NORT2H.org

Learning about Learning: Research and Edreform News and Views 02/22/2012

CoolCatTeacher — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:31:50 +0000

5 Tips to Better Connect with Your Students

You can connect with your students. Here are five ways I strive to do this in my own classroom. (In a piece I wrote for the Atlantic.com)

95% of what you accomplish is because of your habits. What are the habits in the classroom that will help you reach more students?

tags: education teaching passionbasedlearning all_teachers bestpractices
JESS KLEIN: Webmaking 101 for Journalists: A Prototype

It is great to watch this Webmaking 101 course for journalists evolve. jess Klein wants to "create authentic learning experiences around webmaking projects." This is a brainstorm about how to teach journalists the basics of html, css, and copyright authentically. I'm looking for the site. I love it. The site would strip out everything but the text and let the journalists add things back in.

tags: education news journalism authentic learning
Videos on innovative teaching with Eric Mazur and other Harvard professors | Harvard Magazine

These videos on active learning are great to share and view. From Harvard's series on active learning. This is the kind of video series you'll want to share with your preservice teachers AND college professors.

tags: education news activelearning active learning
Eric Mazur on new interactive teaching techniques | Harvard Magazine Mar-Apr 2012

An article from Harvard Magazine on the Twilight of the lecture. There are measurable improvements when you move to interactive learning:
"Interactive learning triples students’ gains in knowledge as measured by the kinds of conceptual tests that had once deflated Mazur’s spirits, and by many other assessments as well. It has other salutary effects, like erasing the gender gap between male and female undergraduates. “If you look at incoming scores for our male and female physics students at Harvard, there’s a gap,” Mazur explains. “If you teach a traditional course, the gap just translates up: men gain, women gain, but the gap remains the same. If you teach interactively, both gain more, but the women gain disproportionately more and close the gap.” Though there isn’t yet definitive research on what causes this, Mazur speculates that the verbal and collaborative/collegial nature of peer interactions may enhance the learning environment for women students."

tags: education learning research news bestpractices wiki_book

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sheffield Lake Google Docs Training

Andreas Johansson — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:22:53 +0000

We’re working on Google Docs this morning at Sheffield Lake Schools.

Please click here for the form I’d like for your to fill out!

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 02/22/2012

CoolCatTeacher — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:32:03 +0000

Be Better at Twitter: The Definitive, Data-Driven Guide - Megan Garber - Technology - The Atlantic

Excellent article about the research from several researchers about Tweets that are compelling and those that are turn-offs. This and the original research are both great reads. I thought it funny that people particularly hate foursquare check ins mentioned through Twitter, so unlink that account or lose followers!

"One piece of advice: Nix the "sandwich tweets." People do not care what you are eating for lunch. (Specifically: "Sorry, but I don't care what people are eating," "too much personal info," "He moans about this ALL THE TIME. Seriously.") Twitter, as a communications platform, has evolved beyond nascent Twttr's charmingly mundane updates ("cleaning my apartment"; "hungry") and into something more crowd-conscious and curatorial. Though Twitter won't necessarily replace traditional news, it increasingly functions as a real-time newswire, disseminating and amplifying information gathered from the world and the web.

tags: education socialmedia news Twitter
- "The Twitter ecosystem values learning about new content," the study notes -- so new info, it seems, is new info, regardless of who provides it.
- And sharing your own work conveys excitement about that work -- which means that self-promotion, rather than being a Twitter turn-off, can actually be an added value.
Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

Some people don't like QR codes. I still think they are helpful. What do you think?

tags: education news qrcode
Education Week: Among AP Courses, Geography and Environment Are Hot

Across more than 30 topics covered in the Advanced Placement program, participation in geography is rising faster than any other. It's joined by AP courses like Chinese, environmental science, psychology, and world history that have been gaining ground most rapidly in recent years.

tags: news
Report says giving iPads to Auburn kindergartners increases test scores — Education — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

Mike Muir is cited in this article. He's always impressed me with his ability to be a researcher but translate his results into practical classroom application. If he says it, I believe it. He shares the following results in this article.

"Early test results of kindergarten pupils like David who used iPads for nine weeks last fall — compared to kindergartners who did not — show the iPads pupils did better, according to an Auburn School Department report released Wednesday.

In 9 of the 10 areas of testing around pre-reading skills, the group of 129 students with iPads made slightly larger gains than the 137 students without. Testing included listening and comprehension, identifying letters, reading, vocabulary and identifying letter sounds.

