Eclectic Technology
223.8K views | +0 today
Follow
Eclectic Technology
Tech tools that assist all students to be independent learners & teachers to become better teachers
Curated by Beth Dichter
Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

12 Myths About Student Engagement - InformED

12 Myths About Student Engagement - InformED | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Student engagement is one of the most reliable predictors of gains in learning. We can all agree that students who actively participate in learning are m
Beth Dichter's insight:

How can we tell if our students are engaged? At time we ask students to complete pop quizzes, and we grade on participation, but what about the student who is shy and tends not to participate in discussions.

The post begins with a discussion on what student engagement looks like. One point they made is:

The opposite of engagement is disaffection. Disaffected [students] are passive, do not try hard, and give up easily in the face of challenges… [they can] be bored, depressed, anxious, or even angry about their presence in [a course]; they can be withdrawn from learning opportunities or even rebellious towards teachers and [peers].”

What can we do? This post provides a number of recommendations as well as their list of 12 myths about student engagement. Three of the myths are listed below. You will find additional information about these three, as well as the nine additional myths in the post.

1. Engagement is schooling is the same as engagement in learning.

2. Participation should be graded.

3. Group projects enhance learning.

This post provides food for thought. It may make you rethink how you approach certain activities in your classroom.

David Baker's curator insight, February 17, 2015 11:08 AM

Teacher actions can influence how students engage [with a course], making it relevant to understand their conceptions of student engagement and how to facilitate it,”

Cited From: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/student-engagement/#ixzz3S1EF19HV


Engagement is more than just sitting and looking attentive. I like how the focus is on what the teacher can do and examines the general beliefs and misconc ptions around engagement through the lens of research. 


SMARTERTEACHER's curator insight, February 19, 2015 11:47 AM

Reminds me of Alfie Kohn, "If a child is off task, perhaps the problem is not the child, but the task."

Richard Gascoigne's curator insight, February 22, 2015 12:57 PM

Synthesised data across the digital & physical campus ensures you are understanding what 'engagement' looks like in context of your institution, www.solutionpath.co.uk for further insights.

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

PBL- Let the Class Solve World Problems

PBL- Let the Class Solve World Problems | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Can kids solve real life problems that affect our world? Sure! Why not? Many of you know the 7 sterile steps to PBL. How about adding a little more to the 7 steps? Here are a few ideas about how to...
Beth Dichter's insight:

Check out this great visual on Problem Based Learning (PBL)from Mia MacMeekin. It provides a look at the seven steps found in PBL. For each step she provides a number of ways for students to think about the specific process. What are the seven areas?

1. Start with a real life problem

2. Map it out

3. Prototype, prototype, prototype

4. Be creative

5. Think global

6. Join a challenge

7. Set goals

8. Create learning moments

Along the way she also makes some suggestions on what you should be doing as a teacher. If PBL is new to you (or your students) this would be a great visual to have your students recreate, where they may change words and add images to make it their own. Then hang it in your classroom and support them as they become experienced at problem based learning.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Shifting Toward An Architecture of Participation

Shifting Toward An Architecture of Participation | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"Reading, in terms of scale and diversity, is different than it used to be. Thinking, in terms of context and application, is also different.

It makes since that learning is also changing–becoming more entrepreneurial than directly didactic. That is, more learner-centered ... than teacher-controlled."


Beth Dichter's insight:

This post from te@chthought provides an embedded slideshare, Designing Digital Futures. The post pulls out some of the information found within the slideshow. The post looks at 

Architecture of Participation: 7 Characteristics of Future Learning which are defined as:

* Collaborating

* Tagging

* Voting

* Networking

* User-Generated Content

* Tools

* Sharing

and also Communal Construction.

Take some time to check out the slideshare. There are many great slides that will make you pause and think about what may be taking place in your classroom.

Carlos Rodrigues Cadre's curator insight, October 8, 2014 11:06 AM

adicionar a sua visão ...

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

The ABC's of Collaboration

The ABC's of Collaboration | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it



Beth Dichter's insight:

Dan Pontrefract has published a book called Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. In this book he define collaboration as:

The unfettered allowance and encouragement of employees to both contribute and consume knowledge, insight or ideas with any direct relationship via professional or personal networks to achieve an outcome.

