What is on the five-year horizon for educational technology K-12 schools worldwide? Well, the answers are waiting for you in the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition, a report sharing the collaborative research and discussions of a body of 56 experts. The three topics covered in the report are:
Click here to view the report!
Check out this printable over at We Are Teachers! It’s an easy page to practice navigating the dictionary. Click here to go to my post.
Another freebie for you over at We Are Teachers! This one’s all about figuring out how your students learn best. Click here to visit my post and download the page!
Check out this printable graphic organizer/blank timeline I added on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Yes, it’s still FREE! Perfect for history lessons, summarizing stories, or describing science observations!
I recently attended another conference, the Online Teaching Conference. Held at the San Diego Convention Center, it covered a wide variety of topics from increasing participation in online classes to free tech tools to group work in distance education classes. I’m assuming that most teachers in America (of the world, for that matter) don’t teach courses exclusively online. However, many of the ideas presented there are applicable to any teaching arena.
The topic I found the most interesting was the conversation about group work. One of the suggestions was to encourage the group to not only do an “ice breaker” at the start of their team experience, but to also explore what roles each member would have in the group. After the students discuss roles, teachers can have the group decide on group rules and expectations. This is especially important for a long-term project.
One of the teachers presenting talked about how they have their students turn in a “group expectations” page detailing what the group expected of its members. The presenter said that while they give the group a grade for turning in the page, they don’t necessarily grade the group on how closely they actually stick to their original expectations. This is often because the students set unrealistic expectations for the group. On a number of assignments, the presenter said he asks his students to revise their expectations document part-way through the project so they can make their guidelines more realistic. The presenter indicated that the times when he provides this kind of group support to his students, the groups usually do better, produce higher quality projects and get along better.
This idea makes so much sense! But, I had never thought of it! Learning how to function in a group (that you can’t always choose) is an essential skill in today’s world, and we as teachers can do a lot to help teach our students how to be a good group members.
What have you learned about working with groups (in your experience as a student or as a teacher)? Comment below!
I just posted a new worksheet over at my TpT store! It’s perfect for summer school and year-round schools. Be sure to check it out!
Hello friends! I hope you’ve been enjoying all the ideas and freebies I post here on my blog! I feel great that I’ve been able to help so many hard-working teachers and parents. I am ready for a new challenge! I’m going to start adding new materials to my store over at Teachers Pay Teachers.
Of course, I’ll still continue to add things to this blog, but I hope you’ll poke around on my TpT store as well! (There’s already a new freebie waiting for you!) Thank you!
Tomorrow’s Fourth of July! Yay, America! Check out this free printable page all about sorting letters (consonant vs vowel). It’s simple: color the letters based on the type of letter. Then enjoy a hot dog and the fireworks!
Click here for the free printable PDF: Firework Letters
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