Only one area, however, was statistically higher: recognizing sounds and writing letters. In that test, students were dictated words. They had to translate the sounds into letters and write the words. Kindergartners with iPads gained 13.72 points, compared to an 11.58-point gain for students who didn’t have iPads. That difference is significant, said Mike Muir, the Multiple Pathways leader for Auburn schools."

tags: education reading kindergarten ipad news
Converting web literacy skills into lesson plans and tools « rwxweb

This is the next step in using Web Making 101 for journalists. It is fascinating watching their work evolve. I would like to use this with my high school students. I hope Mozilla keeps it going.

tags: education news web design
JESS KLEIN: Webmaking 101 for Journalists: A Prototype

It is great to watch this Webmaking 101 course for journalists evolve. jess Klein wants to "create authentic learning experiences around webmaking projects." This is a brainstorm about how to teach journalists the basics of html, css, and copyright authentically. I'm looking for the site. I love it. The site would strip out everything but the text and let the journalists add things back in.

tags: education news journalism authentic learning
Videos on innovative teaching with Eric Mazur and other Harvard professors | Harvard Magazine

These videos on active learning are great to share and view. From Harvard's series on active learning. This is the kind of video series you'll want to share with your preservice teachers AND college professors.

tags: education news activelearning active learning
Eric Mazur on new interactive teaching techniques | Harvard Magazine Mar-Apr 2012

An article from Harvard Magazine on the Twilight of the lecture. There are measurable improvements when you move to interactive learning:
"Interactive learning triples students’ gains in knowledge as measured by the kinds of conceptual tests that had once deflated Mazur’s spirits, and by many other assessments as well. It has other salutary effects, like erasing the gender gap between male and female undergraduates. “If you look at incoming scores for our male and female physics students at Harvard, there’s a gap,” Mazur explains. “If you teach a traditional course, the gap just translates up: men gain, women gain, but the gap remains the same. If you teach interactively, both gain more, but the women gain disproportionately more and close the gap.” Though there isn’t yet definitive research on what causes this, Mazur speculates that the verbal and collaborative/collegial nature of peer interactions may enhance the learning environment for women students."

tags: education learning research news bestpractices wiki_book

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Engaging with criticism

Seth Godin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:03:00 +0000

If you need to find out how your audience is receiving your work, it's worth considering how you've structured the interactions around criticism. Sometimes a customer has a one-off problem, a situation that is unique and a concern that has to be extinguished on the spot. More often, though, that feedback you're getting represents the way a hundred or a thousand other customers are also judging you.

Some random ideas:

If you defend yourself to the customer, quickly explaining precisely why the policy is the way it is, why the product is the way it is, you are pushing the criticizer away because you're telling them they're wrong about their opinion. And they might indeed be wrong, but it's certainly not going to encourage more feedback.
If your front line people restate the criticism in their own words and are grateful to the customer for sharing it, everyone will benefit. You can always choose to ignore the input later.
If there's no way for your staff to easily send the criticism up the hierarchy, it dies before it reaches someone who can do something about it.
If senior people follow up with the customer with specific acknowledgment and thanks, you multiply the benefits.

Not every company needs to do this right to succeed (Apple succeeds and does not one of these things--and as far as I know, Bob Dylan is in the same camp), but if you believe you can benefit from a cycle of feedback, it's worth a try.

Elearning and global competency #flatclass #globaled 02/22/2012

CoolCatTeacher — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:31:51 +0000

Earth Hour 2012 Official Video - YouTube

Earth hour is 8:30 pm, Saturday March 31st. They are asking everyone to turn their lights off for an hour in celebration of this day.

tags: education flatclass events
Home | Send My Friend to School

This program has over 4,000 schools participating to help students who cannot go to school, attend as part of celebrating the Olympics. This is part of the global campaign for education. That is a lot of schools to be participating and is something you'll want to look into.

tags: education flatclass globaled
The Case for Social Media in the Classroom

An article I wrote for the Atlantic about Social media in the classroom including the four most important things we should integrate into our practice so we can help this generation learn. Global audience, digital citizenship. This is all part of it.

tags: education flatclass
Our internet safety obsession is bad for children (Wired UK)

Daniel Donahoo from the UK shares his views on safety and the Internet. I think we err on the side of being a bit extreme in many cases. Students, often, err on the side of cluelessness. I think wisdom is somewhere in the middle between blue lipped, panic stricken parents, and relaxed, photo snapping Facebookers.
"Our obsession with online safety for children is excessive. It is driven by group-think and fear, generated by media and interested parties who often ignore any rigorous evidence-based approach to the issues, or even bother to explore a simple risk analysis. Back in 2007 I wrote a book called Idolising Children, wherein I argued that we have an unhealthy obsession with children and youth culture. An obsession that sees adults trying to preserve an idea of childhood and youth that doesn't actually exist while simultaneous trying to act out their own youthful fantasies and cling to idealised concepts of youth. It is all about lotions, potions and younger looking skin. It is about what we as adults want childhood to be -- innocent and stress free. Rather than recognising it for what it is -- the process of learning, of taking risks and making mistakes on the way to becoming a capable and confident adult.

tags: education safety digiteen flatclass

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Quick Look: Are Rocketship Schools the Future?

