All Blog Posts Tagged 'education' (330)

Back To School Giveaway. Winners Will Be Randomly Selected. First Place Prizes, The…

There have been many reformers offering ideas for improving numeracy in our schools.  Many of them advocate the use of specific commercial resources or explicit lesson plans – in short they offer recipes for teachers and schools to follow.    The quietly spoken Alistair McIntosh (formerly Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia)…

It is no secret that a great deal is expected of schools. Our curriculum documents overflow with worthy content - and even some content that is perhaps less worthy.  Even if the teaching of academic skills and knowledge were all that was expected of schools the task of the teacher would be daunting. However, all educators know that much more is expected of teachers than “merely” teaching content matter.  Teachers are also required to nurture their students in areas other than the strictly…

The search is on for top educators who have presented Professional Development sessions at their school, for their district, for their state, for a national or international conference, or via the web. …

Guest Post By Derrick Waddell…

On 20th September 2011 the iEducate Team presents the tools and resources that were developed during the project lifetime. Furthermore recent developments and technologies that will shape the future of vocational education will be introduced during several break-out session.

On 21st September 2011 a virtual conference will take place at the virtual training island in Second Life for those unable to attend in person on the 20th.

See…

What is an estimator?

An estimator is a person that writes auto repair estimates on vehicles that have been involved in an accident. The estimator must understand the basic car design and know the nomenclature of a vehicle. The estimator must also have good communication skills as they deal with customers on a daily basis. Not only does the estimator have to communicate with customers, but they will also be the contact person for the insurance companies, shop…

A week ago my knowledge of the education system of Finland was, to be honest,  almost non-existent.   I knew that they were consistently ranked number one of all “Western” countries in PISA testing but had no idea how they did it.  Then, last weekend, I attended a keynote address by Professor Teemu Leinonen, Professor of New Media Design and Learning at the Media Lab of…

It is common when blogging  to re-post video that is current, up to date, modern.  I’m breaking with that trend on this post by linking to a clip dating from 1960.

 Marshall McLuhan was a key thinker in the early days of electric  media – when television and radio were emerging forces.  He achieved near guru status with his concept of “The Global Village”.   The…

If mathematics has a poster boy it is – or at least should be – Dan Meyer.  Meyer is something of a rarity in the field of public discussion of mathematics; he is not an academic, he is not an  educational administrator,  he is a teacher -  someone who works in real classrooms with real students with real mathematics.    It is this “real world” context that makes him worth listening to – and which provides the grounding for his instruction.

Meyer is an advocate of authentic…

My second blog post concerning 5 ideas about what a teacher could do during the summer holidays. It will be great to leave your comment and feel free to add your own ideas!!!

http://elgreco-physiart.blogspot.com/2011/06/5-things-teacher-can-do-after-school.html

I’ve been reading a lot of assignments of late to do with literacy generally and the “literacy wars” in particular.   Perhaps predictably the students fall comfortably into the “phonics” or “whole language” camps – few have made the accurate observation that both approaches co-exist in the classrooms of effective teachers.   Some have stretched a little further to include…

We live in an era of bells and whistles and razzmatazz, the 30 second sound bite, flash animations and “edutainment”.   For a message to “hit home” it has to be delivered with all the “bells and whistles” that are possible. Right?  Wrong.



Educational consultant Alan November proves that powerful thoughts, spoken softly in the most traditional manner of all - a teacher in front of some students with only some slides (still images) to help him, can be riveting.…

Here is a link to my blog post, along with videos and related links:

Algodoo Physics App, now optimized for the SMART Board (800 series), supports multitouch and multi-user interaction!

Note:  I am not marketing this application- I just like it. I've been following the evolution of this app. since it was PHUN beta.

“Well, Duh!”

Prolific writer and vocal advocate for educational reform Alfie Kohn has just published a new collection of essays under the banner of “Feel – Bad Education”.   His introduction ,  “Well, Duh!: Obvious Truths That We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring” sets the tone for the text.   In the introduction Alfie lists some commonly agreed beliefs about education  such as “Much of the material that students are required to memorize is soon forgotten.”   He then challenges…