Learning Never Stops

The principles of education from the International Academy of Education... o Begin each lesson with a re-cap of previous learning; o Present each section in small chunks and allow for consolidation of learning following each input; o Limit the amount of lesson material handed to pupils – this needs to be ‘de-chunked’; o Gives clear and detailed instructions – make sure that everyone understands what your expectations are; o Ask (and invite) questions to check understanding; o Provide a significant amount of practice to reinforce learning; o Provide guidance, support and advice; o Think out loud and model concepts into context appropriate to the learner; o Provide solution based models; o Ask pupils to explain what they have learned; o Check feedback from all pupils; o ALWAYS provide feedback on progress and learning; o Use time efficiently to provide examples; o Re-teach parts of the lesson if needed; o Prepare pupils for assessments and further practice; o Monitor...

Months ago I had come across this very familiar video sent to me by a twitter friend. I had glanced at it, marvelled at genius of the animator and sighed. Today, at the PD session, I was pleasantly surprised to see the same video presented in a context that I could relate to: International-mindedness. How do we make our students more aware of the world around them and nudge them from being passive observers to problem solvers of the world. Our children are growing up in an age where things are in a constant state of flux. What we teach them now may not be valid later. Do we need to focus as much on the individual needs of children as in the curriculum? Where do we find the time? How do we get teachers who are uncomfortable with IT to teach their students web 2.0 tools. Later web 3.0 tools! Is it necessary? The pace of life is overwhelming and teachers have a huge task ahead of them(at least those who want to make a difference in the life of the kids). What is the role of education in ...

I have been very busy since school opened and have been neglecting my blog. But I had something urgent I wanted to talk to myself about and clear the cobwebs so to speak. Plus the nagging uncomforatble feeling of meeting some parents who always seem angry and discontented. My pennies are posted on a prezi! The Parent Teacher Student Conference on Prezi

"Blah blah blah blah blah .........." "Now take out your textbooks and do page 12, 13, 14 and 15....um and 16". "Yes all of them!" "No, you can't discuss!" "Clear?" "Quiet over there!!!" Brrrr...scary if teachers are still doing this in class! It goes on.... "Margins are crooked..." "Date on the wrong side..." "Digits are scrawly....' FAILED...!!!! But Miss! I got the sum right!

By nainisingh | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon Today the students were presenting their work to the class in groups. They were archaeologists who have discovered a site from where they have excavated many artifacts. They had to present these to an audience. I enjoyed how the lesson went: 1) Earlier, the students had read the task and came up with their own class rubric. Each success criteria was decided by them. As a result all the students were comfortable and knew exactly what to do and how to succeed at what they were doing. In case of some confusion, I had an intervention planned ahead. 2) They were going to present their work to their parents. So the audience was clear to them. 3) In order to see whether they were on track they had to present their project (in progress) while the student used the rubric to assess their work. Because of this, they knew their shortcomings and strong points. The feedback was critical because it allowed them the chan...

I was listening to this audio clip yesterday... Podcast - Alfie Kohn: Choosing Excellence Learning Matters Alfie Kohn's views on authentic learning and his opinion on what a great classroom environment should look like is not really a novel idea. It reminds me of a checklist I got during a PD session at school titled,  "What a PYP classroom looks like." In it, most of what Mr Kohn talks about are mentioned. And yet listening to them again refreshed my mind and helped me reassess my teaching practices. At times my students are engrossed in an activity or engaged in an amimated discussion about something. I find myself rubbing my hands with glee and giving myself a pat on the back. But then sometimes not. I was editing a piece of writing the other day, trying to get the children to see how a sentence could be polished and made to sound better. I caught a few kids yawning and had to rethink the way my lesson was going. At times, kids are not...

We are studying all about old artifacts and how archaeologists spend hours analysing and drawing conclusions about the past. It's a unit that requires a lot of planning in order to ensure that the kids make some connections to this unit and find an innate desire to learn more about the past. All they could think about at the beginning was Egypt and the mummies! I cannot emphasise enough the need for a KWL chart for this unit! It has been working really well and the kids have understood the fact that they started this unit with a certain amount of knowledge and as the research has been progressing, they have come up with new understanding... Until i came across a students blog comment which I quote verbatim: " this unit that we are doing doesn't sound interesting. in this unit we have only been learning about old precious things.the only artifact that is good and interesting to me is rayhan's. it made me think a lot. i think the key was used in the old times to op...