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8-Ways Pedagogy is about the process of teaching rather than what is being taught - incorporating Story Sharing,
Learning Maps, Non-verbal, Symbols and Images, Land Links
Non-linear, Deconstruct/Reconstruct, Community Links into teaching to enhance learning and development of cultural understanding for all students while helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students feel at home in the classroom.

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Aboriginal Pedagogy

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Kahoot can be used in various ways in the classroom, both teacher-led and student-led activities, collaboratively, for knowledge recaps and for student creation.
https://kahoot.com/blog/2018/03/13/collaboration-classroom-math-teacher-tips/

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Recently, we spoke to hero teacher Chase Chatfield who is a real champion when it comes to facilitating student-led learning in his cross-disciplinary class! Keeping learners at the forefront in class, Chase helps them train superpowers such as discussion, analysis and teamwork. In this article, he shares deeper insights into that learning journey and tips for creating top-notch kahoots.
Student feedback is vital from the start. When I started with Kahoot!, I only used it as a fun break in class for students, and hadn't explored other possibilities. Little did I know how powerful the platform can be as a collaboration tool! Actually, it was my students' feedback that motivated me to find new ways to use Kahoot! in class.

I began by creating simple kahoots with "What is X?" type of questions. Next, I progressed to creating "find, solve, and determine" quizzes. These questions showed me which of my students could solve the problem. However, then I realized I should reconsider the timing for questions, because solving the expressions isn't a guessing game.

I asked my students how they felt, and their feedback was eye-opening. With more complex problems or expressions, they felt under pressure to answer in time, trying to be faster than everyone else. It looked like the competitive element had to be toned down a notch. Therefore, I took the time to come up with a different system.

Progressing through learning with Kahoot!

Teaching new content and reinforcing it, I start simple and then gradually increase difficulty as we move further. Here's how we do it over the course of three days:

When introducing new topics, I now start the game with no points to warm up. This intro game is a survey to test prior knowledge, featuring mainly straightforward yes/no questions, no trickery in answers. I also include a "prove it" question or two - i.e., either asking for the definition, or using an image to illustrate info related to the previous question.

I found that students would always attempt to give a correct answer even if it is a guess. This did not give me an accurate representation of their knowledge. For example, if a student said they didn't know the vocabulary word, how could they correctly identify a definition or example? It lead me to include "I don't know" as an answer option. For my students, this option gave a safe way out, and for me - a better snapshot of the actual knowledge retained.

I then played the same intro kahoot the next day and the scores were much higher. During the second play, one student in particular said he felt really smart, because he had retained the knowledge from the first play of the kahoot. Great progress!

Over the next couple of days, I gave traditional instruction to the content from the intro kahoot. I closed out day three with a kahoot that asked students to identify and solve expressions. It starts with "easy", true or false questions that cover the core information needed to complete the remaining questions. If a student answers something wrong, they can make a mental adjustment to be applied to the other questions. Then, once I reach expressions to solve, I start with entry level versions and then work towards more challenging examples.

Our top tips to create a student-led kahoot

As teachers, we're used to being in the driver's seat in the classroom, but believe me, letting your students take the lead does magic! Take time to listen and watch students, and they will guide you how to teach content in the most efficient way. The following are my students' tips (some spoken, some not) for a fun and productive kahoot!

1. Give them all the time in the world

However long you - the teacher - think it should take a student to solve a problem, triple it! If students do not think they have enough time to answer a question, they give up and guess. If you give them enough, they will get used to the practice and apply themselves academically to the game.
Student feedback: "I may not need a lot of time, but I feel smarter when I finish before the timer runs out."
2. Break up the questions

This is directly related to the first tip. Think about the number of steps it takes to solve a problem, and use that many questions. E.g. if a question requires students to find a missing angle measurement, I have them solve for x first. If a student is incorrect here, the correct answer is provided and helps the student move onto the next step with more accuracy. To solve the next question, students can then apply the answer from the previous one.
Student feedback: "When the questions are broken up it helps me check my work as I go along. I hate doing all that work and not knowing if I'm doing it wrong."
3. Repeat kahoots to reinforce knowledge

Play the same kahoot more than once. Your students will want to, trust me! Take advantage by having them compete against themselves in Ghost Mode. There is nothing better than beating your own high score!

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Collaboration in classroom with Kahoot! | Math teacher tips

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Recently, we spoke to hero teacher Chase Chatfield who is a real champion when it comes to facilitating student-led learning in his cross-disciplinary class! Keeping learners at the forefront in class, Chase helps them train superpowers such as discussion, analysis and teamwork.

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This article on Edutopia discusses why problem based learning should have a significant role in our classrooms, how it evolves authentic assessments and what PBL can do for the learning of students when combined with technology.

https://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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https://medium.com/@NisaiLearning/5-principles-for-effective-pedagogy-8d8ba1130430

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Learning is determined by the pedagogical methods teachers use when they are in class. The act of delivering effective pedagogy most of the time relies on the specific subject matter to be taught, on recognising the various needs of the learners, and on adjusting to the surrounding conditions of the classroom.

This week, we take you through some of the principles of effective pedagogy that pave the way for innovative learning:

Inclusion

Motivation

Quality Assurance

Consistency & Transparency

Innovative Approaches

"Achievement should be interpreted in terms of the power of effort rather than the limits of ability." DfE, 2011

The pedagogy should support inclusive practice in terms of education so that every child can develop their capacity in learning. We believe that everyone has equal value and should have access to high quality education around the world. We provide an inclusive, social and student-focused environment that welcomes learners of all backgrounds and needs.
2. Motivation
Student motivation is mainly reliant on the teachers' personality and their ability to develop and maintain a fruitful relationship. This can happen by recognising the student's needs, interests and experiences and framing the learning for each learner. Our classes are delivered through the Nisai Virtual Academy (NVA) by qualified, subject specialist teachers. However, the inspiration from the relationship our students have with our teachers comes organically - the computers have only a support role to play.
3. Quality Assurance
Another important factor in pedagogy is the quality of the school. As a Cambridge International School, we can provide Cambridge IGCSEs and A levels to students worldwide. In addition to that, we are approved by the Department for Education as a Section 41 provider for Post 16 learners. We provide programmes for Key Stages 3-5 with accredited courses by either OCR, NOCN or Cambridge. We are also the only online education provider to have been OFSTED inspected.
4. Consistency and Transparency
The pedagogy should be methodical and consistent in order for the objectives, content and students' activity to be aligned. The elements of online learning should correspond and should be transparent in its intention; it must be clear for the learner what they are expected to do. Our approach to learning is solely holistic and our programmes vary from long and short-term to online academic with 1:1 support and project based learning.
5. Innovative Approaches
In theory, online learning should be fit for purpose; bringing an innovative approach which cannot be reached in any other way. Our approach, with our online material as well as the environment, is targeted only at our valuable students. We work with students to help them achieve their ambitions through holistic learning, creating pathways to university and subsequently future employment.

At Nisai, we adapt the way we educate to prepare today's students for tomorrow's future using a 21st century pedagogical approach. Our approach is based on four learning strategies - aka the 4C's:

Critical Thinking - Our students are motivated by our teaching methods and embrace technology for personalised learning. Our education tools help students develop their critical thinking skills

Collaboration - Both our students and teachers collaborate successfully in the online classrooms to implement effective learning results as well as to create an online learning culture

Creativity - Within the NVA we have a plethora of activities and The Chill Out Zone where learners can join clubs and societies

Communication - All of our learners are in small, live classes studying at a similar pace and ability. Coupled with trained teachers and well-paced online lessons; our learners receive more attention and are proven to communicate successfully with their teachers and peers.

Understanding the identity of pedagogy is a necessity in order to recognise what role the technology can play in supporting education - and also to be able to identify the effective practices of teaching and learning.

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Learning is determined by the pedagogical methods teachers use when they are in class. The act of delivering effective pedagogy most of the time relies on the specific subject matter to be taught, on recognising the various needs of the learners, and on adjusting to the surrounding conditions of the classroom.

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Brooke (2006) discusses strategies for engaging students to use higher order thinking skills, including soratic questioning. Engaging students in higher order thinking online requires careful planning and implementation. This video articulates how using socratic questioning can support higher order thinking. Key takeaways include: using open ended questions, grounding learning into personalised experiences, identifying and solving problems, and recontextualising knowledge.

Brooke, S. L. (2006). Using the Case Method to Teach Online Classes: Promoting Socratic Dialogue and Critical Thinking Skills. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18(2), 142-149.

scooped from https://padlet.com/chrishoffensetz/m2cvkx253t8051c

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One Easy Way to Engage Students in Higher Order Thinking Online!

