The Best Places On The Web To Find Documentaries (Non-YouTube) If you’re not as lucky as us (our school district has unblocked YouTube for teacher accounts), I thought having a list like this would be useful. You might also be interested in The Best Sites For News & History Videos That Won’t Get Blocked By Content Filters (At Least, Not By Ours!). Thanks to several folks on Twitter for their recommendations, including @joefinkelstein, @EdDarrell and @justinstallings. I hope readers will contribute more suggestions. Here are my choices for The Best Places On The Web To Find Documentaries (Non-YouTube): I’ll start off with suggesting you see a post by Richard Byrne, where he recommends five places to see online documentaries for free. PBS American Experience Archive TeacherTube As always, feedback is welcome. If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
Technology in the Classroom: Helpful or Harmful? Kids gravitate towards technology—if your child heads straight for the video games or Facebook after school, you know what we’re talking about. With a world of information at their fingertips nowadays, it seems like kids should be finding it easier than ever to succeed in school. However, as more classrooms invest in the latest technology, test scores remain the same, bringing its effectiveness into question. Technology and Teaching “Incorporating technology into the classroom requires a double innovation,” says Shelley Pasnik, director of the Center for Education and Technology, Educators who receive new technology must first learn how to use the equipment and then decide whether or not it supports the class objectives and curriculum. For example, an instructor may restructure a lecture into a group activity, having students conduct online research to boost their understanding. Technology also makes it easier to spend more overall time on learning. Maximizing Your Child’s Tech Time
How to Differentiate Instruction How to Differentiate Instruction What's All the Hype? Unfortunately, our images of school are almost factory images, so school is very standardized. But kids don't come in standard issue. Effective teachers have been differentiating instruction for as long as teaching has been a profession. What The Research Tells Us About Differentiate Instruction There are three bodies of research worth mentioning. 1) Brain-based Research 2) Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences 3) Authentic Assessment Brain-based Research on Learning Research on the brain has been used to inform educational practice for many years and is becoming more and more popular. Other valuable links on this topic can be found at: Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences Learning styles research is predominantly used to understand learning preferences that students use to receive and/or process information.
Barefoot In the head A few year ago, I was a bit curious about how well learners can evaluate each other. I designed a small experiment to find out. It goes like this: Take a group of learners, say 15 in number, in a classroom. Give everybody 15 sheets of paper and ask them to write their names on the top right corner of every sheet. In other words, you have conducted an examination without making a question paper and without having to mark a pile of answer books. I tried this for three years in the course I teach on Educational Technology for M.Ed. In the meanwhile, I thought you might like to try....
Quiz: How Millennial Are You? Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction Resources >> Browse Articles >> Utilizing Technology Featured Author: Mrs. Kelly Tenkely is a technology teacher in a private school. One of the major benefits of using technology in the classroom is the ability to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of every student in every lesson. Below you will find website suggestions that address the different learning styles in your classroom with the help of technology: Verbal-Linguistic These learners enjoy learning through speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Websites to encourage learning for Verbal-Linguistic students: 1. Allow students to express themselves creatively with words 2. Capture student voices with audio, text, pictures, and video 3. A free online word processor, and presentation tool 4. Students can podcast (voice recording) online. 5. – Students can create stories or mini-movies Logical-Mathematical
Eight Ways to Use Video With English Language Learners This blog was co-authored by Katie Hull Sypnieski. This post is excerpted from their new book, The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language Learners of All Levels. "I like the way you use videos with us -- you get us moving, talking, writing and speaking. The problem is you make us think too much." -- "John," one of our English-Language Learner students We can think of far worse things a student might say to us, and John's comment demonstrates our perspective on using video with English-Language Learners (and, for that matter, with all students) -- research and our experience show that it can be a very effective learning tool, but it has to be used as an active one. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. 1. The class could start off by watching this New York Times video about a father grieving his son's death from gang violence: 2. 3.
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Summary | researchreportsedu Prensky states that the students in our classrooms are much more different than the people who are in front of the classroom teaching in terms of how they learn and the ways in which they are able to take in information. He gave the two different groups of people different titles; digital immigrants, and digital natives. Immigrants being those people who were not born in a time when technology was not readily available to use at all times and have had to learn over time how to use it. As compared to now, when the use of technology is readily available to the children born, the natives. Another main point that Prensky makes is that there needs to be a switch in the way in which educators teach because students are losing out due to the “old fashioned” methods of teaching which are still being used today. One final point that Prensky makes is that digital immigrant teachers are able to reach digital native students with some work and effort. Prensky, M. (2001). Like this: Like Loading...
Strong Readers All:Catching Readers Up Before They Fail Carol E. Canady and Robert Lynn Canady On the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, one-third of U.S. 4th graders performed at or above the proficient level in reading. That's the good news. But what about the two-thirds of students who didn't read proficiently in 4th grade? For students who enter school with below-average language development, a one-year gain in reading achievement for each year in school is simply not enough to catch up. It Can Be Done So how can we ensure this acceleration in reading achievement? Beverley Manor Elementary School in Staunton, Virginia, adopted such an approach. Building on this success, additional programs using early literacy teams are currently being piloted in other schools in Virginia as well as in six schools in Georgia, Ohio, and Tennessee. Where to Start Identify a Literacy Coach Create an Early Literacy Team Group Students in Early Literacy Groups Schedule Literacy Instruction Intervention, however, doesn't end after grade 2. How It Works
A Step-by-Step Guide to the Best Projects Manor New Technology High School in Manor, Texas, is a 100 percent project-based learning school. They are part of the New Tech Network of schools and their approach has yielded remarkable results, including a 98 percent graduation rate, with all of their graduates accepted to college. The success of their PBL approach is largely attributable to the fact that their process is designed to stimulate student inquiry. Additionally, their process can be applied to any project in any subject, which means there is a consistent approach across grades and subjects at Manor. We followed a sophomore world studies class through a three-week project called Controlling Factors, created by teaching partners Mary Mobley (English) and Michael Chambers (world history). Here is a breakdown of key steps, with some examples from Mobley and Chambers's project: What do you think about this Schools That Work story?