers. While K-12 education has (mostly) moved away from pure academic essays to measure all understanding, the writing process is more important now than ever. While digital documents like pdfs allow for increased visibility, simpler sharing, and seamless curation, they have indeed taken a step back in regards to this all-important text marking. PDF Annotation Which is where pdf annotation software comes in. There are many pdf annotation apps available that allow this kind of text marking, but another killer feature that is somehow less celebrated: voice annotation. The video below walks users through adding voice comments to pdf documents, starting right at the 2:00 mark. Other Details Note that the app being shown here is iAnnotate.
The do’s and don’ts of reading aloud to young children Today in our ongoing book study of “The Read-Aloud Handbook” by Jim Trelease, I have the pleasure of sharing chapter 4 with you which is titled “The Do’s and Don’ts of Read-Alouds”… Chapter 4 is a list of Do’s and Don’ts that cover a broad range of ages and stages in the read-aloud experience so for the purpose of this post, I have selected a few of the points that I think are the most relevant to those of us reading to young children. Be sure to note that I am only highlighting some of the tips shared in the book today… Do… Begin reading to children as soon as possible. Add a third dimension to the book whenever possible. Arrange time in the classroom or at home for the child(ren) to read on their own even if it means only turning pages and looking at pictures.When a child wishes to read to you it is better to choose a book that is too easy rather than too hard.Encourage older children to read to younger children. Enjoying the tips so far? Don’t… by Jim Trelease! More from our book study
Three Important Distinctions In How We Talk About Test Scores In education discussions and articles, people (myself included) often say “achievement” when referring to test scores, or “student learning” when talking about changes in those scores. These words reflect implicit judgments to some degree (e.g., that the test scores actually measure learning or achievement). Every once in a while, it’s useful to remind ourselves that scores from even the best student assessments are imperfect measures of learning. And then there are a few common terms or phrases that, in my personal opinion, are not so harmless. So, here they are, in no particular order. In virtually all public testing data, trends in performance are not “gains” or “progress.” Similarly, almost all testing trend data that are available to the public don’t actually follow the same set of students over time (i.e., they are cross-sectional). So, whether it’s NAEP or state tests, you’re comparing two different groups of students over time. Proficiency rates are not “scores.” - Matt Di Carlo
5 Keys to Inspiring Leadership, No Matter Your Style Forget the stereotypical leadership image of a buttoned-up person in a gray suit hauling around a hefty briefcase. Today, standout leaders come in all shapes and sizes. She could be a blue jeans-clad marketing student, running a major ecommerce company out of her dorm room. He might be the next salt-and-pepper-haired, barefoot Steve Jobs, presenting a groundbreaking new device at a major industry conference. "Our research indicates that what really matters is that leaders are able to create enthusiasm, empower their people, instill confidence and be inspiring to the people around them," says Peter Handal, chief executive of New York City-based Dale Carnegie Training, a leadership-training company. That's a tall order. 1. Great leaders are brave enough to face up to challenging situations and deal with them honestly. "The gossip at the coffee machine is usually 10 times worse than reality," Handal says. 2. 3. If you're not a suit, don't try to be one. 4. 5. The 5 Keys Series
The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students I’ve been thinking and writing (in my forthcoming book to be published by Eye On Education) about the most effective ways to give feedback to students. I’ve obviously been trying to apply what I’ve been learning in the classroom, too. As a one sentence summary, as I’ve posted about previously, the research says it’s best to praise effort and not intelligence. Here are some resources I’ve found helpful: What Kind Of Feedback Should We Give Our Students? The Difference Between Praise & Acknowledgment is another older post. The Perils and Promises of Praise is an article by Carol Dweck. Pondering Praise is a nice essay by Joe Bower. It’s Not About How Smart You Are is an article by Carol Dweck. Goodbye to “Good Job!” “The Praise Paradox” is an excerpt from the book Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, written by by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. New Marzano Study On “Effort & Recognition” The words that could unlock your child comes from the BBC. Dr. Quote Of The Day: Giving Feedback
September - Open-Ended Math Problems September Problems Number Theory | Measurement | Geometry |Patterns, Algebra, and Functions | Data, Statistics, and Probability | Grab Bag Number Theory Start out simple... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Measurement Rabbit's Run (taken from MATH FORUM) 6. Now try to work this out... Area And Perimeter 7. This will really challenge you... Better Buy 8. Geometry Where Am I? 9. Reflections 10. Symmetry 11. Patterns, Algebra, And Functions Going Camping 12. A Batty Diet 13. Windemere Castle (From The Problem Solver) 14. Data, Statistics, And Probability Bouncing Babies (Taken from MATH FORUM) 15. Trees 16. Cookies! 17. Tom--$2 Jake--$3 Ted--$4 Sam--$3 Each person gets the number of cookies proportional to the money paid. Grab Bag Up You Go! 18. September Solutions Back to Open-Ended Math Index
Digital Is At Rose High School, located in eastern North Carolina and populated by students on extreme ends of the socioeconomic spectrum, we have students who are passionate and active about everything from establishing a witty presence on social media to saving orphans in Darfur, but these are often extracurricular activities that don't show up in the actual classroom. Students might spend hours posting selfies on Facebook or hours planning a benefit concert, but when they feel like they have to put on their academic persona, they tend to forget those parts of themselves. I wanted students to be able to funnel their interests into a more authentic academic experience so that they could learn about what they want to learn about and become empowered as researchers, both casually and formally. To do that, I needed to remix their idea of what research is, transform it from something boring and arbitrary into something rich and useful. When I don't know something, I look it up.
Going Paperless in Your Classroom and Saving to the Cloud with Dropbox Annotate Your PDFs with GoodNotes and Save Them to Dropbox As more and more classrooms, schools and districts are going with one-to-one device programs, I am often left shedding tears of sadness when I learn that the devices are used only to complement the learning that is already happening during a lesson. I am hearing about more and more educational technology leaders in secondary schools move towards one-to-one Chromebook programs rather than iPad programs, likely to avoid this very issue. At first glance, Chromebooks and other laptop options appear to provide more options for deeper integration during instructional time, while iPads seem to provide limited options for use throughout the entire school day. Make iPad Your #1 Learning Device in All Classes Why Does Using Technology Mean Typing on a Keyboard? Annotating PDF Files and Saving to the Cloud Opening a PDF File in GoodNotes Step 1 – Open the PDF File in Safari Open the link where your PDF file exists on the web. Annotate away!
Six Paths to Better Leadership Photo credit: iStockPhoto We know a lot about effective leadership in education -- and we keep learning the same lessons over and over. Between 1989 and 2000, Mark Goldberg interviewed 43 leaders across a spectrum of positions in or related to education. He spoke with men and women of varied ethnicity and age, some for whom English was not their first or even primary language. David Gergen, in 2000, published Eyewitness to Power, summarizing his perspective on leadership after having served in the White House for several presidents from both political parties. 1. Leaders must have a core belief that can be communicated with clarity, concision and passion. 2. Leaders must get off to a quick, sure start. 3. Leaders must have skills to persuade and inspire. 4. Leaders must have a strong social conscience. 5. Leaders must have the courage to swim upstream. 6. Leaders must excel at situational mastery and emotional intelligence.