Student engagement can be a real challenge in this sudden shift toward distance learning. But one way to improve engagement is by empowering students. In this article, we explore how to improve equity and access
As educators we have to think of each child's situation at home. Be mindful of what what could be happening in their home setting. We must be generous because we do not know the chaos that could be occuring. We must empower students in all distance learning environments. On the other hand, we must encourage students to chase their curiosity.
"The premise is simple enough here: What are the kinds of messages that inspire students?
We’ve talked about student engagement and motivational videos for teens, in addition to ‘good class rules.’
This is similar but not intently meant to ‘inspire.’ Rather, the hope is that by separating these kinds of messages into three different categories and perspectives (I, You, and Us/We), you might be able to use them to guide a lot of what you do, from curriculum and instructional design to creating class rules and norms."
Saint Patrick’s is a small, pre-K–8 Catholic school in Yorktown Heights, New York. Last year, we received a grant to revamp our computer lab into what we call a STREAM lab, which stands for science, technology, religion, engineering, art, and math. The grant allowed us to invest in 30 new MacBook Airs to supplement our existing iPads and Chromebooks. Before we spent a cent, though, we made certain to connect every purchase with our two important goals: improving each individual child’s academic and career prospects, and improving our students’ scores on state assessments, which are critical to whether we’re succeeding or failing as a school. To that end, here are four essential skills that we strive to teach all of our students by the time they finish middle school.
Students undergo a lot of pressure when exams are around the corner. It can be quite a challenge to focus on the task at hand in such a state of mind. This article is going to look at how students can relieve stress by playing with LEGO during exam times.
People normally consider LEGO just a toy, however, it is so much more than just a toy. It exercises your brain and gives you many benefits as a result. Rather than watching cartoons on TV and tablets most of the time, engaging in LEGO can prove to be such an excellent utilization of time and energy.
"I just learned that New York City doesn’t actually have alleys. Okay, they have a few private alleys. However, after listening to the latest 99% Invisible podcast, I learned that the idea of alleys throughout NYC is a bit of a myth. Does this matter? Probably not. But it’s what I love about podcasts. I love the surprise of learning random historical facts on Hardcore History or rethinking creativity from 99% Invisible. In other words, I love geeking out.
But it’s more than that. My favorite podcasts push my thinking and help me see things from a new perspective. I discover new frameworks and blueprints. They can be purely geeky or imminently practical.
As a former teacher and current professor, I’ve spent years having students create podcasts. While the platforms and audiences have evolved, I love the idea of students sharing their voice with an audience."
Two years ago when Erick Hanson migrated from history teacher to media specialist he had one big goal in mind: to make the library cool again.
“If kids weren't coming into the library to check out books because they need the information or they just want to read for leisure, where are they going instead?” says Hanson, who works at Pennsylvania’s East Pennsboro School District, near Harrisburg.
In a mobile age, books and desktops weren’t much of a draw to the library, and foot traffic had seen better days. So he began wondering where kids were going instead and how he could meet them halfway.
“It didn't take long for me to boil that down to YouTube as the major place where they're consuming content,” says Hanson. “So the idea came about to turn our student consumers into creators.” That year he began EP Media, an after-school YouTube club for both middle and high school students that has blossomed into one of the district’s most hands-on, student-driven initiatives.
When teachers reexamine how they were taught math and their perceptions of their ability, student test scores and attitudes about math dramatically improve, according to a new study.
The research, which appears in the journal Education Sciences, shows that fifth-grade teachers who took an online class designed to give them a different approach to mathematics teaching and learning, achieved significantly higher test results for their students compared with a control group of teachers in the same schools who did not take the class.
Teachers have long known that rote memorization can lead to a superficial grasp of material that is quickly forgotten. But new research in the field of neuroscience is starting to shed light on the ways that brains are wired to forget—highlighting the importance of strategies to retain knowledge and make learning stick.
