Monday, January 27, 2014

Reading for January 27, 2014: Brennan by Design



You can hear Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” blaring inside Askwith Lecture Hall even before you get to the beige double doors. It’s the third meeting of the fall semester for T-550, and inside, the room is buzzing.

via @andycinek http://ift.tt/1n93cVv

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Reading for January 26, 2014: How the Heck Do You Implement “Student Empowerment”?

The following is an excerpt from Marsha Ratzel’s new book In High Gear: My Shift Toward a Student-Driven, Inquiry Based Science Classroom.

Most classrooms follow a prescribed formula. Teachers plan and lay out what is going to be learned. Students come into class and have the responsibility of switching themselves into “ready” mode, waiting for the teacher to instruct and guide them in the day’s tasks. There is very little student ownership in this process.

Surely there were parts of the learning process where the control could be shifted to the students – where I could hand them responsibility and freedom and give them a voice in what they would learn. Although it would be impractical for me to think they could run a classroom as well as a veteran teacher, I hoped I could guide them as they took control of the questions they would pursue.
Knowing that handing students most of the responsibility for learning without preparation was not a realistic first step, I designed “skill-builders” to transition the classroom. I used layers of traditional teaching/learning experiences and experiences where the process was open-ended but had a clearly defined endpoint. This built skills in both my own teaching practice and in my students’ learning practice. I tested things for effectiveness and they developed the new personal skills to stay on course as their control of their own learning increased. Notably, experiencing small obstacles helped to develop students’ coping ability—an important skill for open-ended, open-process activities.

EdCamp Organizer Meeting : Hangout on Air

February 20 at 8PM EST 

An experienced panel of Edcamp Organizers will share tips, tricks, and guidance about creating an environment centered on teaching & learning, not tools. We will be answering YOUR questions via interactive backchannel at #edcamp

For more information

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

EdCamp Maine 2014

March 8, 2014
Waynflete School
Portland, ME

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Reading for January 14, 2014 at 09:39PM: Watch Out TED Talks: Here Comes A New Generation



TED’s educational arm is launching TED-Ed Clubs, an effort to support students who research, write and present and record their own ideas in a TED talk format. “The goal is to stimulate and celebrate the best ideas of students around the world,” said TED-Ed Director Logan Smalley.
via Pocket http://ift.tt/1dMYViW

Trying Pearltrees

 I have been wanting to try Pearltrees, so I created a set for our Digital Discussion Unit

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Weekly Links (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Reading for January 08, 2014 at 11:58AM: There's a Cheaper, More Effective Way to Train Teachers



We don’t know exactly how much money was spent training Will in his first year of Teach for America, but we know it was a lot.
via Pocket http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/theres-a-cheaper-more-effective-way-to-train-teachers/282778/

Monday, January 06, 2014

Reading for January 06, 2014 at 04:59PM: Making It



In January of 1903, the small Boston magazine Handicraft ran an essay by the Harvard professor Denman W. Ross, who argued that the American Arts and Crafts movement was in deep crisis.

via The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2014/01/13/140113crat_atlarge_morozov?currentPage=1