How Students Can Create Animated Movies to Teach Each Other | Jordan Collier Posted by Jordan Collier on January 16, 2014 in EdTech | ∞ In addition to learning our content and curriculum standards, today’s students also need to be able to do the following effectively: collaborate with one another, synthesize ideas, create content, communicate ideas clearly, and use technology. A great way to accomplish all of these learning goals is to have students create movies of classroom content (i.e., textbook) to share with each other. About a year ago, I came across this blog post to learn the ins-and-outs of using RSA-animate style movies in the classroom. Wouldn’t it be great if your students created similar videos to share with their class? Having students create RSA-animate style movies is a fun way to teach content– by having the students become the teacher. Here’s how students in your class can create their own animated movies to share… Chapter Notes (Day 1) After all the groups have been formed, assign each group a section from your textbook. Rough Draft Sketches (Day 2)
6 Teaching Tools for Black History Month Black History Month provides a great opportunity for students to explore and learn more about a variety of issues. But it's important that teachers "reinforce that 'black history' is American history," writes Pat Russo in Dos and Don'ts of Teaching Black History Month. Russo's article is a great place to start when determining how to best incorporate black history into your lesson plans. Really, it's a topic that should be incorporated throughout the year, Russo writes, but in February, teachers can dig deeper, provide students with more context, and connect the past to the present. Every year since 1928, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History has provided a theme for Black History Month. A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture Black History Month Resources for the Classroom: PBS has curated a valuable collection of teaching resources, covering everything from discrimination to the recently released film Selma.
Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. Today, research not only shows that self-awareness evolves during childhood, but also that its development is linked to metacognitive processes of the brain. Making Sense of Life Experiences Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. How do I live a happy life? Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people's perspectives. At a recent international workshop, philosophers and neuroscientists gathered to discuss self-awareness and how it is linked to metacognition. Image Credit: Marilyn Price-Mitchell 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3 Excellent Tools to Create Interactive Posters and Visuals for Your Class February 1, 2014 Interactive visuals are great learning and teaching materials to use with your students in the classroom. From explaining difficult processes to visual brainstorming, interactive graphics are a good way to consolidate students learning and promote their comprehension. 1-Thinglink I love this web tool. 2- PiktoChart This is another wonderful web tool to create interactive visuals and posters for your Class. 3- Glogster Glogster is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters, or Glogs.
Why Emotional Learning May Be As Important As The ABCs By Maanvi Singh, NPR Thomas O’Donnell’s kindergarten kids are all hopped up to read about Twiggle the anthropomorphic Turtle. “Who can tell me why Twiggle here is sad,” O’Donnell asks his class at Matthew Henson Elementary School in Baltimore. “Because he doesn’t have no friends,” a student pipes up. And how do people look when they’re sad? “They look down!” Yeah, Twiggle is lonely. These are crucial skills we all need to learn, even in preschool and kindergarten. So shouldn’t schools teach kids about emotions and conflict negotiation in the same way they teach math and reading? Emotional Intelligence 101 Twiggle is part of a program called Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, or PATHS. Matthew Henson Elementary is one of about 1,500 schools around the country using this program, which was first developed in the 1980s. Every week, students get two 15- to 20-minute lessons on themes like self-control and treating others with respect. “Sorry!” The Long Game Cost Versus Benefit
projet de neuroéducation Movie Sheets - Teacher Submitted Movie Worksheets for the Classroom 50 fun call-and-response ideas to get students’ attention Call-and-response is a time-tested technique for getting attention, not just in classrooms but in the military, in churches, at sports events, and in traditional cultures in various parts of the world. Instead of repeating yourself, train students to respond to a fun or inspiring statement! Here are some tips for creating your own call-and-response: Clap or snap in patterns and have students repeat the patterns back. Want a ready-to-use version of these call-and-response ideas for your class? What type of call-and-response systems do you use with your students?
