Homework, the tip of the iceberg

[Via Stephen Downes]

Witnessing the effects of six hours of homework after a six hour school day has had my mind churning so much that I cannot sleep. Consider this an open letter to the New Brunswick Department of Education and all educators.

Read on ...

Boosting intelligence among poor is child's play

Giving pre-school children toys to play with boosts their mental development even if they suffer from malnutrition, a report said on Friday.

The report, published in the Lancet medical journal, said several studies had found a clear link between intelligence and child's play
Read on ...

Embracing Technology in the Classroom: One Professor's Story

By Chris Procello

Laurel Amtower, professor of English and comparative literature, was becoming concerned about how to reach her students. Each semester her classes became larger, and, correspondingly, students were banking on their anonymity. Class attendance had become more sporadic and a good portion of her students sat in the back of her classes, not engaged. Assigned papers were seen as hurdles where students saw no connection between what they were being asked to do and what skills they are supposed to gain as a result of the class.

Read on ...

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.

Read on ...

Gaming advances as a learning tool

This article from America gives teachers ideas on how to capture the interest of
'digital natives' by using games in the classroom.

Read on ...

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

BBC Plans Online Children's World

A "safe, secure" virtual world which children can inhabit and interact with is being planned by the BBC in England.
Read on ...

Some thoughts about school 2.0

From Chris Lehmann

It's really not about the computers. School 2.0 is older than that. School 2.0 is the tradition of Dewey. School 2.0 is born out of the idea that active, engaged, constructivist learning will lead to active, engaged students and people.It's about the pedagogy.Too much educational software just attempts to turn these really powerful devices into the next version of the workbook. That's criminal.Computers and internet technology should allow us create, to communicate and to research.

Read on ...

International Polar year

International Polar Year

During International Polar Year (IPY), from March 2007 to March 2009, interdisciplinary research will be undertaken into climate change and the interactions of climate, oceans, ice, land, ecosystems and human society in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Teaching activities

Antarctic Dad (MP)
Getting to know the polar regions (LS)
Melting ice (UP)
Sea level rising in South Pacific (U/Sec)

More resources on Polar Regions and Antarctica

Rand McNally delivers fee-based geography content online

Rand McNally recently launched a new web-based service to deliver comprehensive geography content, interactive games and activities, and skills-based lesson plans for teachers.

Read more ...

One hundred years of surf lifesaving in Australia

I tend to take the surf lifesavers for granted. I surf = I swim between the flags - no question. So I'm so glad to be able to celebrate with the surf lifesavers.

Here is the website -
http://www.slsa.com.au/default.aspx?s=yearofthesurflifesaver

And for the classroom
Between the Flags education kit
To celebrate the 2007 International Year of Surf Lifesaving in Australia, the National Museum of Australia has developed an education package

Treating (Teaching) Children "Equally" is Unfair

You hear these statements all the time…

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…
Everyone is equal before the law.
Teachers should treat all students equally.

One platitude after another…

Who can disagree with these assertions?

After all, isn't treating everyone equally the same as fairness?

Teaching is Different than Running a Lunch Counter

This article is about providing love, service, protection and caring instruction to every child.

In fact, children of illegal immigrants, the children of the same religion of the terrorist airplane hijacker, the children who come to school wearing the same dirty tee-shirt for weeks at a time…deserve to be treated fairly.

But, for all the compassion, empathy and caring that teachers hold; for all the dedication that teachers donate to students and our society by perfecting their instructional skills; treating children equally is unfair.

In fact, treating children equally turns out to be stingy, uncaring and unkind.

Here we expose some of the effects of the "Treat/ Teach all children equally" prescription…

http://classroomtoolkit.net/serendipity/archives/80-Feature-Article.html#extended

Playground fun

Playground fun aims to bring together traditional and modern playground and street games for children aged 7–9 and aims to encourage children to take part in physical activity through education.
Teaching materials contain worksheets, teaching ideas and curriculum references to help you integrate the Playground fun website and the games on it into your teaching. The Playground fun project consists of six "lessons" that promote the effective use of ICT, digital cameras and the Internet. There are also links back to the website. These lessons are aimed at Years 3 and 4 but can be adapted to suit your class.

Visit Playground Fun

Learned Helplessness: A Habit we Don't Want for Ourselves (or Our Students)

Situations exist. How we interpret situations determines our reaction to these situations. Our interpretation also determines our mood, and long-term, determines our beliefs.

Learned helplessness refers to what happens when, after countless attempts, people come to believe that their work, strategies, techniques and efforts "get them nowhere, provide no positive payoff."
If a teacher comes to believe that a situation is hopeless, and the results of their work and effort are uncontrollable, a number of outcomes (all negative) are possible.

http://classroomtoolkit.net/serendipity/archives/79-Short-Article.html#extended

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 ...