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Video explaining the benefits of problem based learning

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Video explaining the benefits of problem based learning

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What is problem based learning and why do we need to implement it to education? Our students will benefit from problem based learning when it is made relevant to their lives, students will excel in their learning when they're solving a problem that exists in their world.
https://youtu.be/RGoJIQYGpYk

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What is Problem-Based Learning? How to use it in your classroom

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This article looks at how teaching science through problem based learning is more beneficial to students than just remembering the "facts". Through problem based learning students become critical thinkers, understand data better and keep an open mind for analysis and questioning.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/29/learning-facts-children-how-think-scientific-method-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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've been giving considerable thought recently to the way we teach science at school - and whether we have the balance right between catering for those children who will become the scientists and engineers of the future (and how would we be able to tell this anyway?), and those who don't think they have a natural aptitude for science, or are simply more interested in other subjects.

The issue goes beyond which science topics we should be teaching, and in what depth. I'm more concerned by the obsession with making children memorise scientific "facts", and whether this is what we should be focusing on so much. Perhaps spending more time learning how we "do" science - what's called the scientific method - is more valuable than simply "knowing" stuff.

After all, science isn't a collection of facts about the world. That's just called "knowledge". Rather, science is a process - a way of thinking and making sense of the world, which will then lead to new knowledge. This is a very important distinction. We've often heard it said that we should be teaching children not what to think but how to think. This is an admirable sentiment, but what would it mean in practice? Why spend so much of the school science curriculum loading up children's brains with facts about the world that they can just look up anyway? Wouldn't it be more useful teaching them how to find reliable scientific knowledge - which these days inevitably means online rather than in books - and how to assess and critically analyse and absorb that knowledge when needed?

I have no doubt that those who develop the school science curriculum, and probably a few teachers too, would balk at this idea. After all, I am not a professional educationist. They might argue that we still have to teach the scientific nuts and bolts - chemical formulas, the bones of the human body, Newton's law of gravitation, electricity and magnetism, and so on - particularly to those who will end up studying their subject in greater depth at university and go on to take science up as a profession.

And what about the rest of society? Surely, everyone needs a basic scientific understanding. Just as everyone should have some understanding of, say, history or literature, we all need to know some science: facts about the world to help us make informed decisions in our everyday lives, from what precautions to take during a pandemic and the importance of vaccines, to the risks of vaping, the benefits of flossing or why recycling our waste is good for the planet. A scientifically literate society is one that can see the world more clearly, and can make more informed decisions about important issues that face us all. Yet what seems to be missing today is an understanding of the way we gain this scientific understanding of the world. And yes, you may be thinking: so what?

Adopting the scientific method could help us all become more tolerant and less polarised in our views - to disagree without being disagreeable - particularly online. No one can, hand on heart, deny that the internet is a wondrous invention, utterly transforming our lives over the past three decades. Even social media, that easiest of scapegoats for all of society's ills, has played a vital role in disseminating and democratising information. That said, far too many people use it not as a useful tool, but as a medium for ill-informed, often toxic opinions, and for spreading disinformation. But the internet and social media have only really amplified societal problems that have always been with us. On top of this, our attention spans are inevitably getting shorter, and we don't take the time to question our biases, or ask whether the information we are getting is reliable and trustworthy.

This is where thinking scientifically can help. I don't mean being able to manipulate equations or interpret complex statistics, but rather adopting some of the ways that good science is practised, such as critically assessing what we believe and examining the trustworthiness of evidence; questioning our own biases before we attack views we don't like; and being prepared to admit our mistakes and change our minds in the light of new evidence.

This is what we should be teaching more of in schools: better critical thinking skills, better information literacy (an understanding of data), how to cope with complexity, and how to assess uncertainty - to keep an open mind about information we only have partial knowledge about. All these skills are part of the scientific approach. This remarkable way of seeing, thinking and knowing, is one of humankind's great riches and the birthright of everyone. And, most wonderfully, it only grows in quality and value the more widely it is shared.

To expect any kind of radical review or reassessment of what children are taught at school - given how disruptive and time-consuming even minor tinkering with the syllabus can be for many teachers - let alone asking wider society to adopt a more rational way of thinking, is probably too much to ask; but surely we have to do something. Humankind came up with the scientific method to make sense of a confusing physical universe. But even in our exceedingly more complex and confusing universe of human affairs, adopting some of the lessons from the way we progress in science can be empowering and liberating. Thinking scientifically is much more than just knowing stuff. It gives us a way to see the world beyond our limited senses, beyond our prejudices and biases, beyond our fears, insecurities, ignorance and weaknesses.

Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. His new book, The Joy of Science,is out now

The subheading of this article was amended on 5 May 2022 to remove an incorrect reference, introduced during editing, to the "UK's curriculum".

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Instead of obsessing over learning facts, let's teach children how to think | Jim Al-Khalili

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've been giving considerable thought recently to the way we teach science at school - and whether we have the balance right between catering for those children who will become the scientists and engineers of the future (and how would we be able to tell this anyway?), and those who don't think they have a natural aptitude for science, or are simply more interested in other subjects.

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Metaverse can change education for good 

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Metaverse can change education for good 

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How the metaverse will change schools and educations. Mind blowing read

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For millennia, we have lived in two worlds: one imagined, the other physical. The Metaverse will make these two worlds smaller until they partly dissolve into one another.

One of our worlds is shrinking and it will soon cease to exist. The other one of our worlds needs to shrink or it will cease to exist.

The tension-or complementarity-between these two worlds might force us to re-conceptualize school as a space for learning. If we are intentional, and perhaps lucky, this space will be at the same time infinite and strictly local (bio-local even). We will no longer think of school as a place (usually a building) where children acquire content and skills, but rather school will have a fluid quality, beyond walls, where learners of all ages come to connect with themselves, others, and nature. School will be a place of becoming.

I believe that if we get this right, it may be one of the defining shifts that ensure the survival of most life on the planet. If we get this wrong, then the future may not be so great.

I'll throw this potentially contentious prediction (conjecture?) out there: the Metaverse might be one of the tools that we use to solve the climate crisis* by allowing us to reconnect with nature and our local communities. The Metaverse will allow us to travel virtually, to satiate our need to connect, to explore, thereby opening the doors for a physically more locally-based existence, which will in turn provide the basis for economic de-growth. Let me explain.

Our imagined world is the one we see in our minds when we are not physically there. It is the world that is created and sustained partly through memory (if we have been somewhere before), partly through stories we are told (which can include anything: narratives of all sorts, the ways the cameraperson frames pictures and videos, or the sound engineers capture). The imaginary world exists in our minds from the information we have gathered, remembered, and interpreted, and we fill any unknowns with our creative license. Our physical world is where our bodies are located and where we have sensory experiences. For the purpose of simplifying matters, it includes the world to which we have easy (a relative term) access physically on a regular basis. We might have to re-think this last notion, but let's put that aside for a moment.

Until about 25 years ago, these parallel worlds-imaginary and physical-remained place-dependent. Even with the advent of the telegraph and the telephone, which allowed instant communication between two points, one could only reach another person at a fixed point in space. In 1868 just like in 1988 if I wanted to tell you something, you needed to be in a precise location to receive my message (immediately on the other side of the telegraph or telephone wire) or have a courier physically deliver this message to you. So if you weren't physically next to me, I would have to imagine where you were (or believe you were there, as I could never know for certain) in order to "find you" to communicate or send you a good. The imaginary world was therefore entirely place-dependent.

Everything changed with the mobile phone. Now I can reach you anywhere, anytime so long as your phone is on and has a signal. Today, our imaginary world is undergoing a process of transformation away from place-dependency. I can call you and I don't need to imagine (believe) where you are to reach you-I can just dial and ask "where are you?" The Internet didn't alter this relationship with place, cellular did. The Internet did, however, revolutionize our relationship with information. Now we can access anything anywhere, anytime (not just people). The imaginary world is on its way to becoming place-independent. We put information in the cloud, which is a concept rather than an actual place to look for said information, like a library or a drawer. The cloud does not have a place in our imagination.

Our imagined world is becoming smaller because technology is overcoming time and space. Distances and travel time are practically zero because we can communicate and exchange anything, anywhere in the world instantaneously (other than physical shipping of goods, though that can be reduced to overnight in most cases if you're able to pay for it). I can have a webinar with one person from every single country in the world at the same time. I can listen instantly to almost any song that has ever been recorded. I can peruse a book that doesn't exist physically by typing a few search words. I can lose myself on Google Earth in as many thousands of miles as have been captured and collated in photos.
The Metaverse is nothing more than an extension of what has been unfolding for three decades, the coming to of place-independent worlds.
The Metaverse will reduce the distances in our imagined world to zero. In the Metaverse we will be able to reach anywhere, anytime and be virtually present to do anything as if we were there physically. The need for our bodies to be somewhere precise will dissolve and become irrelevant as we transport ourselves across data networks. There will no longer be an inaccessible imaginary world because we will be connected to everyone and everything through our headset, through our attached sensory devices, through the multiple contraptions that will not enhance but create our experiences. The pandemic has accelerated this process by making Zoom a life habit, but the wheels were already in motion.

