Creative Thinking, Part Two: China Imports Project Learning to Promote Imagination
by Jim Moulton
11/20/08This is the second part of a two-part blog entry. Read part one.
I guess I should not have been surprised by the rigid structure in Chinese schools when I visited the country. After all, I was in a nation that is one of the most capable at taking someone else's idea and efficiently reproducing it.
Creative Thinking, Part One: A Traditional Country Flirts with Nontraditional Learning
by Jim Moulton
11/18/08
Credit: Jim Moulton
I recently returned from a week in Beijing, where the Beijing Institute of Education was my host. I was there to do workshops around project learning, to visit Chinese schools, and to speak with Chinese educators, parents, and students.
Teaching with Visuals: Students Respond to Images
by Suzie Boss
11/13/08Dan Meyer knows that textbook-driven teaching hasn't served his students well. That's why they wind up taking remedial algebra with him in ninth grade. "They either need more time on content, or they've really been burned by traditional math instruction," says the teacher from San Lorenzo Valley High School, near Santa Cruz, California.
When History Happens: Teachable Moments Rise from Election Day
by Elena Aguilar
11/11/08The first thing I heard as I walked into school on this miraculous morning after Barack Obama's landslide victory was a group of African American parents talking about the results. One father said, "They didn't want to give us 40 acres and a mule, so we took fifty states and the White House."
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part Six: The Missing Piece
by Elena Aguilar
11/6/08This is the sixth part of a six-part entry. Start with the introduction.
Get help before you start and while you are trying to do the Four-Piece Plan to Peace. Don't wait to ask for help until after you've torn your hair out and started looking for jobs in coffee shops.
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part Five: Targeting Students
by Elena Aguilar
11/4/08This is the fifth part of a six-part entry. Start with the introduction.
When I refer to targeting students, I don't mean that I target them literally, of course, but you can fantasize about whatever you want. I do. Others have.
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part Four: Consequences
by Elena Aguilar
10/30/08This is the fourth part of a six-part entry. Start with the introduction.
If your reward system is strong, clear, and active, you won't have to put quite as much time and energy into your consequence system.
A consequence system has two critical parts: Students need to know the consequences, and they need to see you enforce them.
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part Three: Rewards
by Elena Aguilar
10/28/08This is the third part of a six-part entry. Start with the introduction.
How do you appreciate individuals, or table groups, or the whole class when students do what you ask them to do?
You've heard this before, and it really works: You can't praise or reward kids enough. Do it until you are oozing honey. It works.
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part Two: Procedures
by Elena Aguilar
10/23/08This is the second part of a six-part entry. Start with the introduction.
"They come into my room shouting, wandering around, and talking to one another. During class, they put on makeup, text message one another, and talk over me. And they jump up to sharpen pencils when I'm in the middle of teaching."
Is this a familiar scenario?
The Schoolroom Peace Plan, Part One: Introduction
by Elena Aguilar
10/21/08"I feel like I'm playing Whac-A-Mole every day," said the beginning teacher as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
I nodded and had flashbacks of my own first months teaching middle school. The class is settled, focused, and calm for two seconds, and then pop! On the other side of the room, a kid shouts, throws, reaches, jumps, and I dart over to "smash" him down. And then pop! I'm dashing to a distant corner, and smash, and pop! Pop! POP!
