Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Happy new year!
….And welcome to our new post type for 2019, a #5MinuteReflection. These posts, in addition to our familiar #1minutecpd posts, will provide some wider context and embed the technologies that we cover in #1minutecpd within practice. Each post should take approximately 5 minutes to read, so sit back and take a moment to reflect with us.

As January is usually not the jolliest of months and the long dark days can start to take their toll, I’ve decided that in our first #5minuteReflection post I’ll explore some of the well-being apps and technologies you can use to help keep yourself happy and healthy in 2019. These apps and approaches are also good to share with your students so consider promoting these approaches to your students also. 

At one time or another we have all engaged in poor thinking habits. After all, nobody’s perfect and neither is anybody’s thinking. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t get better at it and start thinking more critically. It’s worth our time to seek ways of improving our thinking and to guide our learners to do the same.

Poor thinking habits refer to the ways of thinking that produce adverse effects in every part of our lives. They can negatively affect our personal progress, our relationships, and everyone around us. But they do much more than that, actually. Not only do they affect the outside world, but they do damage from within as well. In the long run poor thinking can affect our self-esteem, our ability to cope with challenges, and even our physical health.

Researchers studied students’ brains as they learned and took another look at the marshmallow test, learning styles, and growth mindset.

Education research continues to remind us of the powerful impact teachers have on children. This impact is overwhelmingly positive—the studies we highlight here demonstrate specific ways in which teachers can or already do help students feel a sense of belonging in school and make gains in learning.

There are areas for improvement, though: Researchers have shown that different rates of suspensions and expulsions for black and white boys have more to do with adult perceptions of those kids than with their behaviors.