In a few decades (two, three, 15?) technology will be able to convince our brains that we are physically in one place even if our bodies are in another. Stimulate enough parts of the brain that interpret light in the right ways and you can make the brain "see" something that it wouldn't have otherwise. By transmitting the right information through existing neural pathways, we will convince our brains into believing that the created sensory experience is real. After all, our reality is what we believe is real**. The Metaverse will be able to produce a technology-induced altered state of consciousness, one that creates a reality that is different from the one we create today. This will happen. Maybe not this decade, but one day.

The Metaverse will be the world in which we exist virtually, but in our minds, we will occupy that world physically. (Though if our brains-consciousness-believe we are there physically, maybe we are? This has the making of a Zen koan.)

This means that we will no longer be bound by the same concept of school. Able to go anywhere, anytime, we will be able to pick our teachers (read seasoned learners since we will all be learners as we try to keep up to change) from anywhere in the world. We will be able to access resources from anywhere, walk the paths of anyone from any time. We will be able to walk across any biome and sketch any building. We will be able to talk, share, and exchange questions with any peer. We will be able to collaborate with anyone who has similar curiosities, passions, and drives. Our achievements, interests, and endeavors will be captured using Blockchain platforms. The world will open up to the infinite. School as we know it will no longer need to exist because the world will be our learning space. We may no longer have the same imaginary world because we will be able to visit anywhere, anytime. We will live the world, experience it, connect with it-virtually. See also this article I wrote previously.
There will still need to be a physical place for us to come together, but it won't look like the school we know today. This might quench our wanderlust. This might solve the climate crisis.
The planet is burning up. Our consumption patterns are not sustainable: any talk of sustainability should consider the question "sustain what?" Certainly not the way we're living now because that is not working out so well.

Perhaps it's time we think about sustainability after de-growth., after shrinking our physical world, after reducing our carbon footprints. Perhaps it's time we think about how we shrink our physical world in order to live more regeneratively, getting back in touch with our environment, our human and non-human neighbors, our bio-locality. Perhaps it's time we connect with the bio-collective in a smaller radius of physical existence so that we return to and find our place in the essence of our local environment. This would be a return to our common Holistic worldview, which were prevalent almost everywhere until the Scientific Revolution.

This opening up of our virtual world and the concurrent reduction of our physical world might be what saves the planet. If we can travel anywhere, anytime through a consciousness-altering Metaverse, will we be able to develop regenerative relationships of our immediate location, the bio-locality in which we physically exist? If we are able to change our consumption patterns to favor the local, to consume what we need in ways that promote the welfare of the bio-collective, can we put an end to the Anthropocene?
Big questions and, on the way, they might mean that school finds its place in a system more appropriate for the challenges of the 21st and most likely 22nd centuries.
School will no longer exist as the dominant physical space where learning is supposed to occur for children. The virtual world that dissolves the imaginary world alters the physical world.

According to this vision, the Metaverse will be a place where these virtual voyages into infinite learning take place. School as a physical and organizational concept will become increasingly irrelevant. School will shift in purpose, its narrative re-written. School will become a physical place where we cultivate relationships with the bio-locality: the walls will come down, the building melting into the newly re-discovered space that is the community.
The word "school" might even disappear because it will have become so conceptually different from its industrial-era ancestor. The word might no longer be relevant because people of all ages would learn anywhere, anytime through the complementarity between virtual and physical worlds. What will emerge will be places of becoming, where learners of all ages come together to build relationships with themselves, others, and the bio-collective within a smaller physical space, but an infinite virtual space.
History is long. Our futures have yet to take shape, but they can never be static. We can find strength and courage in these possibilities, whether we understand time to be linear, cyclical, or circular.

School-or whatever we call this future learning community, this places of becoming-is one node in the living system and will have to evolve based on the emergence of every node in this system. We will transcend time and space on the one hand and return to more Indigenous worldviews on another. This will be the coming together of the hyper-technological and the traditional. It will be the end of school as we know it today.

We are years away from this, but the process continues. Artificial Intelligence is replacing humans in activities that require data capturing, analysis, and application. It is decades away from replacing humans in activities and relationships based on compassion and connection, with other humans and nature.

We can start to think about school within this unfolding story, growing learners' capacities to embrace our interconnections, to nurture relationships with the local bio-collective.

The possibilities, opportunities, and dangers of the Metaverse will become clearer in the next decade or two. Now is the time to think about how we will shift our thinking and action to prepare ourselves and other learners. The current education models are already showing signs of being outdated with calls for a new social contract for education recently added to the many reports detailing how graduates are not prepared for the new world of work.
It is time that we re-think how and for what purpose we learn, how we transform our learning into action, action based on kindness and contribution. With the infinite world of the Metaverse, we can focus on the local world around us. School can play a part in this now. We can start now to make school a place of becoming rather than a place where meritocracy and reductionism thrive.
This is the journey of twenty, thirty years, not a quick fix. Appreciating the revolutionary changes that the Metaverse and the climate crisis will engender is the first step. By letting go of the old and taking a step into the infinite world that will develop, while at the same time reducing our production and consumption in the physical world while connecting with life in our local community, we might just get out of this.

We don't have the answers, but we can see off into the fuzzy horizon and change course accordingly. Throughout history we have feared technological and social change. If we do nothing, if we close our eyes, the more insidious players in the high tech industry will impose their profit-centered world on us.

Arthur Koestler wrote "The great disputes are never settled on their own level, but on the next higher one." This is the time to operate on the level of what can be, of what needs to happen now so that we can become what we want be. This is the time to connect horizontally with other actors whose interests coincide with those of the educators who are the majority of readers of this web site.

This is a source of energy for those believing that schools should change, because we can operate on a higher level, we can abandon the old structures because they will not get us to where we want go. Those who cling on will lose grip.

This is a time of hope because we may have a way out of climate disaster, out of the ego-centric (anthropocentric?) ways. This is a time of hope because we can use the Metaverse to connect virtually while we connect physically with the local.

Let us refuse to be complacent or defeated, which come down to the same thing.

*Assuming that we find an environmentally responsible way to power the consumption of data and an ethically and publicly responsible way to structure the ownership of data in the Metaverse.

** This doesn't have to be dystopian. How would this be different essentially from the medication prescribed every day or the ceremonies Indigenous peoples use to access higher states of being? When you go on a rollercoaster, you are seeking a thrill through the release of chemicals stimulated by a contraption that is rollercoaster technology. Alcohol? Exercise-induced endorphins? A caring hug? All actions we take consciously or subconsciously to alter our state of being through the release of chemicals. Now, you could say that this is a source of craving, which according to Buddhism is a source of suffering... another conversation.

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The Metaverse will make our worlds smaller... and make schools "places of becoming"

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For millennia, we have lived in two worlds: one imagined, the other physical. The Metaverse will make these two worlds smaller until they partly dissolve into one another. One of our worlds is shrinking and it will soon cease to exist. The other one of our worlds needs to shrink or it will cease to...

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Very interesting read- this article discusses research looking into poverty and the growth mindset and whether Lo socio-economic status can effect student achievement over growth mindset. https://sites.google.com/view/educational-reading-group/article-33-growth-mindset-poverty

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Prompt 1: The 'Growth Mindset' theory has had quite the impact on the public consciousness, how have you experienced, or engaged with these ideas in your thinking, or work? https://flipgrid.com/9528c30c

Prompt 2: The article covers three forms of growth mindset: Growth, Mixed, Fixed. Reflecting on your own learning or practice, where do you sit within these? https://flipgrid.com/f1a4d937

Prompt 3: The crux of the article is that having a growth mindset could provide an insulating factor against some of the negative effects of poverty, what are your thoughts on the methodology and findings of this paper? https://flipgrid.com/12e51f79

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Educational Reading Group - Article 33 - Growth Mindset & Poverty

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Prompt 1: The 'Growth Mindset' theory has had quite the impact on the public consciousness, how have you experienced, or engaged with these ideas in your thinking, or work? https://flipgrid.com/9528c30c Prompt 2: The article covers three forms of growth mindset: Growth, Mixed, Fixed. Reflecting

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This twitter account has shared a huge amount of resources that would be so useful for HPE teachers. Here is the link to the Google drive https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pqpVOCklw7oaZHN5yNg2sGDkcIZgRW_B

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Developing digital pedagogy knowledge and skills

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Developing digital pedagogy knowledge and skills

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https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/developing-digital-pedagogy-skills-and-knowledge

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'We were not leveraging the digital tools we had ... as effectively as we wanted.' ©Fizkes/Shutterstock

You and your students may have access to lots of technology in your classroom, but are you making the most of it? The Digital Pedagogies Lighthouse Project at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Queensland has seen staff work with a specialist Education Officer to make the shift from using tech tools for productivity and presentations to embedding them in authentic mathematics learning. Here, Vanessa Crouch (Toowoomba Catholic Schools Education Officer: eLearning), and teachers Renee Richardson and Melissa Ferguson, share what's happened so far and where to next.
For three years our teachers have been working to increase their knowledge and skills in digital pedagogy.