In addition to this definition he has created two infographics that look at the ABC's of Collaboration.

One infographic provides a key word for each letter of the alphabet as well as an image (as shown above). The second infographic also includes a definition for each word.

We know that collaboration is not always easy for students. The two versions available would be useful for different grade levels. In the younger grades students might share what they believe these words mean, or you may choose one or two key words to use for specific tasks. The version with definitions might be useful in promoting a dialogue with older students. Do  they agree with the definition? Is there a word that they think might better reflect collaboration that takes place in  a classroom?

Gary Harwell's curator insight, July 14, 2014 12:16 AM

Our students have to collaborate.

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Blooms, SAMR & the 3 C's - iSupport

Blooms, SAMR & the 3 C's - iSupport | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

All the iPad apps you'll ever need. Aligned to Blooms Taxonomy and SAMR

Beth Dichter's insight:

Do you use iPads in your school? Do you work with Bloom's Taxonomy and/or SAMR? Are you interested in seeing how you might combine Bloom's and SAMR using specific apps? If so, click through to this post.

The post takes apps and organizes in three categories:

* Consumption - which includes Knowledge and Analysis (split into Activity and Gamification)

* Collaboration - which includes Application and Synthesis (split into Assessment and Cloud Storage)

* Creation - which includes Comprehension and Evaluate (split into Multimedia & Design and Multimedia Texts)

Then read on and see how you might take these same areas and apply them to SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition).

This is worth a look even if you do not have iPads. The ideas of placing work into the three Cs of Consumption, Collaboration and Creation may be applied to work that students do, with or without technology.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Teaching 21st Century Skills Without Technology

Teaching 21st Century Skills Without Technology | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"Recently I participated in a discussion on 21st century skills where one educator posed the question 'can you teach 21st century skills without technology?'"

Beth Dichter's insight:

Think about the skills that are defined as 21st century skills:

* collaboration

* communication

* critical thinking and problem solving

* creativity and innovation

Are these skills that can be taught without technology? If we look to the past, we would answer yes, they are skills that can be taught without technology.

We are often asked to teach these skills today with technology. What if we introduce these skills with technology, providing students the opportunity to collaborate and learn how to effectively communicate face-to-face, learn about visual cues and more. This post explores how each of these skills may be taught without technology. You can take the information and consider how to them augment the skills with technology to help your students deepen their understanding.

Siphiwe Kubeka's curator insight, May 22, 2014 8:06 AM

Technology has made education to be much easier and more interesting in information literacy

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

How to Infuse Digital Literacy Throughout the Curriculum

How to Infuse Digital Literacy Throughout the Curriculum | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"So how are we doing on the push to teach “digital literacy” across the K12 school spectrum? From my perspective as a school-based technology coach and history teacher, I’d say not as well as we might wish – in part because our traditional approach to curriculum and instruction wants to sort everything into its place."


Beth Dichter's insight:

How often have you heard the term digital native or digital immigrant? Are our students digital natives because they were born after digital items were widely available? Does this factor mean that they understand how to use these tools effectively and that they are digitally literate? For me the answer to that is that they do not fully understand how to use digital tools effectively and they are not digitally literate. This is something we need to teach them.

This post does an excellent job looking at this issue. Specifically it looks at these areas:

* Students must learn how to evaluate online content - Think of this as a research skill.

* Students must be able to engage with others online and communicate - Think of this as a communication tool.

* Students need to learn how to create and projects can be digital.

These three areas come together and create the skill sets needed to digitally literate. More information is available about this in the post.

And if you happen to live in the New England area you might consider checking out the Massachusetts New Literacies Institute that will be taking place in at the Kittredge Center in Holyoke, MA from July 8 - 10. Information for this may be found at http://mnli.org/. This institute looks at three cornerstones: Online Content Reading, Online Collaborative Inquiry and Online Content Construction "preparing future-ready teachers."

Melissa Marshall's curator insight, October 25, 2014 10:42 AM

A very interesting article that examines whether digital literacy is a surface approach, or something understood clearly by students. I think we could do it a little better, and this involves some extra awareness of these teaching moments when they arrive! For instance, I use the first presentation-style assignment for my Year 7s to teach about plagiarism and referencing online sources. 

