Karen's Blog

21st Century Learning

2011-11-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am going to be writing about 21st century learning and how we can create schools that truly prepare students for the future. The task often seems insurmountable and therefore needs to be broken down into manageable steps; a road map or blueprint as a guide to teachers.

In curriculum 21 Heide Hayes Jacobs speaks about the essentials of 21st century learning. Despite the complexity of the paradigm shift, she suggests beginning with one aspect; assessment. It has often been said that assessment drives instruction and as such, if teachers are encouraged to make changes to assessment, it is highly likely that instruction will be altered as a result. In order for students to successfully accomplish the assessment requirement, the learning will need to look different.

As teachers attempt to create assessment tasks that are more authentic, it is easiest to think of assessment requirements in terms of asking students to take on a role; a role that is related to the discipline that is being studied and calls on the child to create something, that a professional related to that discipline would create. For example, in English Language Arts we could ask students to take on the role of journalist, or book reviewer, or editor, or debater, or conference presenter....... In a biology class we could ask students to take on the role of genetist, or medical doctor or nutritionist or....... Students are called upon to create products of value that model what "real people" do.

Teachers could begin by altering one assessment as a start; upgrade one assessment per semester. Students in a grade 11 English class could develop a screenplay instead of a short story. Students in grade four could develop a webquest about a visit to a foreign country. Students could create podcasts to show their new learning.

This could be the most manageable way to gradually move into 21st century learning.

More to come.....

new website

2011-08-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

I found a fabulous website - vocabulary.com
It is a great website for older students to develop their vocabulary. It takes them to progressively more challenging application of the words. Truly a great site.

2011-05-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Good Morning all

As promised, I will continue blogging and sharing with you what I am reading or learning about in the field of education.

This past week, I started reading Visible Learning by John Hattie. In this research based book, Hattie summarizes 800 meta-analyses and many more individual research studies that focus on teaching practices that have the greatest impact on student learning. Among other statistical measures, Hattie looks at an effect size - in particular effect size that is above the moderate size of .40 that you will see from general but not outstanding teaching practices. He presents strategies that have an effect size of .60 and above, which is quite significant.

One of the most effective and powerful strategies is teacher feedback. Students need to know how they are doing - at any given time. In addition, they need to have developed the comfort level and trust in the educator to be able to ask questions freely without risk of embarrassment. This leads to the importance of classroom environment in student achievement.

Feedback to teachers is also critical so that theycan gage how students are progressing and can modify and adjust their teaching according to individual accomplishments and/or challenges.

One of the most effective classroom strategies with an effect size of .76 (very high) is reciprocal teaching. The process of mediated learning, scaffolding instruction and using metacognitive strategy instruction in the developement of reading comprehension is extrememly valuable.

I will write more about reciprocal teaching and other visible learning strategies that have a significant impact on student learning.

Have a great week-end
Karen

2011-04-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All
I've been away from blogging for awhile but am now committing to posting each week.
This week, I'd like to share a very interesting book that I've just finished reading called "Linchpin: Are you Indispensible" by Seth Godin. After reading it, I am convinced that it is a must read for our high school graduates. The author speaks about the rules of the past that are no longer the rules of today. In the past there were two teams, the managers and the workers. Things have changed drastically, partly because of the internet and the access that everyone now has to the public, Given that the rules of yesterday have changed, and in essence the rule book has been thrown out, how do we become indispensible in today's world. It is much easier than you might think.

Linchpins are the building blocks of great organizations - and the organization is meant as a word for the place where you work - could be large or small. According to Godin, people who are indispensible get the best jobs and have the most freedom.

What makes a person indispensible, the glue that holds the organization together, is what Godin terms emotional labour. How to connect to people, solve conflicts that others have been unable to solve, or find solutions that others have not yet been able to find.

There are many educational implications in this book - some obvious others less so. As such, this book can be a great starting point for our students who will soon be entering the world of work. It's not just about being mediocre, it's about being indispensible. Perhaps one of the most important points in the book is that mediocre is running rampant. This makes it all the more important to go that extra mile to get the job done even if you're completing a task that isn't officially part of your responsibility.
And it doesn't have to mean owning your own business. It is about engaging in emotional labour, that connects you to others. It is also about how to follow your dreams and get things done, without possessing the fear that often holds people back.
Read it and enjoy. Share your thoughts.

2011-02-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of a very interesting book club discussion focusing on Costa, A.L. and Kallick, B's book titled "Habits of Mind. The book highlights the 16 habits that become the compass for the child supporting decision making in academic and non-academic contexts. It is the map that guides life's decisions.

Please look at this curriculum document that highlights a school's program as they implemented the Habits of Mind within their school.
http://http://www.chsvt.org/wdp/Habits_of_Mind_Curriculum_VT_WDP.pdf

Our next book club meeting is taking place on February 8th at 8:30 a.m.

Great PPT on importance of PD

2010-10-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.yorku.ca/rlt/ron/york_region.pdf

This is a terrific PPT on the benefits of Professional Development and specific aspects that should always be included.

SEAL brings NAIS President Pat Bassett to Selwyn House

2010-10-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

Last night SEAL brought Pat Bassett to speak about 21st Century Governance. The evening began with a very interesting presentation by Anne Marie Keyes - Executive Director of SEAL. She spoke about the reality facing the independent schools such as decreased birthrate and parents who hold very high expectations of their children's school. According to Anne Marie, we need to examine whether our schools are in fact preparing our children for the 21st century. Are we providing the very best in teaching and learning? She presented some must read books such as " A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink and "The Oposable Mind" by Roger Martin.