With a one-to-one program rolling up from Prep, our school recognised that we were not leveraging the digital tools we had in our classrooms for learning as effectively as we wanted. The authentic use of technology was mostly limited to publishing, presentation or drill and practice.

Enter the Digital Pedagogies Lighthouse Project. This is a project based on the London Challenge (Kidson & Norris, 2014; Woods & Brighouse, 2014), instructional coaching (Knight, 2010 & 2016; Knight & van Nieuwerburgh, 2012) and action research (Bradbury-Huang, 2015; McAteer, 2014; Nasongkhla & Sujiva, 2015). It has been supported by the Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office and an Education Officer who specialises in digital pedagogy and digital learning.

We chose the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Baran et al., 2019; Voithofer et al., 2019) as the theoretical framework used to begin developing our professional knowledge. It underpins a variety of educational technology research today (Koehler et al., 2013; Mishra & Koehler, 2009; Shin et al., 2009). The aim of this framework is to build the three knowledges equally so that teachers are able to make decisions about how to best develop learning experiences that incorporate technology in authentic ways.

Where did we start?

We began with teacher professional learning, which took about a year. Using the research related to TPACK (see above) and digital pedagogy (Tabesh, 2018), teachers began increasing their knowledge and skills with a small suite of digital tools - such as BookCreator and the Math Learning Center apps - as well as consolidating their content knowledge in mathematics. We felt mathematics was an area of the curriculum that needed some refreshing at our school and decided to focus on the development of our digital pedagogy skills in this area. We also began a process of instructional coaching.

Our Education Officer provided in-class modelling of how to use digital tools in our classroom, and this was followed up with teacher time to practise using the tools and discuss effectiveness and impact. This modelling allowed us, as teachers, to become more proficient users of the tools and it built our confidence to experiment more with them. As a staff, we shared our progress in our Professional Learning Communities, which gave others the opportunity to see what we were trialling in our classrooms. This professional sharing allowed us to ask questions, see connections and build our understanding of how we might use these tools in our own contexts.

During the project we collected data from teachers, parents and students. The teachers and parents completed surveys that delved into how they used technology, as well as their confidence and proficiency. For the students, we asked them to draw a picture of what learning looked like in their classrooms. Over the three years of the project, we saw a marked shift from a focus on digital tools for productivity or drill and practice to collaborative and communication tools that helped students share learning.

As we planned learning, we chose digital tools that would give students opportunities to demonstrate their learning and explore mathematical topics. Our choices depended on the required learning - for example, we might use video and photos with BookCreator, Keynote/Powerpoint to gather evidence of learning, or the Math Learning Center apps to demonstrate learning. This process was aided by using the Triple E Framework (Kolb, 2017) to help us determine the value of using different technology tools in our context.

What have we seen change?

Our teachers have reflected on their changes in practice regularly and, as a result, our school has developed a stronger culture of professional learning. Where teachers were once scared to ask and unsure of how to use an app or embed technology authentically, we now collaborate and share with great enthusiasm. The development of this collective efficacy, combined with a clear understanding of what digital pedagogy is, has enabled us to create authentic and valuable learning experiences for our students.

In addition, teachers know where to look or who to talk to when interested in embedding new technologies in their pedagogy. We appreciate that all staff have strengths and weaknesses in regards to technology use, however, there is always someone who can give guidance on how to improve or introduce a new tool which could be useful for the area of curriculum being focused on. As we encourage our students to have a growth mindset, have a go and learn from their mistakes, we know it is imperative that we, as teachers, must model these values ourselves.

Figure 1. Our key steps to build digital pedagogy

Our teachers are now critical users of technology. Once we would have obliviously used drill and practice apps or a website that vaguely related to a topic and believed that to be 'embedding technology'. Now we have developed a critical lens to judge the value or ineffectiveness of certain technologies, we are able to make better decisions for learning. We see the value in using technology as an authentic tool for teaching, learning or assessment, rather than it replacing a paper-based resource. There is no educational value in using every app, website or piece of hardware available. We have learnt to choose a small number of resources, teach students to use them well and use them across subjects.

Our students have become more confident creators of digital content, transferring their knowledge learnt from the digital tools used in mathematics to other key learning areas. They show an ability to effectively choose a tool to assist them to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Student language and ideas around what technologies they use in their learning has changed. At the beginning of the project, students related technology to only being 'fun', they now relate technology to the tools and skills they can use to enhance and share their learning.

Our use of digital tools to differentiate has also been invaluable. For example, using tools such as BookCreator and Keynote has supported students in achieving individual success, whilst also taking away some of the academic pressures (ability to read and write). We've used the audio and video recording in these tools to enable students to share their learning in a variety of ways, rather than just as a written piece of work.

The way assessment is completed has also been transformed. Students are now confidently able to display knowledge in a variety of modes, including video, voice-over and graphic annotations. Therefore, the way teachers assess and give feedback has changed. No longer do we take home a collection of paperwork or pile of students' books for every subject during assessment time. Assessment for a subject or topic can be sent to the teacher's iPad or laptop for marking and feedback. Additionally, online student collaboration has been explored in the upper primary grades. Peer feedback is given through comments on the digital document and collaboration on tasks has been simplified. The possibilities have been endless.

Our teachers now have greater clarity of the curriculum, deeper purposes for using technology and are critical reflectors on their practice. Our students are now more capable technical problem-solvers and proficient users of digital tools.

Where to next?

The progress we've made over the last three years is just the beginning. Next steps for our school include:
References

Expanding our digital pedagogies learning into all curriculum areas;

Adding a few more digital tools to our repertoire;

Moving towards the teachers being the modellers of practice;

Refining our planning processes to ensure that digital tools are effectively utilised;

Sharing our learning with other schools and teachers;

Reflecting on the data from our project to ensure that we can sustain the momentum in what we are doing to enhance student learning.

Baran, E., Canbazoglu Bilici, S., Albayrak Sari, A., & Tondeur, J. (2019). Investigating the impact of teacher education strategies on preservice teachers' TPACK. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(1), 357-370. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12565

Bradbury-Huang, H. (2015). The SAGE handbook of action research. SAGE.

Kidson, M., & Norris, E. (2014). Implementing the London Challenge. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Knight, J. (2010). Unmistakable impact: A partnership approach to dramatically improving instruction. SAGE.

Knight, J. (2016). Better conversations: Coaching ourselves and each other to be more credible, caring, and connected. Corwin.
https://doi.org/10.1080/175218...
Knight, J., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2012). Instructional coaching: A focus on practice. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 5(2), 100-112.

Koehler, M., Mishra, P., & Cain, W. (2013). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)?. Journal of Education, 193(3), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/002205...

Kolb, L. (2017). Learning first, technology second: The educator's guide to designing authentic lessons. International Society for Technology in Education.

McAteer, M. (2014). Action Research in Education. SAGE.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2009). Too cool for school? No way! Using the TPACK framework: You can have your hot tools and teach with them, too. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(7), 14-18.

Nasongkhla, J., & Sujiva, S. (2015). Teacher Competency Development: Teaching with Tablet Technology through Classroom Innovative Action Research (CIAR) Coaching Process. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 992-999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.723

Shin, T. S., Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., Schmidt, D., Baran, E., & Thompson, A. (2009). Changing technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) through course experiences. Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, 4152-4159.

Tabesh, Y. (2018). Digital Pedagogy in Mathematical Learning. In G. Kaiser, H. Forgasz, M. Graven, A. Kuzniak, E. Simmt, & B. Xu (Eds.), Invited Lectures from the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (pp. 669-678). Springer International Publishing.

Voithofer, R., Nelson, M. J., Han, G., & Caines, A. (2019). Factors that influence TPACK adoption by teacher educators in the US. Educational Technology Research and Development, 67(6), 1427-1453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09652-9

Woods, D., & Brighouse, T. (Eds.). (2014). The Story of the London Challenge. London Leadership Strategy.

