12 Strategies For Creating An Atmosphere Of Problem-Solving In Your Classroom - 12 Strategies For Creating An Atmosphere Of Problem-Solving In Your Classroom by Paul Moss To remedy the situation, and grow fruitful and happy students within the confines of the syllabus you are bound to, start to fix the problem yourself by creating an atmosphere of problem-solving in your classes. Create situations where students have to think for themselves. Here are some ideas: 1. Instead of telling students what the learning objective is for a task, have them come up with one when they’ve completed it. 2. Instead of answering an unnecessary question, urge students to take back their power by taking another moment to think about the problem, then to check their books and other resources around them for the solution, before asking their table for help, before asking the teacher. 3.
Gradually reduce the scaffolds on tasks, increasing the amount of autonomy with the approach to a task. 4. How you handle the change in direction is the best example of problem-solving there is. 5. 6. 7. 8 Tips for Reaching Out to Parents. After eight years in the classroom, I feel I'm in a position to offer some advice for how teachers can build and sustain positive relationships with parents -- as well as appropriately handle difficult circumstances. Following are eight tips that I've learned from experience. 1. Avoid Doing Battle I always log and take notes on parent phone calls, a good practice in case you need to recall the details of a conversation (or if one took place). 2.
When I receive e-mail from parents, I reply the very same day. 3. I post at least two weeks' worth of lessons and assignments online, and they are easily accessible to students and parents alike. 4. Great teachers welcome parent support and curiosity. 5. Early on, the best way to earn parent support is to run a successful back-to-school night -- which, in many cases, can be a lot of fun. 6. Parents rarely receive a positive call home. 7. Nothing spells "unprofessional" more than a messy-looking teacher, especially when meeting with parents. 8. 5 Tools to Help Students Learn How to Learn. Helping students learn how to learn: That’s what most educators strive for, and that’s the goal of inquiry learning.
That skill transfers to other academic subject areas and even to the workplace where employers have consistently said that they want creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers. Inquiry learning is an integrated approach that includes kinds of learning: content, literacy, information literacy, learning how to learn, and social or collaborative skills. Students think about the choices they make throughout the process and the way they feel as they learn. Those observations are as important as the content they learn or the projects they create. “We want students thinking about their thinking,” said Leslie Maniotes a teacher effectiveness coach in the Denver Public Schools and one of the authors of Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century.
“When they are able to see where they came from and where they got to it is very powerful for them.” What makes someone a better questioner? Here are 8 quick tips - Question Day 2014 : Question Day 2014. A Liberal Decalogue: Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments of Teaching. The 30 second habit with a lifelong impact — Sonra Oku. There are no quick fixes. I know this as a social science junkie, who’s read endless books and blogs on the subject, and tried out much of the advice — mostly to no avail.
So I do not entitle this post lightly. And I write it only having become convinced, after several months of experimentation, that one of the simplest pieces of advice I’ve heard is also one of the best. It is not from a bestselling book — indeed no publisher would want it: even the most eloquent management thinker would struggle to spin a whole book around it. The man in question, an éminence grise of the business world, is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. I met him first over a coffee in his apartment, to discuss the strategy for a highly political non-profit working in Africa. So when he shared some of the best advice he’d ever received, I was captivated. If you only do one thing, do this He did, and he was. I’ve been trying it out for a few months. Fostering the Power of Introverts. Culture Susan Cain, author of The Power of Introverts, spoke recently at the TED event about the virtues of introverts.
Though they’re made to feel like outliers and pushed to participate in groups, both in schools and at work, Cain says introverts often produce great, creative, thoughtful work. In schools, specifically, Cain says classes are designed for “extroverts’ need for lots of stimulation.” Kids work in groups on subjects like math that require solitary thought, she says. “Kids who prefer to work on their own are seen as problem cases or outliers,” she says. “Teachers think the ideal student is an extrovert.”
But there’s “zero correlation between the best ideas and the best talkers.” Though kids do need to be encouraged to work together, she says they also need to learn how to work alone because “that’s where deep thought comes from.” “We have a belief system that all creativity and productivity comes from an oddly gregarious place,” she said. Related Explore: learning styles. 6 Steps to Help Students Find Order in Their Thinking. Like magic, the fish turn into birds and then back into fish. M.C. Escher's tessellations have a way of grabbing your attention and forcing your mind to make sense of the impossible figures on the paper.