MindShift — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:00:20 +0000

Educator and author Larry Cuban takes a close look at Rocketship schools in a three-part series, and concludes that the Rocketship model of blended learning may well work for a specific niche — low-income, urban communities — but wonders how those students will fare through high school and beyond.

Source: WordPress

The answer is maybe. But not for all schools. Like KIPP, Aspire, YES Prep Schools, Uncommon Schools and other charters including regular schools that have aimed at enrolling low-income minority children and youth-the bottom tier of the U.S.’s three tiered system of schooling (see post)-hybrids like Rocketship are the latest generation of the “effective schools” movement that began in the late 1970s.

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 02/21/2012

CoolCatTeacher — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:31:39 +0000

The Wise & Witty Teacher: Pinterest Inspired Presidents and DIY Lesson Plan Book

Although President's day is past, this Pinterest Inspired President's and DIY Lesson pLan book is a very cool idea. I love post it notes and would suggest that you use super sticky post it tabs. I really like this idea because you can move the lessons around as needed. In fact, I'm considering moving to this approach. I really like it. If you make your own lesson plan books, this is worth reviewing.

tags: teaching education lesson plan planners
The Crucible CAT - Speaking & Listening Assignment - Resources - TES

Debate the crucible as the Salem Witch Trial anniversary approaches. This is a lesson plan and assessment rubric, and a character sheet for assignment of roles.

tags: education teaching debate engchat literature_teacher
Planning your questions using Bloom's Taxonomy - Resources - TES

A great resource to download and use in professional development or share with teachers.

This is a chapter from teacher training expert Gererd Dixie's new book The Ultimate Teaching Manual. Here Gererd explains how you can use Bloom's Taxonomy to plan questions to use in class.

tags: education teaching blooms_taxonomy
Renaissance Art - Resources - TES

A powerpoint featuring Renaissance art for review if you're discussing history or key art terms.

tags: teaching art education
Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Basics for Beginners: What is Web 2.0?

this is an older post but I reviewed it tonight and it is still current. If you want to learn what Web 2 is and get comfortable with the terminology, this is a very simple walk through.

tags: education learning teaching
RSS | Common Craft

A lovely video explaining how RSS works. This is great for you to use to learn about RSS or to share with students. If you join common craft, you can download the video or embed it.

tags: education rss teaching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How to Choose the Right Words for Best Search Results

MindShift — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:33:19 +0000

Dear Savvy Searcher,

My students keep wanting to enter their entire research question into the search bar. I keep trying to tell them that’s a bad idea. How do you teach students to identify the right words to use in a search?

Frustrated Educator

Dear Frustrated,

I had a particular conversation with a student a while back. It might sound familiar:

“But how do I know what the important words are?” The student looked up at me, perplexed. She stared back at her paper, where she had written Did George Washington ever write a diary? “Every word is important, or my question wouldn’t make sense!”

She had a point, of course. We had been discussing a method to distill a question into its components and turn it into a strong query, the string of words she would type into a search engine to look for her answer. Students have often expressed that it’s hard to identify “just the words they need.”

Based on how Google ranks search results, typing in a question will be more likely to bring back pages with a question for a title. In many of our everyday searches this is an easy way to find question and answer sites when we want them, but Q&A sites are not necessarily authoritative sources for school work. So I have students write down their questions and teach them how to mark them up to create queries, the first step being to identify the significant words.

Explaining how to distinguish the important words has sometimes proven challenging with younger students. Recently, however, fellow Googler AJ Kimbembe observed that the mark-up process reminded him of rebuses. You might remember these puzzles from childhood, where select words in a narrative are replaced with pictures. We started playing with the idea, and realized this could be a great lesson for students in identifying the best search terms.

Nouns frequently make good search terms, so students can start by drawing the people, places, and things in their questions. For example, I challenged another child with the question about whether George Washington ever wrote a diary, and he drew this:

The searchable parts of this picture are [George Washington diary].

Compare the results:

From an academic standpoint, the second result brought back highly authoritative sources that are specifically about diaries, rather than other books. The sources in the second search also appear relatively straightforward and clear, which is preferable for a younger researcher.