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Developing digital pedagogy skills and knowledge

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You and your students may have access to lots of technology in your classroom, but are you making the most of it? The Digital Pedagogies Lighthouse Project at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Queensland has seen staff work with a specialist Education Officer to make the shift from using tech tools for productivity and presentations to embedding them in authentic mathematics learning.

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https://www.powerschool.com/blog/the-tpack-framework-explained-with-classroom-examples/#:~:text=TPACK%20is%20a%20technology%20integration,are%20very%20different%20in%20scope.

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is a technology integration framework that identifies three types of knowledge instructors need to combine for successful edtech integration-technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (a.k.a. TPACK). While TPACK is often compared with the SAMR Model, they are very different in scope.

Later, we'll take a look at the differences of these frameworks in more depth. But to quickly give you a little context, the SAMR Model is really designed to provide a high-level gauge of the degree of technology use, but some consider it to be overly simple and somewhat confusing. The TPACK framework, on the other hand, provides more of a map for understanding how to integrate technology into the classroom effectively.

Let's dive into the purpose and elements of TPACK.
Image based on the original on TPACK.org
T he center of the diagram, otherwise known as TPACK, represents a full understanding of how to teach with technology. Keep in mind that this is not the same as having knowledge of each of the three primary concepts individually. Instead , the point of TPACK is to understand how to use technology to teach concepts in a way that enhances student learning experiences.

Let's say, for example, that you deliver content to your students via your learning management system (LMS) . Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the content you're teaching (CK) and of your LMS (TK), you might still subject your students to an entire online course of text-based PDFs.

While this is an adequate display of both content and technical knowledge, you could argue that it is not enhancing the learning experience. However, if you recognized how your content could be presented in a more interactive way-e.g., video, class discussion, game, etc.-and you knew how to make that happen via your LMS, then you just leveled up to Technical Content Knowledge (TCK).

Key Differences Between the TPACK and SAMR Tech Integration Frameworks

As mentioned before, the SAMR Model is quite different from TPACK. And because more educators know about SAMR, it's worth taking a few moments to address how they're different and the implications they have on your instructional strategy.

To do that, here's Kellie Ady, our Director of Education Solutions, discussing the differences between TPACK and SAMR with our former Senior Instructional Designer Bradley Kemp .

Why Is TPACK Important?

Most instructors and administrators recognize the benefits technology can have in the classroom -whether that be preparing students for a technology-driven world or helping to simplify course, school, and district management. But too many view technology as a silver bullet to the challenges they face. It's sometimes assumed, consciously or not, that digital tools alone can improve education.

This is exactly why the TPACK framework is important. It's easy to think that adding a great LMS to your class strategy is going to enhance learning. But TPACK shows us that there's a relationship between technology, content, and pedagogy, and the purposeful blending of them is key.

If nothing else, TPACK can be a helpful mantra urging you to step back and look at your whole strategy and the nuanced connections between all of its moving parts. In a study conducted by the ASCILITE, or the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, researchers found that the TPACK framework enhanced teacher candidates' ability to use technology in their learning and later in their professions.

"This present understanding of the use of TPACK," author of the study Dr. Dorit Maor explains, "also paves the way for educators to engage students in collaborative learning and to develop the concept of digital pedagogies. Digital pedagogies may be the concept that can encompass all: teaching approach, students' attitudes, and desired learning outcomes."

She goes on to say that the framework should also be used to develop new forms of professional development "to promote a better understanding of the synergy between technology and pedagogy." Given its potential impact on teachers, teacher training, professional development, and student outcomes, claiming that TPACK is an important concept in education may be an understatement.

An Example of How to Incorporate the TPACK Framework in Your Classroom

Now that you know what the TPACK framework is and why it's important, let's look at how it can be applied in the classroom. Below is an example of how you can use your technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge to enhance a lesson.

Below is an example inspired by a video by Sophia.org.

Your Original Lesson Plan

Imagine you are a 7th grade life sciences teacher. The topic is "cell anatomy." Your objectives are to describe the anatomy of animal cells and explain how the organelles work as a system to carry out the necessary functions of the cell.

The traditional strategies or activities might go as follows:

Walk through the cell's anatomy and the basic functions of each organelle, referencing the diagram in the textbook.

Break the class into small groups. Task each group with labeling their own diagram of cell anatomy and researching a single process to present to the class later on. You may want to choose the process for them to avoid duplicate presentations.

Have each group present the cell process they researched to the class.

Got it? Okay. So how might the TPACK framework be used to enhance this lesson?

Applying Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge to Your Lesson

As mentioned before, the TPACK framework is based on three primary forms of knowledge. So your first step should be to understand your primary forms of knowledge in the context of this lesson.

Content Knowledge (CK)-what are you teaching and what is your own knowledge of the subject? For this lesson, you'll need a solid understanding of cell anatomy and processes.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)-how do your students learn best and what instructional strategies do you need to meet their needs and the requirements of the lesson plan? In this case, you'll need to understand best practices for teaching middle school science and small group collaboration.

Technological Knowledge (TK)-what digital tools are available to you, which do you know well enough to use, and which would be most appropriate for the lesson at hand? For this lesson, students will need to label a diagram and present, so the ability to fill in blanks with an answer key, find images from the internet, create slides, etc. are important.

Now that you've taken stock of your primary forms of knowledge, focus on where they intersect. While the ultimate goal is to be viewing your lesson and strategy through the lens of TPACK, or the center of the model where all primary forms of knowledge blend together, taking a moment to consider the individual relationships can be helpful.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)-understanding the best practices for teaching specific content to your specific students.

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)-knowing how the digital tools available to you can enhance or transform the content, how it's delivered to students, and how your students can interact with it.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)-understanding how to use your digital tools as a vehicle to the learning outcomes and experiences you want.

Now let's weave all this technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) together and enhance the activities of our original lesson plan. The ideas below are examples of activities that can be added to the original list. Remember, the goal is to be purposeful in applying each form of knowledge.

1. After walking through the different parts of a cell's anatomy, break your students into small groups and have them collaborate on completing a Check for Understanding quiz via your LMS. Include an interactive question that provides a diagram of a cell with blank labels and requires students to drag and drop the proper labels in place from an answer key (in Schoology Learning it's called a "Label Image" question).

2. Give each group a device with recording capabilities. Have each member of the group choose an organelle to personify and have them record each other explaining who they are (or which organelle they are) and why they are important for the cell. Finally, have them upload their videos to a media album so your students can watch each other's videos on their own time and leave comments.

3. Instead of researching a cell process (e.g., cell respiration, energy production, etc.) in one type of cell, have your students compare the process between animal and plant cells and make conclusions regarding the differences they find. Require each group to construct an artifact of their research by creating a one-page brief, a flowchart comparison, or a video explanation. This can be turned in via an assignment in your LMS for credit.

4. Armed with their knowledge of cell anatomy, function, and processes, have your students analyze the connections between different animals and plants in their natural habitats. Have each group infer what might happen when one animal or plant is placed in a habitat other than it's natural one. Each group should compile evidence to make their case (articles, videos, etc.) using Padlet, Evernote, or other similar tool.

For more TPACK planning steps and lesson examples, see this article from the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education (JTATE).

Broad Benefits of the TPACK Framework

You don't have to go all in with TPACK to gain something from it. Whether you apply it to every lesson or revisit it from time to time, this framework can help you think more strategically about how you're using technology in the classroom. Try it. You may be surprised at what your lessons and strategies can become through the meticulously thoughtful lens of the TPACK framework.

To learn more about the TPACK framework, visit TPACK.org.

Read the Blog

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The TPACK Framework Explained (With Classroom Examples)

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Learn what the TPACK framework is all about, why it's important, and how to incorporate the TPACK model into your classroom strategy.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-tech-integration

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

The biggest obstacle to teaching online probably isn't the technology. Teachers seek out educational technology, in fact, because it "can have considerable positive impacts on student performance," according to a 2016 study -improving test scores and allowing teachers to assess student achievement more efficiently. The big problem is how to integrate it: Beyond the sheer number of tech tools available, the same researchers identified "inadequate professional development and training" as the primary obstacle to using technology productively in classrooms.

Understandably, the emergence of the coronavirus has dramatically accelerated the process of integrating edtech, as educators around the country race to get online as fast as they can. But as many of our teachers have noted, the current state of K-12 online learning is more like triage-a form of crisis management-and not at all like skillfully managed distance education.

What's missing from the conversation right now, which makes sense given the immediacy of the need, is a focus on the bigger question of what the highest quality technology integration actually looks like. That's an important conversation to have, because in a post-coronavirus world there's likely to be a greater emphasis on digital learning, even as we return to physical schools and take advantage of face-to-face opportunities.

