Top 10 Picture Books to Inspire “Classroom Habitudes” by Lesley Burnap At the beginning of this summer I was privileged to hear Angela Maiers speak about her book, Classroom Habitudes: Teaching Habits and Attitudes for 21st Century Learning, and her movement, Choose2Matter. This passionate speaker and educator has encouraged me to be bolder. During day 2 of nErDcampMI, I found myself standing in line with my Twitter-friend, Ann King, to propose a session on Genius Hour. Now if that doesn’t sound too risky, consider this: I have not yet incorporated Genius Hour in my teaching AND I had only just met Ann in person the day before! It was a rewarding experience that has me excited for a new school year. If you are unfamiliar with Angela’s work, she writes about the 7 habitudes (habits + attitudes) our students need to thrive and excel in their careers and in life. In the list below, I have 1 or 2 titles for each habitude, and I explore some reasons why I put each book under a particular category. 1) Going Places by Peter and Paul Reynolds Like this:
How Opening Up Classroom Doors Can Push Education Forward Transparency is not a word often associated with education. For many parents, the time between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. can feel like a mysterious part of their child’s life. Questioning students about their school day often results in an unsatisfying answer and not every parent has the time to be in constant communication with their student’s teacher. For teachers, transparency can have a distinctly negative connotation. In the political debate, the word is often used in connection to hot button issues like posting teacher salaries and benefits publicly or publishing test scores. And within the school walls, transparency can feel like judgement. “I try to become a bridge between the quantifiable and the qualifiable.” But what if teachers embraced the idea of transparency as a form of activism, a way of shining light on what works in the classroom? Opening one’s classroom to public scrutiny isn’t an easy thing to do. Being transparent is a decisive action and can be used as a tool. Related
Why kids are better off without homework Down with homework! Source: Getty Images CHILDREN in primary school should not be wasting their time on homework – it is a provocative idea. But research into the impact of homework learning outcomes, and motivation, tells a relatively clear story. This week the Victorian Parliament’s Education and Training Committee recommended a review of that state’s homework policy after its findings finally reflected what science has told us for decades: there are no academic benefits from homework for children in primary school. Research tells us the following about the impact of homework on children in primary school: Homework offers no academic advantage. Homework is stressful. As homework increases, national student achievement decreases. Homework increases family conflict. Research DOES indicate that ALL children should read each night. There’s no science to support or refute these ideas. But the evidence is clear. Dr Justin Coulson is a parenting researcher, speaker, author and father of six.
Teaching students how to learn It's no secret that students learn best when they self-regulate--set their own academic goals, develop strategies to meet them and reflect on their academic performance. High-achieving students know what needs to be learned and how to learn it, educational psychology studies increasingly show. But while making those kinds of self-assessments may sound simple--and something most college students could do--many psychology professors find their students aren't self-aware enough to conduct them. Some faculty believe they can help students develop these strategies through their teaching. Not according to self-regulation researchers Paul Pintrich, PhD, co-founder of a "learning how to learn" course at the University of Michigan, and Barry Zimmerman, PhD, an educational psychology professor at the Graduate School and University Center at the City University of New York (CUNY). Taking charge "You need the 'will' as well as the 'skill,'" he says. Forethought. Spurring students along
Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding What strategy can double student learning gains? According to 250 empirical studies, the answer is formative assessment, defined by Bill Younglove as "the frequent, interactive checking of student progress and understanding in order to identify learning needs and adjust teaching appropriately." Unlike summative assessment, which evaluates student learning according to a benchmark, formative assessment monitors student understanding so that kids are always aware of their academic strengths and learning gaps. Meanwhile, teachers can improve the effectiveness of their instruction, re-teaching if necessary. "When the cook tastes the soup," writes Robert E. Stake, "that's formative; when the guests taste the soup, that's summative." Alternative formative assessment (AFA) strategies can be as simple (and important) as checking the oil in your car -- hence the name "dipsticks." In the sections below, we'll discuss things to consider when implementing AFAs. 53 Ways to Check for Understanding
Age of Distraction: Why It’s Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus Digital classroom tools like computers, tablets and smartphones offer exciting opportunities to deepen learning through creativity, collaboration and connection, but those very devices can also be distracting to students. Similarly, parents complain that when students are required to complete homework assignments online, it’s a challenge for students to remain on task. The ubiquity of digital technology in all realms of life isn’t going away, but if students don’t learn how to concentrate and shut out distractions, research shows they’ll have a much harder time succeeding in almost every area. “The real message is because attention is under siege more than it has ever been in human history, we have more distractions than ever before, we have to be more focused on cultivating the skills of attention,” said Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence and other books about social and emotional learning on KQED’s Forum program.
