When taking the necessary in-depth look at Visible Learning with the eye of an expert, we find not a mighty castle but a fragile house of cards that quickly falls apart. Source: HOW TO ENGAGE IN PSEUDOSCIENCE WITH REAL DATA: A CRITICISM OF JOHN HATTIE’S ARGUMENTS IN VISIBLE LEARNING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A STATISTICIAN… Read More »
Google’s Narrow Focus on Digital Literacy
“We are helping them become more knowledgeable about what the digital landscape is like,” Mr. Hodgson said of his students, “so they can make choices about what they use and what they don’t use.” Source: Google Is Teaching Children How to Act Online. Is It the Best Role Model? - The New York Times The… Read More »
Twitter’s Card Update is Bad For Users
Twitter made a UI change this week with it's card-styled link previews. It's subtle, but the changes have hurt accessibility and hurt the end user. Twitter allows branded sites (anyone can do it, but brands use it the most) to create "cards" for links they post which include media previews, bold headlines, and a snippet… Read More »
Listening Has Changed My Coaching
Aside from trying to be as productive as I can every day, listening - truly listening to people - has completely changed my coaching. Elena Agular talks about listening at length in The Art of Coaching (well worth the read, btw) and since I've made the conscious effort to listen first, I've seen fruits. I… Read More »
The role of the faculty in the post-LMS world (opinion)
However, working outside the LMS, well-trained instructors will be able to do far more than meet the minimal requirements for moving college courses online... Source: The role of the faculty in the post-LMS world (opinion) I don't work at a university, but we're in the process of moving teachers into using Canvas in our district,… Read More »
If We Don’t Allow A Redo, What Are We Teaching? – The Teacher And The Admins
Whatever the reason, he was afforded the opportunity to learn and apply. It hasn’t come easy, but that’s the point. Giving a chance to redo isn’t about being easy. Source: If We Don’t Allow A Redo, What Are We Teaching? – The Teacher And The Admins Still in my standards-based grading vein, this is inevitably… Read More »
Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Three Grading Practices to Avoid
Remember, though, that grades should not be used as rewards. Nor should they be used as affirmation, compensation, or validation. Grades should represent an honest report of evidence at this moment in time, nothing more. If we make them something more than that, we undermine the student’s maturation and any useful purpose for grading. Source:… Read More »
Lesson Idea: Learning Objectives
Jessica Till asks a good question on Twitter: and Graham's response stood out to me: Turning this around (also mentioned by Will Dunn later in the thread), what would happen if we taught a lesson or went through an activity without positing the objective and then have students state the learning as an exit ticket… Read More »
The Psychology of Classroom Discussions
I've never heard of the Asch Experiment, but this video is worth watching. Kaplinsky's article gives some good classroom ideas on how to avoid groupthink in student responses, even highlighting the Desmos teacher view to anonymize responses (which also works outside of math. During student teaching, questioning was the first thing my training teacher worked… Read More »
Back to School
It's appropriate to write a back to school post nearly a month into the school year. I took Twitter off my phone back in July in an effort to put my phone down more often. It had become too easy to lazily open and scroll when my interest waned. That bled into time with my… Read More »
