Archive For The “curriculum” Category
Joyce Valenza shares such solid work, and this letter to seniors with advice about web searching is worth passing along. How can you not love advice that begins this way: When you have the opportunity to search, I hope you will stop and wonder first. Go read the rest….
One year I was asked to teach a course at the last minute. A friend, an inspiring and creative teacher, gave me her plans to follow. Frankly, it didn’t work. During the year, I remember being frustrated, often feeling like a failure. But I couldn’t figure out why following her plans was so difficult. Now, [...]
This came across my RSS feed, and I nodded, agreeing with the report that many students who have been targeted for remedial work in community college may have not been prepared for the kind of work expected of them after high school. Teachers dug deeper for the source of students’ collegiate struggles. After sharing lesson [...]
Are you someone who likes to ponder? Think about both sides of an issue? Wonder why something has occurred? Don’t we all? Then why don’t we ask this of our students? Why do we tend toward direct instruction so much of the time? True, if learning content is our goal, direct instruction is faster, more [...]
More on Fear
By scm | March 3, 2011
And while we’re on the topic of fear, check out BrendaDee’s post that makes great points about teacher innovation vs tradition: Once in practice, educators discover that preparing students to be design thinkers, tinkerers, creative problem solvers, leaders etc can be highly abstract and that many of today’s teachers are uncomfortable with the pedagogical changes [...]
A few years ago, my school started mapping our curriculum. I remember being somewhat frustrated because I wanted us to have the hard conversations first: what does it mean to be a good teacher? Why do we teach certain courses in a prescribed order? I wondered what purpose would be served by putting our existing [...]
That phrase has been around for a while. I believe it, and this research helps cement that. I’m trying to take care of myself this year–focus on good eating, exercise, and meditation. I’ve had good luck with the first two: I am trying to eliminate sugar and processed foods; I am also starting Boot Camp next [...]
photo © 2009 Michael Stout | more info (via: Wylio)I’ll have to give @pcwoessner credit for sending me to Allison Zmuda. I was not familiar with her work, but her latest book is something I wish I’d had in the classroom. Breaking Free from Myths About Teaching and Learning takes her research from 2008, using [...]
If part of your work means helping folks understand the shift in educational reform/revolution and the necessity for change, then this may help. I stumbled across this e-book by Rick Maurer recently, and his suggestions for helping implement change seem simple yet profound. He says there are three reasons why people don’t change. Level One: [...]
Reading this article about Amir Abo-Shaeer, the recent MacArthur award winner, took me back a few years. Amir has established an experienced-based learning program for his students. Fast Company reports he runs the engineering Academy “like a business.” “Students help write grants; they do PR, and they develop our website.” He calls his approach project-based [...]