Stepping Stones – A Classic Group Collaboration Activity | Paradigm Shift Number of Participants: 5-25Time: 30-45 minutesActivity Level: Moderate Props: Stepping Stones (paper plates, carpet squares, pieces of cardboard) 2 ropes or masking tape as a boundary, and throwables Objective: As a group, the entire team must cross from one side of the room to the other without stepping foot in the “hot lava.” Set Up: Place a rope across one side of the room. Rules: If a participant loses touch with a stepping stone at any time within the hot lava, they lose the stepping stone to the facilitator who keeps in until the end of the activity.If a participant steps off the stepping stone or falls into the lava, the participant must go back behind the starting line. Description: At the beginning of the initiative, hand each participant a throwable. Separate the groups into two equaled numbered teams. These stepping stones are the tools and resources the group can use to accomplish their goal of crossing the room. Variations: Facilitator Notes:
Team Building Activity We have really worked on being a productive citizen in our classroom society. Which at times, means we need to go slow, to learn fast. We took about 35 minutes to conduct another team building activity. See the idea below. We then completed a writing prompt found here. ✔12 students tweeted ✔12 students left comments on our classroom blog ✔23 students created their own blog post. Positives: ✔All video below was shot with an iPad ✔The ability to return to the classroom to reflect via everyone on a digital device with the opportunity to respond was beneficial. Negative: ✔Would like to have students conduct the filming and production of video. ✔Would like to have students develop the writing prompt. ✔Would like to have students interview other students on the experience In due time, students will have their own YouTube account which will facilitate turning the negatives into positives.
Charles Fernyhough: Is memory just a leaky reconstruction? We are in the middle of a debate about the status of neuroscience. Against the deceptive allure of neuroimaging and reported sightings of "brain centres" for everything from sarcasm to religious experience, there are stern reassurances that, if we were ever to work out the scientific basis of consciousness, it would be too complicated for us to understand. Is neuroscience really changing the way we comprehend ourselves? If tracing behaviour and experience to its neural underpinnings really offers a new understanding of humanity, aren't novelists bound to draw on it in revealing how their characters understand themselves? In one sense, neuro-explanations seem to challenge the mechanisms by which novels work. A 2009 article by Marco Roth in n+1 magazine pointed out that neuroscience in fiction is often connected with atypical and pathological behaviour. Other novelists are pessimistic about brain science's capacity to make a difference.
Teaching English using iPads – Day 1 by @InstTechTalk This is the first post in what will be a series of posts pertaining to how I am teaching Summer School English using 1:1 iPads. Some background info: Our iPad program is in the beginning of its second year. We are still in a pilot program, but it has expanded with the start of our 2nd year to include more schools in the district. I am our Instructional Technology Director, but originally taught English. The majority of the students are in the class for Senior English, there are a couple students in the class for Junior English. My goal for the course: I want to use the iPads as tools to help students learn the material in an interesting and modern way. My goal for these posts: To chronicle the daily activities of my class (4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 3 weeks, 2 sessions) in a way that is brief, but also informative. What we did Day 1: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. That was basically it for Day 1. See what we did on Day 2 here.
The Art of Identity: Memory as the Maker | The Harvard Advocate In his recently published memoir, Nothing to Be Frightened Of, the novelist Julian Barnes offers a succinct view of memory: Memory is identity. I have believed this since… oh, since I can remember. Memory is identity. Memory is identity. Barnes’ definition is one of equating, presenting memory and identity as one in the same. Barnes’ memoir is focused on his thanatophobia, an abnormal and excessive fear of death, and so his excerpt is focused on personal identity. In Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, philosopher Jacques Derrida purports that an archive can only be defined as such if it is exterior to actual memory. Derrida questions whether these new technological advances actually improve the external representation of an individual’s psychic interior or whether they affect the functioning of that interior, perhaps permanently altering it.
Multiple Intelligence Resources I've found Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory and practice to be very empowering in the classroom. When students realize that there are many ways to be smart, it helps build their self-esteem and confidence. Over a period of several years, I developed techniques for teaching students about MI theory and helping them to discover their own MI profiles. Eventually I developed so many teaching resources for MI Theory that wrote Teaching Multiple Intelligence Theory: Step-by-Step Lessons for Intermediate Grades. Multiple Intelligence Theory and Education Dr. Most educators quickly embraced his ideas and began to search for practical applications in the classroom. Traditionally, schools have been designed for students who are mathematical and linguistic, while students who were artistic, musical, or kinesthetic learners were out of luck. Multiple Intelligence Survey for Kids - Free Survey Watch the video below to learn how to download this free Multiple Intelligences for Kids survey.
