Teaching and Learning Articles
Alan November’s articles provide great insight into teaching, learning and preparing students for our digital world. His writing has appeared in many popular education magazines and journals, including eSchoolNews, Technology & Learning, School Library Journal, and Middle Ground. We hope your find these articles provocative and practical, please use these pieces to start a dialogue with your team.
Featured Professional Development Article:
What is the best use of teacher and student time during class? The age-old debate sets up competing values. On one side, there is an argument that teachers should command student attention as they convey their knowledge. The opposing view promotes students trying to figure out how to solve problems while teachers assume the role of responsive and supportive coach…
Sometimes, I “borrow” lessons from higher ed that can be adapted for a powerful return in k12. For example, past higher ed inventions such as clickers and flip learning (both developed by physics professor Dr. Eric Mazur) have shown enormous promise in K-12. I would like to introduce you to Harvard Professor David J. Malan and his special approach to creating a highly rigorous and successful learning environment.
Teaching for the 21st century looks a lot different. Here’s what admins — and teachers — need to know for job interviews and beyond.
If you’re not including your students in professional development opportunities for teachers, you’re missing a key opportunity. Here’s why.
The Wayback Machine is as basic a reference tool for the Internet Age as a dictionary. When was the last time you saw a student use it?
GOOGLE HAS AMAZING TOOLS FOR FINDING SCHOOL-WORTHY SOURCES. TOO BAD MOST KIDS DON’T KNOW THEY EXIST
What if we asked our students about the type of work they would prefer to do while in class? It may reveal a lot about what choices they would make for assignments and activities and why they make these choices.
In a recent webinar, more than 90% of school leaders responded that they were leading an innovative school as a result of the implementation of technology. At the end of the webinar, when polled again, only one leader claimed to be leading an innovative school. The complete reversal was due to a presentation of the Six Questions that you will read about in this article.
As many schools and districts are now rushing to buy every student a digital device, I’m concerned that most one-to-one implementation strategies are based on the new tool as the focus of the program. Unless we break out of this limited vision that one-to-one computing is about the device, we are doomed to waste our resources.
On Feb. 10th 2011, the world was transfixed on the protests raging in Egypt. We all watched as thousands gathered in Tahir square, where they had been for the past several weeks, to listen to a speech by President Hosni Mubarak. Many figured this would be his resignation speech.
In 1998, a 15-year-old high school student used the personal website of a professor at Northwestern University, Arthur Butz, as justification for writing a history paper called “The Historic Myth of Concentration Camps.”
Are you as worried as we are that the overall impact of technology on our children’s ability to solve complex research problems is negative? Have you heard a child near you say, “Just Google it,” when asked to describe the meaning of life?
Over the past two years, the Flipped Learning method has created quite a stir. Some argue that this teaching method will completely transform education, while others say it is simply an opportunity for boring lectures to be viewed in new locations.
There is a famous story that describes what needs to be done when you want to hang a picture on the wall. You go the hardware store to buy a drill bit to make the hole for the hook. You don’t really need the drill, you need a hole, but the hardware store doesn’t carry holes, only drill bits. While the drill bit is important, it is two steps removed from what really needs to be done, hanging the picture.
Years ago, when farms dominated our landscape, children were responsible for performing meaningful jobs that were vital to each family’s success. Depending on their age, children would care for animals, repair farm equipment, prepare food to sell at local markets and more. Children were essential to the very survival of the family. At the same time, these jobs taught children the value of hard work, leading them to become more productive citizens within their communities as adults.
Pat Kyle, librarian at the Washington International School (WIS) was presented with a rare opportunity. A private PreK-12 institution in northwest Washington, DC, WIS had launched a five-year redesign of the school in which she would take an active role, helping build a brand new media center.
I want to tell you a story about something that happened to me a few days ago. I had been sanding and painting a Pine Derby racing car for several weeks with my son Danny, who is seven years old. The car looked really good. Unfortunately, I had to do a workshop on the day of the race so I couldn’t be there. When I called Danny later, I found he had lost all four heats.
Is your high school teaching students to access the Internet for research? Then it is essential that students also learn how to validate the information. The Internet is a place where you can find “proof” of essentially any belief system that you can imagine. And, for too many students, “If it is on the Internet, it is true.””
The real revolution that technology brings to society extends well beyond how to use computers, or in school terms, computer literacy. It is more complex than integrating computers across the curriculum or learning about multimedia or even using the Internet. The profound impact is that information communications technology is completely reorganizing how, where, when, with whom, and even why people work.
When my 17-year-old son, Dan, comes home from school, he shouts hello, heads right to his laptop, and logs on to IM. His buddy list is maxed out. His syntax and grammar would make most English teachers recoil in horror. While he’s sending quick notes to his friends he adds photos to his blog, checks the comments from his global audience, and snaps mini earphones into his iPod.
