7 Inspiring TED Talks on the 21st Century Curriculum 1- Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover A high-school math teacher, Dan Meyer says the experience of teaching within the set curriculum is like “[selling] a product to a market that doesn’t want it, but is forced by law to buy it.” His students don’t learn how to retain information, but instead, how to decode a textbook. The key, for him, lies in trusting in students’ ability to problem-solve. 2- Mae Jemison on teaching arts and sciences together At TED2002, astronaut and designer Mae Jemison points out a false dichotomy: that the arts and sciences are mutually exclusive. 3- Liz Coleman’s call to reinvent liberal arts education The president of Bennington College, Liz Coleman posits at TED2009 that modern liberal arts education pushes students towards a single discipline with an exclusive viewpoint with an aversion to social values. 4- Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course 5- Geoff Mulgan: A short intro to the Studio School 7- Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
20 Places to Educate Yourself Online for Free It seems like these days you can learn just about anything online for free, but of course some of that information is better than others. The good news is there are plenty of reputable places to educate yourself online for free, and here’s a good 20 of them to get you started. 1. The coolest thing about Internet learning is that you can take college courses which in the past were only available to people who forked over immense sums of money to attend elite colleges. Courses typically include videos and certain coursework (such as online quizzes) that must be completed in a certain amount of time, as these courses are monitored by a professor. 2. Home to more than 3,000 videos on subjects ranging from SAT prep to cosmology, art history to calculus, Khan Academy is a great place to learn. You can also leave comments or ask questions if you want more information or if something isn’t clear in the lessons. 3. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. iTunes U Love videos by experts on all sorts of topics? 13. 14.
The do’s and don’ts of reading aloud to young children Today in our ongoing book study of “The Read-Aloud Handbook” by Jim Trelease, I have the pleasure of sharing chapter 4 with you which is titled “The Do’s and Don’ts of Read-Alouds”… Chapter 4 is a list of Do’s and Don’ts that cover a broad range of ages and stages in the read-aloud experience so for the purpose of this post, I have selected a few of the points that I think are the most relevant to those of us reading to young children. Be sure to note that I am only highlighting some of the tips shared in the book today… Do… Begin reading to children as soon as possible. Add a third dimension to the book whenever possible. Arrange time in the classroom or at home for the child(ren) to read on their own even if it means only turning pages and looking at pictures.When a child wishes to read to you it is better to choose a book that is too easy rather than too hard.Encourage older children to read to younger children. Enjoying the tips so far? Don’t… by Jim Trelease! More from our book study
4 Presentations Every Teacher Should See 1-Digital e-Portfolio 2-Cyberbullying 3-Social Media 101 4-The Destruction of Non-linear learning 5 Keys to Inspiring Leadership, No Matter Your Style Forget the stereotypical leadership image of a buttoned-up person in a gray suit hauling around a hefty briefcase. Today, standout leaders come in all shapes and sizes. She could be a blue jeans-clad marketing student, running a major ecommerce company out of her dorm room. He might be the next salt-and-pepper-haired, barefoot Steve Jobs, presenting a groundbreaking new device at a major industry conference. "Our research indicates that what really matters is that leaders are able to create enthusiasm, empower their people, instill confidence and be inspiring to the people around them," says Peter Handal, chief executive of New York City-based Dale Carnegie Training, a leadership-training company. That's a tall order. 1. Great leaders are brave enough to face up to challenging situations and deal with them honestly. "The gossip at the coffee machine is usually 10 times worse than reality," Handal says. 2. 3. If you're not a suit, don't try to be one. 4. 5. The 5 Keys Series
September - Open-Ended Math Problems September Problems Number Theory | Measurement | Geometry |Patterns, Algebra, and Functions | Data, Statistics, and Probability | Grab Bag Number Theory Start out simple... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Measurement Rabbit's Run (taken from MATH FORUM) 6. Now try to work this out... Area And Perimeter 7. This will really challenge you... Better Buy 8. Geometry Where Am I? 9. Reflections 10. Symmetry 11. Patterns, Algebra, And Functions Going Camping 12. A Batty Diet 13. Windemere Castle (From The Problem Solver) 14. Data, Statistics, And Probability Bouncing Babies (Taken from MATH FORUM) 15. Trees 16. Cookies! 17. Tom--$2 Jake--$3 Ted--$4 Sam--$3 Each person gets the number of cookies proportional to the money paid. Grab Bag Up You Go! 18. September Solutions Back to Open-Ended Math Index
