More Progressive Ways to Measure Deeper Levels of Learning | MindShift

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/04/09/more-progressive-ways-to-measure-deeper-level-of-learning/

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Q: What makes Finnish teachers so special? A: It’s not brains

We have so much to think about in education, and we should be learning as much as we can from as many different methods as possible. Nothing works for everyone, but learning about very different methods expands the daily repertoire of the classroom teacher. It is another tool.    Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Q: What makes Finnish teachers so special? A: It's not brains theguardian.com - When my niece was finishing school in Finland, more than anything else she wanted to become a primary teacher. Despite her genuine interest in teaching she failed to get into a teacher education programme at the University of Helsinki. She was smart and bright, yet she was not deemed qualified. Available on the App Store.

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Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators: 3 Critical Skills S11 Ep2

Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators: 3 Critical Skills S11 Ep2 philmckinney.com - A few years back, I was invited to participate in a meeting with leaders from the US Department of Education. Others in attendance at the meeting included university presidents, representatives from the teacher unions and a handful of others. All told, there was about 20 people in the room. Available on the App Store.

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By Not Challenging Gifted Kids, What Do We Risk Losing? | MindShift

❤️ these kids!

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/04/25/what-do-we-risk-losing-by-not-challenging-gifted-kids/

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Building the soft skills for success

I'd like to write comments, but it's Spring Break. 

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2015/03/18-soft-skills-success-reeves?cid=00900015020089101US0001-03281

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The Struggles and Realities of Student-Driven Learning and BYOD

Legitimate concerns about project-based learning keep many teachers and students from experiencing the power of student curiosity. Getting students' attention is one of the differences in successful classroom.  If iI can get a student to mentally put aside all the distractions of his life, stop trying to be funny, and open his mind to learning, I can do wonders. Getting and keeping their attention takes a lot of my planning. Often, I have to adjust mid-sentence to regain student focus.  All it takes is one student to disrupt the flow of information and stop the others from learning. You need student buy-in and an environment of trust. The kids have to believe you are not out to get them. They have to know you want the best for them, and if they can see that you care about them, you can truly connect and make a difference. Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   The Struggles and Realities of Student-Driven Learning and BYOD ww2.kqed.org - If the promise of mobile technology in classrooms has been to equalize opportunities for all students through access to the internet, that potential has yet to be realized. National surveys consistently show that students in low-income schools are getting short-changed when it comes to using technology in school. A 2013 Pew study revealed that only 35 percent of teachers at the lowest income schools allow their students to look up information on their mobile devices, as compared to 52 percent of teachers at wealthier schools. And while 70 percent of teachers working in high income areas say their schools do a good job providing resources and support to effectively integrate technology into the classroom, only 50 percent of teachers in low-income areas agree. Available on the App Store.

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Teach Love

Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Teach Love edge.ascd.org - When people find out I'm an English teacher, they typically say one of the following: "Oh, so you must be a hardcore grammar nazi." Available on the App Store.

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Big ideas and ed trends from the #ASCD15 conference

Great big picture direction -   Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Big ideas and ed trends from the #ASCD15 conference thecornerstoneforteachers.com - ASCD is one of the most important and influential conferences in the nation because it's targeted toward school leaders and those who make big decisions in education. In addition to many, many teachers and teacher leaders in attendance, there are always huge numbers of superintendents, principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and district office members. Available on the App Store.

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23 March 2015

I thought it was kind of an easy day until I started telling my husband about it. Here’s the agenda. The kids check it first thing everyday when they walk in the room.

Last week, we tried writing in small groups using the vocabulary words. I was disappointed, and only one class did well enough to get quiz credit for it. All the other classes were reminded on Friday that the vocab quizzes can be hard, and they are things to avoid if possible. This week, they knew what to expect, so I raised the bar: no more silly, middle school stories. Write a real, pre-AP worthy story, and don’t let the vocabulary words be so conspicuous (vocab word). Ten minutes.

I open a tab by typing “timer” in the browser, start a ten minute countdown timer on screen, drag it over and project it on the board.

The kids work in their accustomed teacher-arranged groups in a shared document I emailed to the whole class (only that period). In the Google Doc, the whole class can see and write at the same time (each group on a different page is working well right now).

I am looking back and forth between all five stories throughout the ten minutes. I can highlight, comment, Kaizena-record, give a link, or anything else while everyone in the group is working on the same small paragraph. The ability to teach writing while watching them organically create and problem-solve is amazing and opens up so many new approaches.

The kids then make corrections and discuss changes, grammatical, vocabulary-focused, or creative in nature, and they have to verbalize what they’re doing and approve one another’s work. They can learn from each other and from me all at the same time. The links are especially great because they will stay in the document, and any kid on the doc can go look at it again.

After ten minutes, I ask how much longer they need. Most say five minutes, but I go with three or four. There’s a completely different kind of involvement when we’re down to the last few minutes, and I start seeing some interesting language and expanded sentences.

Okay, I let them wind it down and have them jump over to blogger really quickly. We’re changing gears.