‘Life in the Chatter Box’ | Our Project Coordinator Victoria Patton writes: The Hearing the Voice team were very excited to see project director Charles Fernyhough’s article ‘Life in the Chatter Box’ in the New Scientist this week. The article focuses on recent research into inner speech and its role in shaping the distinctive properties of human thought. It also explores the role inner speech plays in decision making, regulating and motivating behaviour, our understanding of our own mental processes, and our awareness of who we are as individuals. Much of Fernyhough’s thinking about inner speech is influenced by the work of L.S. One of the consequences of Vygotsky’s view is that very young children are really only able to ‘think out loud’ and pre-linguistic infants don’t have any thoughts at all (at least not where ‘thoughts’ are equated with episodes of inner speech). voice.” Fernyhough’s article ‘Life in the Chatter Box’ is available to New Scientist subscribers in the normal manner. [i] Fernyhough, Charles.
Digital Citizenship Poster Now Available in 6 Languages Tagged with: digital citizenshipDutchFrenchGermanGreekPortugeseSpanish Last month we posted a free digital citizenship poster for our educator community to download. The response we received after posting it was incredible – more than 20,000 downloads in the first week! After publishing the post, many international educators requested a version of the poster in their native language and today we’re please to announce that it’s now available in Dutch, French, German, Greek and Spanish. A big thanks to the Edmodo translator group for helping us with this project. UPDATE: We’ve now added Portugese to the list! English8.5 x 11 black & white8.5 x 11 color11 x 17 black & white11 x 17 color
How to Write an Exciting Interview Interviewer: “Where did you grow up?” Famous person: “Florida.” Interviewer: “Where did you attend college?” Famous person: “Florida State.” Interviewer: “What was your major?” Famous person: “Soil and water science.” Y-a-w-n. After all, common sense tells us the interview process should be logical and matter-of-fact. As copywriters, there are two major reasons why we should know how to conduct and write a great interview: An interview with a potential client and/or the creator of a product you’re writing about can unearth great information you can use to make your promotion a winner. To find out exactly what makes a good interview, I spent an hour with Michael Masterson at his neighborhood cigar bar. To make an interview exciting, you need to do a little risk-taking with each of the four elements that make up a great interview: Picture An average interview usually shows just a headshot of the person being interviewed – a face with little or no expression. MM: Next question … MM: No.
An introductory guide to iPads for Teachers I’m delivering some iPad training to a school tomorrow, so thought it might be useful to collate some of the links I’ve been putting together for the session. The session is concentrating mainly on teachers using the iPads for their own professional use, rather than being used as a classroom resource, but a lot of the apps below will be suitable for use by students too. I’ll do another post sometime of great apps for different subject areas. Here’s some of the useful apps I’d recommend investigating. File storage / Transfer Dropbox Dropbox is probably one of the most useful applications I’ve used in years. Other apps also work with Dropbox too. Word Processing / Office Capability Documents to Go Microsoft have yet to release an Office app for the iPad – so there’s a need to look at alternatives. The spreadsheet would make it possible to set up grade books and student record sheets without having to buy additional gradebook applications. Note taking Also worth taking a look at these apps too :
NB Research – Dr Nina Burrowes » 10 lessons learned as a researcher This is the first in a series of lessons (10 and counting) I have learned since working as a professional research consultant. I see myself as a work in progress, so I imagine that the lessons will keep on coming, but in the meantime here’s lesson number one. Be a craftsman – not a technician. Research is full of method and techniques. How do you become a craftsman? To me, a craftsman is their tools, themselves, and their body of work. The craftsman’s tools. The person holding the tool. An example of everything looking like a nail – the RCT. The Maryland Scientific Methods Scale is a particular bug-bear of mine. As with any other craft, if you are overly prone to using one particular type of tool then you are limiting the range of work that you will be able to produce. How do you know which tools to select? I would describe my personal philosophy as a combination of existentialism and pluralism. The books that have helped me along my way include: Martin Buber – I and Thou Reflection