The Merriam dictionary describes tessellations as, "a covering of an infinite geometric plane without gaps or overlaps by congruent plane figures of one type or a few types. " A geometry book I have on hand describes tessellations as geometric forms that make use of all available foreground and background space in two dimensions by repeating one or more different shapes in predictable patterns. To tessellate a single shape it must be able to exactly surround a point, or in other words, the sum of the angles around each point in a tessellation must be 360. This means that every quadrilateral and hexagon will tessellate. Of course we see this every day in floor tiles, windows, and walls as the regular shapes repeat themselves. Step 1: Routines and Predictable Patterns Step 6: Repeat. 5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice. The idea of co-constructing knowledge with students can be a scary thing for many of us teachers.
The age-old role of teacher as orator, director, sage has been handed down for centuries and most of us grew up as students looking to teachers in this way. It's hard to shake. Co-constructing knowledge means giving up the myself and them role of teacher and students and fully embracing the wonder and journey of us. The first step we have to take is becoming familiar and comfortable with saying "I don't know" out loud to our students. Maybe that sounds silly, but it's a huge step for many of us. I remember the first time I said it; My eleventh-grade students asked me a question that completely and utterly stumped me (I can't remember what the topic was).
I was about to tell them what I sort of knew or thought the answer might be and instead I just said, "I don't know. " We all just sat there in the silence of those three words. Then I said, "Who knows something about this that they can share? " Don’t Listen to Music While Studying. I notice several students listening to music while busy at work. I have no good reason to ask that they remove their headphones and turn off their devices. As I walk around the room, I admire the elegant, concise prose each produces. I ask one student why music helps her concentrate.
"It soothes me and makes me less stressed," she says. "Plus, Ed Sheeran is just awesome. " As a college student, I spent countless hours studying in a dark corner of the Brandeis University Library. Placing aside the issue of my self-induced exile, for me as well, music offered not only comfort but also increased focus -- or so I thought, at least until coming across the work of Dr. Impaired Performance Perham's 2010 study, "Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect? " I recently spoke with Perham, who told me about the "irrelevant sound effect.
" I'm also interested by another of Perham's conclusions. "I enjoy listening to music while doing math," she says. Silence is Golden. What’s Your Learning Disposition? How to Foster Students’ Mindsets. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s work on growth mindsets has dominated much of the attention around how students can influence their own learning. But there are other ways to help students tap into their own motivation, too. Here are a few other important mindsets to consider. Belonging to an academic community: Feeling connected to adults and peers at school intellectually, not just socially, through an academic community, is a strong motivator. Feeling a sense of belonging in an intellectual community helps students interpret setbacks as a natural part of learning, and not as a personal deficit that sets them apart.
Belief in the likelihood of success: Students’ belief in their own self-efficacy is a better predictor of academic success than measured ability. Students need to feel that they’re likely to succeed in order to sustain the hard work of learning something challenging. The work has meaning and value: The brain naturally looks for connections. Related. You Can’t Bounce Off the Walls If There Are No Walls: Outdoor Schools Make Kids Happier—and Smarter by David Sobel. New approaches to kindergarten offer us a glimpse of what childhood used to be, and still could be—the modern re-creation of the children’s garden.
If we looked to these examples, we might be able to rescue childhood. posted Mar 28, 2014 Photo by Vitalinka/Shutterstock. The original kindergarten—the children’s garden—conceived by German educator Friedrich Froebel in the 19th century, was a place where children learned through play, often in nature. That idea is fast eroding. Kindergarten is the new first grade. In the face of this indoor-ification of early childhood, a cultural and educational movement is emerging—focused on new approaches to nature-based education. The Children’s Garden The nature preschools and forest kindergartens of today aspire to this same kind of nature immersion. On a November day, I visit the Waldkindergarten on the Natick Community Organic Farm, outside of Boston.