Vic schools a 'war toy free zone'

Toy soldiers, model war planes and wrestling figurines have been banned in Victorian schools.
The ban is part of a move towards political correctness.
Primary schools and kindergartens are now "war toy free zones".

Read on ...

Here is a list of the web pages for teachers that I have just

Space
History and Timelines
Booklists
Values books
Ancient Egypt
Internet Research
Maths
Special days
Kindergarten Longer Read-alouds
Year Six Novels
Books for autistic children
Asia - General

"Replacing books with computers shows promise"

The Anchorage Daily News reports that at Wendler Middle School, Sixty seventh-graders have received free-to-use laptops. While the students can't take the laptops home, they can take them into classes, use them for taking notes, and access wireless internet to assist with assignments. The theory underpinning the initiative is that if children have constant access to technology, they will read more often, learn better, and have fun while doing it.

Read more ...

Six ed-tech trends to watch in 2007

Service-oriented architecture, ‘cloud computing’ among the developments sure to have an impact on educational technology in the coming year

Read the whole article

Educated?

To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is educated.

Edith Hamilton


More quotes about education and teaching

Education is ...

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

More quotes related to education and teaching

Education 2.0: The next evolution of school software has arrived

Emergence of open technologies and open-source alternatives makes customizing school software a reality

By Corey Murray, Senior Editor, eSchool News


Aiming to customize their solutions to meet the individual needs of teachers and students, a growing number of school systems are ushering in a new breed of school software that relies on open technologies--whether it's open-source software on their servers and desktops, or so-called Web 2.0 services available free of charge online.

Economics and advancements in technology are fueling this latest trend in school software, proponents of the movement say--but it's also about customization, and the desire to employ a variety of solutions as users see fit.

Read the whole article

An Author in Every Classroom

By Nick Glass

This article highlights specific ways you can replicate these personal connections to authors and illustrators by optimizing a variety of multimedia and online technologies. I will review specific types of virtual author programs, give examples you can freely experience, share how you can use them in your school, and guide you toward bringing an author into every classroom.

-->http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=12208

Learning to use technology - videos of real experiences

Here is a site of free teacher videos of teachers teaching and learning to use technology. These are National Board Certified teachers, and all of the resources are free.

ITunes.http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli/nav2.shtml

Principals beg for more preschools

PRIMARY school principals will campaign for more preschools before the state election in March, following a survey that shows a clear disadvantage for children who skip early childhood learning.

The Primary Principals' Association surveyed public schools and will press Labor to match the Coalition commitment to build more preschools and provide fee relief for families. NSW has the lowest preschool attendance in the country and highest fees - about $30 a day.

Read on ...

Books for Boys

There is a challenge sometimes in getting boys to read. I have always admired the teachers who generated a love of reading in my boys. If you are looking for the sorts of books to recommend to boys, especially reluctant readers, check out the book list I have collected.

Why Teacher Unions Are Good for Teachers and the Public

In the current climate, when it is in vogue to select non-educators to administer school systems, it is vital that teachers have a voice. School reform cannot possibly succeed when teachers—who are on the frontlines of implementation—are left out of the decision-making process. If there is no “buy-in,” if teachers do not willingly concur with the orders handed down from on high, then reform cannot succeed. If administrators operate by stealth and confrontation, then their plans for reform will founder. They cannot improve what happens in the classroom by humiliating and bossing around the teachers who are in daily contact with the children. Only in an atmosphere of mutual respect can administrators and teachers produce the kind of partnership that will benefit students. And administrators cannot achieve this collaborative atmosphere unless they are willing to talk with and listen to the leaders chosen by teachers to represent them.

Read the whole article

Six trends for 2007 and the 21st century

Via Stephen Downes and ZD Net

eSchoolNews editor Gregg Downey offers six prognostications for the coming year. He has listed

Web 2.0.

Cloud computing

Service-oriented architecture

The gathering SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)

Telepresence ...

The sixth is

21st-century learning

An organization called the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a program designed to help educators prepare their students for the future. According to the Partnership, students need the following skills. The job of educators in the 21st century is to deliver them:

• Information and communication skills;
• Thinking and problem-solving skills;
• Interpersonal and self-direction skills;
• Global awareness;
• Financial, economic, and business skills; and
• Civic literacy.

Website update

I updated the website for teachers last night.

These are the pages updated.

Polar Regions
Behaviour Management
Maths
Books in sign
Science
Animals
Fiction activities
Computers & ICTs
Thinking skills
Books for teaching similes
Anorexia - booklist
Countries

and I have also updated the Quotations about Teaching and Education

and the Just for Fun pages

Social-networking sites confound schools

At least half of school systems in a recent poll do not have policies to address students' use of MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites

More than three years after social-networking web sites such as MySpace and Facebook first began cropping up online, school leaders still struggle with how to set policies regarding the use of such sites both inside and outside of school--and many school systems lack these policies altogether, according to a recent survey. Read on ...

