SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Sunday at the Movies (Parent Power)

Coming to a theatre near you…... YouTube link

And now for something completely different

This is not at all educational, but it’s lots of fun. So far, 37,533,453 people have viewed it. Why not be number 37,533,454?

News Bulletin - Timely Feedback Aids Good Teaching

A new study from the Council of Great City Schools and the American Institutes for Research “suggests that the use of interim assessment data to modify classroom instruction and inform schoolwide policies and practices is positively and significantly related to higher student achievement in some grades and subjects”.

Putting this into words of one syllable, the study found that if kids are tested regularly and their teachers act on the results, the students learn more.

Unfortunately, Ontario’s provincial testing does not fall into the useful category, since it does not provide sufficiently detailed feedback, nor is it reported quickly enough. It’s too bad, because Ontario could instead use off-the-shelf standardized tests that would yield very detailed information, come back very quickly, and cost a fraction of the price of the EQAO tests. H/T DW

A website to be grateful for

You know there’s a website for everything when you visit Become a Nanny, a website with resources for people who want to be a nanny. Actually, there’s lots of good stuff on this site, information that is relevant to parents and teachers as well. In particular, I draw your attention to 30 Blogs for Helping to Teach Kids to be Thankful. H/T MK

No Commentary Necessary

More examples

Gambling with children’s lives

French immersion has become very popular these days, mostly because it allows parents to put their kids in schools with fewer students with learning problems, for example English-as-a-second language students. French immersion has become so popular that now the Peel school board is considering a lottery, since it can't cater to all of the parents who want it. more The main problem seems to be a lack of French-speaking teachers.

Parents are up in arms, as well they might be, at having their children's future subject to chance. 

Instituting a lottery is taking a blunt instrument to this problem IMHO. I can think of several creative solutions that the Peel board might explore. 

They might consider:

• Paying French-speaking teachers extra;
• Creating other élite programs, for example Chinese immersion or Montessori or intensive academic, to reduce the number of French immersion seekers;
• Working with the Alliance Française and/or Canadian Parents for French to find solutions;
• Using non big-box schools, for example church basements or retail space or public libraries, to house some of the programs; and 
• Improving the experience for all students by offering better service to students with learning problems.

I'm sure you can come up with additional ideas....

New kid on the blog

This first blog by Mike Thomas is kind of interesting, in that it chronicles his journey from education reform opponent to education reform booster - all because he looked at the evidence with an open mind! Others should try this!

Sunday at the Movies (Khan Academy)

This TED talk touches on some recent themes in our blog - gamification, distance education, and the potential of technology. As well, be sure to watch to the end, as there is a surprise guest. link

Who’s Got The Power? Not us.

This map is amazing.  It shows by state how much parents have power over their children's education by how much choice is available to them.  Too bad we can't make map like that in Canada yet.  Who has the power? Not us.

Great teachers are made, not born

There’s a great article in the fall Education Next on transforming teacher education. If you’re wondering where THE PROBLEM starts - it starts at ed school. Most faculties of education use faulty criteria in selecting their students, inculcate flawed philosophies of education, and - worst of all - fail to teach prospective teachers practical and effective pedagogical techniques. This article shows it doesn’t have to be this way.

New York’s Relay School of Education breaks the mold. I excerpt a couple of paragraphs from the Education Next article to give you an idea, but it’s really worth reading the whole thing to see what’s possible. 

“Relay’s method flips the classroom, with an online lesson at the start of every module or teaching unit (about 40 percent of instruction is online) and in-class discussions and exercises afterward. Twice-monthly night classes, once-monthly Saturday classes, and two summer terms are taught by master teachers and charter school heavyweights….

“Modules vary in duration and range from the nitty-gritty of classroom management - how to arrange furniture, how to grade papers, how to deal with families, how to open and close a lesson - to big-picture subjects, including literacy instruction, writing development, learning disabilities, unit planning, and character development. For a class called Benchmarking and Tracking Progress, scheduled to last 11 hours, the catalog says Relay students will create a spreadsheet to track their own students’ progress against year-end goals, and use the data to customize their teaching. In a class called Behavior Management Plans, Relay students will write a set of classroom rules and learn ‘how to engage in the very necessary practice of correcting students when they misbehave’.

“I logged onto an online lesson for a module titled Engaging Everybody, taught by Doug Lemov, managing director of Uncommon Schools. In the 4-hour lesson, Lemov lectured for three or four minutes on each of the four techniques that he promotes to keep youngsters involved in class, techniques he labels ‘wait time’, ‘everybody writes’, ‘cold call’, and ‘call and response’. Each of Lemov’s minilectures was followed by a few pages of online reading from his book Teach Like a Champion, and an essay question or two that students answer online…Then came several short videos showing teachers using each technique in the classroom, with Lemov noting the teachers’ use of an apt pause of effective gesture.”