• 3 Strategies to Promote Independent Thinking in Classrooms | Edutopia

  tags: strategies thinking

  • In his study of people who find satisfaction with their lives, Harvard psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (3) defines as autotelic those who are happiest when they are absorbed in complex activities. By focusing on tasks and outcomes that stretch their skills, these young people are more likely to grow into contented adults. The most significant factor for autotelic development is what Csikszentmihalyi terms attentional capacity. Consequently, if his research into self-motivated learning is correct, then the classroom should become an incubator for growing students’ attentional capacity. Instruction should be organized in intriguing yet challenging ways to foster attention. 

     Teachers can utilize three strategies to cultivate improved focus: sequencing instruction, recovery from mistakes, and setting goals.

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• Teacher-Observation Frameworks Need Slimming, Advocacy Group Says – Teacher Beat – Education Week

  tags: teaching Teacher evaluation teacher observation framework for teaching

  • Popular frameworks for judging teachers’ on-the-job performance are too complex and also too content-agonostic, contends teacher-training group TNTP in a new white paper.

     

    Without fixes, those conducting the observations are likely to be overwhelmed and unable to focus on the most important aspects of teaching. As a result, evaluation results will continue to be inflated and teachers won’t receive effective professional development, the paper says.

  • First, the frameworks should be based more heavily on ensuring that the content taught is aligned with grade-level standards. That way, a teacher can’t get an “effective” rating for teaching 5th graders an engaging lesson using content designed for 3rd graders.
  • Second, the frameworks themselves should be slimmed to highlight the most important features so that observers can concentrate on those and develop a richer sense of each teacher’s abilities

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• The Hardest Job Everyone Thinks They Can Do

  tags: teaching teachers

  • I used to be a molecular biologist. I spent my days culturing viruses. Sometimes, my experiments would fail miserably, and I’d swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances would ask how my work was going. I’d explain how I was having a difficult time cloning this one gene. I couldn’t seem to figure out the exact recipe to use for my cloning cocktail.

     

    Acquaintances would sigh sympathetically. And they’d say, “I know you’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”

     

    And then, they’d tilt their heads in a show of respect for my skills….

     

    Today, I’m a high school teacher. I spend my days culturing teenagers. Sometimes, my students get disruptive, and I swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances ask me how my work is going. I explain how I’m having a difficult time with a certain kid. I can’t seem to get him to pay attention in class.

     

    Acquaintances smirk knowingly. And they say, “well, have you tried making it fun for the kids? That’s how you get through to them, you know?”

     

    And then, they explain to me how I should do my job….

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards | Edutopia

  tags: common core standards resources

  • Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of dense, conflicting information out there about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?
  • Edutopia’s guide to other organizations that offer valuable resources.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Speek

  tags: tools

  • Make super simple, free and visual conference calls. Choose an easy-to-remember personal link (i.e., speek.com/YourName) for your calls, instead of fumbling for a traditional phone number and PIN. 

       

      Click the link to start or join a call from your phone, a web or mobile browser, VOIP or SMS. Once you’re on the call, know who’s joined, know who’s talking, share files, view social profiles, and comment, mute and add/remove participants. 

       

      There’s nothing to download and no elevator music. 

       

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Statistics Done Wrong

  Available online!

  tags: statistics research

  • Statistics Done Wrong is a guide to the most popular statistical errors and slip-ups committed by scientists every day, in the lab and in peer-reviewed journals. Many of the errors are prevalent in vast swathes of the published literature, casting doubt on the findings of thousands of papers. Statistics Done Wrong assumes no prior knowledge of statistics, so you can read it before your first statistics course or after thirty years of scientific practice.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Tween Brains: How to Work It Out In The Classroom

  tags: middle school brain research activities

  • Tips for Teaching Brain-Centric Activities
  • 1.     Yawning before a test
  • 2.    Take syn-naps
  • 3.     Rotating Seats
  • 4.    KWLH
  • 5.    Let Them Drink Water
  • 6.    Flash a picture between PowerPoint and Keynote slides
  • 7.    Instantaneous think aloud
  • 8.    Attach a Lesson or Unit to Music

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.