Julie Hogarth's curator insight, November 4, 2014 9:09 PM

Digital Literacy should be integrated into every day curriculum to be effectively instilled into student thinking and behavior.

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

How Do We Create Rich Learning Opportunities for All Students?

How Do We Create Rich Learning Opportunities for All Students? | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Every student has the capacity for rich, meaningful learning experiences. How can educators tap into the motivation that helps drive a love of learning in students? They key might be found in the "deeper learning" movement.
Beth Dichter's insight:

What is deeper learning? This post defines it as the following six competencies:

* mastering content

* critical thinking

* effective written and oral communication

* collaboration

* learning how to learn

* developing academic mindset

The post shares an example from one school that uses deeper learning, provides additional resources on how to cultivate academic mindset, and deeper learning and the common core, educators and deeper learning, and getting started with deeper learning.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Pedagogy...Technology...Which Should Come First?

Pedagogy...Technology...Which Should Come First? | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"...using technology does not necessarily make a teacher effective. I am going to repeat that, because I want this to be very clear: technology is not pedagogy. I actually learned that lesson the hard way. I spent my first two months as a teacher building a paperless, hybrid-online, flipped classroom using Moodle, and marching students through standards by having them click through links and complete digital quizzes and activities."

Beth Dichter's insight:

What comes first? Pedagogy or Technology? This post explores this issue. It also includes a great visual "Let's stop talking about teaching with technology, and let's start talking about learning." The visual is in Google Docs and you can download it at:

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1FjgMrO6d_3B6NBFLhteCjP5EGWaZymOYIRrWtJLt8PY/edit

The visual shown above is also used in a free online course you may want to check out. For more information on the course: http://www.edtechchallenge.com/

Viljenka Savli (http://www2.arnes.si/~sopvsavl/)'s curator insight, February 14, 2014 4:24 AM

Here is a nice example of evolution of a teacher approach to ICT :)

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Top 10 Skills for the 21st Century Young Professional [Infographic]

Top 10 Skills for the 21st Century Young Professional [Infographic] | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Beth Dichter's insight:

What are the top ten skills that are needed in the workplace today? The University of Phoenix has published this infographic that provides a look at the top ten skills as well as information on how to acquire the skills. Are you providing your students the opportunity to learn and/or practice these skills?

Audrey's curator insight, November 29, 2013 2:26 PM

These skills make a lot of sense and all tend to be included in education, right now. In addition to learning the standard topics, most educational establishments incude socio-cultural, moral and practical lessons for students to be able to cope with life in the 21st century.

 

audrey@homeschoolsource for http://www.homeschoolsource.co.uk

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Collaboratively Create Multimedia Documents With Lucidpress

Collaboratively Create Multimedia Documents With Lucidpress | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"Lucidpress is a slick new service from the same team that developed Lucidchart. Lucidpress is a slick tool for collaboratively creating multimedia documents."

Beth Dichter's insight:

Richard Byrne has explored Lucidpress, a new tool from the creators of Lucidchart (which is one of the best deals around for educators for creating mindmaps) and states "I look at Lucidpress as being the best of Apple's Pages and the best of Google Documents combined into one slick service."

Like Lucidchart this tool is built for collaboration. The site states “receive feedback from coworkers…collaborate with anyone on any browser, anywhere. With live chat, document presence, and commenting, you’ll never have to compile scribbled feedback…”

Educators will be pleased to hear that free accounts are available.

To go directly to the video click through to Richard Byrne's post. To go directly to Lucidpress: https://www.lucidpress.com.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Quandary - A Free Online Game for Students 8 - 14

Quandary - A Free Online Game for Students 8 - 14 | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Beth Dichter's insight:

Quandary, a free online game for players ages 8 - 14, won the Game of the Year Honors at the 2013 Games for Change Confernce. This game provides players an opportunity to help shape a new society "while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives."

The websites goes on to state "Players develop skills such as critical thinking, perspective-taking and decision-making. Quandary provides a framework for how to approach ethical decision-making without telling players what to think."

Why use Quandary with your students? This game is designed to help students learn skills in:

* Problem solving

* Communication

* Information literacy

* Global awarenes

* Collaboration

* Creative thinking

There is a teachers page available which provides additional resources including a Game Guide, a sample lesson plan, an opinion tracker as well information on how the learning outcomes match to standards in both the Common Core and the Partnership for the 21st Century.