"De acuerdo a los neurobiólogos Blake Richards and Paul Frankland, el objetivo de la memoria no es solo almacenar información con precisión sino también "optimizar la toma de decisiones" en entornos caóticos y muy cambiantes. En este modelo de cognición, el olvido es una estrategia evolutiva, un proceso útil que se ejecuta en el fondo de la memoria, evaluando y descartando información que no promueve la supervivencia de la especie." (Youki Terada, 2017).
Emily Pilloton, Founder of Studio H, a design/build class at REALM Charter School and Girls Garage both in Berkeley, California, describes how she “knew there were things about architecture and design that could have a deep impact in the classroom.”
This is the question I hear and see most frequently online and at conferences when someone mentions the phrase empower students.
As someone who just released a book with the title, Empower, I have gone in-depth talking about the differences between compliance (forcing kids to pay attention to our content), engagement (getting kids excited about our content), and empowerment (kids excited to learn on their own).
Bill Ferriter sums up the difference perfectly in this blog post with a visual:
We owe it to our youth to motivate them to want to learn. However we can not make them learn. There are many factors to take into consideration when trying to cultivate learning in the classroom.
A major generational clash is underway, says a foremost expert, and it’s affecting all industries, including education. The clash is coming from so-called Gen Z, the first generation to be considered fully “phigital”—unwilling or unable to draw a distinction between the physical world and its digital equivalent.
So what does that mean for educators? Well, buckle up and hold on.
Jerry Blumengarten, Billy Krakower, and Paula Naugle Imagine students working on a science project and being able to connect with an actual scientist to get answers to their questions. Imagine students studying a country and connecting with a class there to ask questions and share learning. Imagine students being able to talk with older students and their teachers about the best ways to adjust to new grade levels. Today, there are a multitude of platforms we can use to connect and engage our students globally. Here are just a few.
A surge in awareness about disinformation among pupils and teachers has been accompanied by a rise in the number of teachers who bring up this thorny issue in the classroom. But the gap between demand and supply remains largely unchanged. The share of teachers saying digital literacy is important is still nearly 30 percentage points above those who say it is being taught.
Think nothing good can come from encouraging students to use social media? Consider what these former students from Minarets and Design Science high schools in Central California are doing. I asked these students how they use social media as an academic tool and how that shaped both their high school and post-secondary success. Here's what I learned.
We can now communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime through the simple click of a button, and it is our job as educators to leverage these collaborative tools in the classroom. Many schools are finding creative ways to incorporate blended learning in their curriculums, and THINK Global School, where I teach, is no different.
Due to our focus on blended learning and travel, it is imperative that we remain as paperless as possible. Technology can often make or break our experiences as we study in different countries around the world, so we must hit the ground running during our seven-week intensive country visits. And depending on how they are integrated into our teaching toolkits, the tools used for our blended learning units can either help or hinder our student learning experiences.
Like you, we’ve tested our fair share of tools in trying to make the digital collaboration process with our students as seamless as possible. Some have worked incredibly while others not so much. But there are five that we’ve ended up going back to time after time–tools that just make student collaboration online (and thus blended learning) that much easier.
What better way to help a student than to provide oppourtunitues for them to collaborate with each other.This article provides some excellent tools to help students share and create information. Some of the programs in there are oldies but goodies and you may even learn about some new ones!
"Teachers don’t have to look far to see how changes in technology and social media are shaping students and influencing classrooms. We watch kids obsess over the latest apps as they chat before class. We marvel at the newest slang edging its way into student essays, and wonder at the ways constant smartphone communication is shaping students’ friendships, bullying, and even study habits.
To understand the internet-savvy students who fill our classrooms and the changing landscape of social media they inhabit, we need more than hot new gadgets or expensive educational software. The book list below is a starting point if you’re looking for insight into how the digital age is shaping students and ideas about how you can respond in the classroom.
Each book was chosen for its combination of research, story, and applicability to the classroom. Grab one or two to help you invent new strategies to reach students or reimagine your application of technology in your classroom."
Five years ago I wrote an eBook about the ways that my six-year-old students and I jumped into the opportunities provided by the Internet to connect with people and classrooms around the world.