Schools mull new Microsoft technologies

Office 2007, Windows Vista promise greater security and ease of use--but upgrading will require significant planning and training

Software giant Microsoft Corp. will begin licensing two major new releases, Office 2007 and Windows Vista, to schools and businesses at the end of this month.

The programs include a host of new features aimed at boosting security and improving their ease of use--but upgrading will require significant planning and training on the part of schools.

Read on ...

Lockie Leonard Read-alikes

Do you have students clamouring for "books lke Lockie Leonard"?

Try this list of Lockie leonard Read-alikes.

Tag: children's books

'Second Life' develops education following

Virtual world being used by some educators and youth groups for teaching, socialization
By Justin Appel, Assistant Editor


Second Life, an enormously popular program that immerses participants in an online virtual world of their own making, is being used by a growing number of educators and youth organizations as a vehicle for instruction.

November 10, 2006—An online virtual world that has become one of the web's most popular activities is also becoming an increasingly popular venue for teaching and socialization among educators and youth organizations.

Read on ...

Tag: Second Life

Momentum builds on e-books

Texas schools the latest to switch from textbooks to electronic versions

Momentum appears to be growing on the use of eBooks in K-12 education:

More and more school districts are replacing traditional textbooks with electronic versions that can be accessed through a school server or downloaded onto student laptops--and a few school systems have opted to eliminate textbooks altogether.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=6707

Atomic Learning releases free blogging workshop

desk - businessThe new blogging workshop with over 100 tutorials is perfect for learners of all abilities. The workshop engages learners, explaining the difference between various kinds of blogs, introducing them to some hosting solutions, and showing them how to setup their own blog using Blogger™.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/partners/showrelease.cfm?ReleaseID=1490

Tag: blogging

Educators slow to wise up to the gender problem

Last month, Melissa Roderick, a University of Chicago professor and leading authority on school reform, arrived at a startling conclusion: The traditional measurements of the nation's progress in improving education, which use race and income as markers, are flawed.

Why? Because boys and girls coming from the same race, families, incomes, neighborhoods and schools are turning out very differently. The girls are doing better.

Nearly half of all boys graduate from Chicago Public Schools with less than a 2.0 average, compared with a fourth of the girls. Only 8% of the system's African-American boys have a 3.0 average - a key indicator of the ability to complete college - compared with 18% of the girls.

The numbers are jarring, which explains Roderick's revelation that Chicago schools won't improve without strategies that focus on boys' achievement - the same kinds of strategies used so successfully to boost math and science skills among girls.

Read on ...

Weightless teachers carry thrills home to students

The moment he became weightless, Mike Hickey of South High School in Cleveland, Ohio, completely forgot about the science experiment he was to conduct."
After the first bounce, I said nuts to the experiments," an exhilarated Hickey said after returning from his 90-minute flight aboard G-Force One, an aircraft specially designed to simulate the zero gravity of space by making controlled free-fall descents.

Hickey and 38 other teachers took part over the weekend in the last of five "Weightless Flights of Discovery" sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corp. and Zero Gravity Corporation of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

They giggled, somersaulted, gulped floating blobs of water and pushed each other around the padded cabin of the modified Boeing 727.

"Any tiny movement shot you across the plane," said Tracy Cindric of Lincoln High School in Gahanna, Ohio.

"It was very chaotic."

The teachers, representing 28 schools in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Arizona, Louisiana and Washington, D.C., are now expected to take their experience, their photographs and above all their enthusiasm back to the classroom and inspire the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

Read on ...

Nine Ways to Recognize a "Learning Classroom"

Test scores are not the only way to tell if a your classroom offers a rich learning environment for your students.

In fact, test scores are possibly one of the poorest ways to gauge how learning is progressing, and these test scores darken your classroom door too late in the school year to do much about learning that's gone awry, anyway.

Here are authentic indicators of instruction that is going right in your classroom:

>>> more

Tags: teachers, learning

Wikipedia:School and University Projects

Useful page on Wikipedia that provides advice, examples and templates to assist in the use of Wikipedia in the classroom. "An advantage of this over regular homework is that the student is dealing with a real world situation, which is not only more educative but also makes it more interesting ("the world gets to see my work"), probably resulting in increased dedication. Besides, it will give the students a chance to collaborate on course notes and papers, and their effort will remain online for reference, instead of being discarded and forgotten as is usual with paper course-work."