Yasemin Allsop's curator insight, August 29, 2013 2:45 PM

Oh, this is really interesting!

davidconover's curator insight, August 30, 2013 8:04 AM

I look forward to sharing this game with my students. I wonder what their comments will be.

Amélie Silvert's curator insight, August 30, 2013 11:10 AM

Defining moral dilemnas, finding solutions and discussing. Collaborative work. Why not give it a try?

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Back to School with Google Docs: Support Research/Writing/ Collaboration

Back to School with Google Docs: Support Research/Writing/ Collaboration | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Beth Dichter's insight:

Are you using Google Docs? This post explores many of the options available to you in Google Docs including:

* Google Docs for Research - Look under Tools to access Research. As well as allowing you to research within Google Docs this tool streamlines " the process of creating hyperlinks and appropriately formatting citations."

* Google Docs for Collaborative Writing - Some of the features of this tool include sharing and commenting, built-in dictionary, smart spell check and grammar check, one click footnotes and citations, Easy Bib connection and revision history.

The Common Core stresses the need for students to collaborate. Google Docs may assist your students in the process. The post also contains quite a few screenshots.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Super Practical Project-Based Learning Ideas

Super Practical Project-Based Learning Ideas | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"Project-based learning is one aspect of the Common Core’s with extra buzz. PBL engages students in purposeful ways by providing opportunities to develop a laundry list of 21st century skills in areas including critical thinking, research strategies, collaboration, communication, and literacy. If your head is spinning and you are wondering how you are going to make time for and create appropriate PBL opportunities for your elementary students, don’t worry! The good news is there are many ways to incorporate practical project-based learning into your elementary classroom. "

Beth Dichter's insight:

If you are considering project-based learning, but have questions about just what to do, this post may assist you. There are many suggestions about practical PBL projects that are appropriate for students in grades K - 5.

The post also includes a quick overview of the stops in PBL as well as a list of read-aloud books that may inspire students to ways they might create a project that will help their community. You will also find a list of ten ideas for projects and three other sections:

* Inspire Projects with Hand to Heart/Paw/Earth

* Teach Students to Ask Questions/Research Across Texts

* Try Ready-Made Books and Projects with Heifer

Project-based learning provides authentic learning opportunities for students to be highly engaged and to focus on the four C's that the Partnership for 21st Century and Common Core would like us to address: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

ExamTime Proactively Engages Students in Active Learning

ExamTime Proactively Engages Students in Active Learning | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"Effective learning is not the outcome of encouraging students to passively consume and regurgitate reams of information verbatim. Rather than allow learners to simply become recipients of study notes and material, teachers need to encourage students to both physically and mentally engage in active learning."

Beth Dichter's insight:

If you are looking for a new resource that may help your students  become more engaged in their studies ExamTime may be a new tool to use. This tool allows students to "proactively direct their own learning."

A number of teachers share their views on using ExamTime.  One teacher stated "This powerful teaching strategy “generated excellent questioning and analytical skills in students and allowed them to have constant access to resources on a platform they find convenient.”

ExamTime allows students to use build flashcards,  mindmaps, quizzes, and to take notes, plus it is free.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

8 Great Ways to use Technology to Create Lessons That Aren’t Boring

8 Great Ways to use Technology to Create Lessons That Aren’t Boring | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Dozens of free web tools and ideas that can pack a technology integration punch and kick those lessons up a notch Are you tired of delivering the same old
Beth Dichter's insight:

How can we create more engaging lessons? Using technology may provide an assist. and this post shares 8 ways you can leverage technology to help your students learn and to have creative lessons. The areas discussed are:

* Incorporate Student Input and Gather Feedback

* Gamify It

* Let Students Create

* Get Interactive

* Have Students Collaborate

* Project Based Learning

* Simulations

* Bring in a Guest or Two

Each area provides links to a variety of tools and resources.

Linda Ashida's curator insight, October 6, 2014 9:38 AM

A great variety of practical ideas and resources for engaging students in learning with technology, including:

Incorporate Student Input and Gather Feedback

Gamify It

Let Students Create

Get Interactive

Have Students Collaborate

Project Based Learning

Simulations

Bring in a Guest or Two

Carlos Rodrigues Cadre's curator insight, October 6, 2014 10:08 AM

adicionar a sua visão ...

