Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset | Edutopia “A growth mindset is the belief that you can develop your talents and abilities through hard work, good strategies, and help from others. It stands in opposition to a fixed mindset, which is the belief that talents and abilities are unalterable traits, ones that can never be improved. Research has shown (and continues to show) that a growth mindset can have a profound effect on students’ motivation, enabling them to focus on learning, persist more, learn more, and do better in school. Significantly, when students are taught a growth mindset, they begin to show more of these qualities. However, I slowly became aware that not all educators understood the concept fully. Identifying a False Growth Mindset: It all started when my Australian colleague Susan Mackie informed me that she was seeing more and more false growth mindset. This is when educators think and do all sorts of things that they simply call growth mindset.”
Aligning Assessments with Learning Objectives – TeachOnline “When you are creating a course, strive to design with the end in mind. After you have established a set of measurable learning objectives for your course, work to develop assessments that are aligned with your stated learning objectives. Think of the learning objectives as a set of skills, knowledge, or abilities that your students will be able to demonstrate a mastery of at the end of the course. Then consider the assessments as a way for the student to prove they are capable of that mastery.”
Innovation Is Not a One Time Event | Connected Principals “One of the things that have to really see is that innovation in school is not about a day, a week, or a class. Although creating those experiences are great, if you look at these characteristics above, how can we promote them through what we do everyday in school?”
What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship | Edutopia “Digital Citizenship or Just Citizens? There are those like expert Anne Collier who think we should drop the word “digital” because we’re really just teaching citizenship. These are the skills and knowledge that students need to navigate the world today. We must teach these skills and guide students to experience situations where they apply knowledge. Citizenship is what we do to fulfill our role as a citizen. That role starts as soon as we click on the internet. In the classroom, there are two essential approaches in the digital citizenship curriculum that Vicki Davis uses to teach: proactive knowledge and experiential knowledge.
“Proactive Knowledge: I want my students to know the “9 Key Ps” of digital citizenship. I teach them about these aspects and how to use them. While I go into these Ps in detail in my book Reinventing Writing, here are the basics”
“Experiential Knowledge: During the year, I’ll touch on each of these 9 Key Ps with lessons and class discussions, but just talking is not enough. Students need experience to become effective digital citizens. Here’s how I give them that:”
Learning with ‘e’s: Learning from each other Corneli and Danoff’s approach – paragogy – anyone can teach anyone else, because everyone knows something, but no-one knows everything. Students can even teach their teachers, in an extreme form of flipped learning”
Critical Thinking: A Necessary Skill in the Age of Spin | Edutopia “Fortunately, when students are educated about information-gathering techniques and critical thinking, they have the tools necessary to see through spin and make decisions based on fact, rather than myth or propaganda. Regardless of your subject, critical thinking is one of the most important skills you can teach.”
Tools and Materials – Maker Ed’s Resource Library ““Tools and Materials” contains lists and examples of useful tools and resources in making activities and makerspaces, including suggestions for consumables, hardware, machines, open source software, and other technologies. This category also includes guidance or tutorials on specific tools or skills. The resources in the post are listed in alphabetical order, as a default. They are also organized into subcategories, accessible by the tabs at the top of the grid. When hovering over each box, keywords provide a simple description and glimpse into the content of the resource, which is accessible by clicking on the arrow in the upper right-hand corner.”
Culture of Creativity or Constraints? – Curiosity, Exploration, Wonder “There are a few possibilities discussed here that help to create that culture of free creativity and innovation. Educators need to build this culture at a young age and when challenges arise students will have what it takes to innovate. How will we bring about opportunities for students to explore their creativity and innovate?”
Top 5 Emerging EdTech Trends you Must Know in 2016 “The post looks at the top 5 big trends in e-learning and education technology that could change the teaching-learning in 2016 and beyond. There are some key ideas here for online educators as well as for teach-preneurs in E-learning and educational technology.”
The Teacher’s Guide for Using Social Media [Infographic] “Online Colleges created this simple teacher’s guide for using social media below. It provides some specific strategies for applying tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube to any classroom. It has tips for communicating and curating, and celebrating student work. ”
What is a Makerspace? | Create, Collaborate, Innovate “Making looks different at different types of makerspaces. However, schools, public libraries, and even artist collaboratives have some universal themes that tie us all together (and owning a 3D printer isn’t one of them.)”
Learn2Earn | Whooos Reading This online, gamified reading log rewards kids for reading and motivates them to read more. After logging their most recent reading, they answer a CCSS-aligned comprehension question. They earn Wisdom Coins for logging their reading and answering the questions, which can be spent in the Owl Store where they buy virtual accessories for their Owlvatar. The reward system motivates kids to read more every day and gives teachers a chance to monitor what students are reading outside of the classroom Different priciing options
Studio Pango | Funny apps for smart kids Young reader are in control with this reading app. It allows them to be directly involved in the story. They are encouraged to explore what’s going on, find hidden objects, move characters from one place to another, and more. The reading levels progress as the student improves so the app allows kids to move onto more complex texts when they are ready.
What Should I Read Next? Book recommendations from readers like you This simple website does one thing: tells you what books to read based on the book you input in the search field. Students can get frustrated when selecting their own reading material, making reading more stressful than it needs to be. Give your students access to this website when choosing a new book; they’ll be excited to see what comes up and feel more confident with their choices.