The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning The realities of standardized tests and increasingly structured, if not synchronized, curriculum continue to build classroom stress levels. Neuroimaging research reveals the disturbances in the brain's learning circuits and neurotransmitters that accompany stressful learning environments. The neuroscientific research about learning has revealed the negative impact of stress and anxiety and the qualitative improvement of the brain circuitry involved in memory and executive function that accompanies positive motivation and engagement. The Proven Effects of Positive Motivation Thankfully, this information has led to the development of brain-compatible strategies to help students through the bleak terrain created by some of the current trends imposed by the Common Core State Standards and similar mandates. In the past two decades, neuroimaging and brain-mapping research have provided objective support to the student-centered educational model. Neuroimaging and EEG Studies
Why Raising a Bilingual Child Is Very, Very Simple—and Very, Very Difficult – Bilingual Monkeys Note: This post originally appeared at Multilingual Living, a recommended resource for parents raising bilingual children. Also see the Inspiring Interview with Corey Heller of Multilingual Living, here at Bilingual Monkeys. It’s a personal and in-depth look at Corey’s own bilingual journey. On one hand, raising a bilingual child is very, very simple: given sufficient exposure to two languages, and a genuine need to use both, the growing child will become bilingual quite naturally. In my work as a longtime teacher of bilingual children, having watched hundreds of children become proficient in two languages at Hiroshima International School, I can say that the process itself is straightforward. This process may be simple, but it’s hardly easy, particularly when the child attends a majority language school, like my own two kids. Two crucial factors In fact, the more they are attended to from the very start, from birth, the less difficulty they will likely present as time passes.
Les effets de l'apprentissage et de l'enseignement sur le cerveau Vous avez probablement souvent entendu cette phrase lors d'une discussion : « La recherche sur le cerveau dit que... ». La vulgarisation et la diffusion des résultats des récentes recherches sur le cerveau nous offrent l'opportunité de revoir les grands principes pédagogiques inhérents à l'apprentissage et à l'enseignement. Les précieuses informations issues des recherches nous obligent aussi à faire des liens avec les efforts déployés pour utiliser les TIC au profit des apprentissages en classe et à la maison. « Il y a quelques années, la pertinence de s'intéresser au cerveau en éducation était plutôt limitée. Trois grandes découvertes sur le cerveau ont été présentées par Steve Masson lors de cette présentation : Découverte no 1 L'apprentissage modifie l'architecture du cerveau. Le cerveau fait preuve de plasticité tout au long de la vie. Découverte no 2 L'architecture du cerveau influence l'apprentissage. Découverte no 3 Enfin, une bonne nouvelle? Ressources :
Let's give them something to talk about... Finally classroom pictures are here for your viewing pleasure! I told you I would be changing the theme of my room to a Rock Star Room! Luckily, Abby at The Inspired Apple had chosen the same theme! Here is my little package that arrived from Reallygoodstuff.com! My new listening station: Word Wall Objectives and Agenda Board, along with our Morning Message. Main Stage- Reading Focus Wall/ Meeting Area Classroom Library and Leveled Reading Library: The blue bins are my leveled readers from Lakeshore Learning, then the green bins are labeled by genres. Poetry Station: I will add the writing materials, and a basket for their journals when we begin to introduce workstations later. Workstation rotation chart by Debbie Diller, sigh. Math Focus Wall/ Calendar Math Pocket Chart Workstation: I will begin using the students names and pictures on sentence strips which the students will place in order. New and fab read to self book bins! This area is located beside my front door.
Simplify Bulletin Boards With Time Saving Tips and Tricks | Grade School Giggles Hi there! I am so excited. The other authors and I over at The Primary Peach are hosting our very first linky party! It’s all about organizational tips and tricks. Nearly every classroom has a bulletin board or two. One of the things that made a big difference is using a background and a trim that were meant to last for the entire year. Once my fabric background is up I use solid color borders. Just switching to using the same background and trim will save you a ton of time, but I also like to take it a step further. You can slip student work in and out of page protectors that have been stapled to the bulletin board. So, what do you do with your bulletin boards?