Powerful Learning Practice Blog
What is Your Ideal School?
International distance educator Smadar Goldstein has been teaching students in the U.S. and elsewhere online for more than 10 years, from her company headquarters in Israel. The connected world is finally melting down the traditional education mold, she says – so what should school be instead? She offers some of her ideas in this PLP Voices post.
Sharing Real-World Projects Sharpens the Literacy Skills of Connected Students
When students are connected, all learning has the potential for being language intense and leveraged to build literacy skills, writes STEM coach Brian Crosby. Opportunities arise that motivate your students to interact at a high level and require them to be articulate to be understood. Add constructivist learning activities around STEM and Maker projects and watch the literacy skills grow.
Are You a Thought-Provider or a Thought-Provoker?
Our job as educators is to be thought-provoking instead of thought-providing, says Wisconsin principal Matt Renwick. One-to-one technology is only as good as the meaning students make with it. Our students will make meaning if what we present is meaningful to them. This means taking advantage of strengths that may in the past have been seen as problems. “Talking†and “arguing†are fine examples.
Looking for a Good Read?
This came today via Amazon. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Are you looking for something in our Education & Reference Books department? If so, you might be interested in these items. Stoked to see my book at the top of the list. Humbled to be in such good company. Wanted...
A Year of 1-to-1 in Grade One
Primary teacher & connected educator Kathy Cassidy summarizes the first year of one-to-one Apple iPads in her classroom of six-year olds. Cassidy offers a crisp summary of each aspect of the experience, with lots of great photos!
Connected Coaching: Reflections & a new course starting soon!
What? So What? Now What? These whiteboards from the last webinar session of the recent Connected Coaching eCourse illustrate just one of the many ways co-learners reflected upon their learning. As the content of these whiteboards evolved over the time spent on each,...
Changing Our 'Stuff' Is Not Enough
As the new school year begins, teachers can change their “stuff,” says Becky Bair. That’s the easy part. But if they haven’t changed their teaching lives to fit the needs of today’s students, then their classrooms will never become places where powerful learning is always going on.
Does Your School Need a Culture Re-Boot?
As a new book by Kaplan and Owings clearly demonstrates, many schools are mired in an education culture that’s a poor match for the needs of today’s K12 students. They need a culture re-boot – a process explored in detail by the authors and summarized by PLP Voices reviewer Sister Geralyn Schmidt.
I Believe in "One Size Fits All" PD
“There should be no one prescribed way to help students achieve their goals,” says elementary principal Matt Renwick. “Yet to refuse to learn more about teaching practices that have large amounts of evidence to support their use, and instead stick with what we feel comfortable with, is at best being obstinate and at worst neglectful.”
The Early-Literacy Shift: New Words, New Media, New Friends
The days of students reading only books, writing only on paper and becoming literate in an isolated classroom have past, says primary teacher Kathy Cassidy. Even in Grade One, students need to learn new vocabulary, new mediums of communication, and new ways to connect with the world.