This is a stunning lesson in WWII history, geography, and geopolitics
Enjoy,
Tom
A visualization of WWII like you’ve never seen before
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Tag Archives: high school
Closing the education gap – new book – “I Got Schooled”
This summary, borrowed from Amazon: I Got Schooled, offers a look at America’s educational achievement gap that could only have come from an outsider.
Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The MNS Foundation he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America’s achievement gap. But just as we must do several things simultaneously to maintain good health— eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night’s sleep—so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools.
These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive biases: too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions (*) .
This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why, so that we as a nation can fulfill our obligation to give every student an opportunity for a good education.
(*) Not the answer to closing the education gap:
- small classroom sizes
- master’s programs and Ph.D.’s for the teachers
- paying teachers like doctors
- funding the schools at $20,000 per pupil
Truly a book worth reading … and sharing … widely.
Here is a 58 minute video interview with M. Night Shyamalan that’s worth watching [click here to watch].
For busy people, I am posting a summary at tommilesabq.com of each of the five practices MNS Foundation discovered that “moved the needle” in closing the gap.
Bring 21st Century Into High Schools
Here’s a quick summary of, and link to, a June USNews article about bringing the 21st Century into the High School classroom.
A recent Gallup research program interviewed 1,014 people ages 18-35 with varying levels of education, asking them to recall their last year of school.
They found that about 1 out of 2 or 2 out of 3 individuals were NOT presented with collaboration, real-world problem solving and critical thinking opportunities in their high school experience.
While students were techno-savvy, only 3 percent had used discussion boards, video conferencing, Skype or other collaborative tools in the classroom.
Students tasked with regularly using these 21st century tools were more likely to say they excelled at their jobs, and that these tools were crucial in today’s workplace.
The Common Core State Standards adopted by most states require teachers to incorporate collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking into their lessons.
Cull current events: Look at what is dominating the news cycle and think about how it can apply to lessons. Use severe weather outbreaks and environmental disasters to illustrate everything from climate patterns to the logistics of coordinating relief efforts. Use the never-ending campaign season to teach students about statistics, social studies, finance and big data.
Tap industry experts: Getting a CEO into a classroom can be a logistical nightmare. Getting them on a Skype call – now that’s another story.
Free online tools can open up a wellspring of opportunity for getting experts in front of students. Educators can set up a call or join one hosted by someone else, using resources such as Skype in the Classroom. Teachers can also turn the tables and have students present a project or pitch an idea to industry leaders,
Read the complete article here.
An ‘A’ for Job Readiness?
From Melissa Korn, At Work Blog, WSJ.com:
“Nearly 80% of current college students say they’re “very” or “completely” prepared to put their organization skills to work, while just 54% of hiring managers who’ve interviewed recent grads would agree, according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. college students and 1,000 hiring managers, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of education company Chegg.
Students overestimate their abilities by at least 10 percentage points on each of the 11 criteria measured in the survey, according to the findings.”
From the study:
| Assessment characteristic |
Students view |
Recruiters’ view |
| Making decisions without all the facts |
47% |
37% |
| Ability to communicate with bosses and clients |
70% |
44% |
The study also found that collaboration, managing up (i.e., managing your manager(s)), making persuasive arguments, and critical thinking in general, were unprepared for. The feeling that more hands-on and applied learning would be supportive to both students and employers.
Methinks starting more ‘hands-on and applied learning’ in middle- and high-school would also be supportive.
How well does your school meet student expectations? Take this quiz to find out.
The idea is that learning should be student centered. To do that we need to be clear on the expectations students have about their schools. The following diagram outlines the ten expectations which young people want from their schools.
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| Read more about these expectations and watch short videos of students discussing them in action here. |
Lisa Nielsen created a ten question quiz based on these student expectations of school. This is a terrific conversation starter for transforming schools.
You can read the complete article here, take the quiz, and see how your school stacks up.
Do You Know About ShareMyLesson.com?
If You Happen To Know Any Teachers, Here’s Something That Will Make Their Day
The last few years have been tough on schools. With deep budget cuts, many have had to scramble to teach the same number of kids (and sometimes more!) with less. Here’s one truly amazing idea that aims to equalize the playing field and give all students the kind of engaging classroom time they deserve.
Flipboard for Educators – cool!
Posted on August 29, 2013 by insideflipboard
As students and teachers head back to school all over the country, we wanted to share some ideas on how Flipboard can be helpful this school year. Since the launch of Flipboard 2.0 this past spring, our readers can collect articles and turn them into shareable magazines. We’ve found that educators are doing this a lot—for class reading assignments, student projects and their own enlightenment.
Here’s how you can use Flipboard in teaching and learning:
1. Keep up on current events: Flipboard has more than 125 publishing partners, including the BBC, New York Times, TechCrunch, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as sections curated around topics such as News, Tech, Travel and Design—”one-stop shops” for authoritative news on a subject. Tap on the red ribbon to explore great magazines, newspapers and blogs in the Content Guide.
2. Create a class syllabus: Plan out the semester for your students by making your syllabus available in a magazine. Include articles and editorial content that your students need to read throughout the semester to ensure success in your class. You can supplement it with your own notes by using a blogging platform such as WordPress, and flipping your posts into your magazine. Encourage students to comment on articles to track engagement.
Things AP Econ Students Should Know: by Michael Brody
3. Class projects: Task your students with creating a class-project magazine. Have them compile editorial, images and YouTube videos around specific subject matter they’re studying in your class. They can do this individually, or in groups (tap “Invite Contributors” from the magazine’s front page.)
Government Class: by kimberleyscox
Mike McCue: by Brian Pinkston
4. Educational Resource Guides: The education process is never ending. Create a resource guide by compiling articles and educational materials on a single topic or general areas of inquiry and share that with your colleagues.
Science class: by Zach Morrow
EducAtion: by Brendan Gilligan
Early Childhood Education: by Jacqueline Mezquita
5. Collaboration: Teaching is all about teamwork. Invite other educators to collaborate on a resource guide or have your students collaborate on a magazine for class. Compile articles, teaching resources or how to videos related to the subject you teach or education in general and share that magazine with other educators in your school or district.
Student Blogging Challenge Sept 2013: by suewaters
Education & Educapability: by Joshua Hostetter
6. Keep parents informed: Stay in touch with your classroom parents by creating a magazine with curriculum examples, class readings, suggested at home projects, images from class and classroom updates flipped in from a personal blog. Encourage your parents to subscribe to the magazine to stay up to date on everything going on in your classroom.
7. Your school, on the go: For administrators—Flipboard is a great way for your school to stay in touch with students, parents and the community. As long as your school paper, newsletter or event images are available as an RSS feed or via social media, you can search for it on Flipboard. You can also use our Web tools to flip your school’s posts into new magazines—into which you can even mix in other content—around any topic you like.
The Paly Voice: by Callie Walker
Flipboard has previously teamed up with both TeachThought and EdReach, two great educational organizations, to teach their networks how educators and students can best use Flipboard. Check out both of these resources for some additional tips and tricks.
And to learn more about how educators are using Flipboard, from educators, check out these blog posts:
Happy school year to everyone!
~CarolynG
/flipboard
@flipboard
+flipboard