Globalizing Teacher Education » Middle/High School – Project-Based Learning Project-based learning is an approach to teaching in which students respond to real-world questions or challenges through an extended inquiry process. It often involves peer collaboration, a strong emphasis on critical thinking and communication skills, and interdisciplinary learning. The High Tech High schools in San Diego are grounded in a project-based approach to instruction. The curriculum is teacher-designed and teachers are encouraged to craft lessons and projects that respond to student interests and teacher passion. Many of the teachers have strong global connections and international interests. The Gaga Pit Students in Mr. Article – Going Gaga: “Constructing” a Math Community Walking the Silk Roads Each year, Mr. VideoArticle – Walking the Silk Roads Modern-Day Slavery Humanities teacher, Jaimee Rojas, connected past and present when studying slavery with her 8th grade students. Article – I am the Change: Modern Day Slave Project African Bushmeat Project New Americans Project Describe
5 Lessons from Coca Cola's New Content Marketing Strategy Coca Cola has been part of popular culture for over 100 years and has been called a “Vision Brand“. Its marketing and communication is purposeful and connects with its audience in a way that makes it stand out from its competitors. Its mission is not about selling products but to create significant positive change in the world that makes the world a better place. Coca Cola’s mission statement To refresh the worldTo inspire moments of optimism and happinessTo create value and make a difference Recently they have realised that their marketing strategy that has worked well for them for decades needed to evolve and as such they are moving from “Creative Excellence” to “Content Excellence” Creative excellence has always been at the heart of Coca Cola’s advertising and they have decided that content is now the key to marketing in the 21st century on a social web. Content for Coca Cola is is now the “Matter” and “Substance” of “Brand Engagement” Lesson 1: Create Liquid Content Lesson 4. More Reading
High Tech High - Project Based Learning San Diego Bay Field Guide Author: Jay Vavra, Tom Fehrenbacher Grade level, subjects: Biology, Humanities, Mathematics; 11th Grade Essential questions: "How can we be better environmental stewards of the San Diego Bay?" Duration: 16 weeks Description: Students conduct an environmental assessment of the fauna along the intertidal zone of San Diego Bay. They publish a comprehensive Field Guide including scientific studies, creative writing, photographs, and histories of human development, industry, environmental measures, mapping and other changes to Bay. CA standards/domains: Biology, U.S. Assessments: Along with conventional subject-matter tests, expectations for critical thinking, planning and organization, problem solving, and presentation skills require ongoing project-specific performance evaluations though the use of journals, student reflections, rubrics, process analysis sheets, deadline completion check-offs, and culminating presentations of learning. About the Author Dr.
Today's Teachers Must Become Connected Educators By Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach We live in an age of fast-paced change and, unfortunately, economic downturn. Most schools and school systems are not able to give us the kind of professional development we need, as often as we need it. Connected educators understand how to find people who are on our professional wavelength; how to build and efficiently manage a personal learning network; how to gather, analyze and curate what we learn online; and how to then bring it all back to the schoolhouse, where we share what we've harvested with our professional learning communities in an effort to increase student learning. Connected educators also know how to extend their professional learning communities into the 21st century world of the Web. So why is it important to be a connected educator? Curious about ways you can become connected? • Join Twitter and use hashtags to identify people and resources that can help you as a professional learner. • Sign up for our free connected educator tips.
The PBL Super Highway… Over 45 Links To Great Project Based Learning Welcome to another post that I know you will want to share and bookmark. As I travel the country I constantly have teachers ask me for places to find some engaging PBL ideas! Below you will find the collection of links I have started to assemble. Enjoy and please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans. Booking Info – Are you looking for a practical and affordable professional development workshop for your school or conference? The PBL Super Highway… 45 Great Idea Links! Are you on a journey to find great PBL ideas? BIE Tools – PBL Project Search – Here you will find a collection of 450 proven lesson plans to set any PBL desire into action. Other PBL Idea Generators While the sites below may not all always provide a total PBL unit, they will offer an idea starter for a some great PBL. Challenges and Competitions Did you know that a challenge or competition can be a great base for PBL? Like this: Like Loading...
The value of a PLN Today I had the wonderful opportunity to Skype with Dwight Carter’s administrative team, and I must admit that they definitely didn’t disappoint! I have been following Dwight’s blog and twitter feed for about a year now, and I very much so appreciate him taking the time to organize his administrative team to speak with me. If this is not a testament of the power of a PLN, then I don’t know what is… Reflection being a crucial and essential quality of any great Educator, I feel it is necessary to share the main points from our discussion: - Discipline is not about punishing students; it’s about changing behaviors and helping students to learn and grow… - Using faculty meetings to share and celebrate the great things going on in your school is much more effective and productive than simply disseminating information that can be shared through email… - It would be a mistake to not recognize the vital and essential contributions of support staff; they ultimately make the school go round…
The ultimate guide to blogging when you don’t have time to blog This is a blog post for anybody who has trouble finding the time to blog. In other words, everybody. I humbly submit a few practical ideas to help you become a time-efficient blogger. 1) Leap.I mentioned this in a recent post, but it bears repeating. 2) Don’t be Chris. 3) Take a little bite. 4) Set sacred blog time. 5) Write lots of headlines. 6) Stop second-guessing. 7) You don’t have to be profound. 8) Listen to yourself. 9) Leave the technical stuff to a technical person. 10) Try a video blog. 11) Turn your comment into a post. 12) If you run out of ideas, see number 6. I hope that gives you a practical framework to have some blogging success, even when time is tight. Other posts that might help: Ten ideas for the beginning blogger Can you out-source authenticity? Successful business blogging in just one step Blogging is the ultimate team sport How to be a ghost blogger
Using social media for student research, part 2: practices and habits of mind Photo credit: New Media Research, via Byrion Smith In an earlier post, I discussed how to get students set up to do research using social media. This is the advice I’ll give them on how to actually go about doing the research. The Technical Side of Things Managing social media can be overwhelming, so I’d give my students the following advice: Get the right apps. Managing your time There is so much information out there, it can be overwhelming. So give yourself a time limit; tell yourself to read through your blog and your twitter feed for 15 or 20 minutes a day. Social media research time is about finding the sources, so you should spend that 15 or 20 minutes just combing through sources. When you find a source you like, use a program like Evernote or Instapaper to store it for later, more detailed reading and note-taking, then continue skimming through your RSS reader and Twitter feed for additional good sources. Habits of mind Read widely. Some final thoughts David Korfhage
What Should Learning Look Like? One thing I've noticed since becoming a teacher is that just about everywhere I look, I see things that make me think about how I teach, my students, or education in general. Sometimes these flickers of thought are inspired by the kinds of things you would expect- an article about education, an advertisement on the radio about increasing graduation rates, etc.- but sometimes, the spark comes from an unexpected place. I had this kind of experience yesterday. I was at my brother's house, and he put the movie Dolphin Tale in for our kids to watch. I had heard of the movie, and it is currently on my waiting list with Netflix, but I figured it was a movie my kids would enjoy, but that I would find fairly boring. photo courtesy of www.moviepostershop.com While the movie has a very heartwarming message about helping others and the power of hope, that is not what made the movie worthwhile for me. The main character, Sawyer, is a very introverted kid.