Via Education-India

From Stephen Downes

Quotable

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

This is the quote that opened the latest Library News for Teachers.

Tags: Education, quotations

Just for fun

From the Just for fun section of the latest ezine ....

http://digicc.com/fido/

Ok so what is the formula?

Develop or Upgrade your Classroom Library

Make a classroom library a focal point in your classroom, and partition the area in some way from the rest of the room.The space should be large enough to accommodate five or six students in a comfortable manner. How do you make the space comfortable?

Read on ...

Tags: library , Teachers

Primary School Competition Celebrate Australia Day 2007

Upper Primary students are now invited to participate in the national competition to celebrate Australia Day 2007 for the chance to win a digital camera for themselves or their school.

The theme is: An Australian Day: A day in the life of my community.

Students are asked to explore all the great things in their local community and to use these to capture what they celebrate about being Australian.

Students can use images and words to create a visual essay that captures "a day in the life of" their community and expresses what they value and celebrate on Australia Day.

More details...

Teacher joins exodus for better pay

[In August,] Australia lost another of our youngest and brightest teachers to the British education system.

Luke Hall, 23, a maths and science teacher from country Victoria, hopped on a jet for a new life working in London.

His departure and that of thousands of other teachers each year has led to calls by Labor backbencher Craig Emerson for a model that would allow all state school principals to pay teachers more money for good performance instead of seniority. Read on ...

Tag: teachers

Assembly prayers illegal, schools to be told

Reported in August ...

State schools will soon receive a new set of guidelines on religion, including a warning that prayers or Christian karakia in primary schools are illegal in most circumstances. Read on ...

Tags: schools

Learn genetics

From the Genetic Science Learning Centre

“Helping people understand how genetics affects their lives and society”

Includes Resources for teachers

Visit Learn Genetics

Tag: genetics, teachers

Two years' preschool for all, pay rises for staff urged

Found this clipping recently ...

A NATIONAL preschool system that gives children at least two years' education before they start school is the ideal child-care system, says a paper to be released today by 21 social policy researchers.

Read on ...

tags: preschool, teachers

Teachers sell lesson plans online

eBay for educators' helps teachers turn their hard work into extra cash

From eSchool news

A new web site launched in April, teacherspayteachers.com, aims to do for teachers what eBay has done for the masses: It gives teachers a far-reaching platform for selling their lesson plans to other interested educators. Buyers say the site helps them quickly find relevant content that can be adapted for their classrooms; sellers say it allows them to earn some extra money for their work.
Read on …

Tag: teachers

Reading, Writing and Google

Check this out ...

The Literacy Project, launched with United Nations, to cull teaching tools like, perhaps, Hooked on Phonics.

Google unveiled on Wednesday a Web site dedicated to literacy, pulling together its book, video, map and blog services to help teachers and educational organizations share reading resources.

The site was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest gathering of publishing executives, in conjunction with the United Nations and a literacy campaign organized by fair officials.

Continues ...

Tags: Literacy, Google

Digital Classroom Resources

The Digital Classroom Resources (DCR) provides a select collection of free online learning materials which are available through the site. These materials have been classroom tested and peer reviewed. Many items in the library are posted with editorial reviews and a link to a moderated discussion group focused on the materials. Visit the site …

tag: Teachers

USING WIKIS IN SCHOOLS: A CASE STUDY

By Lyndsay Grant, Learning Researcher, Futurelab

IntroductionWikis have been heralded as one of a number of new and powerful forms of software capable of supporting a range of collaborative ventures and learning activities. This paper addresses the potential uses of wikis - online editable websites - as learning tools in schools. It places wikis in the context of current relevant literature about collaborative learning, summarising major theories of learning in communities and knowledge-building in networked groups. It also looks briefly at the trends in the wider area of 'social software', of which wikis are just one example. Using wikis in school is explored further through a short-term 'case study' in a UK secondary school. The literature and research background is used to analyse some of the emerging issues surrounding using wikis in the classroom highlighted through this case study. This paper looks both at the affordances of the technology itself and the wider context of the classroom, and offers some provisional conclusions about the potential of using wikis to support collaborative learning in schools.

Read on …

Tag: wikis

Web's second phase puts users in control

The web's shift from a tool of reference to one of collaboration presents teachers with some rich opportunities for e-learning

>>more

Tags: collaboration, eLearning, web 2.0

28,000 school children and teachers agree - museums excite and inspire!

A major new Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) research study shows that children have fun and enjoy learning more in museums.

Teachers too, are highly enthusiastic about museums and their potential to support learning.

What did you learn at the museum today? Second Study is an evaluation of the outcomes and impact of learning following school visits to 69 UK museums. In the study, funded through the MLA’s Renaissance in the Regions programme, pupils expressed high levels of enjoyment and inspiration from visiting museums and most said they had learnt interesting, new things.