I’ve got a quick blog addition they need to make. Here’s the pic:

They go to blogger.com

Their Google log-ins will take them right to their blogs, and I tell them to click on the name of their research blog. Then Layout. Here’s my example, I show them:

Now to the right of Blog Posts, Click Add a Gadget. Now you will get to choose what kind of gadget, and this time choose Text. Come up with a quick title for this little spot where you’re going to write three sentences summarizing  what you are researching. Now, here is a huge decision. They now have to nail it in three sentences for publication.

Someone always asks if they can change the name of their blog, so I show them mine or tell them to go to Settings - Basic and edit it there.

Then each one of them has to make a decision on whether to share their blogs or not. I’ve told them all along that if they wanted to share them, they could. Now they get to make that choice.

Go to bit.ly/blogstoshare

or bit.ly/donotsharemyblog

I just give them a few minutes before we move on. We jump right into grammar.

I project a workbook on screen while they get out their grammar notes. Then I quickly show them the review of simple subject and simple predicate before I start asking for volunteers to tell me what to underline, then picking kids seemingly at random, ask for answers from everyone in the class, giving strugglers more practice when I can, even better if they volunteer to take the last few extras in each set. It happens.

We do as many as we can and remind everyone how to get back to the practice exercises.

http://bit.ly/partsofspeechselfteach

http://bit.ly/partsofsentenceselfteach

Then I mark how far each class got at the end of the period. They notice if they are ahead or behind.

I remind them of their homework and that the picture is on the blog on my site. Whew!

New Studies Find That, for Teachers, Experience Really Does Matter - Education Week

Experience definitely matters in the classroom. Every year, we get to learn more about our subjects, too. We find new ways to expose kids to ideas. When we know our curriculum inside and out, we can explore more: in how we approach each lesson daily. We are freer to try new things when the method is the only risk.  Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   New Studies Find That, for Teachers, Experience Really Does Matter Education Week - Published in Print: March 25, 2015, as Experience Seen as Boost for Teachers Studies Cite Gains by Veterans Available on the App Store.

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Google Docs + Kaizena = Digital Writer’s Notebook

Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Google Docs + Kaizena = Digital Writer's Notebook educatorstechnology.com - When it comes to teaching writing teachers usually either spend hours responding to individual papers by hand or find common errors and address those through mini-lessons. Both options work, but make sacrifices. The first former sacrifices time and energy, the latter sacrifices individual attention. Available on the App Store.

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"Literature Can Be A 'Gateway For Understanding Everything'"

Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   "Literature Can Be A 'Gateway For Understanding Everything'" Websites of the Day... - "Literature Can Be A 'Gateway For Understanding Everything'" Literature Can Be A 'Gateway For Understanding Everything' is the title of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Available on the App Store.

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Student Engagement’s Three Variables: Emotion, Behavior, Cognition

Need to dig deeper here, they and I.   Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Student Engagement's Three Variables: Emotion, Behavior, Cognition gettingsmart.com - Imagine if we built a theme park—including the water slide, roller coaster, and all the other bells and whistles—and no one showed up. Or, imagine if you worked for Coca Cola, just released a new product, Coke Zero, and found nobody was drinking it. In both instances you might ask yourself, "What in the world are we doing that we're failing to engage our customers?" Available on the App Store.

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Article: Introverts, Extroverts, and the Complexities of Team Dynamics

Introverts, Extroverts, and the Complexities of Team Dynamics
https://hbr.org/2015/03/introverts-extroverts-and-the-complexities-of-team-dynamics

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Zeroing out Zero Tolerance — Atlantic Mobile

http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/zeroing-out-zero-tolerance/388003/


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Why Do American Students Have So Little Power? — Atlantic Mobile

Regularly asking for student feedback has had a tremendous impact on my teaching. They have to trust you, but when they do, they give insightful help and they are great to brainstorm with. Sometimes, They can help shape the way we approach our study. Try something different and ask them whether they prefer the old way or the new way and why? Ask them how each method impacts learning. Change the methods slightly and take some of their feedback. Then ask them again. You will start to see a big shift in your classroom.

http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-do-american-students-have-so-little-power/387634/

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Finding the Most Creative Ways to Help Students Advance At Their Own Pace | MindShift

I'm using a bit of skill-based, individually-paced learning for our study of grammar this semester. I can't wait to see how it affects individual outcomes. After discussing it with my kids, we decided how to proceed from individual learning through interactive online learning to direct whole-class teaching and on to the post-test.

I wonder how I can reshape the final assessment to better affect the outcome. "Not yet"? 

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/finding-the-most-creative-ways-to-help-students-advance-at-their-own-pace/

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Putting the World In Their Hands: Augmented Reality in the Classroom | MindShift

I want this classroom, guys! There is so much more we can do with more freedom to explore and create!

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/putting-the-world-in-their-hands-augmented-reality-in-the-classroom/

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Slack, the Office Messaging App That May Finally Sink Email

We teachers need to build our own web and share more ideas. I wish others would share more. Tosha Caston-Smith shared with you:   Slack, the Office Messaging App That May Finally Sink Email New York Times - People in the tech industry have been digging a grave for email for more than a decade, but their predictions have always seemed a little out of touch. Email, despite its terrible, horrible, no-good impact on our daily lives, is wonderfully ubiquitous, accessible, forgiving and still apparently a good business. In the last year, Amazon, Dropbox, Google and Microsoft have all announced new email initiatives. Available on the App Store.

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