A Hierarchy of Tech Uses

A powerful conceptual tool to think about technology integration-and edtech's best uses-is the SAMR model, developed in 2010 by education researcher Ruben Puentedura, who was the 1991 recipient of a Phi Beta Kappa teaching award.

The SAMR model lays out four tiers of online learning, presented roughly in order of their sophistication and transformative power: substitution, augmentation, modification, and r edefinition. When switching to an online format, teachers often focus on the first two levels, which involve replacing traditional materials with digital ones: converting lessons and worksheets into PDFs and posting them online, or recording lectures on video and making them available for asynchronous learning, for example.
Creative Commons
Those are important steps, especially when teaching online for the first time, but in classrooms where tech integration has moved to the mastery level, the last two levels of the SAMR model-modification and redefinition-should also be in the mix. Students in classes where this kind of mastery is embedded find more novel and immersive uses for technology. They are creators and publishers of their own work across multiple forms of media, for example, or they are inviting professionals to provide feedback on their work products, or participating in digital forums with other peers around the world.

It's tempting to think of SAMR as a mountain to be summited. But good technology integration isn't about living at the top of the SAMR model; it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

Here's a closer look at good classroom practices at each level in the model:

Substitution

"Substitution" means replacing traditional activities and materials-like in-class lectures or paper worksheets-with digital versions. There is no substantial change to the content, just the way that it is delivered.

The goal here is to keep things simple: there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Scan your lessons and worksheets, convert them into PDFs, and post them online using Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or a similar file-sharing service. Think about the information you have on your walls, such as the classroom norms, the daily schedule, or vocabulary lists, and convert them into digital formats that students can easily reference.

It may also help to provide synchronous as well as asynchronous versions of your lectures. If you're holding class meetings over a videoconferencing service like Zoom or Skype, provide a recording for students who can't attend. You can also create your own instructional videos for students to view at their own pace.

Augmentation

This level involves incorporating interactive digital enhancements and elements like comments, hyperlinks, or multimedia. The content remains unchanged, but students can now take advantage of digital features to enhance the lesson.

For example, students can create digital portfolios to create multimedia presentations, giving them more options to demonstrate their understanding of a topic. And instead of handing out paper quizzes, you can gamify your quizzes with tools like Socrative and Kahoot.

Teachers can also create virtual bulletin boards-using an app like Padlet -where students can post questions, links, and pictures.

Modification

At this level, teachers can think about using a learning management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, or Canvas to handle the logistical aspects of running a classroom, like tracking grades, messaging students, creating a calendar, and posting assignments.

Teaching online opens up new channels of communication, many of which can help students who have traditionally been marginalized. Research shows that girls may be less likely to speak up in class, for example, so they may benefit from backchannels -alternative conversations that can run alongside instruction-that encourage participation.

Zoom's text chat feature, meanwhile, gives students an opportunity to write their questions out, which can feel less intrusive if there are dozens of students participating in the call. Also, students who prefer to collect their thoughts may benefit from slower-paced, asynchronous discussions in an online forum or email threads.

Redefinition

Learning is fundamentally transformed at the "redefinition" level, enabling activities that were previously impossible in the classroom.

For example, virtual pen pals can connect students to other parts of the world, whether it's with other students or experts in a field. Virtual field trips enable students to visit locations like the Amazon rainforest, the Louvre, or the Egyptian pyramids. After reading a book in class, you can invite the author to chat about their work and answer questions.

Technology also provides an opportunity to bring authentic audiences into your virtual classroom, and can make publishers out of your students. Kids can write their own wikis or blogs for public consumption and feedback-and platforms like Quadblogging can connect distant classrooms together so students both write and respond. Students can tackle local problems-like investigating the water quality of a nearby river-and invite members of the community to assess their digital proposals.

Going Beyond SAMR

Finally, consider how technology can be used not just as a way to deliver content, but also to strengthen relationships with your students. For elementary school teacher John Thomas, Seesaw and Flipgrid allow him to share a daily greeting, which his students then respond to-or to each other-with a typed or voiced comment. It's a good way to provide some stability while they're isolated.

How can my lesson be improved using technology?

How can I engage and empower students through technology?

How can online learning more closely resemble authentic, real-world learning?

Remember, again, that SAMR is sometimes thought of as a mountain to summit, but it's really more like a toolbox. The goal isn't to use the most sophisticated tool, but to find the right one for the job. More importantly, however, it's a way to reflect on your technology integration by thinking about a few key questions:

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A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

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Many resources to help with teaching literacy
https://www.literacyhub.edu.au/understanding-literacy/professional-learning/

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Explore professional development resources - case studies, learning modules and professional reading - to help you reflect on, question and improve teaching and learning outcomes.

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https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/59342/how-can-high-school-sports-better-serve-students

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How Can High School Sports Better Serve Students? - MindShift

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Teens bored of high school sports could use more yoga and cycling instead of football and track and field. It’s hard when school sports programs prioritize winning over fun.

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The MindShift podcast covers so many interesting and relevant topics 

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The MindShift podcast covers so many interesting and relevant topics 

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https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5

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It's easy to see a child's education as a path determined by grades, test scores and extra curricular activities. But genuine learning is about so much more than the points schools tally. MindShift explores the future of learning and how we raise our kids. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us @MindShiftKQED or visit us at MindShift.KQED.org.

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It's easy to see a child's education as a path determined by grades, test scores and extra curricular activities. But genuine learning is about so much more than the points schools tally. MindShift explores the future of learning and how we raise our kids.

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Sick of the usual paper-based exit tickets? Try out one of these digital options.

Thanks to Rebecca O'Sullivan for this article https://padlet.com/becosullivan/8h62ay2543u8vekk

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Class is done. We've learned a lot. We've tried some new things. We've had some great discussions.

So ... now what?

How can we make the most of the end of class? How can we tie a bow on a day of class to wrap everything up?

An exit ticket gives us that opportunity - much like bell-ringer activities help us kick class off effectively.

The name "exit ticket" makes it sound like you need a ticket to exit the room, but exit tickets are final quick check-ins with students before class wraps up.

What can we do with exit tickets?

In an article in the publication Educational Leadership by ASCD, Robert Marzano explains that there are four kinds of prompts teachers often use with exit slips - prompts that ...

Provide formative assessment data (How would you rate your current level of understanding of what we did today?)

Stimulate student analysis (How hard did you work today? What could you have done to help yourself learn better?)

Focus on instructional strategies (How did the group work today help you understand the content?)

Are open communications to the teacher (What could I do differently to help you understand better?)

Exit tickets are also a research-based best practice for several reasons ...

Exit tickets are a pretty versatile tool. We can use exit tickets one day as formative assessment and on another day to check in on students' feelings to learning.

Armed with this data, it can inform your instruction instantly - as soon as the next day or even later on in that same day!

So ... what does this look like in a classroom? What digital tools can help us with exit tickets? I have 10 ideas for both!

BONUS: The Exit Ticket Builder for Google Slides and PowerPoint

Having some ideas for exit ticket prompts can save you time AND help you remix them to meet the needs of your students.

Here I'll share 10 exit ticket prompts ... but let's take it a step further!

These prompts are part of my FREE Exit Ticket Builder template for Google Slides and PowerPoint! With this template, you can quickly add any of the 20 pre-made exit ticket prompts to your slide deck -- then assign it to students.

Flip through the slides below to see all the exit ticket ideas in the Exit Ticket Builder.

Then, make a copy in Google Slides or PowerPoint to assign to your students!

10 ideas for exit ticket prompts

Here are 10 exit ticket prompt ideas that you can use to wrap up your class ...

1. Do you agree or disagree with the topic today? Describe why. If you're studying a topic that has two or more sides, this lets the student decide where he/she stands and why.

2. How are you doing? Just a simple social-emotional check-in can give the teacher valuable information and help the student to feel seen and heard.

10 digital tools for exit tickets

The traditional way of doing exit tickets is with slips of paper. That's totally fine. But we do have plenty of digital options that give us variety.

The great thing about many of these is that you can re-use them. For many, you can create them once and use the same (or similar) questions and templates without having to reinvent the wheel.

Here are some digital tools and ideas for using them for using digital exit tickets in the classroom.

1. Socrative

Use Socrative ( socrative.com) for to ask a quick question or do a quick poll at the end of class. The quick question option lets you ask a super-fast open-ended or multiple choice question. Plus, Socrative has a built-in exit ticket option, asking students ...

how well they understood the day's lesson (multiple choice)

what they learned (open-ended)

to answer an additional question from the teacher, maybe one you ask verbally (open-ended)

Benefits: It's fast and summarizes your info quickly on one screen.

