The Brick Testament. What teachers don’t need (but are getting anyway) - The Answer Sheet. This was written by Paul Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. A version of this first appeared on dailykos.com. By Paul Thomas Just days ago, I completed my 28th year as a teacher — 18 as a high school teacher of English followed by 10 years as a professor of education. And I am excited about the coming semesters because, as I have felt every year of my teaching life, I know I failed in some ways this past academic year and I am confident I will be better in my next opportunities to teach.
As a teacher, I am far from finished — and I never will be. I want to make a statement to the many and powerful leaders in education reform, all of whom have either no experience or expertise, or very little, as teachers: I don’t need standards to teach. If You Have Never Taught, You Simply Don’t Understand Governors, policy wonks, and think tanks, I don’t need the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Then What? And I never will be. Absolutely none of that matters. Anne Murphy Paul: Why Floundering Makes Learning Better. Call it the “learning paradox”: the more you struggle and even fail while you’re trying to master new information, the better you’re likely to recall and apply that information later. The learning paradox is at the heart of “productive failure,” a phenomenon identified by Manu Kapur, a researcher at the Learning Sciences Lab at the National Institute of Education of Singapore.
Kapur points out that while the model adopted by many teachers and employers when introducing others to new knowledge — providing lots of structure and guidance early on, until the students or workers show that they can do it on their own — makes intuitive sense, it may not be the best way to promote learning. Rather, it’s better to let the neophytes wrestle with the material on their own for a while, refraining from giving them any assistance at the start. (MORE: Paul: The Secret to Grace Under Pressure) With one group of students, the teacher provided strong “scaffolding” — instructional support — and feedback. Occupy Kindergarten: The Rich-Poor Divide Starts With Education - Jordan Weissmann - Business. New research shows that a family's money matters ever more when it comes to their childrens' education Reuters Economic class is increasingly becoming the great dividing line of American education. The New York Times has published a roundup of recent research showing the growing academic achievement gap between rich and poor students.
It prominently features a paper by Stanford professor Sean F. Reardon, which found that, since the 1960s, the difference in test scores between affluent and underprivileged students has grown 40%, and is now twice the gap between black and white students. The children of the wealthy are pulling away from their lower-class peers -- the same way their parents are pulling away from their peers' parents. It may not simply be a matter of the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer -- although that certainly is a part of it. Even more discouraging: The differences start early in a child's life, then linger. A New Chile is Possible. Chilean students question the education system as commercial and elitist because it reproduces existing social inequities and makes them worse.
But they are not just asking questions: They are practicing the kind of education they have spent years dreaming about and struggling to obtain. “If workers can manage a factory, we can manage the school,” says Cristóbal, 17, as he flashes a smile. Cristóbal is a student at the Luis Galecio Corvera A-90 high school in the Santiago borough of San Miguel. The school is among the 200 in the city that students have occupied. But on September 26, they decided to follow the example of the workers of Cerámicas Zanón, the Argentine factory workers took over and began running 10 years ago. “Things were getting complicated because the occupation was weakening,” Cristóbal says. After the takeover, a majority of students—with the enthusiastic support of many parents—returned to school.
A society in motion At the end of April, students began to mobilize. Is Sweden's Classroom-Free School the Future of Learning? - Education. The traditional setup of school classrooms—straight rows of desks with accompanying chairs—doesn't do much to foster creativity or collaboration. Many experts have proposed redesigning classroom furniture, but a Swedish school system wants to take things a step further. Vittra, which operates 30 schools in Sweden, is seeking to ensure learning takes place everywhere on campus by eliminating classrooms altogether. The newest Vittra school, Telefonplan, opened its doors last August. Designed by architecture firm Rosan Bosch, the Stockholm-area campus seems more like a creative space you'd find at Google or Pixar than a school at all.
Jannie Jeppesen, the principal of Vittra Telefonplan writes on the school's website that the design is intended to stimulate "children's curiosity and creativity" and offer them opportunities for both collaborative and independent time. Photos courtesy of Kim Wendt and Rosan Bosch. Sredzkistraße – The Chaos. You think learning English is easy? Try reading this poem out loud. : education. The Point of Play is That it Has No Point | Experts' Corner. * Children should have plenty of opportunities to play. * Even young children have too few such opportunities these days, particularly in school settings. These two propositions -- both of them indisputable and important -- have been offered many times.[1] The second one in particular reflects the “cult of rigor” at the center of corporate-style school reform.
Its devastating impact can be mapped horizontally (with test preparation displacing more valuable activities at every age level) as well as vertically (with pressures being pushed down to the youngest grades, resulting in developmentally inappropriate instruction). The typical American kindergarten now resembles a really bad first-grade classroom. Even preschool teachers are told to sacrifice opportunities for imaginative play in favor of drilling young children until they master a defined set of skills.