Read on …

Tag: Museums

Call for national teacher standards

A new report recommends an overhaul of how teachers are judged, writes Caroline Milburn.

SCHOOL teachers should be able to measure their competence against national standards that could herald a new era of performance-based pay, according to the author of a report on the profession.

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson said teaching, unlike most other professions in Australia, had not developed uniform standards that applied to its members regardless of where they worked.

Read on ...

Tag: Teachers

Push for simpler spelling persists

When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't, wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound?

Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop. Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing.

Read on …

Tag: spelling

National Financial Literacy Framework

This is a website to enable teachers to easily access the parts of the framework they need. Use the table on the home page to navigate directly to chosen year levels and dimensions.

National Financial Literacy Framework

tag: financial_literacy

The Question of Teacher Roles in Blogging-yet-Traditional Classrooms

The tension we face right now is how to navigate between the demands of the traditional structures we find ourselves in (i.e. the teacher as local power-holder: designing the syllabus, dispensing knowledge through lectures and assignments, and evaluating through testing and grades--and in turn being evaluated on just how successful the students are according to prescribed standards) and the realities of the fluid, emergent knowledge spaces existing outside this realm in places with Internet access, where everyone is an expert and an apprentice connected within that space, where we might not need "teachers" at all, where learning doesn't happen according to set schedules and syllabi. If we take the traditional role of designer-director-evaluator in our classrooms, how are we helping young people become active citizens in this world with its inequities, its fragility, its violence, its power relations, its potential, its connectedness, its beauty? How are we helping them learn how to learn and learn how to give and to act? To take responsibility for their learning and their use of that learning? And yet for many of us, the structures in place (disciplines, majors, departments, school calendars) make it incredibly difficult to break away from the lecture-absorb or call-and-response model of education, especially for student from ages 12-22. Who has the time? Who has the energy? Who has the nerve? And who has the skill?

Read the whole post

Tag: blogging in education

A 'hole in the wall' helps educate India

Another slant on this fascinating issue.

By Pat Orvis
NEW DELHI – Free computers placed where children play could help bring basic education to India's 200 million boys and girls under age 15. That's the hope of the man behind an Internet learning experiment called Hole-in-the-Wall.

Read on …

Tag: Computers in education

Attitudes to Teaching as a Career

This report synthesises recent Australian and international research on attitudes to teaching as a career, including research on the motivations of current teachers to remain in or leave the profession. The research shows that, while people who have chosen teaching as a career are chiefly motivated by ‘intrinsic’ rewards such as wanting to ‘make a difference’, enjoyment of children, etc, extrinsic factors such as remuneration, workload, employment conditions and status are the most significant factors influencing people not to choose teaching, and to leave the profession. Read the report

tag: Teaching

Jamie McKenzie's article of the month compares the Essential Question with the Damanding one .....

The (merely) Demanding Question


When is an essential question actually essential?

When will a demanding question suffice?

Back when Grant Wiggins and the Coalition of Essential Schools introduced and popularized the term "essential question" two decades ago, an essential question was important and deep enough to provide focus for an entire year's study.

"What causes some to want to explore the unknown even when that exploration might entail loss, pain, hardship and death?"
Over the next twenty years, the term spread far and wide as many curriculum leaders urged teachers to build their lessons and units around such questions.

Read the whole article

tags: Jamie McKenzie, questions in education

State readies online teacher training options

LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas teachers will get the chance to improve their craft at any time and at any location with Internet access through online professional development training slated to start this fall. Read on …

Tag: eLearning, Teachers

Young children 'learn homophobia'

Primary school children are using homophobic insults without realising it, paving the way for later bullying, an educationalist has warned.

Mark Jennett said teachers should not allow words like "gay" and "sissy" to be used as terms of abuse. Read on …

tag: homophobia

Teacher literacy falls with salaries

EVIDENCE that the academic standards of new teachers are significantly lower than a generation ago will underscore a Howard Government push for the introduction of merit pay.

The Education Minister, Julie Bishop, seized on research released yesterday that showed the average teacher trainee in 1983 was more literate and numerate than 74 per cent of age peers. By 2003, that advantage was down to 61 per cent - and the decline was similar for new teachers. Read on ...

Is $100 laptop project flawed?