Isn’t this what we want for our children? School of Life Like what you're reading? More Stories. Why It’s Imperative to Teach Students How to Question as the Ultimate Survival Skill. By Warren Berger Friday March 14 is the 135th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birthday, a good time to think about the importance of asking questions. This was a big theme for Einstein, who told us, “The important thing is not to stop questioning,” while also urging us to question everything and “Never lose a holy curiosity.” Einstein understood that questioning is critical to learning and solving problems.
If he were alive today, Einstein would see a world in which questioning has become more important than ever before. But he might also be left wondering why, for the most part, we still don’t encourage questioning or teach it to our children. Let’s start with the growing importance of questioning. This has served them well in today’s dynamic tech market—because their well-honed questioning skills help them analyze and solve problems, adapt to change, identify fresh opportunities, and lead companies in new directions. As for making questioning cool? Beyond Zero Tolerance: Achieving a Balance in School Discipline.
Disruptive behavior continues to be one of the most challenging issues that schools face today. Even one seriously incompliant student can threaten teaching and learning for the rest of the class. And though exceedingly rare given the large number of schools throughout our country, incidents of deadly violence shake our confidence in school safety. In the 1990s, amidst similar circumstances and fears, schools adopted "get tough" philosophies of discipline: increased suspensions, expulsions, school arrests and zero tolerance. By cracking down on all transgressions, school leaders hoped to send a message to students that misbehaviors would not be tolerated, and also make classrooms safer for learners that remained. Disparities in How African American Students are Disciplined Throughout the nation, the zero tolerance doctrine dramatically increased suspensions and expulsions.
Zero Tolerance is Ineffective Exclusionary discipline also creates serious risks for students. Revisiting if Educational Technology Is Worth the Hype. Edutopia blogger Bob Lenz asks his students how they view the use of technology in education. Photo credit: Veer Each January, I have the opportunity to facilitate a course in Leading and Managing Technology for the Educational Leadership Program at the Kalmanovitz School of Education at Saint Mary's College of California. We organize our learning by exploring the question, "Is educational technology worth the hype? " Together we read Michael Fullens' book Stratosphere, interview school leaders, explore educational technology tools and follow and comment on education blogs. This year we even held class hangouts where students shared their reviews of technology tools.
In addition to participating in the Educational Leadership Program at St. Here's what Brian wrote: There's no doubt more technology is coming soon to a classroom near you. Sir Ken Robinson and innovative educator Tony Wagner are excellent sources of change knowledge in education. 10 Steps to Creativity and Boosting Intuitive Awareness | Think Tank. Living a creative life takes creativity nurturing and intuitive awareness boosting. By having the right external environment and internal tools for flourishing creativity, you not only notice differences in creative practice, but the effects in all areas of your life.
For nurturing creativity and boosting intuitive awareness, here are 10 easy steps to follow. 1. Find energizing interests. Everyday tasks can either drain all natural energy or lift you up filling you with energy. Finding what works, then doing them every day, is a boost to your creativity and your energy. 2. Calming your mind with meditation helps you refresh by also clearing your mind and bringing out intuitive awareness. 3. Make time for creative experimentation. 4. Plenty of sleep is necessary for creative nurturing as well as boosting intuitive awareness. 5. Once a week, make time for you. 6. Gather limitless creativity and intuitive awareness benefits from spending time with nature. 7. 8. 9. 10. Love, Teach: 16 Things You Can Do While Actively Monitoring during Standardized Testing (or the next time you’re crazy bored)
I know I use a lot of superlatives, but administering standardized tests is pretty close to the worst. Let’s stop for a second. I know what you’re thinking. “What’s so hard about handing out papers and watching students take a test? That sounds pretty cush to me. Wrong-o, my friend. The type of “nothing” that you are thinking of probably involves a lot of things—reading a magazine or a book, checking your phone, looking around idly—but this is not the “doing nothing” of standardized test administration.
No computer/phone/technology of any kind. No writing, drawing, doing crossword puzzles, or Sudoku. No lunges, jumping jacks, or anything that would distract students. No grading papers or getting caught up on work. No sitting for more than a few minutes. No standing in one place. No zoning out. The State would call this "actively monitoring. " 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. *dorkiest thing I’ve said all month. Edutopia - Photos du journal. Edutopia - Photos du journal. Teaching resilience: Reflection - @kdwashburn SmartBlogs.