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Making Learning Meaningful: 6 Priorities For Whole Learning

Making Learning Meaningful: 6 Priorities For Whole Learning | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"We recently discovered the Bay Area’s Prospect Sierra School’s interesting learning model that prioritizes 6 ideas for learning in the 21st century. There is, of course, no single “best” way to pursue “21st century learning”–nor any learning at all for that matter. But seeing the way other inspired educators pursue the idea can teach each one of us a lot. In this model, we appreciate the inclusion of self-knowledge, as well as moving past the idea of content to true disciplinary knowledge–seeing knowledge in context and application."

Beth Dichter's insight:

This post shares another visual that provides one model of learning in the 21st century. Specifically, it prioritizes six ideas:

* Disciplinary Knowledge - "Build and apply content knowledge to think deeply and act as a practitioner of the discipline"

* Self-Knowledge - "Experiment and create, while embracing failure as an opportunity for growth in order to design new ideas and solutions."

* Innovation Creation - "Recognize one’s emotional, physical, and learning needs, strengths, and challenges to nurture personal growth and resilience"

* Collaboration - "Share knowledge and resources, building on a diversity of ideas and experiences to achieve group goals and interdependence"

* Responsibility - "Understand one’s impact and influence in a local and global community; cultivate compassion, and take positive action"

* Communication - "Express ideas effectively through varied means of presentation; understand one’s audiences, actively listen; and build connection"

Additional information on each of these six ideas is included in the post.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

How Games Prepare You for Life - Education: 21st Century Skills

Games give players agency and teach the core 21st century skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity better than any tradition...
Beth Dichter's insight:

Students love to play games, and games have the potential of teaching 21st century skills. This video discusses why games work and provides a look at a number of games and skills that they teach students. Key to this is the need for the teacher to help the students transfer the knowledge they are learning in the games to other areas. The video is short (under 5 minutes) and may provide you with some new information.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Collaborative whiteboard for visual methodologies - TUZZit

Collaborative whiteboard for visual methodologies - TUZZit | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
TUZZit is a online collaborative whiteboard that will help you to develop your creativity. It's the perfect tool for visual and design thinking. Through our canvas library learn new visual methodolgies.
Beth Dichter's insight:

TUZZit is a new tool to me and it is free. If you find that many of your students are visual learners take some time to check out this tool. One feature that many may find helpful is the library of "canvases" that provide structure for a wide variety of projects. Most of these are more geared to business but you can also create your own canvas. Other features include inserting images and videos and creating post-it notes. Larry Ferlazzo, who led me to this tool states "In some ways it seems like an Exploratree on steroids." If you are planning on collaborating on a project consider testing this tool with your colleagues.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

How to Reinvent Project Based Learning to Be More Meaningful

How to Reinvent Project Based Learning to Be More Meaningful | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Project-based learning continues to be misinterpreted as a single teaching strategy rather than as a set of design principles that allow us to introduce the philosophy of inquiry into education in an intelligent and grounded way. It’s time to not only address the flaws in PBL, but to reinvent it in a way that leads to deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing.
Beth Dichter's insight:

So how would one go about reinterpreting project-based learning? This post explores this idea in depth, providing five key areas where change must occur, and detailing one to five additional ideas that will help move project-based learning to a "philosophy of inquiry."
What are the five key areas?

1. Put PBL on a continuum of inquiry.

2. Blend surface knowledge and deeper learning.

3. Start with a sophisticated student-centered culture.

4. Make collaboration as important in school as it is in life.

5. Understand that PBL cannot be done alone.

If you are using project-based learning, or are considering implementing project-based learning next year take the time to check out this post. There are many great ideas that will lead our students to "deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing."

Kate JohnsonMcGregor's curator insight, March 25, 2014 10:04 AM

This is helpful as a philosophical vision - how to rethink our teaching to effectively integrate the inquiry process. Love it! 

Rosemary Tyrrell, Ed.D.'s curator insight, March 25, 2014 2:32 PM

This post includes some strategic suggestions on how to make PBL more meaningful for your students. 

