Philosophy Without A Home

This one is just cool and not just because I love The Lord of the Rings.

This is a great Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_math_with_computers.html The basic question is should we teach students how to do stuff by hand or is it better to teach concepts? This isn't to say calculators should be introduced in kindergarten, but honestly let's question what is important when teaching math.

Image by dendari via Flickr The 2010 K12 Online Conference (blocked in district) just ended. The most useful presentation I saw was this one by Chris Betcher , about using scratch in the classroom. He has a little more information and the complete 20 minute presentation on his web site (open to the district) and some further information on a wiki . (also open to the district) After about two minutes into the video I think you will find that programming in Scratch is not only easy, but can really enhance learning.  Scratch is a simple programming language developed by MIT specifically to help middle school and high school student learn math and computer programming. If your students find Scratch too easy or want to stretch their wings they can also try Alice . Originally developed by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University. Scratch and Alice are separate free downloadable computer programs. However, I am assuming that if requested it can be downloaded and insta

I’ve heard a lot about brain-based research, but haven’t really puzzled out what it might look like in the classroom. Then I read a blog that suggested Kenneth Wesson .   Evidently he is a brain researcher and a Science teacher. (college) I’ve gone through some of his slides. I’ll share a couple of interesting points, but I don’t want to be rude and share too much when you can easily go to his site and look at them yourself. • More brain cells must fire actively to keep the body still than are required for movement.  Keeping the brain’s inhibitory neurons active requires more concentration of valuable brain resources than executing physical movements.  When cognitive energies are diverted from learning to keeping still , we need to decrease our expectations for learning outcomes •A 5 th grade class in Charlotte, NC -  increased attention spans and facilitated good posture. The classroom - a sea of motion - children bob and weave, sway and bounce their way through lessons per

Image via Wikipedia A two-piece post. Look for the second part at my other site .  I observed an 8 th grade Science class. This specific class was a lab to determine if temperature changes increase chemical reactions and whether a reaction is endothermic or exothermic. For the post-observation conference I pulled the teacher out of her lunch period, because we had had so many scheduling conflicts it wasn’t funny. She was very good-natured about it.  She choose to sit next to me instead of across the table, but that may have been just so her back wasn’t to the camera. We both share space in the “new teacher” office, so we know each other fairly well. She is normally a very reserved and quiet person. During the conference she was also trying to eat lunch.  Halfway through the discussion as I was asking her questions such as “why did you choose that method”, and “how could you have done it differently” she became noticeably more animated. She stopped eating, made direct eye

A slideshow presentation I created about a year ago. I still love it. Teacher Skills 2 View more presentations from Brendan Murphy .

Are the same students answering all the questions in your classroom? Would it help if the answered were anonymous? Would you like to poll the class, but don't have a set of clickers? It is as easy as pie just use http://www.polleverywhere.com/ While not perfect this can at times take the place of a $1500 set of classroom clickers. How do students answer the poll, well that is a bit tricky. responses are logged using a web browser, twitter, or text message. Twitter of course is blocked in the school. The web page should work if each student has a computer. the cell phone of course is supposed to be turned off and in the locker. The exact policy is " Cell ular tele phone s or PDAs that also are tele phone s (collectively referred to as Cell phone s) are for emergency parent/guardian contact purposes only, unless otherwise authorized for use by school administrators." ' I would suggest talking to your building principal about a test run. Just make sure