A Beginner’s Guide To Personalized Learning – “There is a difference between personalized learning and differentiation. Differentiation is a kind of personalized instruction, where teachers adjust process, & product, according to a student’s readiness, interest, & learning style. Planning of the learning starts with the content, and the content remains the same for all students. This is a school and curriculum-centered approach that attempts to amend the delivery of the content to match the student’s needs, strengths, and general readiness.
Personalized learning starts with the learner and asks the question, “What does this student need to understand, and how best can that happen?” This is a student-centered approach, and is built around the idea of recognizing the vast differences in students–not just in terms of literacy or schema, but an authentic need to know.”
6 Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning | Edutopia “Project-based learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven, and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. We all need to try out specific ideas and strategies to get our brains working in a different context. Here are some specific differentiation strategies to use during a PBL project.”
How You Can Become a Champion of Digital Citizenship in Your Classroom | EdSurge News“Why Digital Citizenship is No Longer Just an “Elective” As teachers, it is now part of our responsibility to lead by example when it comes to sound digital citizenship practices. As soon as children have devices in their hands, they should be educated about digital citizenship and their digital footprint. Think about this: even before babies are born, they have a digital shadow, because pictures and other media are shared about them via various social media outlets.”
25 Critical Thinking Apps For Extended Student Learning – “There are many apps that do promote critical thinking–and often extended critical thinking and learning at that. These aren’t clinical “critical thinking building” programs either, but rather often enjoyable exercises in strategy, tactics, and problem-solving thought. In this post there is a collection of 25 of these critical thinking apps. Most are for grades 8-12, but several are for students as young as kindergarten.”
Teens can’t tell the difference between Google ads and search results | The Verge “The familiar narrative of teens and technology is one of natural proficiency — that young people just get technology in a way that older generations don’t. But research suggests that just because children feel at home using smartphones, it doesn’t mean they’re more aware of the nuances of how the web works. In a new report published by the UK’s telecoms watchdog Ofcom, researchers found that only a third of young people aged 12 to 15 knew which search results on Google were adverts, while this figure was even lower — less than one in five — for children aged 8 to 11”
Free Technology for Teachers: How to Get Free eBooks on Your Mobile Device “With the rise and prominence of eBooks have come a number of resources for educators and students to access free content on virtually any device. Using e-readers, tablets, or computers; in conjunction with apps such as Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Google Play Books, and OverDrive; you can access libraries of books for free on virtually any device. By downloading these free apps, you make your device a digital reading device that is not dependent on a specific vendor. ”
Digital Citizenship Resources for the Home | Common Sense Media “You don’t have to be an expert on texting, Instagram, Minecraft — or whatever else your kids are into — to have The Talk. Start by reading up on what’s going on in your kids’ world (for younger kids and older kids). Ask them to show you what they like online, and why. Make sure to listen 🙂 Then, express a few basic expectations, with the understanding that this isn’t a one-and-done kind of chat.
Writing commons – Home “A free, comprehensive, peer-reviewed, award-winning Open Text for students and faculty in college-level courses that require writing and research.”
“Writing Commons is a viable alternative to expensive writing textbooks. Faculty may assign Writing Commons for their composition, business, STEM/Technical Writing, and creative writing courses. Writing Commons houses seven main sections: Information Literacy | Research Methods & Methodologies | Writing Processes | Collaboration | Genres | New Media | Style ”
7 Fun (And Effective!) Reading Websites That Engage Students “A collection of a number of websites that teachers, parents and students can use to help guide student reading selections. The aim : to assist students to find books to that they really like, then they’ll be more inclined to make time in their busy schedules for reading.”
A Collection of Project Based Learning End Products — Learning in Hand “Post discusses products created by students through project based learning experiences, with an emphasis on what students create to express their answer to a driving question than just read a summary of the project.
Gathered here are some samples can be used as inspiration for your class projects. And, critiquing these samples can help students think of ways to make their own productions better.”
Worlds of Learning | Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2015 “The most successful makerspaces include tools, materials and resources that inspire and allow for an environment rich with possibilities, allowing all students the opportunity for open-ended exploration. In addition to tried-and-true favorites such as Spheros, Makey-Makey kits, littleBits, and Legos, there is now such a vast array of makerspace-related products available. As this year draws to a close, we can’t help but reflect upon some of our favorite makerspace things. “
Free Technology for Teachers: Digital Note-Taking with OneNote “Two features distinguish OneNote from other note-taking apps like Evernote. First, notes can be shared and collaboratively edited in real time – much like Google Docs. This includes collaborative handwriting when on tablets. Next, OneNote notes can be opened and edited in multiple locations at the same time. Consider a student taking notes in OneNote on a laptop or Chromebook while inserting photos from their phone”
Libraries Lend Record Numbers of Ebooks and Audiobooks in 2015 | Digital Book World “2015 was a big year for libraries’ digital efforts, with a record number of readers borrowing ebooks and digital audiobooks. Overdrive, the leading supplier of digital content to libraries and schools, reported Tuesday that, in 2015, readers borrowed more than 169 million ebooks. This marked a 24-percent increase over 2014. There was also a notable spike in audiobook usage, which saw a faster growth rate than ebook library borrowing”
A vision of educational technology | Teaching using Web Tools for Educators The author concentrates on what she thinks is the most important point that should be made concerning the use of technology in class.”If your technology use in your classroom is for Powerpoint presentations and taking notes, you haven’t really understood the potential. If you as a teacher think you need to know it all before letting your students loose, you need to reconsider.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Filed under: Education, literature, Reading, tools | Tagged: digital citizenship, educational technology, learning | Leave a comment »
Rhondda
Rhondda's Reflections - wandering around the Web 