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

S.A.S.S.Y. SAMR: Toolkit for Educators to Transform Instruction

S.A.S.S.Y. SAMR: Toolkit for Educators to Transform Instruction | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
  • S: STUDENTS and Storytelling
  • A: Awesome ASSESSMENT (Teacher-Driven and Student-Driven)
  • S: SOCIAL (Voice and Collaboration)
  • S: SEEK: Research and Visualization (Finding it, Citing it, and Displaying it)
  • Y: YOU: Think about Your Own Thinking…
Beth Dichter's insight:

This infographic has many ThingLinked activities and resources. To get to them click through to the post. The infographic includes five pieces of support material, including over 60 SAMR examples and resources. There are also four questions that may help you determine if the technology is an enhancement or transformative. One is below.

* Does the technology/tool allow for collaboration (e.g. within a school, district, state, nation, globe, experts, PLN)?

This post is chock full of information as well as introducing the new acronym SASSY (see infographic above).

Ruby Day's curator insight, February 14, 2014 3:54 PM

Useful resources for programme design

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Plagiarism vs. Collaboration on Education’s Digital Frontier

Plagiarism vs. Collaboration on Education’s Digital Frontier | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
Instead of focusing our concerns on technology as an aid to plagiarizers, we should focus on its ability to foster creativity and collaboration, says Jen Carey.
Beth Dichter's insight:

As teachers we know how easy it is for students to plagiarize today. We are asked to have students work collaboratively and use tools where students may see others thoughts. How to we deal with these issues, the need for collaboration and using tools which promote this and the issue of students plagiarizing? And when it comes to assessment how do we ask students to collaborate yet also demand that they not plagiarize?

This post explores these issues and discusses how to "transform cheating into collaboration"?  There is also a question that each of us might ask ourselves (and I suspect many of us have): If you can Google an answer is it a good question for an assessment?

 

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the 'real world'...

Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. The following team-building games can promote cooperation and communication, help establish a positive classroom environment and — most importantly — provide a fun, much-needed reprieve from routine."

Beth Dichter's insight:

Team building exercises are a great way to teach skills and change things up in the classroom. The list of ten seen in the image above are described in the post. Some of the skills learned or reinforced are communication, problem solving, and trust. For more information and to learn how to play the game click through to the post.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

27 Ways to Build a Team

27 Ways to Build a Team | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it

"There are several benefits in having your students work as a team. Social Learning theory explores these benefits. But, how do you do it? Here are 27 ways to build a team."

Beth Dichter's insight:

Learning to work collaboratively is a skill we often talk about, but how do we build teams in our classrooms? If you are asking yourself this question check out this infographic and learn 27 ways to build a team.

Ashleigh Dawley's curator insight, September 30, 2013 4:18 PM

Thought this was a great way to get thinkig about teams and different ways to form them. Uses funn interactive and proactive ways to build a team.

Scooped by Beth Dichter
Scoop.it!

Why It's Time To Start Teaching Students How To Think - Edudemic

Why It's Time To Start Teaching Students How To Think - Edudemic | Eclectic Technology | Scoop.it
As an elementary teacher, I can’t help but notice that children today want quick answers and do not take the time to think things through.
Beth Dichter's insight:

As teachers how can we help out students learn to think. Their world outside of school is filled with technology that often provides "instant gratification."
This post is split into four sections.
* We must teach our children to think.

* We must not underestimate modeling thinking.

*As we teach students how to think, we must include questioning as an integral part of the thinking process.

* Collaboration contributes greatly to learning.

Teaching students to think should begin at an early age and think-alouds are one tool to use. "Think-alouds are essential if we want our students to know the discourse that must take place in their brains when they are processing information. When students observe others performing an action it predisposes them to that activity on a subconscious level."

Additional information is available in the post.

Carolyn Williams's curator insight, August 26, 2013 4:57 AM

Making it Fun!

Kymberley Pelky's curator insight, August 26, 2013 3:12 PM

In an age where children expect everything to be instant, their responses become the same without taking time to process the information first.

Becky Mowat's comment, August 26, 2013 9:48 PM
Analysis and synthesis take time...and are critical to problem solving, as we all know. How to teach these higher level thinking processes is key to helping students become successful independent learners.