2. Google Forms

Creating a quick Google Form ( forms.google.com) can let you customize your exit ticket experience. Building your exit ticket with Forms, Google's survey tool, lets you add a variety of question types. Plus, you can also display videos, images and text. The drag and drop interface of Google Forms makes it pretty easy to pull together an exit ticket. When you're done, use the "Send" button to give your students a link. View results in the "Responses" tab and even export them to a spreadsheet.

Benefits: You get more question types and multimedia. You can view graphs of responses quickly.

3. Pear Deck

Pear Deck ( peardeck.com) works with slide presentation tools (easiest, in my opinion: Google Slides, with the Pear Deck add-on) to make slides interactive. Have a quick slide deck pre-created for the end of class. Design slides visually - or use the pre-created slides in Pear Deck's slide library in the Google Slides add-on. Students interact on their screen, drawing, dragging and typing. Pear Deck has a paid premium version, but there's a lot you can do with its free version.

Benefits: Questions are visual, hands-on and interactive.

4. Flipgrid

Using Flipgrid ( flipgrid.com) as an exit ticket means you get to see and hear your students via video. Create a simple prompt. Give your students a link to it - or assign it in Google Classroom - or provide students the QR code to answer it. Students respond in their browser (or with the mobile app). It's one thing to see text on a screen. It's another to be able to read your students' body language and vocal intonation.

Benefits: You can learn more from watching how your students answer via video sometimes.

5. Synth

Like the idea of video responses but prefer to respond with audio? Synth ( gosynth.com) makes responding with your voice digitally feel like a conversation. Students can leave short audio responses to a question - perfect for exit tickets. But they can also respond to each other's recordings, making it feel more like an asynchronous conversation over time.

Benefits: This lets you hear your students' voices - and lets them practice answering with their voices.

6. Kahoot!

You're likely familiar with this classroom staple by now. We often use Kahoot! ( kahoot.com) for reviewing. However, we can also use it for exit tickets. Create a new survey Kahoot! instead of the traditional quiz game. Surveys still have multiple choices, but they aren't scored. It takes the competitive edge off and lets students be more thoughtful with their answers.

Benefits: It uses a familiar interface that students likely connect to having fun. Plus, students can answer quickly and easily.

7. Google Slides

Google Slides is for way more than oral presentations in front of class! Create a new slide presentation and share it with students, making it "everyone can edit". ( Instructions in this blog post.) Each student gets a slide on the slide deck for responding. Give students a question or prompt to respond to at the end of class. Note that everyone can see everyone's slides, so this wouldn't be ideal for fact recall or for sensitive personal questions. Because of the design freedom in Google Slides, it opens up what students can create for you quickly!

Benefits: The design tools mean students can quickly make something visual with text, images, lines, shapes, etc.

8. Formative

Formative ( goformative.com) is like using Google Forms in some ways. But it offers even more flexibility. There are TONS of question types. One of my favorites is the "Show Your Work" question where students draw their answers. If you ask multiple-choice questions, it will autograde the responses.

Benefits: Have students draw their answers using the "Show Your Work" question type.

9. Poll Everywhere

Using Poll Everywhere ( polleverywhere.com) lets you create a quick poll with lots of options. You can add images to your polls and even rank items instead of just choosing one.

Benefits: Ask students to rank multiple items.

10. Seesaw

Teachers love Seesaw ( seesaw.me) because it creates a digital learning community. It's a bit like social media (think Facebook) for the classroom. For exit tickets, students can post to their Seesaw classroom and snap a picture of what they've been working on. They can even annotate it by drawing and labeling.

Benefits: Marking up images can help students show what they know.

Exit tickets that DON'T use technology

Technology opens up lots of opportunities to assess, create and gather data in unique ways.

That doesn't mean we HAVE to use technology, though. Sometimes, the data we want to gather can be done faster - or more meaningfully - without technology.

Here are some ideas:

The sticky note mosaic: Grab a few pads of sticky notes of different colors. Tell students what each color stands for: something that know for sure, something they're still unclear on, something they need to tell the teacher, etc. Stick the sticky notes on the board randomly or in groups as they leave. The colors will help you sort them quickly.

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20 ideas for exit tickets in the classroom

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Class is done. How can we end it effectively? Using digital exit tickets can bring closure to your day. Here are 10 you can use tomorrow.

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Improving literacy, writing and writing instruction

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Improving literacy, writing and writing instruction

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Summary

This publication summarises available evidence on writing and writing instruction. While the literature on writing instruction is modest compared with reading, and the quality of the research is variable, there are a number of findings and recommendations that can be drawn.

Overall findings and recommendations

Improve Initial Teacher Education in the writing domain by specifying the content and pedagogical knowledge to be taught, ensuring adequate time is dedicated to delivering units on writing and writing instruction, and building time and quality metrics into accreditation policy and processes to ensure consistency across providers

Improve access to high quality and systematic professional learning options for school leaders and teachers in the writing domain

Increase the amount of time students spend writing (composing) and receiving writing instruction (at least one hour per day)

Ensure writing instruction is a priority across all years of primary and secondary schooling

Review the instructional quality and opportunities for boys and girls, and seek to close the writing achievement gap

Use effective instructional techniques consistently and frequently

Ensure adequate foundational instruction in handwriting and spelling

Ensure adequate sentence-level writing instruction across the primary and secondary years

Embed grammar and punctuation instruction in meaningful writing tasks

Ensure adequate strategy instruction in planning, drafting, evaluating and revising

Explicitly teach genre macrostructure and microstructure through modelling, guided practice and exemplars, providing subject specific instruction as required

Ensure adequate attention to informational and persuasive writing, alongside narrative writing

Ensure students write frequently for a range of meaningful audiences and purposes

Build knowledge for writing such as rich content knowledge, knowledge of linguistic and rhetorical features, and vocabulary

Integrate instruction across the curriculum by using writing to support reading and learning

Consider using validated writing programs, noting that one approach or program alone does not cover all aspects of writing instruction or constitute a curriculum

Embed frequent formative assessment and provide explicit feedback to move students forward

Align writing goals, curriculum, instructional methods and assessment practices

Teach typing skills and provide students with opportunities to compose using digital writing tools

Create motivating and supporting writing environments where writing is valued, routine and collaborative

Provide additional scaffolding and instruction for students with learning difficulties and disabilities

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This publication summarises available evidence on writing and writing instruction. While the literature on writing instruction is modest compared with reading, and the quality of the research is variable, there are a number of findings and recommendations that can be drawn.

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https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/contrasting-cases/

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Listen to the interview with Sarah Levine:
Sponsored by Listenwise and Read&Write by Texthelp

This page contains Amazon Affiliate and Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What's the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org?

When I ask my students what color this is, most of them say "green." Then I contrast that green with similar colors, and ask them, "How would you describe the color now?"

Then kids generally shift to more specific descriptors like "dark green," "forest green," or "emerald green," and they add names for the other kinds of green they see.

This shift occurs because it's easier to understand the characteristics of a thing when you contrast it with other things that are just slightly different (Gentner; 1999; Schwartz, 2016). Cognitively speaking, contrasting similar things activates and helps add to your mind's map (also called a schema) of those things, which helps you recall more details, make more connections, and develop more general rules about what something is or how it works.

This is why, when someone asks you a broad question like "How would you define learning?" or "What is learning?" you might draw a blank or go to vague generalizations. But let's say someone asks, "How did you define learning 10 years ago, and how do you define it now?" or "How would you compare learning to ride a bike and learning to write a paper?" or even "What's a bad definition of learning compared to a better one?" Depending on the contrasting case, you will think more specifically about different parts of learning. You will generate more ideas and maybe make insights you would not otherwise have made.

Contrasting cases is a valuable tool for any cognitive work-in any subject area-that involves going beyond surface traits and considering deeper connecting principles, or reflecting on specific features of a thing. You can read a really helpful introduction to this approach in Schwartz et al.'s book, The ABCs of How We Learn. ( Amazon | Bookshop.org)

Here are a few examples of what this approach looks like in different disciplines:

writing instruction: Having students compare pieces of writing at different levels of proficiency improves the writing they produce (Lin-Siegler et al., 2015).

math: Having students compare two or more ways of solving a problem improves their procedural knowledge and problem-solving flexibility (Rittle-Johnson & Star, 2007).

science: Comparing similar structures in organic chemistry and phenomena in physics helps students strengthen their conceptual knowledge (Chin et al., 2016; Graulich & Schween, 2018).

In my field of study, literary interpretation, using contrasting cases is especially useful to help students enrich their reading experiences and build interpretations of many kinds of texts, including fiction, poetry, or political speech. But you can use this approach in any subject where you're studying rhetorically powerful texts, like advertisements, headlines, art, primary historical documents, and film.

In this post we'll drill down specifically to using contrasting cases for language study. I'll show you three variations of this approach: (1) Synonym Scale, (2) There and Not There, and (3) Bare Bones vs. Dressed Up.