Verbs and adjectives can also help in many cases. They may be harder to draw, but it strikes me that the challenge can be framed appropriately to help children think more critically about where to place their efforts. Consider this visualization a child drew for his question: What is the best wood for dogs to chew?

This search did not get satisfactory results. Why? It appears that there is a general agreement among dog-lovers that there are healthier items for dogs to chew than wood, so he found no recommendations for a “best wood.” He could not have done any better with shorter searches, though, as dog wood gets results for the dogwood plant. A good rebus does not guarantee a successful resolution to a question, but neither does it preclude using verbs and adjectives.

Usually, the strongest queries do not include particles or other function words, but sometimes they make a big difference. Here is an example of why Google considers all the words you type in:

Trying to decide which little words to toss out becomes easier when you illustrate.

There are other benefits of illustrating searches. For example, on the Search Education team, we often find that searchers get stuck with the phrasing in which a question first occurs to them. Working from images seems to free up the mind to look for synonyms. When the young boy illustrated his question about wood that is good for dogs, he drew a tree to represent wood. Looking at his drawing, the word stick also offered itself as a search term. Similarly, librarian and cartoonist Diane T. Sands’ daughter wanted to know what lizards eat, which prompted her to sketch out the rebus at the top of this post. Even knowing her original question, looking at the rebus I searched for lizard food, rather than lizard eat, which brought back different results.

As students graduate to more sophisticated questions, this method will not take them as far. But it makes a great teaching tool to get students off on the right foot…leading to teachers and students who are less frustrated.

Try your own rebus and send me your favorite!

Contact Tasha and check out the Search Education Team’s resources.

Learning about Learning: Research and Edreform News and Views 02/21/2012

CoolCatTeacher — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:31:00 +0000

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Basics for Beginners: What is Web 2.0?

this is an older post but I reviewed it tonight and it is still current. If you want to learn what Web 2 is and get comfortable with the terminology, this is a very simple walk through.

tags: education learning teaching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My ISTE 2012 Schedule (so far), heading to Canada, and New Jersey

CoolCatTeacher — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:15:00 +0000

If you are coming to one of these events, please say "hi." I'd love to meet you.

ISTE 2012 Schedule

Saturday, June 23 - Event that Steve Hargadon is running (the remix of Edublogger, not sure of new name)
Sunday, June 24 - We'll have a booth in the global gallery so you can say hi.
Monday, June 25 - 2:30 - 3:30 PM BM117 Wonderful World of Wiki Wiki Teaching (Advanced) with Adam Frey, Suzie Nestico, and Ben Curran running the backchannel
Tuesday, June 26 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Collaborative Writing and Common Core Standards in the Classroom. I'll be moderating a panel with Dr. Leigh Zeitz, Jennifer Roberts, Julie Lindsay, Suzie Nestico and again, my friend Ben Curran has agreed to backchannel for us.
Tuesday, June 26 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm Bookmarks, PLN's and More: Supercharge Your Learning, Teaching, and Research with Diigo co-founder Maggie Tsai (Ben in Backchannel)
We hope to run a Birds of a Feather for Flat Classroom again this year. (usually Tuesday afternoon)
Pearson will have an "official" signing at their booth at a certain time for our new book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds and we also plan to sign some at the Birds of a Feather.

Other upcoming plans:

March 5, 2012 5 pm - 6 pm 7 Steps to Flatten your Classroom co-presented with Julie Lindsay (link to be shared)
March 20, 2012 4:15 pm Common Core in the Cloud - Eye on School Success Online Conference
March 23-24, 2012 Teacher 2 Teacher - Bow Island, Alberta Canada
May 7, 2012 6-7pm Finding the Right Fit: Which Global Collaborative Project is for me? Pearson Webinar (will add the link as soon as I have it.)
October13, 2012 Edscape Conference with amazing principal Eric Sheninger (I will be announced as keynote speaker soon.)

For an overview of scheduled events, you can check the calendar below. (I keep this and my Amazon author page updated.)

NORT2H.org

Learning about Learning: Research and Edreform News and Views 02/22/2012

Sheffield Lake Google Docs Training

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 02/22/2012

Engaging with criticism

Elearning and global competency #flatclass #globaled 02/22/2012

Quick Look: Are Rocketship Schools the Future?

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 02/21/2012

How to Choose the Right Words for Best Search Results

Learning about Learning: Research and Edreform News and Views 02/21/2012

My ISTE 2012 Schedule (so far), heading to Canada, and New Jersey

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