Eclectic Technology

In our world today we are surrounded by visuals. Yet we walk into many classrooms and see many written texts that often have few visuals. This post begins with a quote from John Medina, the author of Brain Rules (and a developmental molecular biologist). He states "We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%. Professionals everywhere need to know about the incredible inefficiency of text-based information and the incredible effects of images (http://www.brainrules.net/vision)."

There is also a video that was created by students explaining their frustration with the lack of visual learning that takes place in the classroom.

Additional sections include:

* Use Visuals, Images, Data Visualizations, Infographics and Videos to Teach Concepts

* Use and Teach Learners How to Make Concept Maps and Graphic Organizers

* Use and Teach Learners How to Do Sketchnotes

* Allow and Encourage Learners to Show What They Know Through Visual Imagery

* Teach Visual Literacy

Jackie Gerstein provides a thought provoking post with links to additional resources. Take the time to read and consider how you might increase the use of visuals in your classroom. And if you have not read John Medina's book you might want to check out his website.

Do you teach your students about growth mindset? Is this a topic of discussion with other staff in your school? Jackie Gerstein has shared three excellent resources in this post that focuses on growth mindset.

She has created an infographic (image above) that looks at fixed mindset and growth mindset, showing how a student may identify based on their mindset.

The next step was putting the infographic into ThingLink and creating links to over 15 resources. Here is the link: ThingLink version of the infographic.

There is also a slideshow that provides additional resources (although some may be repeated in the ThingLink). The slideshow is split into four sections:

* Mindsets

* Historical Background

* The Educator with a Growth Mindset

* Teaching the Growth Mindset to your Learners

Since this post is based on a workshop she provided it is a great resource to share with teachers at your school (or other teachers whom you know). Make sure to check out the resources for students. You may find yourself creating a poster to help your students learn more about growth mindset.

We often hear of growth mindset and fixed mindset. Is there also a creative mindset? Jackie Gerstein suggests that there is a creative mindset in this post. Why? If a mindset is defined as "ideas and attitudes with which a person approaches a situation"  there is a list of "ideas and attitudes" that may be part of a creative mindset. The visual above provides Gerstein's list of some items she considers important for a creative mindset. The list is also below.

* Believes in one's own creativity

* Embraces curiosity

* Suspends judgement - silences the inner critic

* Tolerates ambiguity

* Persists even when confronted with skepticism and rejection

* Taps into childlike imagination; a child's sense of wonder

Each of these is described in more detail and links to additional resources are provided. There is also a short discussion conditions necessary to facilitate creative mindset in a classroom.