Discovery Conference Welcomes Educators Both in Person and Online

Discovery Conference Welcomes Educators Both in Person and Online
Educators looking to freshen their lesson plans this year might want to check out Spring Into Action, Discovery Education’s fourth annual virtual conference to help teachers incorporate digital content into classwork.

Set for Saturday, April 25, the conference features both webcasts and 13 in-person events across the country highlighted by a virtual lecture, “Building School 2.0,” by Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a Philadelphia high school. more » » »

Industry makes pitch that smartphones belong in the classroom

The cellphone industry has a suggestion for improving the math skills of American students: spend more time on cellphones in the classroom.

http://adjix.com/4k67

What Does Obama's Education Agenda Mean For Us?

Taking School Seriously

President Obama outlined his view of K-12 public education yesterday, www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/news/la-me-obama-education-2009mar11,0,817684.story

Most of the ne...

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Disrupting the educational status quo

[Via Durff's blog]

"How do we move to a student centric system?" asked Michael Horn : http://maestro.sevenstaracademy.org/aventacontent/Video/2009-01-14%2016.03%20Coming%20Changes%20in%20Education_%20Implications%20for%20Christian%20School%20Leaders.wmv

Bringing the Power of Education to Children around the World

Room to Read's John Wood:

After a trek in the Himalayas brought him face-to-face with extreme poverty and illiteracy, John Wood left his position as a director of business development at Microsoft to found Room to Read, an award-winning international education organization.

Under his leadership, more than 1.7 million children in the developing world now have access to enhanced educational opportunities. Room to Read to date has opened 725 schools and 7,000 bilingual libraries, and funded more than 7,000 scholarships for girls. Wood talked with Knowledge@Wharton about the launch of Room to Read, the book he wrote called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World and his personal definition of success.

http://adjix.com/hrvn

Charter on primary schooling

The Charter on Primary Schooling sets out the Australian Primary Principals Association's views on the nature and purposes of primary schooling in Australia. It aims to be a foundational document during policy deliberations about the role of primary schools, their curriculum and the level of support that they require to achieve high standards. The core learning areas are presented as: English literacy, Mathematics (including numeracy), Science, and Social Education.

http://www.appa.asn.au/cms/uploads/news/charter20071001.pdf

Quote for the week

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car;

but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Video - 21st Century Decision-Making

Author James Surowiecki explains how the decision-making ability of a diverse group of people is more effective than that of individuals.

Targeted teaching of civics and citizenship needed

Formal education in civics and citizenship is urgently required if Australian students are to increase their familiarity with key historical civic events...

Read on ...

Schools to face national standard

PARENTS can expect a national school curriculum regardless of which party wins this year's federal election after the Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, joined the Coalition in pushing states and territories to set common standards.

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Sharing the enthusiasm

From Harold Jarche

As a learning professional, it’s time to take a stance. Enabling learning is no longer about disseminating good content. Enabling learning is about being a learner yourself, sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm and then taking a
back
seat

Read the whole article

Reading Recovery in the Classroom

"I consider myself to be a Reading Recovery teacher. I was trained in 1999 and worked for four years as a Reading Recovery/literacy support coordinator. During that time I worked with teachers and gave tips on how they could use Reading Recovery techniques in the classroom. I was very proud of the fact I could teach them how to use running records and sound boxes. I devised a whole list of activities that could be done in the classroom. All of this had merit, but I think I missed the bigger picture of what Reading Recovery is about. It is about looking at the children and thinking of what I can do to help them understand the reading process. It is about being explicit, not wasting time and getting the most out of them as learners. The other things are the tools we use in order to achieve our aims.
This year I have returned to the classroom. I was a bit worried as it had been a long time, and I was given a prep grade. It is funny with classroom teaching, when you are doing all the things necessary to run a class you just do it, but on reflection you think about the lunchboxes, the meetings, the parents, the ‘I want to go home’, ‘he won’t play with me’, ‘she took my lunch’ and you wonder: how did I do it all? Anyway, being a positive person, I decided if other people could manage, I could manage too.
My year started this year as most prep grades do. The children would come in to school, there would be activities on the tables and the children would move around the room as they pleased. As a Reading Recovery teacher I was very mindful about introducing them to their books, so I took the opportunity while they were playing to select a book for them that would match their needs. I was amazed at the rapid improvement in their reading levels. I was treating each child as a Reading Recovery student, introducing them to a new book and prompting them according to their needs.
I began to wonder, was it the time the children were allowed to develop or was it the explicit teaching or was it both?
So I thought I would analyse what else has changed. ..."

Read on ...