As with anything that needs to be said -- and isn’t being heard by the people in power -- there’s a temptation to keep saying it. How the brain makes memories: Rhythmically! The brain learns through changes in the strength of its synapses -- the connections between neurons -- in response to stimuli. Now, in a discovery that challenges conventional wisdom on the brain mechanisms of learning, UCLA neuro-physicists have found there is an optimal brain "rhythm," or frequency, for changing synaptic strength.
And further, like stations on a radio dial, each synapse is tuned to a different optimal frequency for learning. The findings, which provide a grand-unified theory of the mechanisms that underlie learning in the brain, may lead to possible new therapies for treating learning disabilities. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. "Many people have learning and memory disorders, and beyond that group, most of us are not Einstein or Mozart," said Mayank R. These earlier experiments used hundreds of consecutive spikes in the very high-frequency range to induce plasticity. Charting the charter schools funding network. A map of the funders of the charter school movement looks much like a map of the funders of the conservative wing of the Republican Party.
To create the map below, we started with the Alliance for School Choice, an organization headed by Betsy DeVos, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. DeVos is the sister of Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater. Her mother, Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, is a big donor to conservative organizations such as Focus on the Family and the Media Research Center. Broekhuizen was also a major contributor to the effort to outlaw same-sex marriage in California. The alliance is affiliated with the American Federation for Children, also chaired by Betsy DeVos. Carrie Penner, a director of both organizations, is also on the board of the Walton Family Foundation, run by the Wal-Mart heirs. 'Teacher evaluation': Real agenda appears to be school privatization | Philadelphia Daily News | 10/11/2011. So what happens to these stressed-out children when they come to school; who is responsible for their academic progress?
The message of former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is that the adults immediately in charge of the classroom are most accountable. No one else has the same level of responsibility for student achievement; not parents, administrators nor the students themselves. And certainly not the politicians who vote to limit school funding while demanding high test scores from all children. To spread this peculiar school-reform message, Rhee founded a national school-choice advocacy group called Students First.
AFC's mission statement from its website reads: "The American Federation for Children is a leading national advocacy organization promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers and scholarship tax-credit programs. " In other words, gut the state public-school system. Their discussion was mainly about ways to promote school choice. Hesitant Speech Helps Kids, Um, Learn. Parents never want their tots to learn to fumble over words, but they need not worry about their own “uhs” and “ums”—such filled pauses may actually improve kids’ ability to pick up language.
Such vocal hesitations, called disfluencies, tend to occur before we use a word that is infrequent or unfamiliar in our speech. They also precede words used for the first time in a conversation. Disfluencies keep adults tuned in and help them process the real words that come next. Even infants can distinguish between fluent and disfluent speech, research at Brown University has shown. In the study, kids aged 16 to 32 months sat on their parent’s lap in front of a computer monitor that showed images of paired objects, one recognizable (such as a ball) and one imaginary but equally colorful. The first time a pair appeared, a voice from the computer said, “I see the ball.” During this third step, sometimes the voice said simply, “Look! What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?
What teachers really want to tell parents. Teacher Ron Clark is pictured with his students. Ron Clark is an award-winning teacher who started his own academy in AtlantaHe wants parents to trust teachers and their advice about their students Clark says some teachers hand out A grades so parents won't bother themIt's OK for kids to get in trouble sometimes; it teaches life lessons, Clark says Editor's note: Ron Clark, author of "The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck -- 101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers," has been named "American Teacher of the Year" by Disney and was Oprah Winfrey's pick as her "Phenomenal Man. " He founded The Ron Clark Academy, which educators from around the world have visited to learn.
This article's massive social media response inspired CNN to follow up with Facebook users. Some of the best comments were featured in a gallery. (CNN) -- This summer, I met a principal who was recently named as the administrator of the year in her state. So, what can we do to stem the tide? Wow. Interview: Steve Denning offers Radical Ideas for Reframing Education Reform - Living in Dialogue. A couple of days ago I was surprised to find an insightful post in Forbes Magazine, offering us " The Single Best Idea for Reforming Education, " by columnist and management expert Steve Denning. I wrote a post describing his idea , and also sent him some questions, because I think he offers some useful ways to reframe our concerns around the current direction of our schools.
Here are his answers. {*style:<b> Interview with Steve Denning: </b>*} The biggest problem that the education system faces today is a preoccupation with, and the application of, the factory model of management to education, where everything is arranged for the scalability and efficiency of "the system", to which the students, the teachers, the parents and the administrators have to adjust. But given that the education system is seen to be in trouble, there is a tendency to think we need "stronger management" or "tougher management", where "management" is assumed to be the factory model of management. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Harvard Education Letter. Volume 27, Number 5September/October 2011 One small change can yield big results By Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions, continued Students in Hayley Dupuy’s sixth-grade science class at the Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto, Calif., are beginning a unit on plate tectonics.
