10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the “real world.” Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test. Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. This is not something that can be cultivated through rote memorization or with strategically placed posters. Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking 1. This team-building game is flexible. You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas. Skills: Communication; problem-solving 2. This activity can get messy and may be suitable for older children who can follow safety guidelines when working with raw eggs. Skills: Problem-solving, creative collaboration 3.
How Principals Can Grow Teacher Excellence At Cochrane Collegiate Academy, teachers credit their principal with helping them continually improve their practice through effective PD, ongoing support, and mutual trust. Cochrane principal Josh Bishop (right) makes sure his teachers receive strong support and consistent PD -- up to 90 hours every year. Credit: Zachary Fink At Cochrane Collegiate Academy, in Charlotte, North Carolina, high-quality teachers have been an important part of turning the school around, and many of them credit their principal, Josh Bishop, for helping them reach their full potential. 1. By providing the following kinds of PD, you can make sure your staff gets the most out of these sessions: Research-based: Let research guide your strategies. 2. Following the flipped-classroom model, Bishop has "flipped" his faculty meetings. Providing adequate time for professional development can help improve student performance as well. 3. 4. 5. 6. Johnson sums it up: "Mr.
#Change11 From Digital Pedagogy to Netagogy What is Digital Pedagogy? (Marquis, J.) The Queensland Department of Education and Training has a very concise definition given for digital pedagogy: “Digital pedagogies establish a way of learning and working in a digital world.” 3 changes from traditional pedagogy to digital are: - Select and Combine - Distributed Authority - Social Media Objects Tensions: - Lack of * Understanding * Funding - Curriculum Requirements Solution: - Natively Digital Media - Flexible Standards - Global Connectedness Digital pedagogy surely has a huge potential, and as Marquis has highlighted in his post, the solution lies with adapting the use of media to suit the education and learning framework within an institution, especially by the use of digital media readily available, like YouTube, Flickr, and the use of flexible standards which focus on learners’ needs, whilst also meeting the curriculum requirements. So, what might overcome some of these emergent issues? How about Netagogy? What is Netagogy? Like this:
21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning | K12 educational transformation through technology Keep Students Motivated with This Goal-Setting Activity - Ferndale, MI When I was a student, often the last week of school was spent watching videos and goofing around. My peers and I loved every minute of it, but looking back, it’s easy to see that this was not a productive use of our time. To keep students motivated and self-reflective, I like to have them complete goal-setting worksheets throughout the year—but you can certainly implement them at any point in the semester, even if you only have a few weeks left of school. This activity comes from Larry Ferlazzo, but over the years, I’ve made a few tweaks to the original lesson. Here’s what I do: Start by having students read an excerpt from Michael Jordan’s book, I Can’t Accept Not Trying. Next, students get together with another pair of students to compare their summaries and work together to develop the best one-sentence thesis/summary they possibly can. Following this, each student completes this goal-setting worksheet.
How to Engage Underperforming Students Narrowing the Achievement Gap By focusing tightly on instructional strategies and PD, educators at Cochrane Collegiate Academy saved their school from closure. In just three years, they have doubled student performance, and they continue to reach higher. The educators have developed an instructional model called Interactive Learning (IL). It is a collection of their ten best practices, which they call their non-negotiables, and teachers must implement them in every lesson, every day. Shana Oliver, the school's academic facilitator, runs the training sessions for these best practices, and she helps the teachers see and experience how they can incorporate all ten into one lesson. Interactive Learning Non-Negotiables Essential Question What is the intended goal of the lesson? With essential questions, teachers really have to be intentional about what they want the students to be able to do, and it has to be at the highest-level of learning. Activating Strategy Relevant Vocabulary Limited Lecture
The Best Answers on "What is Digital Classroom ?" What is a digital classroom ? Digital curriculum might be your first thought. What’s the whole picture ? These are 10 points to consider when transforming towards digital curriculum from Michael Gorman, including : necessary infrastructure and technologya textbook as one entity, not the central piece, a wide variety of resources and content are all parts of virtual textbooks (digital curriculum)student access at homes and the general communityprofessional development that allows teachers to learn, collaboratecollaboration between classrooms, communities, and culturesStudents must learn the online skills necessary to communicate, collaborate, and learn.nonlinear learning, differentiated instruction, and pedagogy reform could be enabledstudent-centered and student-in-charge learning And, Michael Gorman wrote Part 2: The Digital Curriculum… Textbook To Flexbook… Free, Open Source, Engaging! Digital Curriculum Discussion is a conversation spurred by Michael Gorman’s posts.
Teaching like it's 2999 30 Incredible Nature Documentaries for Kids My kids love animals and enjoy watching nature documentaries– especially when they feature animals! I started making a list of favorites, and gathering suggested titles of nature documentaries from my friends. Although these titles have all been recommended for kids, remember that with nature documentaries, it’s real life: children (or their parents) may be disturbed by some images of predators hunting, catching, and eating their prey, the occasional mating scene, or birth scene. Here are 29 nature documentaries for kids that are educational and inspiring, and will teach you about life on Earth with phenomenal cinematography and fascinating . This post contains affiliate links. 1. Planet Earth is our #1, absolute favorite of the nature documentaries perhaps because it came out in 2007 when my daughter was 2 and I was pregnant. 2. This is a Disneynature documentary that is narrated by Samuel L Jackson. 3. 4. 5. Another of the Disneynature documentaries, this time all about brown bears!
Twice as Many Students Meet State Standards Classroom strategies backed by research and ongoing teacher development are helping to narrow the achievement gap at this Title I school. See the infographic below for more details. Sources: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Key Accomplishments From the 2007-08 school year to 2010-11, the percentage of students in grades 6-8 at Cochrane Collegiate Academy meeting North Carolina's math standards increased by 74 percent, and the percent meeting reading standards increased by 64 percent. The Power of Professional Development According to the principal and teachers at Cochrane Collegiate Academy, a major reason for the growth in student performance is a signature strategy for classroom instruction and professional development called Interactive Learning. Goals to Work Toward Students who are not economically disadvantaged also demonstrated higher growth at Cochrane compared with the state.