Educational Pedagogy

Via Kim Flintoff

“We as teachers have a lot to learn from coaches,” said Jeff Gilbert, a former teacher and coach and now principal of Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California. Most important, student learning would improve if teachers included more public performances in their instruction, he said.

In sports, players practice their skills in order to play the game better, and coaches modify what and how they train based on the athletes’ performance. Students in the classroom would benefit from similar high-stakes public performances, where they demonstrate what they’ve learned. In this way, the learning has a purpose, the same as throwing and catching drills in baseball.

Learning grounded in performance also allows teachers to give students constant feedback, like a coach who tweaks a player’s stance or swing. Though it’s more difficult for teachers to assess how well students are learning—unlike coaches, who can see immediately whether what they’ve taught has stuck—projects that include performances give more opportunities for immediate feedback.

Via John Evans

"Most of us are familiar with TED Talks and TED-Ed animated videos and lessons – I certainly share enough of them and you can read more at The Best Teacher Resources For “TED Talks” (& Similar Presentations).

Today, as part of World Teacher Day, Google and TED-Ed announced a new TED-Ed Educator Talks YouTube Channel, that “will be dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the ideas of teachers around the world.”"

Via John Evans

May is an important month for teachers. Standardized testing kicks in gear, decisions are being made about next year’s budget, and, of course, Teacher Appreciation Week. After ten years in the classroom, I’ve discovered that the best Teacher Appreciation gifts tend to be free- handwritten notes from students or words of encouragement from veteran teachers.

My gift to you is this roundup of advice from voices in every academic discipline, as well as a heavy sprinkling of books about fictional teachers. There are some classics, some hot new titles, and a few books that might push you out of your comfort zone. Whether you are trying to up your game in a certain subject, study theory about different learning styles, or simply read a story about someone else surviving the classroom for a change, you’ll find something in this list of 100 must-read books for and about teachers.

Via John Evans

What if you could squeeze an extra ten minutes out of your busy day and devote them to more meaningful interactions with students, colleagues and parents?

While a school day is estimated to be around 6.7 hours, every educator knows that a teacher’s workday is much longer.
Carving out extra time in a teaching day may seem like a tall order for many educators, who often must steal hours from their evenings, cutting into their own professional development time and tipping the scales on their work-life balance. While a school day is estimated to be around 6.7 hours, every educator knows that a teacher’s workday is much longer. Add the time required for all the other parts of the job—lesson planning, providing students extra support, grading, and parent and staff meetings—and teachers can expect to put in a 12- to 16-hour workday.

Recent advancements in data analytics and artificial intelligence, however, may help teachers gain back some of those hours. These technologies offer new efficiencies and insights into classroom learning, allowing educators to harness the power of data from their learning management systems (LMSs) and freeing them up to focus their time on activities that truly lead to better learning outcomes.

Via John Evans

When I ask teachers what their biggest struggles are, one issue comes up on a regular basis: student motivation. You are able to reach many of your students, but others are unreachable. No matter what you try, they have no interest in learning, no interest in doing quality work, and you are out of ideas.

For a long time, I had no solutions; the problem was too complex. I have had my own unmotivated students, and I never had any magic bullets for them. Still, the issue kept coming up from my readers.

So I decided to do some research, to try to find what the most current studies say about what motivates students. This is what I found:

Via John Evans

These videos changed the way I think about teaching.

Via Ana Cristina Pratas, Dean J. Fusto, Miloš Bajčetić, Mark E. Deschaine, PhD