Teaching in the XXI century

Why have your students work collaboratively? "Collaborative learning teams are said to attain higher levels of thinking and preserve information for longer times that students working individually."

This post provides 20 suggestions to help collaborative groups work more effectively. A few are:

* Establish group goals.

* Keep groups mid-sized.

* Build trust and promote open communication.

* Consider the learning process asa part of the assessment.

The post includes links to a variety of resources and each point has an explantion with additional information.

Via Beth Dichter

Robin Good: Must-read article on ClutterMuseum.com by Leslie M-B, exploring in depth the opportunity to have students master their selected topics by "curating" them, rather than by reading and memorizing facts about them.

 

"Critical and creative thinking should be prioritized over remembering content"

 

"That students should learn to think for themselves may seem like a no-brainer to many readers, but if you look at the textbook packages put out by publishers, you’ll find that the texts and accompanying materials (for both teachers and students) assume students are expected to read and retain content—and then be tested on it.

Instead, between middle school (if not earlier) and college graduation, students should practice—if not master—how to question, critique, research, and construct an argument like an historian."

 

This is indeed the critical point. Moving education from an effort to memorize things on which then to be tested, to a collaborative exercise in creating new knowledge and value by pulling and editing together individual pieces of content, resources and tools that allow the explanation/illustration of a topic from a specific viewpoint/for a specific need.

 

And I can't avoid to rejoice and second her next proposition: "What if we shifted the standards’ primary emphasis from content, and not to just the development of traditional skills—basic knowledge recall, document interpretation, research, and essay-writing—but to the cultivation of skills that challenge students to make unconventional connections, skills that are essential for thriving in the 21st century?"

 

What are these skills, you may ask. Here is a good reference where to look them up: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf (put together by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills)

 

 

Recommended. Good stuff. 9/10

 

Full article: www.cluttermuseum.com/make-students-curators/

 

(Image credit: Behance.net)

 

 

Via Robin Good

"An article from Educational Leadership on "how to engage students whom seem unreachable, who resist learning activities, or who disrupt them for others." Larry Ferlazzo reflects on his yers of teaching and shares ways he engages students by developing "their intrinsic motivation."

The post provides eight detailed recommendations. The infographic above shares the short hand version!"

Via Beth Dichter, Content, Elena Elliniadou

Tech Tools valuable to anyone involved with studying, teaching, as well for librarians!

 

RT @deblund: #Teachers #librarians #parents: A handful of #tech tools to use with your #students!

 

This blog post is dedicated to all of the overworked teachers who just don’t have the time to seek out this information. I have provided brief explanations, links to and pictures of the tools mentioned by Simple K12 (and a couple of my favorites). I hope this makes it more manageable for teachers to pick and choose which tools they want to use.

 

The tools:

Collaborize Classroom

Prezi

Evernote

Glogster

etc.

 

Via Karen du Toit