Why Instructional Design Must Focus on Learning Outcomes, Not Learning Activities It’s no secret that kids learn better when teachers provide learning activities that keep them engaged. Teachers work tirelessly to plan engaging lessons that capture and keep the interests of their students, thereby making content more accessible. However, teachers continue to feel the daunting pressure to compete for their students’ attention amidst the ever-evolving and rapidly-hanging mass media, social media, and entertainment industry, as these elements do a stellar job of keeping students highly engaged outside of the classroom. Although it is vitally important for us to know and understand our students' interests and the best conditions under which they learn, there is good news: It’s not necessary that we focus our efforts on competing with the devices and activities our students engage in during their downtime outside of the classroom! Recreation, entertainment, and downtime for students outside of the classroom are just that: recreation, entertainment, and downtime.
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Paper Bag Books: A Simple Way to Teach Story Elements Have you ever made a paper bag book? I hadn't, but I'd seen them floating around pinterest and finally decided we had to try! One of our current favorite activities is creating books. I like to staple a few pieces of paper together and have my son draw pictures on the pages and then we talk about the pictures and I write down what he says or have him write down his own stories. There is no real plot yet in his stories... and if there is, it is really confusing and hard to follow. My goals as we created the book were to... have funbe creative togethermake a paper bag book (since I really wanted to try this)teach the basic story elements of conflict and resolution (in a simple way) These concepts seemed easy to introduce since I feel like we spend a lot of time each day talking about problems and how they could be resolved! Materials Needed for Paper Bag book:several paper bags (I think we used 3-4?) How to Make a Paper Bag Story Conflict/Resolution book: Did You Know?
Creative Commons | En blogg om skola, skolutveckling och samhällsfrågor En infographic skapad av Shihaam Donnelly som förklarar hur CC (creative commons licenser) fungerar. Nedan beskriver jag de olika delarna av en CC-licens. Tänk på att andra lagt ner tid och energi på att skapa sådant som du har användning för (bilder, musik, texter, filmer mm), så länka hellre en gång för mycket än en gång för lite till ursprungsskaparen av verket. CC Erkännande. Alla cc-licenser har erkännande. Det betyder att de som använder det du skapat måste ge dig erkännande, d v s ange dig som upphovsman och i övrigt följa de andra cc-villkor som du lagt i licensen. CC Icke kommersiell. CC Inga bearbetningar. CC Dela lika. De sex vanligaste licenserna av CC där man kombinerar ihop ovanstående symboler. ”CC BY” Andra får ändra, bygga vidare på, distribuera vidare (även kommersiellt) det som du skapat. ”CC BY SA” Andra får ändra, bygga vidare på, distribuera vidare (även kommersiellt) det som du skapat. ”CC BY ND” Andra får sprida (även kommersiellt) det som du skapat.
Overview - Mentira Mentira, a project launched in July 2009, is the first mobile, place-based, augmented reality game explicitly oriented towards the development of language skills in Spanish. It is set in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood in Albuquerque, NM and plays out much like a historical novel in which fact and fiction combine to set the context and social conditions for meaningful interaction (in Spanish) with simulated characters, other players, and local citizens. While playing Mentira, learners must investigate clues and talk to various non-player characters (NPCs) in order to absolve their own family, proving they are not responsible for a murder in a local neighborhood. In a core component of the game, players are required to visit the local neighborhood in order to collect additional clues and, ultimately, solve the mystery by determining the responsible party.
quiz quiz trade Many kindergarten teachers are afraid to attempt Cooperative Learning! It's really easy and the kids have so much fun while they are learning! Here's a game called Quiz, Quiz Trade (Taken from my Kagan Cooperative Learning book!) This game will reinforce any skill you choose! Students are each given a card. You can use flashcards or any sort: alphabet, rhyming, numbers, addition facts. Play music for about 30 seconds. When the music stops, the kids all find a partner. They show each other their cards and the other partner must read their card. Teach the kids to partner pyramid (each partner puts a hand up to form a pyramid) to signify they are done. You start the music back up, kids walk around until the music stops. You can do this with every concept and every age or grade level! Please visit my TpT Store to see all the great Cooperative Learning Games I have! Blogger is acting up... here's the direct link!
DIY Map Magnets I picked up this puzzle at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I intended to frame it in Matthew’s room, but unfortunately I realized one piece was missing. Bummer! I still love the look of the pieces, so I decided to turn the individual states into magnets. I used sticky magnet strips on the back of each piece. The magnets weren’t sticking well, so I ended up using hot glue to stick them on. I attached a locker door front on this little empty wall space in Matthew’s room. It’s the perfect magnet board for a narrow space. When my kids saw it they thought it was really cool, but my little two year old nephew seemed to enjoy playing with it the most! This ended up being a really fun and easy project. As for the locker door front, I love it so much as a magnet board I decided to put one in my studio too!
