6 Professional Opportunities for Learning More About Classroom Design! 6 Professional Opportunities for Learning More About Classroom Design Back to school is always an exciting time filled with rich opportunities to learn and share with colleagues, grade level teams, and friends in your professional learning network. Because of the extremely busy time of year, this post will be short and to the point. Tonight, I'm hosting two opportunities for professional learning. I'll share that information below (during the Twitter chat, I'll even be giving away two interactive white board systems and a document camera - compliments of the fantastic company, IPevo)! My first post for the back to school year on Scholastic pushed live this morning, and I'm hosting a NEW challenge on ClassroomCribs.com with two of my dear friends. Innovations & Conversations with Steven W. Join Steven for the next installment in the series. Tuesday, August 19, 7:00p.m. #TeacherFriends LIVE Chat on Twitter Time: 9pm Eastern tonight - August 19th 2014 on Twitter 3 Quick Classroom Design Tips
Rethinking the Classroom – Research Educators, researchers, and students are discovering the benefits and advantages of cooperative, active, and engaged learning. Classroom spaces that support such a shift in teaching and learning have lagged behind. A significant opportunity exists for maximizing learning opportunities and creating meaningful experiences by rethinking the classroom experience. “Learning is not a spectator sport…[Students] must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. Getting and keeping students engaged is perhaps the most important step in creating a successful learning outcome. An article on cooperative learning in higher education in Change magazine offers compelling evidence on the benefits of collaborative learning and teaching methods. A study by the National Training Laboratories found that the more active the teaching and learning methods, the higher the retention rates. What We Know Therefore Challenge Solution 1. 2. 3.
8 Ways For Teachers To Save Time In The Classroom 8 Ways For Teachers To Save Time In The Classroom by Lila Daniels, onlineschools.com Teachers think about a lot during the course of a school day — from planning lessons tied to the core curriculum to making sure Jimmy gets home on the right bus. One thing teachers often do not think about is saving themselves time, but they should. You may feel like it’s just one more thing to add to your plate. Here are 10 ways to save your valuable time: 1. Organized correctly, technology really can make your life easier. The major difference between the two is price. 2. Learning management systems are a good way to employ a blended learning strategy. Search YouTube for dozens of videos on blended learning topics, including tutorials, discussions and real-life examples. 3. Some teachers harness the power of lesson planning sites to save time. 4. We’re not talking about your actual, physical desktop. Use a system that makes sense to you. 5. 6. Not all solutions are technology based. 7. 8. Teaching Time
Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need Flexible classrooms give students a choice in what kind of learning space works best for them, and help them to work collaboratively, communicate, and engage in critical thinking. Since implementing flexible classrooms, Albemarle County Public Schools have noticed that: Their students' grades have improved.Their students seem happier and more engaged.Their students are participating more and having more invigorating conversations. Giving Students a Choice in How They Learn "From day one, I've said, 'You may sit anywhere you like as long as you're safe in our classroom,'" says Katie Collins, a Woodbrook Elementary School second grade teacher. Becky Fisher, the director of educational technology at Albemarle County Public Schools, is interested in learning about the thinking that drives student choice. She painted the picture of walking into a classroom and seeing kids: Lying on the floorSitting at low tables on their kneesStanding up
10 Benefits Of Blended Learning For Teachers [Infographic] - Blended learning–the mixing of eLearning and face-to-face learning–is a natural response to the growing accessibility of eLearning, and the continued need for a human component, and the existing infrastructure of countless brick-mortal educational institutions. In fact, blended learning is as much as compromise as it is an experiment to see how well this whole learn-by-computer thing works. But while much attention is given to the impact on students and academic performance, little thought is given for how it impacts teachers as professionals. The following infographic does exactly that, offering up 10 perceived benefits of blended learning on the teaching profession, including better information, team teaching, more time with students, and expanded opportunity for leadership.
Meet 4 Teachers Who Took Classroom Design to the Next Level - A.J. JULIANI Wow, what can we say! This past summer we decided to start a learning space design challenge on ClassroomCribs.com to highlight all of the amazing “cribs” that you have designed for students. Instead of just “aesthetics” we focused this challenge on brain-friendly learning spaces that promoted deep learning and engagement through design. And we were blown away by the response! Over 4,000 educators have joined our Classroom Cribs learning community and many of you sent in videos of your learning space as part of the challenge. Together, Erin Klein, Ben Gilpin, Tom Murray, and myself watched all of the challenge entries with a focus on brain-friendly design and non-traditional learning environments. This month we will be featuring 30 of the learning spaces during our “30 Days of Design” on the ClassroomCribs.com blog. Announcing Our Grand Finalists Each of our finalists have gone above and beyond in designing their learning spaces. Here are the finalists! Mary Wever, 3rd Grade Teacher Awesome!
27 Classroom Management Strategies To Keep Things Fresh 27 Classroom Management Strategies To Keep Things Fresh Classroom management is as much about instructional design and relationships as it is rules and discipline. Though there are certainly exceptional situations, in general the more you’re having to hold them under your thumb, the more likely it is adjustments are necessary elsewhere. We recently shared on of Mia Macmeekin’s graphics–one thematically similar–when we published the visual “27 Ways To Respond When Students Don’t.” A nice follow-up to that collection are the following strategies that you can add to your teacher tool-belt. While you probably already have a nice foundation of go-tos to work from–physical proximity, ignoring the misbehavior, redirecting, eye contact, intentional seating, engaging instruction, a relationship-first approach, and others–you can never have enough classroom management strategies to keep things fresh. Oh–and check out our two favorite sets of classroom rules while you’re at it.
Non-Traditional Classroom Design by Rachel Blackwell on Prezi 11 Great Apps to Enhance Your Evernote July 25, 2014 Evernote is a powerful note taking web tool and mobile app. It is definitely an elemental component of teachers workflow. I have been using it for a few years now and I just can't live without it now.Evernote enables you to take notes in both text and audio format. Your notes can also include images,videos and even files. With the growing popularity and widespread of Evernote, there appeared a wide variety of applications that can enhance your productivity and expand your Evernote experience. 1- EverClip2 EverClip 2 is the easiest way to clip things on mobile to Evernote Open EverClip in the background, switch to any app, copy something you like, and it will automatically be imported to EverClip. This app aggregates information from across the web (including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Evernote, email, calendar, and contacts), and intelligently surfaces helpful insights. Postach.io is the easiest way to publish the thoughts you're already capturing in your Evernote.
The Best Tools and Apps for Flipped Learning Classroom July 25, 2014 Following the posting of "Managing iPad Videos in Schools" somebody emailed me asking about some suggestions for tools and apps to create instructional videos to use in a flipped learning setting. In fact, over the last couple of years I have reviewed several web tools and iPad apps that can be used in flipped classroom but the ones I am featuring below are among the best out there. 1- Educlipper Educlipper is a wonderful tool for creating video tutorials and guides to share with students. Pixiclip is another wonderful tool to create step by step instructional videos to use in your flipped classroom. 3- Explain Everything Explain Everything is a great interactive whiteboard that allows you to create screencasts and video tutorials using annotation, animation, narration, importing, and exporting almost anything to and from almost anywhere. 4- Knowmia Knowmia Teach is a new free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers and their students. 6- Educreations