The head of one of the largest charitable suppliers of refurbished PCs claims that there are some basic problems with creating a custom-made laptop for the developing world. Read on …

Statements of Learning

After an intensive period of development during 2005 under the direction of AESOC and the project management of Curriculum Corporation, and with expertise contributed by all States and Territories, Ministers approved the Statements of Learning for mathematics, science, civics and citizenship and ICT in August 2006 >>> more

Young Storytellers foundation

The Young Storytellers Foundation is dedicated to developing literacy, self-expression and self-esteem in elementary school children.
Visit Young Storytellers

Bush education policy to miss goals: Harvard study

By Jason Szep

U.S. President George W. Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education policy is failing to close racial achievement gaps and will miss its goals by 2014 according to recent trends, a Harvard study said on Wednesday. >> more

Tag: No child left behind

Web's second phase puts users in control

The web's shift from a tool of reference to one of collaboration presents teachers with some rich opportunities for e-learning. >>more

Tags: teachers, collaboration, e-learning

Virtual schools offer clubs, field trips Organizers aim to dispel 'myth' of isolated instruction

Contrary to popular perception, students who enroll in cyber education have a plethora of options for interacting socially with their peers. Virtual schools are forming online clubs and organizing both online and face-to-face field trips to foster social experiences, and organizers say their efforts are paying off. >>more

tag: elearning

An evening with David J Smith

David J Smith, author of the multi-award-winner and international bestseller If the World Were a Village, is coming to Sydney for one night only and Allen & Unwin is inviting you as our special guest.

Presented by Sydney Ideas, The University Of Sydney's International Public Lecture Series

Monday 18th September, 2006, 5pm

Seymour Centre, corner City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale

Tickets $20/$15

FREE for Allen & Unwin newsletter subscribers & their colleagues

If the World Were a Village is a book that has been published in 15
countries and in 12 languages and has been adopted in schools all around the world at every level, for lessons in counting, percentages, graphing, global geography, human geography, ecology, research, and more.

David J Smith will present his own lessons and ideas, as well as some of the ways that the book has been used, and offer a chance for teachers to share the ways they use the book or would like to.

Don't miss this chance to get an insight into this fascinating author, and grab yourself an Allen & Unwin showbag as well, which will include teachers' notes for If the World Were a Village.

email with RSVP in the subject line to reserve your free seats!

We hope to see you there.

Regards, Christian Taylor
Educational Marketing Coordinator
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander StreetCrows Nest NSW 2065
Phone: 61 2 8425 0150 Fax: 61 2 9906 2218
Email: ChristianT at llenandunwin dot com

Assessment Resource Centre

http://arc.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/

The aim of this website is to support and enhance professional practice in the assessment and reporting of student achievement across Years K to 12. It has been developed primarily for teachers, although parents and students may also find it useful. Student work samples aligned to the Grade Scale are available for each stage and each KLA. These work samples will assist teachers across NSW to consistently report student achievement against standards.

tag: Assessment

Miami school board bans Cuba book

Educational authorities in the US city of Miami have voted in favour of removing a controversial book about Cuba from the city's school libraries.
The book sparked protests from some in the Cuban exile community, but its removal could lead to a legal battle.
The Miami Dade School board voted six to three in favour of removing the 32-page geography book A Visit to Cuba from public school libraries. Read on …

Tags: book banning, censorship, education, school libraries

Miss. proposes self-paced, online curriculum

Plan aims to 'redesign education for the 21st century'

Mississippi's state superintendent has floated a plan that would allow the state's students to take self-paced online courses as an alternative to graduation. The plan, which aims to reduce the state's dropout rate and better prepare students for college and the workforce, also asks students to choose from among seven possible career paths. Read on …

Zip breaking news to parents electronically

Need to get in touch with teachers quickly? Want to get parents more engaged in school decision-making?

Try creating an electronic newsletter...Read on ...

Summer Spruce-up: Scour, Scrub, Sift-through and "Sanitize" your Stuff

Summer time is prep time for the upcoming school year.

Wouldn't it be great if you faced the year unafraid?

Well, you might not fear your mess, but, clutter drains your energy.

And, clutter builds stress.

Especially when you are looking for something that is very important. Read on ...

clutter

Schools ban dictionary of slang

The author of what has been described as the definitive dictionary of slang is gobsmacked, gutted, throwing up bunches, honked, hipped, and jacked like a cock-maggot in a sink-hole. A North Carolina school district has banned the dictionary under pressure from one of a growing number of conservative Christian groups using the internet to encourage school book bans across the US. Read on ...

New Power Solution Allows for All-Day Laptop Use

EarthWalk's Invention Allows Schools To Perform State Assessment Tests All Day

EarthWalk Communications has released a universal power system solution designed specifically for today's laptop classroom. Called the eCharger and Sidekick Battery Pack, these new products offer a cost-effective solution that allows teachers and students alike the ability to access computers all day long--without the problem of diminishing battery power. Read on ...

laptops,. testing

Teachers Matter

The No Child Left Behind education act, passed by Congress four years ago, was intended to correct the corrosive inequality that has plagued public education from the start.