Beginning in 2005, my students, despite their tender age, each had their own blog as an online portfolio of their learning and regularly posted artifacts such as photos and videos to showcase their progress. We used Skype to video conference with classes across North America and beyond and besides learning so much about others, we worked on our reading, math and other skills with them. We used Twitter as a learning tool for reading, writing, math, social studies and science. Connecting with and learning from others was part of the way we learned.
The book was my opportunity to share the positive effects of a thoughtful approach to social technologies in the primary grades and beyond.
When I ask teachers what their biggest struggles are, one issue comes up on a regular basis: student motivation. You are able to reach many of your students, but others are unreachable. No matter what you try, they have no interest in learning, no interest in doing quality work, and you are out of ideas.
For a long time, I had no solutions; the problem was too complex. I have had my own unmotivated students, and I never had any magic bullets for them. Still, the issue kept coming up from my readers.
So I decided to do some research, to try to find what the most current studies say about what motivates students. This is what I found:
Two years ago when Erick Hanson migrated from history teacher to media specialist he had one big goal in mind: to make the library cool again.
“If kids weren't coming into the library to check out books because they need the information or they just want to read for leisure, where are they going instead?” says Hanson, who works at Pennsylvania’s East Pennsboro School District, near Harrisburg.
In a mobile age, books and desktops weren’t much of a draw to the library, and foot traffic had seen better days. So he began wondering where kids were going instead and how he could meet them halfway.
“It didn't take long for me to boil that down to YouTube as the major place where they're consuming content,” says Hanson. “So the idea came about to turn our student consumers into creators.” That year he began EP Media, an after-school YouTube club for both middle and high school students that has blossomed into one of the district’s most hands-on, student-driven initiatives.
It doesn’t matter if you look at Bloom’s Taxonomy, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, or any other set of educational standards or guidelines.
When students are communicating and collaborating (and talking) much more learning is happening!
This is the three-step system we used and it worked well, but constantly needed to be tweaked.
It looked very different in terms of setup and time allotted when I did it with different groups of students depending on their age, level, and experience in a student-centered environment.
Promote future-ready learning with the ISTE Standards for Students
Today’s students must be prepared to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape. The ISTE Standards for Students are designed to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process. Connect with other educators in the ISTE Standards Community and learn how to use the standards in the classroom with the ISTE Standards for Students ebook.
Today’s students must be prepared to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape. The ISTE Standards for Students are designed to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process. Connect with other educators in the ISTE Standards Community and learn how to use the standards in the classroom with the ISTE Standards for Students ebook.
The following TEDTalk by Rita Pierson reminds us of why we all got involved in teaching to begin with.
While curriculum, assessment, and instructional design may be how you parse your thinking now, at one point it probably had more to do with content, curiosity, and relationships. In this talk, the 40-year veteran teacher reminds us that not only do relationships matters, sometimes they’re all that matters.
A video I often show at professional learning sessions I facilitate is the TEDx Talk “Extracurricular Empowerment” by Scott McLeod (@mcleod).
Mr. McLeod talks about the powerful, “at home learning” students are doing with technology. He asks the questions “how can we take the extracurricular and turn it into the curricular?” This really is a profound statement as it, in many ways, answers the question posed earlier, “technology changes so fast, how can I keep up?” The answer really comes down to this….. you don’t have to keep up! If we empower our students and focus on their skills, strengths, affinity, and talents with technology we don’t have to “know it all”, but rather just focus on what the students already know and do, and bring that into the classroom.
"As Chung suggests, the 21st-century global citizen’s cognitive skill set includes traditional, testable basics such as math and literacy, but extends beyond that to encompass a particularly strong emphasis on the world in which we live. “Current events highlight some of the fears around otherness,” she says. The key to informed citizenship is getting to know other cultures — and valuing them.
In addition to rounding out kids’ knowledge base to include a nuanced understanding of world geography and cultures, schools must teach them the skills to use this knowledge as active and engaged citizens.”
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