Through a lens: Nigerian orphans capture their country The northern Nigerian city of Jos can be a difficult place to grow up in. Impoverished and volatile, it has been a flashpoint for ethnic and religious clashes over the past decade and the site of several Boko Haram attacks. And it can be especially tough for the city's street children and orphans. I first visited the area in 2008, working at Gidan Bege, an orphanage for boys aged 12 to 19. Many of them had spent much of their childhoods living on the streets. The creative potential of these children was immediately apparent - but so, too, was the lack of opportunities available for them to pursue their creativity. FEATURE: A day in the life of Lagos' only rape support centre So, I took six of them and began to teach them photography. It became known as the Murmushi Photo Project. And what have emerged are images of great beauty amid hardship. FEATURE: A day in the life of a Nigerian house girl Here are their stories: Shadrach Adie Amallam - 'I discover what is hidden' Source: Al Jazeera
Lesson Plans | GETTING STARTED WITH MINECRAFTEDU ISTE NETS - Digital Age Skills 1. Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes Create original works as a means of personal or group expression Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues Identify trends and forecast possibilities 2. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems 3. Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 4. 5. 6.
A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching ESL This guest post was contributed by Laura Lenz. It first appeared on her blog,Teaching with an Open Heart. Close your eyes. Imagine a school where we focused on the strengths of English language learners. Let’s decide this school year to focus more on these strengths and assets and the unique potential of our English learners. This would be a change in the way we view our English learners as well as a shift in how we view the very nature of teaching. At the beginning of the school year, most teachers will be asked to look at data from state tests. A few years ago, I was on an interview committee for the ESL coordinator in our district. Here are some suggestions for making this shift in how we work with our English learners this year. These students are the newest bilingual or multilingual members of our community. Some strengths will be easy to see, like how expert a student is at playing soccer or the great artistic talent some students possess. Be specific in your praise.
Resources | Lessons for Minecraft In case having actual lesson plans ideas that support the standards isn’t enough, here you will find helpful videos, articles, and resources to show what is happening in actual classrooms across the world! The proverbial YouTube video detailing “Is Minecraft the Ultimate Educational Tool?” If you have been to any site about using Minecraft in schools, you will probably find this video! Here is a research article about Does Game Based Learning Really Work? From the Minecraft EDU site, real world examples of how Minecraft is being used in schools. BBC News article: Why Minecraft is more than just another video game. An article from k12.com: Tranforming the Way We Learn: Why Minecraft is an Amazing Tool. Edutopia has a few Ideas for Using Minecraft in the Classroom. Interesting article about Minecraft, but the really good stuff is at the bottom. Even the United Nations is jumping on the Minecraft wagon and giving kids the chance to use the game as an urban planning tool.
Do's & Don'ts for Teaching English-Language Learners The number of English language learners in the United States is growing rapidly, including in many states that have not previously had large immigrant populations. As teachers try to respond to the needs of these students, here are a few basic best practices that might help. We have found that consistently using these practices makes our lessons more efficient and effective. We also feel it is important to include a few “worst” practices in the hope that they will not be repeated! Modeling Do model for students what they are expected to do or produce, especially for new skills or activities, by explaining and demonstrating the learning actions, sharing your thinking processes aloud, and showing good teacher and student work samples. Don’t just tell students what to do and expect them to do it. Rate of Speech and Wait Time Do speak slowly and clearly, and provide students with enough time to formulate their responses, whether in speaking or in writing. Use of Non-Linguistic Cues
MinecraftEdu Eight Actions to Reduce Racism in College Classrooms | AAUP Last year, at dozens of colleges and universities across the United States, students protested institutional unresponsiveness to pervasive issues of racial inequity. Most media attention disproportionately focused on the popularity of the protests as opposed to the actual issues underlying campus unrest. For example, instead of deeply exploring the experiences that ignited demonstrations among students at the University of Missouri, journalists wrote mostly about the football team’s threat to cancel its game against Brigham Young University, the potential financial implications of the team’s activism, and the eventual resignations of the system president and the chancellor of the university’s flagship campus. Similarly, news coverage of protests at Yale University concentrated less on students’ frustrations with the university’s climate of racial exclusion and more on e-mails about potentially offensive Halloween costumes and perceived threats to free speech. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
To Connect Across Cultures, Find Out What You Have in Common jennifer Maravillas FOR HBR The first thing most of us do when working with people from a new culture is to learn about differences. And there are very sensible reasons to do so. But focusing on differences alone can have its downsides. Focusing on differences can also be quite mentally taxing. So, if you don’t focus on differences, what then can you do to be more effective across cultures? If you think about it, this is probably exactly how you establish connections and relationships in your own culture. Another advantage of this approach is that your counterpart is more likely to feel that you see them as an individual, not just as a cultural stereotype. “But what if I embarrass myself or offend someone?” Although making mistakes is a valid concern, the good news is that your counterpart’s reaction to your cultural faux pas is likely to be much more forgiving when you have already built a rapport.
Talking About Race in Mostly White Schools In past articles (here and here, for example), Usable Knowledge has explored the dynamics of talking about race in schools, especially in the aftermath of incidents of bias or trauma. The assumption has been that race is a pressing and relevant topic, one that educators and students are, or should be, actively seeking to confront. But in segregated schools where most people are white or majority-identified, are those conversations happening? We wanted to take a look at how to give young people in those schools a point of entry. When racially charged controversies dominate the news cycle, some young people may feel disconnected — or even uninterested. The reality is that many neighborhoods and schools in suburban and rural America are not diverse and are largely white. A Necessary Step So why have the conversation at all? “We have to start asking kids, ‘How do you hold true to what you have experienced while holding what other people have experienced as truth as well?’”
How to Find Old Maps Online In yesterday's Practical Ed Tech Live episode I answered a question about where to find old maps to layer in Google Earth. One of the resources that I suggested was Old Maps Online. Old Maps Online is a map that you can browse and search to find historical maps to view online, to download, and to print. You can search the map by entering a location or you can just pan and zoom around the world to find historical maps. Applications for Education The maps that you and your students find could be used as overlays in the Google Earth layers.