TEXT: Why Flexible Learning Environments? By: Lauren Mehrbach and Chris Beingessner. This piece was originally published by Singapore American Schools Last year, the SAS middle school worked with Fielding Nair International, an educational architecture firm, to renovate our sixth grade A-side team space to create a more flexible learning environment. This summer we are embarking on two more renovations, to 6B and 6C, to provide all of our students and faculty in sixth-grade access to a learning environment that is more flexible. As Jacobs and Alcocknote, “The most fundamental structures in our schools are often inhibitors to progress: our schedules, our physical spaces, the grouping patterns of learners, and the configuration of the personnel.” [1] As we work to provide a more personalized learning experience for our students, we find that physical space is limiting our ability to do so. How does a flexible learning environment relate to personalized learning? What is a flexible learning environment? Flexible Physical Space
TEXT - A Classroom Full of Risk Takers I asked my other son the same question and got an equally troubling answer. He never had to take a risk because his classes were too easy. That raised a new question: Do I make my classes challenging enough so students have to take risks? I strongly believe that you have to fail in order to grow, and you need to do that through difficult situations. With so many questions, I decided to turn to a group of 2016 state teachers of the year and ask them what they do to encourage students to feel safe taking risks and pushing the boundaries of what they know or think they know. Celebrate Perseverance Jean Russell, an elementary school teacher from Indiana, said her class puts a marble in a jar when students persevere. Share Your Mistakes Several teachers lead by example. Allow Retakes To encourage thinking and exploring ideas, Ernie Lee of Georgia says he allows retakes of assignments and tests. Discover ‘the Power of Yet’ Failure Fridays That’s right. That’s how I’ll set the tone for this year.
Fenêtre sur le cerveau Alors que les mégadonnées accumulées au cours des dernières années commencent à révéler leurs multiples secrets grâce à l’expertise de mathématiciens et d’informaticiens, ainsi qu’à la puissance de calcul des réseaux de superordinateurs du pays et d’ailleurs, une nouvelle révolution pointe dans la recherche sur le cerveau. Et ce, grâce également à la mise en libre accès de ces mégadonnées et des outils mis au point pour les analyser. Les chercheurs disposent aujourd’hui d’une quantité colossale de données provenant de patients et de personnes saines ayant participé à des projets de recherche. À l’aide de modèles mathématiques, dont certains sont également utilisés en finances ou en génie, par exemple, les chercheurs tentent de découvrir comment un cerveau sain se développe et comment il se transforme quand se développe une maladie neurodégénérative ou une maladie mentale. Recherche collaborative Photo: Institut et hôpital neurologiques de MontréalAlan C. Big Brain Autisme
Classroom Eye Candy: A Flexible-Seating Paradise Several weeks ago, I posted an article on my Facebook page about student fidgeting and the advantages of flexible seating. One teacher who commented was high school teacher Rebecca Malmquist, who described her own flexible classroom: “I have taken all the conventional desks out and replaced them with mostly tables and a number of different kinds of chairs; I’ve used garage sales and the generosity of friends to furnish my room this way. My classroom looks like a college apartment. But I also build in transitions every 15 minutes or so that require movement (to get into groups, turn something in, write on a paper-covered wall, etc). Intrigued, I asked to see a picture. And so Classroom Eye Candy was born. Classroom Eye Candy will be a feature where I invite you to join me in ogling creative classroom design in any form. Rebecca Malmquist Name: Mrs. Job Title: High school English teacher – currently English 9 and 10, Creative Writing and Advanced Creative Writing click image for larger view
TEXT: Mythbusters: Flexible Learning in Middle School This blog was originally published on Singapore American School’s Perspectives Blog. By: Lauren Mehbrach, Chris Beingessner, and Chris Raymaakers In the fall of 2016, middle school began moving towards providing more personalization for our students through the use of flexible time and space, and implementing interdisciplinary units. Since then, we have worked to help our families understand what this looks like in action. We’ve heard there are some misconceptions out there. We hope to clarify some of them so that families can better understand the work of middle school, and how we’re responding to the changing world to better prepare our students for the future. Myth #1: It’s all about the space False. Over the past four years, we’ve replaced the traditional classroom furniture with more flexible seating options in almost every middle school classroom. The flexible learning environments also have furniture that serves multiple purposes. Myth #2: It’s an open, giant classroom. False.
TEXT - Effective team communication? Focus on quality! • ScienceForWork Key points The relationship between team communication and team performance may depend on many different factors, like how much face-to-face time the team has, how familiar they are with each other, or the way that team members communicate with each other.The link between communication and performance seems to be stronger when you focus on the quality, rather than the quantity of communication. When you are seeking to improve the quality of your team’s communication, it may help if you address both the “what” – the content of the communication, and the “how” – the way your team communicates. It probably goes without saying that effective team communication has many benefits. But have you ever tried to put a price tag on the consequences of poor communication? Those who did, found amazing results. Effective team communication goes hand in hand with better performance How well you communicate may be more important than how often Improving communication quality – what exactly does that mean?
Catherine Becchetti-Bizot : Changer l’Ecole par le numérique ? Faire entrer l'École dans la culture numérique : voilà pour tous un enjeu majeur, que Catherine Becchetti-Bizot, Inspectrice générale de lettres, porte depuis des années. Elle mène actuellement une mission nationale d'étude des « pratiques mobilisant des pédagogies actives liées à l'utilisation des outils et ressources numériques ». A l'occasion du colloque écriTech'7 qui vient de se tenir à Nice autour des nouvelles pratiques d'écriture, elle fait un point d'étape sur ses observations et réflexions : qu'est-ce qui change en profondeur avec le numérique ? Le colloque écriTech'7 a permis pendant deux jours de partager réflexions et expériences autour des « pratiques d'écriture nouvelles et plurielles » que favorise le numérique : en quoi le numérique transforme-t-il selon vous notre écriture ? L'histoire de l'écriture a toujours été liée à celle de ses supports. Je mettrai en relief quatre types de transformations caractérisant l'écriture numérique. La mission de Catherine Becchetti-Bizot
The Art of Planning Deeper Learning | Totally Learned As A Deep Learning Experience Deep Learning experiences develop when the learner is able to identify and link pre-existing knowledge and understandings. As the learning becomes deeper the learner is then able to extend and apply their ideas. As teachers this is what our classroom should be all about – to use activities and questions to construct opportunities to achieve more complex and deeper understandings Recently I had the pleasure of listening to John Hattie speak at a launch of the ‘New Pedagogies for Deep Learning’ project. In reflection I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with my own Deep Learning that was occurring. SOLO TaxonomySOLO stands for ‘Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes’. Some levels of SOLO can be described as Surface Learning and others as Deeper Learning. In addition to assessing understanding it can useful for designing strategies and questions for the classroom. Some things to check out about SOLO Taxonomy. With the inclusion of collaboration: Like this: