Veterans Memorial Elementary School named National School Library Program of the Year. CHICAGO – Veterans Memorial Elementary School, located in Naples, Florida, is the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) 2016 National School Library Program of the Year (NSLPY) Award recipient.
Sponsored by Follett, the NSLPY Award annually recognizes a school library program that meets the needs of the changing school and library environment and is fully integrated into the school's curriculum. The recipient receives an obelisk – the symbol of school library excellence – and $10,000 toward its school library program. “The library at Veterans Memorial Elementary School is truly the heart of learning and discovery for the school,” said Barbara Stripling, NSLPY committee chair.
“From producing the early morning news show to investigating gravity by creating marble runs in the library makerspace to exploring science, literature, and social studies topics, students at VME are engaged and excited to be learners in the library. Problem loading page. 9 Elephants in the (Class)Room That Should "Unsettle" Us. At a recent morning workshop for school leaders at a fairly small New England public school district, about an hour into a conversation focused on what they believed about how kids learn best, an assistant superintendent somewhat surprisingly said aloud what many in the room were no doubt feeling.
“When I really try to square what I believe about how kids learn and what we practice in our classrooms, it unsettles me,” she said. “And it frustrates me.” As it should. One of the things I’ve come to realize in my many discussions with educators from around the globe is that there are a number of practices in our current systems of schooling that “unsettle” us, primarily because they don’t comport with what Seymour Papert calls our “stock of intuitive, empathic, common sense knowledge about learning.”
Refab. Main - TeachThought. 9 Resolutions & 9 Resources for Your Project-Based Learning Classroom This Year. If you are teaching in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) classroom or aspire to bring high quality PBL to your classroom or school, we bring you nine resolutions to follow for creating engaging and effective projects in the new year.
Follow these resolutions and you will be on your way to activating students’ interests and building a strong culture to support high quality, gold standard PBL in your classroom or school. Resolve to assess student learning, both formatively and summatively. We almost always have some sort of summative assessment. In successful PBL classrooms, teachers don’t wait for deliverable or final product.
The Future Of Education Just May Be In Liberty, Missouri. Remember the water cycle?
It's typically first learned in elementary school, around third grade. You know, precipitation, evaporation, condensation? Many readers may remember filling out a graphic organizer to help them memorize the steps. Others may recall having to answer a question about the water cycle on a standardized test. It's likely fewer of us did what the third graders at Liberty' EPiC Elementary did last year. Chickasha High School first in OK to use new education model. Chickasha High School is breaking the mold when it comes to education.
The district wants to try a personalized education campus where students are in charge of their own education. Starting in the fall of 2016, 150 students and five teachers will test the new style of learning with ninth through twelfth graders. The school building will be open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and during that time students will need to clock in for six and a half hours. While at school it is up to the students, using digital textbooks and help from teachers and tutors, to learn class materials. "We don't do grades," said Chickasha Superintendent Dave Cash. Strategies for Multi-Grade-Level PBL Projects. When we get really excited by and really effective at implementing project-based learning, we start creating projects that become much more complex.
We integrate multiple subjects, leverage more technology tools, co-teach classes, and have projects that last many weeks or even months. These projects are exciting, but a complex project brings more complex challenges. One of those challenges is integration and implementation across different grade levels. Such PBL projects are uniquely complex because schools have different learning outcomes and standards (sometimes drastically different), and also physical structures that create walls against rather than opportunities for collaboration. Here are some strategies and ideas to consider when planning and implementing multi-grade-level PBL projects. Five Critical Skills to Empower Students in the Digital Age. The beginning of the school year is a time to set the tone for a student’s learning experience, including what teachers expect from students and families.
But that first week of school is also the time to teach valuable learning skills that will be used throughout the year. Alan November, a former teacher turned lecturer, consultant and author, challenged teachers to rethink how they start the school year by outlining skills that are crucial to students to learn in the first five days of school.
A Thematic Approach to Planning Your Maker Space. When schools talk about the Maker Movement and creating maker spaces, they often focus their initial thinking on purchasing the tools and materials.
This resource-driven approach can create a buzz in your school for some time; however, that excitement will inevitably fade. While resources are an important part of any maker space, taking a thematic planning approach is much more effective. No two maker spaces are alike or should be alike. Developing appropriate and relevant themes for your space will ensure that your maker space is unique to the needs, wants, and interests of your students, and unique to your school community as well.
How Teaching Spatial Skills Could Be Part of a School’s Strategic Plan. Spatial skills don’t get a lot of attention in K-12 education, despite research pointing to the link between spatial reasoning and academic achievement, creativity and the arts.