In small groups, they are producing their own questions, quickly, one after another: What are plate tectonics? How fast do plates move? Why do plates move? Far from Palo Alto, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Mass., Sharif Muhammad’s students at the Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) have a strikingly similar experience. These two students—one in Palo Alto, the other in Roxbury—are discovering something that may seem obvious: When students know how to ask their own questions, they take greater ownership of their learning, deepen comprehension, and make new connections and discoveries on their own.
. © The Right Question Institute. The QFT has six key steps: Bill Gates Inspires a Class Size Experiment in Kansas City - Living in Dialogue. The school that beat the rioters. Leading mathematician debunks ‘value-added’ - The Answer Sheet. This was written by John Ewing, president of Math for America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving mathematics education in U.S. public high schools by recruiting, training and retaining great teachers. This article originally appeared in the May Notices of the American Mathematics Society. It gives a comprehensive look at the history, current use and problems with the value-added model of assessing teachers.
It is long but well worth your time. By John Ewing Mathematicians occasionally worry about the misuse of their subject. But the most common misuse of mathematics is simpler, more pervasive, and (alas) more insidious: mathematics employed as a rhetorical weapon—an intellectual credential to convince the public that an idea or a process is “objective” and hence better than other competing ideas or processes.
The latest instance of the phenomenon is valued-added modeling (VAM), used to interpret test data. Background Today, tests have more consequences. 1. 2. 4. History. Philadelphia Free School aims for democratic education model. The concept of free school began in England in 1921 with the Summerhill School. Its founder, A.S. Neill, believed children would develop intellectually through self-regulation. Their natural curiosities would lead them to learn what they needed to live in adult society: reading, basic arithmetic, and proficiency in the field they chose.
The movement has spread around the world, with controversy following closely behind it. "Most children do not experience the fundamental ideals of law-abiding citizenship, due process, individual enterprise, and equal voice in governance until after their formal schooling has ended," said Jim Rietmulder, cofounder of the Circle School in Harrisburg. Robert and Michelle Loucas, former public-school teachers and cofounders of the Philadelphia Free School, moved to the city eight years ago with the intention of opening a school similar to Circle.
The school expects to open in a remodeled building in Pennsport. Tuition An important alternative. Basic English alphabetical wordlist. Game developer David Braben creates a USB stick PC for $25 – Video Games Reviews, Cheats. What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? The rise, and looming fall, of 'education reformer' Michelle Rhee. Michelle Rhee's Cheating Scandal: Diane Ravitch Blasts Education Reform Star. Untitled. A Classroom Experiment with Minecraft - The Minecraft Teacher. I am Educator, Hear Me Roar! An Interview with John Kuhn - Living in Dialogue. General Questions « Gradebook. The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World's Most Surprising School System. What Finland and Asia tell us about real education reform. Agatha Christie And Nuns Tell A Tale Of Alzheimer's. Learn more quickly by transcranial magnetic brain stimulation.
Touch Trigonometry. Free Online Course Materials | Courses. How writing by hand makes kids smarter. 8 Ways Technology Is Improving Education. AT&T Labs Natural Voices® Text-to-Speech Demo. MiX’Em and other learning apps help put new “i” in education. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Test Scorer - Monthly Review. LockhartsLament. Tests. U. S. Education Reformers' Cartoon Version of Finland's Teacher Education System. The National Education Technology Plan: 5 huge assumptions about learning are about to change « Knewton Blog – Inside Knewton Test Prep & Adaptive Learning Technology. Rich, Black, Flunking. Want smarter kids? Make them study something - one thing - for a long time. Fighting Bullying With Babies.
Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare. What other countries are really doing in education. Alfie Kohn: Operation Discourage Bright People from Wanting to Teach. The Myth of Charter Schools by Diane Ravitch. State of the Nation. Hedge Funds' Scholarly Investments. T r u t h o u t | Back to School: An Interview With Bill Ayers. When “I saw that” becomes “I did that” Closing_the_talent_gap. Sam Chaltain: The Fake Revolution. Education Crisis: Testing and Firing Teachers Doesn’t Work.
How Handwriting Boosts the Brain. Neurofeedback Gains Popularity and Second Looks. Brian Jones: What I Learned at NBC's Education Nation Summit. Time, Teaching, and Lost Boys. Sabrina Stevens Shupe: Saving Schools from the 'Supermen' What we can learn from Finland’s successful school reform. People learn new information more effectively when brain activity is consistent, research shows. NOT Waiting for Superman : Main/Home Page. NBC News EducationNation.com - Becoming a top-ranked nation. They’re breaking teachers at Autodizactic. NBC’s Education Nation | Seattle Education 2010. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Donald in mathemagic land. What ‘Superman’ got wrong, point by point. » Blog Archive » Punflay’s apps in the classroom. Finland's Paradoxes. Education. Value-added Press Release. RIF study: Access to print materials helps student achievement. Child rearing practices of distant ancestors foster morality, compassion in kids.
Research that Counts. School Wars - Politics.