[Replicable Practices] As you see it because you are the storyteller! Storify

Storify - All the stories happening on social media

Guided Tour

How to write a newspaper article is a skill that I guide my students through in a series of lessons. The reason why I really enjoy these lessons is because I only initially share with my students some guidelines. The rest is up to them. Through student exploration, research, polling and a culminating whole class example the lesson and curiculum expectations get processed through.

I am excited to try this new tool and incorporate it into my next series of newspaper writing lessons. English teachers and media teachers might also want to explore this site.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions page and view the videos below to become familiar with Storify.


Storify from Storify on Vimeo.


Storify Overview from Storify on Vimeo.


Getting started with Storify from Storify on Vimeo.

[Replicable Practices] CBC Learning and Blog

The Canadian Broadcasting Centre better known as the CBC is Canada's national public broadcaster. For years I have been watching their top quality TV programs and special documentaries. More often then not I have found inspiration relating their programming content within the context of my lessons. By doing so I have developed interesting lessons and lesson extensions and have hopefully sparked a curiosity within the students. I share with you a CBC Learning Blog that hopefully you can use the ideas found within to develop your own replicable practices. Thank you CBC.

New Link: CBC Learning

[Replicable Practices] Ontario kids can read well, but they don’t have to like it

Ontario kids can read well, but they don’t have to like it

Author: Kate Hammer
Published Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 5:00AM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 7:09AM EST

Directly copied from the article:

Students in Ontario are among the most proficient readers in the world, but those bragging rights may have come at a cost: The joy of reading.

A new report released Monday by education advocacy group People for Education finds that while literacy and standardized test scores have climbed over the past decade, the number of students who report that they like to read has dropped, from 76 per cent of Grade 3 students in 1999 to 50 per cent in 2011.

Be sure to also check out the video attached to the article:
How one teacher uses Smart boards to entice students to be 'part of the show'

[Replicable Practices] Blogging in Education

I share with you a Google Scholarly Search using the term: Blogging in education.


I particularly enjoy (PDF):

Downes, S. (2004, September). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14-26. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

Taken from the Educase Website:

Stephen Downes (http://www.downes.ca) is a Senior Researcher with the E-Learning Research Group, National Research Council Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick. Comments on this article can be sent to the author at stephen@downes.ca.

[Replicable Practices] Sir Ken Robinson - RSA Animate: Changing education paradigms

Robinson, S. K. (Lecturer) (2010). Changing education paradigms [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Comments:

I had to watch the video a few times before I began to understand the concepts that Sir Ken Robinson was referring too. When I think of education reform I think of it in terms of Newton's Cradle.

Some external catalyst or motivation begins the motion to reform education. In this case the catalyst for educational reform is the preparation for the changing economy in the 21st century and the the maintenance of cultural identity. Both in my mind very valid starting points to trigger reform. Using Newton's Cradle then the ball represents the idea of an education reform. Once the ball or reform is released it goes through a series of cultural and societal institutions.

Each institution takes a piece of that reform, absorbs it, and in turn (hopefully??) uses it to change educational practices. However, if with each transfer of idea the only thing that takes place is the absorption the reform eventually stops. In other words the pendulum stops swinging since all energy has been used. What needs to happen in order to keep the pendulum swinging is a reinvention and application of a particular educational reform so that new reforms can contribute back and redistribute ideas (energy) back to the institutions thus maintaining momentum.

Educators need to embrace the new reforms which in many cases do not come from the professionals or other institutions but from the learners themselves, the students. I like to think of myself as the student rather than the teacher.

[Replicable Practices] Lifelong Learning

Young, S. H. (2011, July 31). 15 steps to cultivate lifelong learning. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/15-steps-to-cultivate-lifelong-learning.html

Comments:

After reading the article I could not help thinking back to the summers I had spent with my grandfather and grandmother. There was never a summer day that went by where my grandfather did not repeat his personal motto to me. He would say:

Michael take time to learn anything and everything you can. Learn a skill no matter how big or how small, one day you will be thankful that you learned that skill, it will serve you well. Learn it, set it aside but do not forget it.  (Ernesto Salerno)

The 15 steps to cultivate lifelong learning speaks to me on a very personal level. Step 2 "keep a to learn list" and step 3 "get more intellectual friends" are two steps that I am very thoughtful in carrying out. It would be a challenge to have everything on your to learn list crossed off since the list is continually growing however it keeps the learning process moving forward, creating many sub or side lists to work from. Surrounding myself with  intellectual friends can be intimidating and uncomfortable but it is within that uncomfortable feeling that learning takes place.  My career as a teacher has certainly helped me carry out both steps.

[Replicable Practices] Tablet computers and special applications: Autism

As I was settling into my morning school routine I overheard a couple of special education teachers discussing a story they had seen on the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Their conversation centered upon how autistic students can (through the use of Apps and iPad), communicate their wants or needs to teachers, parents and friends. In other words a possible solution to give students with severe autism the ability to express themselves.

Apple iPad 2

CBC Health News: Autism: Making sense of a confusing world
Last Updated: Friday, September 17, 2010 | 12:25 PM ET

CBS 60 Minutes: Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad
(Watch the Segment)
October 23, 2011 7:10 PM

Autism Speaks - It's time to listen: Autism Apps