Une tendance «irréversible» Connexion Réginald Harvey 23 août 2014 Société / ÉducationUne tendance «irréversible» Photo : ACFAS Au collégial et à l’universitaire, le sac d’école a été remplacé par la tablette tactile ou le portable ; c’est devenu la norme. Au primaire et au secondaire, une enquête conduite auprès de 6057 élèves et de 302 enseignants dans 18 écoles du Québec révèle que les technologies de l’information (TI) sont bien en selle et gagnent sans cesse du terrain : là comme ailleurs, l’envahisseur est intraitable et s’installe irréversiblement. Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire ? Thierry Karsenti, titulaire de la Chaire de recherche sur les technologies en éducation et professeur à la Faculté des sciences de l’éducation de l’Université de Montréal, est l’auteur de cette recherche, qui est une sorte de work in progress et dont le rapport porte le titre : L’iPad à l’école : usages, avantages et défis. L’apprentissage en mode techno Site complet
Strategies for Effective Lesson Planning Stiliana Milkova Center for Research on Learning and Teaching A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the class meeting. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components: Objectives for student learningTeaching/learning activitiesStrategies to check student understanding Specifying concrete objectives for student learning will help you determine the kinds of teaching and learning activities you will use in class, while those activities will define how you will check whether the learning objectives have been accomplished (see Fig. 1). Steps for Preparing a Lesson Plan Below are six steps to guide you when you create your first lesson plans. (1) Outline learning objectives
Nurturing Intrinsic Motivation and Growth Mindset in Writing It's the first writing conference, four weeks into the year, with this blond senior. He stiffly leans back from me as far as the metal desk will allow, exuding cynicism, too cool for meeting with teachers about his writing. I can see he doesn't trust me yet or know why we conference, and he's afraid. The Power of Teacher Enthusiasm Conferencing and portfolios work for me. But I wish the research would point to these systems as consistent and universal means of student growth. Then, two years ago, I read Daniel Pink's Drive and Carol Dweck's Mindset, and I realized that a system of portfolios and conferences was not enough to change student engagement on its own. Intrinsic Motivation Pink’s Drive argues that employees -- and students -- after their basic needs are met, are motivated by autonomy, purpose, and mastery. But sometimes, I also got it right. Before, I'd encouraged my students to write for real audiences as summative assessments. Growth Mindset
How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done - 5 Expert Tips Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here. Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting. We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this — and more. Cal Newport impresses the heck out of me. He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students.He writes 6 (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year.He’s the author of 4 books including the wonderful “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” And yet he finishes work at 5:30PM every day and rarely works weekends. No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Below you’ll get Cal’s secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done — and be finished by 5:30. 1) To-Do Lists Are Evil. To-do lists by themselves are useless. Here’s Cal: Sum Up
26 Questions Every Student Should Be Able To Answer 26 Questions Every Student Should Be Able To Answer by Terry Heick These questions are more about the student than you, your classroom, or education. What every student should know starts with themselves and moves outwards to your content area: self knowledge–> content knowledge. As an educator, your job is lead students to understanding, but student self-awareness and self-knowledge should precede that. If it hasn’t already come, the first day of school is probably imminent for you, and these kinds of questions could come in handy there as well. Strategies for Implementation These kinds of questions seem a bit…challenging, but if students can’t even begin to answer them, well, we have a problem don’t we? Based on some feedback we’ve gotten from our facebook community, here are a few tips to use this resource: 1. 2. Have students choose to respond to the ones the want to respond to, and skip the ones they don’t 3. 4. Each question can act as a writing prompt. 5. 6. 7. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Links and Resources | Early Childhood Today | Scholastic Below is a list of early childhood resources and links for early childhood professionals. By posting some links and not others, it is not our intention to endorse specific products and organizations. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Offers information on early childhood education and development, accreditation, public policy, research, professional development, and more. Join NAEYC in their commitment to improving the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age eight. Zero To Three Find resources for your work with parents of infants/toddlers, infant/toddler development, and public policy designed to improve the lives of our nation's youngest children. The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies What is the state of child care in our country? Early Childhood Research and Practice Offers information about child development and early education for children ages birth to eight.
Observation Challenge: What Do You Hear (Part One of Three) The Importance of Learning to Observe I distinctly remember when I needed to understand the game of football. Sure, I’d spent years as a fan, cheering the touchdowns and feeling disappointment with dropped passes. So I started to ask questions about rules, about positions, and I asked people (patient people) to start pointing things out to me as we watched. If you’re wondering what football has to do with teaching, let me offer this: we’ll never understand the complexity of the work we do if we don’t learn to see beyond the surface. Yet, I know from having all kinds of observers join my classroom, that learning to observe is a tough endeavor. How This Challenge Works In this blog series, we’ll look at one lesson in three different ways: what you hear, what you see, and what’s invisible. The goal of this exercise is to simplify an observation practice. This exercise has one clear focus: pay attention to language. STEP 1: Watch this Uncut Classroom* Video STEP 2: Examine Your Observations