27 JUL 2018 by ideonexus
Fluid Intelligence has Made the Most Gains
So which kinds of intellectual performance have been pushed upward by the better environments of recent decades? Surprisingly, the steepest gains have not been found in the concrete skills that are directly taught in school, such as general knowledge, arithmetic, and vocabulary. They have been found in the abstract, fluid kinds of intelligence, the ones tapped by similarity questions (“What do an hour and a year have in common?”), analogies (“BIRD is to EGG as TREE is to what?”), and ...Folksonomies: intelligence iq
Folksonomies: intelligence iq
16 APR 2018 by ideonexus
A Student's Skill-Level Should be Private
A student's skill level should be a private matter, between him and the teacher, and students who are behind should be able to work comfortably, without embarrassment. "They know they should know more. They know they should not be working on tens and ones when their friends are doing division and fractions and all that, and there's no shame in working on it with the computer." Actually, the same principle applies to kids who are off-the-charts advanced: if they just want to relax and do high-...Folksonomies: education personalization
Folksonomies: education personalization
10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Adult Participation in Children's Worldplay
In The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood (2006), the art theorist Ellen Handler Spitz argues that "[t]he topic of adult participation in children's play is delicate, complex, and controversial," largely due to the overwhelming influence a parent or a teacher or even adult-generated entertainment media can have. Adults must work hard not to impose their owti interests, methods, or judgments upon play activity. The act of modeling and encouraging can, indeed, be fi-aught with miss...10 MAR 2017 by ideonexus
Changing Focus from Teacher to Learning in Education
Most theories of teaching and learning take a particular stance on the role of the teacher and the relative importance of the teaching act, in contrast to the role of the learner and the learning act. This fundamental division splits the world of educational theory into two clear schools of thought. In the first—more ancient—school, it is the authority of the teacher that takes pride of place. The teacher is seen as a master or wise one who possesses knowledge and who, through the act of ...10 MAR 2017 by ideonexus
Classroom as Gamespace
A gamespace is a uniquely coded and constructed place where players are expected to act before being any good at what they’re doing; they’re spaces inherently founded on the notion of risk taking. The process of building a classroom that functions as a gamespace should start with the teacher being committed to democratic learning processes that place the student at the center of his or her learning and development. Likewise, it casts the teacher as the constructor or designer of the games...Folksonomies: education gamification
Folksonomies: education gamification
24 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
Six Components of Teaching Reading
Component 1: Reading Aloud Reading aloud can be done as a full class activity, in small groups, or on a one-to-one basis. It involves an adult reading a piece of text or a book out loud to students. However it is done, it is a teacher-directed activity that requires student participation, as Debra Morrison indicates in Read Aloud and Movement, an ASCD video-based professional development program. Debra reads a book to her students about a cricket who wants to be a butterfly. As she reads, sh...24 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Five Talk Moves
Move 1. Repeating When a student says something that a teacher or student thinks is important, one way to highlight it is to repeat it. A teacher might ask, "Who can repeat what Mia just said?" Repeating helps confirm that what the speaker said is what the listener heard, and it lets the speaker know that he or she was heard—and that it matters. It enables teachers to highlight an idea that's central to the discussion. Moreover, hearing the idea again, or multiple times, helps students lear...23 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
A Sonata as Teacher
Music makes things in our minds, but afterward most of them fade away. What remains? In one old story about Mozart, the wonder child hears a lengthy contrapuntal mass and then writes down the entire score. I do not believe such tales, for history documents so few of them that they seem to be mere legend, though by that argument Mozart also would seem to be legend. Most people do not even remember the themes of an evening's concert. Yet, when the tunes are played again, they are recognized. So...04 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Teaching as Gardening
If a teacher is a gardener, than a student is the seed. The classroom serves as the greenhouse creating a warm, safe environment for growth. An administrator is the soil, serving as a strong nutrient base for the seed to root. The parents are the water, providing live and maintaining it. When the water/parent is not plentiful, the seed will suffer. The curriculum is the sun. It shines knowledge to ensure growth. The aspects of the curriculum that some students do not make sense of can be cons...03 APR 2015 by ideonexus