It was with that goal in mind that Congress specified for the first time that in return for federal education dollars, states would have to end the destructive practice of staffing schools serving poor and minority children with disproportionate numbers of inexperienced and unqualified teachers. Read on ...

teachers, education

Environmental protection Agency - Education Portal

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Basic Environmental Concepts for Classroom and Non­Traditional Educators

Teaching Aids

Awards & Recognition

Community Service Projects

and more

visit the site

teaching

A Positive Mental Attitude during Job Interviews

Summer is the time when many teachers who don't have jobs (and some who do) interview for new positions.

The job interview is a time that many unemployed (and under employed) teachers find stressful.

Here are some suggestions:

read on ...

Public schools in 'state of disrepair'

Many public high schools in Australia are in such a state of disrepair that they should be bulldozed or rebuilt, an education expert says. Read on ...

Feminised curriculum 'has thrown boy out with bathwater'

Schools are failing boys because lessons have become "feminised", says a leading academic who wants to see outdoor adventure given greater emphasis in the curriculum.

Tony Sewell, an author and director of The Learning Trust, will today a conference in London called Boys to Men: Teaching and Learning Masculinities in Schools and Colleges that boys fall behind in exams and the jobs market because teachers do not nurture male traits such as competitiveness and leadership.Read on …

EBD Blog is about emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youths.

In the US, this area of special education is often referred to as "emotional disturbance," but we're using the term EBD, as that one is more clearly discriptive and preferred by many leaders in the field. EBD Blog will also include content about related areas of disability, including autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD or ADHD), and other similar topics. John Wills Lloyd and James M. Kauffman are the primary authors of EBD Blog.

emotional disturbance, education,

Storytime online

This website uses online streaming video to feature Screen Actors Guild members reading childen's books aloud.

There are actiities to use and these can be downloaded.

Visit Storytime Online

reading aloud, stories, children's books

Improcving instruction through the use of weblogs

In preparation for her day at Kennesaw State University last week, Anne put together this great wiki resource site that should be on everyone’s resource list. (And check out her nifty use of Rock You on the language arts examples page. You go girl!) It’s chock full of reflection and links and thinking, and it’s just pure quality. Read on ...

blogging in education

E-learning trends according to Google

Google Trends was launched in May 2006. It's yet another highly addictive application from the google lab pushers. We spent some time using it to analyse the trends in e-learning (and, er, Big Brother).

Read on ...

e-Learning

Pupils get revision help by text

Pupils are able to send their queries to their teachers

Pupils at a school in Buckinghamshire have been getting extra help with GCSE revision by texting their teachers.

Far from banning mobile phones, Cottesloe School in Wing has decided to turn modern technology to its advantage in an attempt to improve results.

Read on ...

homework

Information Literacy Assessment

TRAILS is a self-guided, self-administered assessment tool designed for use by library media specialists and teachers to determine the information literacy competencies of their high school students.

Librarians and teachers at other grade levels may find it of use as well. Once an assessment is selected, the library media specialist or teacher can choose how to use it to serve local needs. These tips may provide helpful information to create an assessment experience most conducive to obtaining useful results. Visit TRAILS

information literacy

An Instructional Designer looks at Digital Games Based learning

The potential of digital game-based learning remains largely unrealized, in part because designers of "edutainment" games have never understood how and why games are effective and how to align curriculum with the game world without "sucking the fun out" of the games (according to Marc Prensky).

This has led some to believe that educators and instructional designers should never be allowed near a game.

The failures of the edutainment industry largely result from poorly understood theory and a lack of alignment between the worlds of education and games. Games succeed precisely because they employ sound pedagogical approaches such as situated cognition, cognitive disequilibrium, and scaffolding to teach what is needed to succeed in the game.

By examining the underlying principles of games and aligning them with educational theory and learning outcomes, it IS possible to create effective blended game-based learning. Instructional design is ideally positioned to guide this process. This presentation provides an overview of some of the theories that underlie games AND effective learning and explains how to align these two worlds.

Read on ...

education

Centering, connecting and creating_ transformations in blogging classrooms

The Presentation Abstract:

We’ve all heard stories about the remarkable outcomes teachers claim by bringing social software into the classroom.

But enhancing the learning experience for our students is not simply a matter of “handing out blogs” like notebooks and then standing by to watch the miracle; nor is it a matter of setting up series of strict rules and parameters and methods.

By thinking first about the nature of our learning community and our pedagogical framework, and how connecting students to themselves, one another, and the world makes sense in our classrooms, we can take powerful advantage of the connectivity and the transparency of the medium.

And once we’ve seen the effects of blogging on our students, we’ll find ourselves blogging alongside them, and adding podcasting, skype, RSS, and digital storytelling into the blogging as ways to make learning exciting and effective for every student.