Awaken the Learner, Tips Awaken the Learner To effectively prepare learners for success, teachers can emphasize cognitive skills in addition to content in their classrooms. Teaching knowledge has always been an essential component of the American school system, but recent instructional standards have also highlighted the importance of teaching cognitive skills. Cognitive skills, such as generating conclusions, problem solving, experimenting, and decision making, are thinking processes that promote a deeper comprehension of complex ideas. The cognitive skill generating conclusions challenges students to analyze the truth and validity of their own and others’ thinking. Conclusions are formed when one accepts that certain premises about an idea are true and uses these premises to make a judgement about a person, topic, or idea. Problem solving is a cognitive skill that has significant application in school and outside the world of academics. Students best learn in environments where they feel safe.
test taking skills: ninjas Our Reader's Notebooks Today we had a 6th grade Language Arts teacher planning day. I was really excited about it, but I am bummed at the lack of things we actually got planned today altogether. I wish I could have just had a whole day to plan alone because I know I could have at least gotten a 6 weeks taken care of. I was actually excited to dive into the C-SCOPE materials because I have really struggled with not having a real scope and sequence to use this year. Well, I know what I am going to be doing over the Christmas break! I know that I have blogged about our reader's notebooks a few other times, but I just love them. Sorry for the bad quality, they are from the phone.
Over 300 Virtual Tours & Museums around the World Tour The American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Photography Guided Tour American Red Cross Virtual Museum American Treasures - Library of Congress The Ancient Olympic Games Virtual Museum Tour an Ancient Roman Villa Tour of The Andy Warhol Museum The Canadian Museum of Civilization Tour The Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo Tour The Collection at The National Gallery of Art Tour the DeCordova 35 acre Sculpture Park The Drop Zone Virtual Museum (WW II Airborne) Virtual Tour of Durham Cathedral Tour the Ellis Island, NY 1900-1920 Photographic Exhibit Tour the Field Museum of Natural History Exhibits Institute and Museum of History of Science - Florence, Italy German Leather Museum Greek and Roman Art Collection Tour the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village Holocaust Museum Tour The International Museum of Horses Tour The Jimmy Stewart Museum Museum of HP Calculators Tour The Museum of Unnatural Mystery Tour the Metropolitan Museum of Art The First Virtual Mousepad Museum Tour the U.C.
websites for kids Technology is pretty amazing! There are lots of wonderful ways to help our child practice the skills they are learning in school. Often times with some of these great educational sites our children don't even know that they are learning at the same time! It's also a great way to motivate kids to do their homework, have them do their reading and math first and for a reward they can play an educational game...tricky! A friend of mine asked me for some recommendations on some other educational websites, so you know me, I went crazy and found a bunch. I spent many hours digging through cyberspace to find and test out the following educational game sites. Just bookmark this page, and every time you want to use a new site you can come here to find it quickly. 1. This site has lots of great language arts games. 2. Hello! 3. Here's a wonderful site c/o one of my readers! 4. Well after I posted this list on Monday I found an phenomenal site on Wednesday! 5. Wo this is another great site. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Pick Up States Do you remember the classic game "Pick Up Sticks?" I created a new game for my class last week based from the childhood game. My fourth grade social studies curriculum is the regions of the United States. You need to collect Crystal Light canisters and Popsicle sticks. To play the game the child or children dump out the sticks and take turns naming the state or capital. Here is the document...sorry about the first one. Do you have any ideas for learning states and capitals?
Google Offers Virtual Tours of 17 of the Top Museums Using Street View Technology LONDON (REUTERS).- Google aims to bring the world's great art galleries into the home with a new website that offers virtual tours using Street View technology, the ability to build private collections and ultra-high resolution images. While most big galleries have been busy making their works accessible online for years, experts told a launch at London's Tate Britain gallery on Tuesday that Google's site was looking to take the online art experience to a new level. "It could be the game changer," said Julian Raby of the Freer Gallery of Art, part of the Smithsonian in Washington DC, which is one of 17 galleries taking part in the project. Nelson Mattos, VP Engineering at Google, said the Art Project site would allow children from Latin America, India and Africa, who were unlikely to see the originals, to come close to the experience on the internet. "We obviously don't believe this technology is going to prevent people from coming to the museums," he added.