Anne Marie spoke of the competition from the public system with the offerings of great programs and sophisticated marketing campaigns. Our schools can compete by providing a "one stop shop". Parents today are busier than ever and therefore we need to offer programs and develop initiatives that will provide great convenience.

21st century boards need to focus on oversight, foresight, and insight. The Fiduciary/oversight component focuses on doing things right, the strategic/foresight component highlights the need to do the right thing and the insight/generative aspect involves board members leaving a legacy.

Pat Bassett used a ship analogy to explain the boards critical role in ensuring that our schools will be around in the future. Boards must act as the anchor, the rudder and the lighthouse.

We need to spend time at board meetings not only focusing on the very critical oversight role that boards maintain but also the highly important generative - forward-thinking role. A great question for boards to ponder is "What skills will the 21st demand and reward?"

Pat Bassett also spoke about major trends and opportunities that are and will continue to influence our school system. These trends include: access vs affordability; the role of the leader as leader and not only as manager; the retirements of many veteran teachers and the possibilty that this will provide schools with regarding finding, hiring and holding on to new talent. Schools will need to be creative here. (NAIS has an arrangement with Teach for America's roster of teachers who did not make the final cut, but have great drive and ability as outstanding educators); the toxicity of the media; how to compensate outstanding faculty and provide them with real leadership options; and the need for 21st century schools to go green and provide high level technology.

It was a very interesting and worthwhile evening. Our Jewish Day school system was well represented.

interesting email

2009-09-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

A very exciting and plentiful internet site - with loads of educational films can be found at www.unitedstreaming.com

sign in is required but it's well worth it.
Enjoy

Exercise and the brain

2009-04-28T06:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/allison_answers_1.html

Interesting piece on exercise in math class.

reading comprehension

2009-04-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html

Another great site - CNN and other articles in full text and abridged version. Great for classroom work and discussion - and also differentiated by level.

Let me know if anyone tries this in the classroom.

New slant to the traditional Bloom

2009-04-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

David A. Sousa in his Book titled How the Brain Learns (2006) addresses the issue of revamping the traditional Bloom's taxonomy (knowledge, understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation). The taxonomy has survived the test of time - with some minor modifications. Anderson et al (2001) revised the concept slightly in the following way
remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
The labels have been changed to verbs, and the model is no longer strictly linear. Children move around the taxonomy as they learn.
The authors speak about - using the taxonomy - by differentiating between complexity and difficulty.
Complexity refers to tasks that are at different levels of Bloom's taxonomy - creating a model of effective Government is more complex than naming the levels of Government. As you move up the taxonomy - the work becomes more complex.
Difficulty refers to the amount of effort a learner must expend within a given level of complexity. An activity within a level of the taxonomy can become increasingly difficult without becoming more complex. Name the provinces is less difficult than name the provinces and their capitals.
What does this mean????? Rather than focus purely on level of difficulty - the focus should be on complexity. All students - those with learning challenges and those needing to be challenged and everyone in between - should receive work at higher levels of complexity NOT only difficulty. In other words, all students should have opportunities to move up the taxonomy including those who struggle. All students should be provided with opportunities to analyze, synthesize and create.
Interesting for teachers!!!! Do most lessons within a given unit include opportunties for students to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. Let's bring the Taxonomy back to life!!!!

Registration for McGill courses open

2009-04-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

The site for McGill/BJEC summer courses is now online. Please go to the link below - on the right side you will see BJEC courses. All documents should be downloades and mailed or brought to McGill - addressed to to Dean Thomson

Dean ThomsonUndergraduate Program Coordinator
McGill UniversityEducational & Counselling Psychology3700 McTavish Room 614Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2
dean.thomson@mcgill.ca
tel: fax:
514-398-4248514-398-6968

This is the site address
http://www.mcgill.ca/edu-ecp/onlinecourses/

Interesting sites

2009-03-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.ncte.org/press

This is a great site - with a lot of interesting information about literacy in the 21st century.
Look for the article - Writing in the 21st century written by Kathleen Blake.

McGill summer courses

2009-03-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone
We are in daily contact with McGill department of Educational Psychology and Counselling and they have almost completed the website with all the information for summer registration - for our two BJEC/McGill courses. Teachers will be asked to go to the website (address will be sent shortly) download all forms and either mail them or bring them to McGill. All information will be clearly explained on the site.

The two courses offered are Evaluation EDPI 304 during the first week of August and Special Education EDPI 341 during the second week of August. Courses run from Monday to Friday - 9:00 to 5:00.

We are almost at our limit so if you are interested in registering for these courses but have not yet spoken with Frumet Singer - please contact her.

What's new this week

2009-03-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

McGill registration for the two summer courses will be put on line within the next few weeks. All those whose names are on our BJEC list will be contacted and will be given a very clear explanation as to how to register.
The courses will take place the first two weeks in August.

Mr Harel from JAFI, the Jewish Agency for Israel, will be in town next week. He will be visiting schools to discuss the possibility of Shlichim. They have done a lot of work recruiting and training Israeli educators for work overseas. If you are interested and do not yet have a meeting set up, please contact Frumet.

Don't forget about our CESI panel - Effective Practices in Independent Schools - March 31st from 7:00 to 8:30.

Bat Mitzvah at 90

2009-03-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

Interesting article on having a Bat Mitzvah at 90 - our Bat Mitzvah girls would get a real kick of out this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/22batmitzvah.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

Welcome to my blog

2009-03-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone
This is Karen Gazith's official blogging page. I plan to post interesting sites, articles and other useful information.
Stay tuned...