Read on ...
blogging in classrooms

Technology aids Health education

Schools use videos, internet to engage students and drive home the need for healthy choices Educators and school leaders across the country are taking steps to curb childhood obesity by stepping up their health education programs--and many are using technology to better engage kids and get the message across. Read on ...

technology in education

Toontalk

From Bill Kerr...,

Weblabs runs a WebReports plone site which has developed some game type programs using ToonTalk for creating new ways of representing and expressing mathematical and scientific knowledge. They have developed reports on representing infinity, sequences, collisions, lunar lander and randomness.Bill goes on to explain Toontalk

Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers

ISSUE: Literacy development begins in the very early stages of childhood, even though the activities of young children may not seem related to reading and writing. Early behaviors such as "reading" from pictures and "writing" with scribbles are examples of emergent literacy and are an important part of children's literacy development.

With the support of parents, caregivers, early childhood educators, and teachers, as well as exposure to a literacy-rich environment, children successfully progress from emergent to conventional reading. The theoretical and research-based knowledge of child development in general and of literacy development in particular provides an understanding of the literacy acquisition of young children and suggests strategies that can help children become successful, confident readers and writers. Read on ...

literacy

Schools lose bid to spam filter

Cobb County filter blocks telco's eMail

A telecommunications executive claims a Cobb County School District spam filter cost the district the chance to save $250,000 a year in telephone service. After the filter blocked Mike Russell's response to a request for more information about his bid for services, Russell was disqualified from consideration because he seemingly failed to respond in time. The incident highlights the imperfect nature of spam filters--and serves as a lesson to vendors and school leaders not to rely solely on eMail for important communications. Read on ...

education

Using Technology to Enhance Literacy Instruction

This Critical Issue was coauthored by Ann Holum, Ph.D., and Jan Gahala, M.A. Holum's doctoral work on the use of interactive media to improve children's story-understanding skills sparked her ongoing interest in integrating technologies in K-12 literacy settings; she currently is an independent educational consultant. Gahala is a technical specialist in NCREL's Communications department.

ISSUE: Educational technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based tradition to embrace online and electronic texts as well as multimedia. Computers are creating new opportunities for writing and collaborating. The Internet is constructing global bridges for students to communicate, underscoring the need for rock-solid reading and writing skills. By changing the way that information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how people read, write, listen, and communicate.

Although technology promises new ways to promote literacy, educators' reactions to it have been mixed. Some have embraced technology with unbridled enthusiasm while others have held it at arm's length with a healthy skepticism. Yet the growing influence of technology has caused many educators to acknowledge that they need information on teaching literacy skills in the Digital Age. To serve that need, this Critical Issue offers research, best practices, and resources that support integration of new technologies into literacy instruction.

Read on ...

literacy, education

States resist push for standard year 12 certificate

State and territory education ministers have refused to agree to a federal push for a uniform year 12.

The Federal Government wants to standardise year 12 content across Australia.

Read on ...

Education in Australia

Critical Issue:Using Technology to Enhance Literacy Instruction

This Critical Issue was coauthored by Ann Holum, Ph.D., and Jan Gahala, M.A. Holum's doctoral work on the use of interactive media to improve children's story-understanding skills sparked her ongoing interest in integrating technologies in K-12 literacy settings; she currently is an independent educational consultant. Gahala is a technical specialist in NCREL's Communications department.



ISSUE: Educational technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based tradition to embrace online and electronic texts as well as multimedia. Computers are creating new opportunities for writing and collaborating. The Internet is constructing global bridges for students to communicate, underscoring the need for rock-solid reading and writing skills.

By changing the way that information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how people read, write, listen, and communicate.

Although technology promises new ways to promote literacy, educators' reactions to it have been mixed. Some have embraced technology with unbridled enthusiasm while others have held it at arm's length with a healthy skepticism. Yet the growing influence of technology has caused many educators to acknowledge that they need information on teaching literacy skills in the Digital Age. To serve that need, this Critical Issue offers research, best practices, and resources that support integration of new technologies into literacy instruction. Read on ...

literacy

Creating crosswords - freeware

Creating Crossword Freeware

"Freeware crossword program intended for literacy educational purposes. Answers change colour when correct, allows direct typing to the crossword grid and multiple levels of hints (as well as answer) for each clue. Students can save partially filled crosswords for later use. Includes a free editor to create the crossword files."

Crosswords can be created around educational subjects including sciences, arts or languages. They can be used to reinforce knowledge of word lists in literacy courses.

crosswords, teaching

CREATE - energy

CREATE motivates and educates people in businesses, communities, and schools to achieve more sustainable uses of energy and reduce carbon emissions. Visit CREATE

sustainability, teaching, teachers