How PD can make real change. Writing blogs like this one and interacting with teachers on Twitter and the like can make edtech teacher types, like me, forget that it is still the case that the majority of teachers are not confident or regular users of modern technologies (social, mobile & student-centred) and need effective introduction and explanation of their benefits.
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article. Hannah was in her second year of teaching when we began our work together.
She was interested in "bettering her game" as she put it. "I know I have lots that I could work on, but I'm not sure where to start," she admitted in our initial meeting. Building Strong Co-Teaching Relationships from the Start. A MiddleWeb Blog Some of you have already returned to school (hey y’all down South!)
, and some of us still have a few weeks of vacation ahead. Either way, we all share the anticipation of great possibilities that goes along with the planning and creating for a successful school year. Each year as school approaches, I feel like I’m getting ready to run through a snowy field and be the first to put my footsteps in the freshly fallen snow. Many decisions must be made. Co-teachers have additional decisions to make: How will we organize the information from the Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) to align students’ needs to make sure all students will have access to the curriculum?
Whatever our teaching role, the list of decisions to be made goes on and on. We don’t want to get caught in the “could have been” web Does this sound familiar? But this doesn’t have to happen! Tips and strategies for improving the co-teaching relationship have been in print since the early 90’s. 1. 2. 3. 4. Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article. I am learning how to run.
It sounds silly, "learning how to run," but it's true. At first I just started running a minute, walking a minute. Change the Frame: Two Ways to Rethink Education for Reform - EdTech Researcher. I was recently asked to offer some suggestions about what I thought were the most important policy and non-policy recommendations that I have for education reform.
I think of "policy" as things that federal or state officials can do: laws that can be passed or money that can be spent. I offered three of these recommendations earlier this week. These "non-policy" suggestions are things that are beyond regulations, technical support, or direct funding. Here are two ways we ought to change the way we talk about education, so that we change the way we think about education. Change the Frame (1): From Delivery to Design Borrowing from the work of George Lakoff, how people linguistically (metaphorically and analogically) frame a topic has a powerful impact on how people define and understand the topic. As long as great teaching is defined as an act of delivery, it will be misunderstood, poorly conducted, and undervalued.
Five-Minute Film Festival: Nine Videos on Kindness, Empathy, and Connection. I'd like to offer up a video playlist to remind all of us about the power of empathy, kindness, and human connections.
It's always a good time to practice gratitude for the relationships that sustain us all -- for the people who have taught us in a school setting and beyond, and for the young ones we are able to nurture and inspire. I was also thinking about how many of us are living out the paradox of being ever more plugged in, and ever more aware of what's happening in our community via social media platforms, while at the same time, face-to-face interactions are less frequent than ever before.
We are in constant touch, but barely touching. Content_then_process_wiliam. Improving Young Student Vocabulary With High Level Conversation. Naming What Children Can Do. Mr.
Park's fourth grade class was the most impulsive and squirmy group of children he'd ever taught. Children speaking out of turn, talking to neighbors, playing with small objects, or making odd noises continually interrupted class discussions. Despite much time spent devising and discussing rules for group meeting behavior, the children made little progress. Mr. Park decided to try a different approach. The children sat up a little straighter and leaned forward in interest.
"I didn't fool around with my erasers. "I noticed a couple of you even sat on your hands for a bit," Mr. With this positive scaffolding, Mr. The Power of Reinforcing Language Teachers have always known the power of carefully timed and delivered feedback. Known as "reinforcing language" in the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching, this type of specific, positive feedback is powerful, because when used well, it achieves the following: Making It Work.
How to Get Hesitant Teachers to Use Technology. In my consulting as well as administrative technology work, I am often asked the same questions by different schools and officials.
One of the most common is: “How do you get teachers who are hesitant or resistant to use technology?” I am keenly aware that many of my colleagues are not, for various reasons, gung ho about educational technology. And it’s interesting. Quite often, the teachers who are hesitant to adopt new technology are great — in fact, amazing — educators. They are frequently veterans and usually leaders in their academic field and within their institutions. The Art of Facilitating Teacher Teams. In my last post I reflected on what makes an effective team of teachers.
