Hike Back to School: 10 Life Lessons from the Trail. About the time I was posting final grades last spring, and going through the stored papers and projects that marked the school year, I felt tired.
Not just that normal end-of-the-year tired, but really tired. Like “I hadn’t taken a deep breath in too many years” kind of tired. And honestly, it scared me. I wondered if this is what the singed corners of burnout felt like. Kind people often remind me to “take care of yourself.” Eight weeks later, I found myself in the Rocky Mountains on a solo hiking trip. What Are The Habits Of Mind? What Are The Habits Of Mind?
By TeachThought Staff Editor’s Note: This post has been updated from a 2012 post. Problem-based learning and project-based learning provide a rich opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge, expand their repertoire of technical skills, and enhance their appreciation of thinking tools, processes and strategies. Education builds character SmartBlogs.
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others.
25 Things Successful Educators Do Differently : InformED. Why Do I Teach? The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
As I wind up another semester of teaching at Notre Dame, I’ve been thinking about what I’m actually accomplishing in the classroom. The standard view is that teaching imparts knowledge, either knowing how (skills) or knowing that (information). Tests seem important because they measure the knowledge students have gained from a course. SXSWedu Snapshot: What's changing in education? SmartBlogs. Shut Up and Teach by Nevin Jenkins on Prezi. What does it mean to be learned? 10 Expectations of schools. 3 Important Trends That We Should Focus On in Schools. Are textbooks an obstacle to learning? SmartBlogs. In “We Don’t Need No Stink’n Textbooks,” Tom Whitby convincingly argues that textbooks are as obstructive to learning as they are ubiquitous in American classrooms.
He suggests that most teachers’ inability to emerge from their comfort zones — of which textbooks are an essential component — hinders them from utilizing the incomparably better resources available throughout the Internet. Whitby is certainly correct: Textbooks are an obstacle to learning, and teachers rely on them extensively nonetheless. However, moving beyond textbooks requires a more penetrating solution than curating the Internet under the guise of a digital textbook as suggested in the article. Five Things That Changed At My School When We Adopted A Competency-Based Model. “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.
10 simple ideas for transforming your teaching this school year SmartBlogs. Many of us will face new learners as another semester of classes begin.
For some of us, this can be a frightening and stressful experience. It should be. Minds of Our Own. Students Who Challenge Us:Eight Things Skilled Teachers Think, Say, and Do. Among the many challenges teachers face, often the most difficult is how to engage students who seem unreachable, who resist learning activities, or who disrupt them for others.
Helping Parents Score on the Homework Front. Why I Gave Up Flipped Instruction. 9 ways common core will change classroom practice Harvard Ed Letter. Volume 28, Number 4July/August 2012 By ROBERT ROTHMAN Nine Ways the Common Core Will Change Classroom Practice, continued Nine Ways the Common Core Will Change Classroom Practice In a recent survey, William Schmidt, a University Distinguished Professor of education at Michigan State University, found some good news and bad news for supporters of the Common Core State Standards.
The good news was that the vast majority of teachers have read the Standards and nearly all like them. Growth Mindset to Overcome Failure. Fast Failure for Learning. Making Friends With Failure. FAIL ure. Failure Is Mandatory: Creating A Culture Of Innovation. The following post is written by Tom Daccord and Justin Reich of EdTechTeacher .
Join EdTechTeacher at the iPad Summit in Atlanta on April 10-12. Progressive school administrators understand that teachers need room to explore and experiment to uncover ways to use technology effectively in the service of learning. These administrators recognize that initial tech integration forays may fall short, or even fail, but they realize that experiences gleaned help build institutional knowledge of best practices. Ultimately, enhanced community-wide knowledge and understanding of tech integration practices reduces fears and uncertainties — at both an individual and school-wide level — and provides a foundation for growth. A common trait of successful education technology programs is a culture of innovation where administrators understand that increasing institutional growth means that failure …. is mandatory. Strategy #1 – Remove the Fear of Failure Strategy #2 – Create Skunkworks.
Growth Mindset Strategies. Back to School: Why Letting Your Kids Struggle Helps Them Succeed. The back-to-school season is upon us, and once again, parents across the country have loaded their kids’ backpacks up with snack packs and school supplies. It’s a good moment to reflect on what else we should be giving our kids as they head off to school. American parents are feeling particularly anxious about that question this year. The educational process feels more than ever like a race, one that starts in pre-preschool and doesn’t end until your child is admitted to the perfect college. Perseverance and Grit. In every country in the world, we elevate those who endure, especially against overwhelming odds. We exalt politician William Wilberforce, who led a challenging campaign to end all slavery in the British empire. We lift up Malala Yousafzai, the Pakastani girl who fought for education rights for women.