So when Linda Swarlis first happened upon the research for herself, she had a revelation. “This was a game changer for me,” said Swarlis, director of information services at Columbus School for Girls, a PreK-12 school in Ohio. “I had never heard of the impact of spatial ability on engineering and mathematics success.” Swarlis then learned about Sheryl Sorby’s work on retaining struggling female engineering college students by teaching them how to mentally manipulate objects and boost their visualization skills.
But Swarlis wanted to engage students in spatial skills training before they got to college; she wanted to find ways to offer more spatial experiences to students at her school. P21. 6 Texas Educational IT Professionals Tackle K–12 Tech Challenges in Roundtable. In February, CDW•G sat down with six K–12 IT professionals and educators from four Texas school districts to discuss the role technology plays in teaching.
Participants included: Lee Sleeper, Director of Operations and Technology (Bullard ISD)Amanda Goode, Curriculum Integration Specialist (Bullard ISD)Katie Russell, Director of Technology (Barbers Hill ISD)Alicia Brooks, Instructional Technologist (Barbers Hill ISD)Luann Hughes, Director of Technology (Temple ISD)Wendy Jones, Director of Technology, Curriculum and Innovation (Leander ISD) The roundtable discussion, held during the TCEA 2016 conference on educational technology, in Austin, Texas, was moderated by Chad Stevens, chief education strategist for CDW•G. Stevens: Let’s talk about the shift we’re seeing in teaching and learning, as well as the role IT plays.
Goode: I think we’ve decided that we can’t be separate departments and you have to work together. How a Moveable Space Can Ignite Creativity in the Classroom. Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve. Why We Went Multi-Device, Multi-Platform For Our 1:1 Initiative – A.J. JULIANI. I’ve been around a lot of 1:1 initiatives in schools. As a teacher, I was around when Classrooms for the Future started, and when my former district went 1:1 laptops 6-12th grade. I then moved into a K-12 Technology Staff Developer role helping to roll out the 1:1 initiative and support the teaching and learning happening in classrooms across our schools.
I was also lucky enough to be a Instructional Consultant for ISTE during the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools project where I worked with 12 schools who were going BYOD or 1:1 (or who already had in the previous year). Most Popular of 2015, No. five: These 6 questions determine if you're technology rich, innovation poor. Transformational Six 1. Did the assignment build capacity for critical thinking on the web? 2. Did the assignment develop new lines of inquiry? 3. Most Popular in 2015, No. four: 8 things every teacher can do to create an innovative classroom. Give students the basics, but keep it short. Students will always need some basic knowledge to get some traction on their projects, but the amount of information that the entire class will need is probably less than you would expect. Chunk this general information into organized blocks of 5-10 minutes tops, and deliver these in a mini-lesson at the start of class.
Resources on Developing Resilience, Grit, and Growth Mindset. There’s been a lot of talk lately about resilience, grit, growth mindset, and related concepts -- including the social and emotional skills associated with these factors and their importance for student well-being and academic success. Edutopia has curated these lists of resources to help educators and parents follow these topics and create home and school environments that provide supports and opportunities to help young people thrive. Nurturing Resilience The ability to bounce back from adversity is associated with a variety of skills.
Learn more about the resilience research and supports and strategies to develop resilience in young people. (10+ Resources) Fostering Grit.
20 Google Apps activities for classroom innovation. Google Apps for Education is a powerful toolbox that opens up exciting possibilities in the classroom for students and teachers. Here are some concrete, practical and innovative ideas for using them. (Public domain image via Pixabay) Google Apps for Education has made new ideas and activities possible in classrooms all over the world. Apps to Support Diverse Learners in the Classroom.
4 Tips for Getting to Know the Blended Instructional Model. 6 tips for innovative teaching in a digital age. It is time for schools to embrace 21st century communications. Whosonfirstleadersguide. Gmail. Privacy tips to help teachers avoid a social media scandal. How Twitter Can Power Your Professional Learning. Education Week. Technology can transform education, but not without people #ISTE2015. Planning a School Edcamp using Google Docs. TPACK - Innovative Learning Teacher Network. Author Commentary That's Simply App Smashing. Discovery Communications Shifts From Honey Boo Boo To High-Tech Textbooks - BuzzFeed News. Project Discovery sur Twitter : "1st grade Ss log into @DiscoveryEd accounts & use Board Builder to learn about NASA ORION #kwbpride @digitalAPS.
Matt Monjan sur Twitter : "QR Codes in Math? Absolutely. 1 of the great tips learned at today's DE Math Leadership Academy in NYC @DiscoveryEd. Teacher Driven Change on Display at Innovation Expo.