How Can You Respond When Students Don’t Pay Attention? Our initial reaction when seeing the following infographic from Mia MacMeekin was to think about instructional design rather than classroom management. That is, work backwards from a student-centered, inquiry-based, self-directed, and inherently personalized learning model where students, while plugged in to relevant digital and physical communities and working…
Why Great Teaching Means Letting Go by Grant Wiggins, Ed.D, Authentic Education Ed note: On May 26, 2015, Grant Wiggins passed away. Grant was tremendously influential on TeachThought’s approach to education, and we were lucky enough for him to contribute his content to our site. Occasionally, we are going to go back and re-share his most memorable…
Class size matters if you believe in active PBL. Class size matters if you allow for student choice & authentic personalization.
How My Students And I Make Meaning Together: An Actual Unit Outline by Jane Healey, Ph.D. In A Student-Led, Flipped, Inquiry-Based Learning Classroom Doing Authentic Work, I listed my favorite, simple approach to classroom material: Observe Wonder Investigate Conclude The response was heartening, and I was asked about an example. I currently teach Sophomore Core English…
Student-Led Writing: How & Why I Let Students Lead The Writing Process by Jane Healey, Ph. D Recently, I threw out old curriculum for the book, Frankenstein, and I designed a unit based on strategies gleaned from articles and posts about flipping classrooms, encouraging students to own their learning, and inquiry-based education. A totally new approach…
These are some of the best motivational videos for students to help with mindset and perspective–seeing the commonality in human experience.
Why Study Skills Classes Matter Now More Than Ever by Jane Healey, Ph.D. A recent article in the Chronicle for Higher Education addressed the Freshman Seminar experience and applauded the high ideals while reporting on the “mixed results.” The issue is an aged-old quandary: schools want entering students to collectively learn the necessary skills for…
by Grant Wiggins, Authenticeducation A recent query via Twitter asked a question we often hear: isn’t UbD (or any planning process) antithetical to such approaches as project-based learning and inquiry-based learning, since you can’t and shouldn’t plan for an unknown serendipitous result? More generally, isn’t there something faintly oppressive and hampering of creativity in such…
While the Common Core standards have been released and are making their way into classrooms across the United States, they do not contain Science content, but rather simply suggest a literacy component across all content areas (including science). The Next Generation Science Standards (which are still in draft form until January 29th, 2013 and can be…
Instructional templates can keep key design questions that get lost in typical planning at the center, prioritizing engagement over content.
Most educational games for the iPad aim squarely at the kiddish crowd. But those punk whippersnappers who need to get off the lawn shouldn’t have all the fun. Adults can enjoy their own as well, including these! If you want to let your kids in on the fun learning, check out our kid’s edition of this list….
Thoughtful people think about their thinking — the meaning of what they learn & the consequences of what they do.