SMART Launches kapp iQ - rAVe. Suewaters - home. 14 Educational Websites Students Will Ask to Visit This Summer. The most popular website at my school is Minecraft–hands down, starting in 1st grade (I’m amazed parents let six-year-olds use this sometimes violent game, but they do and students do and the mania starts).
Because kids would live in this blocky virtual world 24/7, I only let them play it two lunch periods a week. Those days, my lab is always packed. Kids have no idea they’re learning math (estimation, geometry, shapes), science (geology, rocks, minerals), building, or softer skills like thinking and reasoning, problem solving, hypothesis-testing, risk-taking, and collaboration. Video: “We Need Your Students To Get Higher Test Scores. The Best Posts About Michelle Rhee’s Exaggerated Test Scores. The education blogosphere, and parts of the education media, have been abuzz the past couple of days over the discovery that Michelle Rhee’s often-claimed astronomical student test gains when she was a teacher were not true.
Eight Web Tools for Language Learning. Learning a second language is a struggle for many students.
After all, it can be difficult to understand the grammar and usage of a second language when you occasionally struggle with grammar and usage in your first language. Bringing the wealth of online resources into the language learning equation can help students overcome the obstacles they face when learning a second language. At the most basic level, online translators such as Google Translate provide a lot of support for students, automatically detecting the language being typed, offering audio of the original phrase and its translation and giving examples of usage for key words. Game websites such as Digital Dialects and Lingo Zone give students a fun way to practice vocabulary words without using flash cards or other drill and kill methods. Learning from native speakers Beyond the more basic translation and game resources for learning a language, the reach of the internet is what makes it ideal for learning a second language.
- From the Principal's Office: Unwrapping the Common Core Standards. Victory for schools: ACLU backs down from 'emoticons' cyberbullying claim. Good news: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has agreed to dismiss a claim it filed after an Indiana district disciplined students for cyberbullying classmates.
Here’s what happened: The ACLU filed suit on behalf of three Indiana students — known as K.F., S.M. and J.D. in court documents — who were suspended for comments posted on Facebook. The eighth-grade girls posted comments that: Teaching For Intelligence. The claim is often made (in this issue as well as elsewhere) that schools give a disproportionate emphasis to logical/mathematical and verbal material and intelligence.
My sense is that this is only superficially true. The content may have this character, and lip service may be given to these forms of intelligence, but the actual educational process remains focused on low level skills. The real development of thinking skills, even within these areas of intelligence, is usually as neglected as the rest of our mental capacities. If this changes soon, Professor Costa will be one of the reasons. His recent book, Developing Minds; A Resource Book For Teaching Thinking, provides a comprehensive overview of the growing Thinking Skills Movement, and he has also recently been elected president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Global Slavery, by the Numbers. A graphic produced by the SumAll Foundation showed its findings.
“To This Day” Project—Shane Koyczan (Video) Don't Call Them Textbooks - Technology. By Jeffrey R.
Young Textbook publishers argue that their newest digital products shouldn't even be called "textbooks. " They're really software programs built to deliver a mix of text, videos, and homework assignments. Tennessee lawmaker wants to tie welfare benefits to good grades. Don’t Give Students More Tools of Mass Distraction—Maclean’s On Campus. Rhee Finances. Videos - EdMedia Commons. The Best Posts On The Gates’ Funded Measures Of Effective Teaching Report. The Gates’ funded Measures Of Effective Teaching released their latest studies today. There have been a few posts about it, and I’m sure there will be many more. I thought I’d get a hard start on collecting them in one “The Best…” list. Here are my picks for The Best Posts On The Gates’ Funded Measures Of Effective Teaching Report: Gates Foundation study paints bleak picture of teaching quality is from Gotham Schools.
How They Get It: A New, Simple Taxonomy For Understanding. Obama Education Policy Draws Some Skeptics. But some critics suggest that at the same time the administration has gotten tough on teachers and set higher standards, it could be allowing states to set new, unambitious goals for how quickly students must reach those standards, particularly poor and minority students.
“We repeatedly look for ways to game the system and fuzz up the fact that our kids aren’t being educated to the standards that they need,” said Amy Wilkins, vice president for government affairs at the Education Trust, a nonprofit group that works to close achievement gaps. One particularly controversial example emerged over the summer, when Virginia initially released new targets showing that the state would require 57 percent of black students to become proficient in math by 2017, compared with 78 percent of white students. Ravitch criticizes school closings, charter expansion. In a Monday morning speech at the City Club of Chicago, education reformer turned critic Diane Ravitch slammed the initiatives she once supported – such as standardized testing and sanctions for failing schools – as “the status quo.”
In their place, she prescribed a different vision for schools: early childhood education for all students, strict limits on charter school expansion, and public policy changes to reduce poverty and school segregation. The U.S. has always been at the bottom of international test rankings, Ravitch said, because of its high child poverty rate compared to other industrialized countries. She cited research showing that African-American students who attend integrated schools earn more money, have better educational outcomes and even live longer. MOOCs and Hype Again. Charter Schools. This article was written by an independent education researcher who requests anonymity.
The Impact of Great Teachers. The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments. As I’ve mentioned, I’m part of a group of teachers working with The Center For Teaching Quality that’s preparing a policy report on Teacher Working Conditions and how they relate to student learning. 'Embodied Learning' Blends Movement, Computer Interaction. BEWARE: Like drugs, electronic media change brains. Ought we be more careful? Especially with children? The Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers) Why We Should Care About Galvanic Response Skin Bracelets. A few days ago, I learned from Leonie Haimson who learned from Susan Ohanian about a grant from the Gates Foundation to Clemson University to conduct research into the uses of a “galvanic skin response” bracelet.
This is a wireless sensor that tracks physiological reactions. What made this grant of special interest was that it was directly connected to the Gates Foundation’s premier teacher-evaluation program, Measures of Effective Teaching (MET). Testing mandates flunk cost-benefit analysis - The Answer Sheet. This was written by Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor of English Education at The University of Georgia.