1. SYNONYM SCALE

Let's say you're teaching about climate change in a science class, or propaganda in a social studies or English language arts class. You are interested in having students consider the rhetoric around climate change. Maybe you start by asking them to focus on the common phrase global warming, and you ask them how that phrase might affect public understanding of climate change.

As a teacher, you probably already have a mental framework, or schema, for language about climate change, so you already know other phrases people use to describe climate change (like extreme weather or climate crisis). Because of this knowledge, you are probably already using contrasting cases when you consider the rhetorical effects of the term global warming. So you might already have in mind that, compared to other terms, the phrase global warming could make climate change seem less urgent than it is, or might make people think positively about it, since people like to be warm.

But in many cases, our kids don't yet have those schemas to draw from. And it's really hard to think about the effects of something in isolation. So when you ask how global warming might affect public understanding of climate change, your kids might say kind of obvious things like, "The phrase global warming will remind people that the earth is getting warmer," Or "it will make them think about how the globe is changing." Here is where you can use contrasting cases to help students build their schema and better understand how language can work to mislead, manipulate, rally people to action, and more.

First, look for synonyms that help highlight the ideas you are interested in exploring. If you want to help your kids think about rhetorical effects, you'll look for synonyms that highlight or downplay the urgency of climate change. You can draw on your own and your students' knowledge, or go the interwebs for possibilities. For example, after a quick synonym search, I chose mild and extreme synonyms like climate change, climate emergency, climate fluctuation, climate arson, extreme weather, increase in average temperature, and global heating.

When you share these synonyms with students (and ask them to contribute more), they can better conceive of and articulate the effects of the original phrase, as well as all the others, and further understand tone, connotation, symbolic meaning, and other aspects of textual and rhetorical interpretation that contribute to people's understanding of science. You can offer them sentence stems that help them articulate these effects, if you like.

Next, you can teach kids to put synonyms on a scale anchored by positive effects on one side and negative effects on the other (a similar approach is used in Up-Down-Both-Why). In pairs or groups, kids can debate the order of those terms (like, is warming more alarming than heating?) based on their interpretations of the terms' connotations. They can also consider how context matters (positive for whom? negative effects on what?), how familiarity with a term might diminish its impact, or how different words suggest different levels of agency or blame.

The strategy is especially useful for helping students understand the relationship between language and power.

For example, try contrasting carefully chosen synonyms for "woman" as more positive or more negative can help students think about gender, power, and language: female, muñeca, gal, doll, woman, broad, sister, lady, chick, señora, chica.

Contrasting recent news headlines about political or social issues can help students reason about bias more generally, as with this comparison of the left and the right's framing of Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Contrasting cases works beyond individual words and phrases. You can compare whole essays, poems, short stories, or news articles to help students develop general criteria for writing, or see nuances in authors' choices. For example:

If you want kids to identify the conventional features of a college essay, show them a bunch that all have the same fundamental elements. Ask them to see what the essays have in common. By identifying those commonalities themselves, they are more likely to remember and be able to implement them, as compared to you listing the elements or showing them just one example of a good essay.

Let's say you want to help kids explore the effects of some aspect of personal narrative writing, such as descriptive imagery. Write 3 to 5 short beginnings or endings that are all about the same topic, but are different because they have too little or too much detail, strong verbs and weak verbs, and so on. Ask students to debate which narrative works best or is most powerful, and why.

Contrasting several translations of a text can help students explore the nuances of each, and the effects of particular authorial choices. Many language teachers do this kind of work already. In my ELA classroom, many students speak Spanish and English, while some others speak only English. In a unit on versions of love, all my students looked at two translations of Pablo Neruda's "Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)." The multilingual students discussed which translation they felt best captured the meaning and tone of the original. The English-only students learned from their classmates and were still able to compare the two translations and explain which they felt worked better for them. I usually look online for texts with more than one translation, like this one with a bunch of translations of Neruda, or these contrasting translations of a poem by Wang Wei. Also, this book contains a number of poems in different languages with several English translations each.

2. There and Not There

If you'd like kids to think about the effects of specific authorial moves, you can use contrasting cases to present the original version alongside one where you've gotten rid of those moves. Then your students can compare the "there" and "not there" versions. Doing this helps students interpret and maybe even more deeply appreciate or critique the effects of the original.

For example, consider an excerpt from Martin Luther King's classic speech, "I Have a Dream." Let's say you want students to reflect on the effects of King's use of repetition in the text:

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

But if you ask kids, "What are the effects of this repetition?" they may say something like "It really helps you see how many years later it is," or "It makes you see how things are still the same after all this time." Both of those observations are valuable. But again, it's really hard to comment on the effects of something without being able to compare a rich stock of examples that are already in your head.

Try getting rid of the repetition and asking your kids which speech seems more effective, moving, persuasive, and so on.

The comparison gives kids more to work with. When I have done this with my students, one or two kids usually say they prefer the shorter speech-it's more efficient. Or I myself make that argument. Then other kids can counter with their interpretations of the effects of the structure of the speech, which means they are building an interpretation for a reason-to help someone else see what language can do.

3. Bare Bones vs. Dressed Up

In another version of contrasting cases, you can help your kids learn to boil a text down to its essence, and then compare it to the original to better understand the effects of the original. This approach works well with longer pieces of literature, essays, or speeches. For example, I asked my students to try to articulate the essence of Toni Morrison's Beloved. One wrote, "Slavery is really, really awful, and it can ruin you, and you have to be super strong to find yourself even after you've escaped."

This student captured the essence of the book really well. But if you can capture the essence of the book so well, what's the rest of the book doing? Why not just read that theme statement and skip the novel?

You can use contrasting cases to have students explore how authorial moves and specific details of a story contribute to the overall effects and themes. With Beloved, for example, you can compare the addition of each event, each setting, each character, and each turn of phrase to the bare bones version of the text. What does the ghost of Beloved actually add to the story? How does it help a reader feel and think? Why include the setting of 124? What does that add to the bare bones of the story? And so on.

Or back to the college essay. No matter the particulars, every essay is essentially saying, "Take me!" If you ask your students to compare the bare bones version of an essay with other dressed up versions, you can help them evaluate the effects of different features, like sentence structure, tone, or specific narrative choices.

Here are some final sentences of college essays (no room here for entire essays). I made them up with a particular purpose: to have kids think about the effects of tone and specificity in different endings. Along with the bare bones version, I created a generic version that is also kind of humble (#1), a detailed one that seems to connect with a story told in the body of the essay but is not as humble (#2), and one using an arrogant and inadvisable tone (#3). Kids will probably think all of them are pretty cheesy. Some will point out that the bare bones version might actually do the job. Either way, students can contrast them based on how well they paint a picture, how humble they are, or other criteria you choose. They will develop more sophisticated understandings of writing for effect, and they will build up the schemas that good readers and writers need.

When students are working on their own college essays, contrasting cases can work as a writing tool. Have them write terrible versions and then revise.

There are many ways to tweak contrasting cases for your kids. The big take-aways are: 1)It's easier to think about the effects of a thing if you can compare it to other, similar things; 2) Contrasting cases allow you to see underlying rules and big ideas; and 3) You create contrasting cases by finding or creating examples that differ in one important way: different solutions to the same math problem, different photographs of the same subject; different headlines about the same event. When we want our kids to do deep and critical thinking, let them contrast different examples. One is often not enough.

References

Chin, D. B., Chi, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2016). A comparison of two methods of active learning in physics: inventing a general solution versus compare and contrast. Instructional Science, 44(2), 177-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-016-9374-0 [ PDF]

Gentner, D., & Namy, L. L. (1999). Comparison in the development of categories. Cognitive Development, 14(4), 487-513. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2014(99)00016-7

Graulich, N., & Schween, M. (2018). Concept-Oriented Task Design: Making Purposeful Case Comparisons in Organic Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(3), 376-383. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00672

Lin-Siegler, X., Shaenfield, D., & Elder, A. D. (2015). Contrasting case instruction can improve self-assessment of writing. Educational Technology Research and Development, 63(4), 517-537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-015-9390-9 [ PDF]

Rittle-Johnson, B., & Star, J. R. (2007). Does comparing solution methods facilitate conceptual and procedural knowledge? An experimental study on learning to solve equations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 561. [ PDF]

Schwartz, D. L., Tsang, J. M., & Blair, K. P. (2016). The ABCs of how we learn: 26 scientifically proven approaches, how they work, and when to use them. W. W. Norton & Company.

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Contrasting Cases: A Simple Strategy for Deep Understanding

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Listen to the interview with Sarah Levine: Sponsored by Listenwise and Read&Write by Texthelp This page contains Amazon Affiliate and Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What's the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org?