70+ Web Tools Organized For Bloom's Digital Taxonomy The number of web tools currently available to teachers, administrators, and students is downright absurd. You can’t swing an iPad without hitting a free web tool looking to revolutionize your classroom. Luckily, there are a few brave souls out in the world wide web attempting to organize the chaos a bit. We like to take our best shot here at Edudemic but also like to showcase some of the great organizing done by others. One of those fabulous organizers is Phillippa Cleaves ( @pipcleaves – worth following!) The web tools are all listed (and clickable!) NOTE: You can click on any of the web tools listed in the presentation to go to their respective website. Source of top image: Wikispaces
Digital Is At Rose High School, located in eastern North Carolina and populated by students on extreme ends of the socioeconomic spectrum, we have students who are passionate and active about everything from establishing a witty presence on social media to saving orphans in Darfur, but these are often extracurricular activities that don't show up in the actual classroom. Students might spend hours posting selfies on Facebook or hours planning a benefit concert, but when they feel like they have to put on their academic persona, they tend to forget those parts of themselves. I wanted students to be able to funnel their interests into a more authentic academic experience so that they could learn about what they want to learn about and become empowered as researchers, both casually and formally. To do that, I needed to remix their idea of what research is, transform it from something boring and arbitrary into something rich and useful. When I don't know something, I look it up.
Six Paths to Better Leadership Photo credit: iStockPhoto We know a lot about effective leadership in education -- and we keep learning the same lessons over and over. Between 1989 and 2000, Mark Goldberg interviewed 43 leaders across a spectrum of positions in or related to education. He spoke with men and women of varied ethnicity and age, some for whom English was not their first or even primary language. David Gergen, in 2000, published Eyewitness to Power, summarizing his perspective on leadership after having served in the White House for several presidents from both political parties. 1. Leaders must have a core belief that can be communicated with clarity, concision and passion. 2. Leaders must get off to a quick, sure start. 3. Leaders must have skills to persuade and inspire. 4. Leaders must have a strong social conscience. 5. Leaders must have the courage to swim upstream. 6. Leaders must excel at situational mastery and emotional intelligence.
An Interesting Collection of Handy iPad Tips for Teachers and Students Today while I was attending an iPad workshop I noticed that some teachers are using their iPads in a time-wasting manner. I am not sure if they are new to iPad or not but the first thing one can do when he/she got a new piece of these smart gadgetry ( a phone , a tablet, chromebook) is to head over to YouTube and type in the name of that gadget followed by the word " tutorial" and you will get all kinds of videos on tips and tricks related to that device. Most of people do not bother going through those thickly written guides accompanying the newly purchased gadgets. Videos and visual tutorials are better alternatives. If you have an iPad and you want to get the maximum out of in order to enhance your iPadding experience and improve your productivity on it, the tutorials below are part of what you need. 1- 10 iPad tips These are the tips included in this video: 2- iPad workshop These are the tips included in this video: 3- 17 iPad tips and tricks These are the tips included in this video:
The Role Of Empathy In Learning The Role Of Empathy In Learning Learning has to starts and end with the self: What do I know, and how can I relate to the world around me? If successful it should, by design, result in personal and social change through a combination of self-direction, reflection, and collaboration with ideas and the people who have them. Which brings us to empathy. The role of empathy in learning has to do with the flow of both information and creativity. Empathy and outrospection are tools not simply of emotional interdependence, but “radical social change.” How might you frame tomorrow’s lesson or your next project-based learning unit if you want the student to seamlessly transition between other perspectives and their own? The Role Of Empathy In Learning