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Suggestions for embedding student reflections as a daily

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Self Management Skills : PPT by Shilpi.

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BE INTERNET AWSOME.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13JTyCkLWaUQtlcDhUJNEfQ1gYYa9YqFE

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PODCAST and WEBINAR BANK

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As school budgets continue to shrink and classroom time is at a premium, virtual field trips have become a great opportunity for educators to help students experience places around the globe without getting on a bus, or even leaving their classroom.

Being able to see and experience a significant cultural institution, historic site, or natural landscape with the help of immersive technology, such as virtual or augmented reality, can help make lessons more engaging and exciting.

Here are the best virtual field trips for education, organized by art museums, history museums, civics-related sites, aquariums and nature sites, STEM-related experiences, and more!

Virtual Art Museum Tours

Virtual History Museum Tours

- U.S. Capitol Virtual Tour Video tours of historic rooms and spaces, some of which are not open to the public, research resources, and teaching materials.

Civics Virtual Field Trips

- The City of U.S. Virtual Field Trip A virtual field trip of Washington, D.C., hosted by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

- I Do Solemnly Swear: The U.S. Presidential Inauguration Featuring questions submitted by students and answered by experts, this virtual field trip travels to our nation's capital to explore the Presidential Inauguration, past and present.

Aquariums & Nature Parks Virtual Field Trips

- PORTS (California Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) K-12 students can connect with live interpretive staff and learn academic content standards within the context of California's dynamic State Park System.

STEM Virtual Field Trips

- NASA at Home Virtual tours and apps from NASA, including tours of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, International Space Station, and Hubble Space Telescope Mission Operations Center, plus excursions to Mars and the Moon.

-California Science Center Build your own virtual field trip for grades K-5 with NGSS-aligned content, in both English and Spanish.

- Carnegie Science Center Exhibit Explorations Students in grades 3-12 explore the science behind Carnegie Science Center's most popular exhibits, with an interactive focus on engineering/ robotics, animals, space/astronomy and the human body.

-Stanley Black & Decker Makerspace Students can see and experience first-hand how math, science, technology, creativity, and teamwork can lead to technological advancements.

- Clark Planetarium Virtual Skywatch Free for schools, virtual versions of the live "Skywatch" planetarium dome presentations that directly correlate to 6th grade and 4th grade SEEd astronomy standards.

- Great Lakes Now Virtual Field Trip Learn more about the importance of coastal wetlands, the danger of algal blooms, and a deep dive into lake sturgeon. Designed for6-8th grade.

- Online agriculture education curriculum The American Royal Field Trip features a virtual tour of production agriculture; innovation and technology; and the food system. Lesson plans, activities, and short quizzes are also provided.

Miscellaneous Virtual Field Trips

- American Writers Museum new live Virtual Field Trips feature a guided exploration of AWM's permanent exhibits or two online exhibits; staff-led interactive gameplay and pop quizzes about major literary works; and Writer Wednesdays, offering students a weekly opportunity to connect with a published author about the craft of writing.

- Google Arts & Culture Explore galleries, museums, and more.

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Students can experience the best virtual field trips without getting on a bus, or even leaving their homes.

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Here are the Top 100 Tools for learning generated from the 17th Annual Tools for Learning survey. There were a total of 2,022 votes and this year there were more votes from the education sector than last year, which is why many of the educational tools have regained lost ground on this year's list. New tools on the list are shaded yellow in the table below, and tools returning to the list are shaded green. The big news for this year is that ChatGPT has jumped straight into the chart in the No 4 place. 2023 is the year that AI has finally taken off. For a categorisation of the tools (both as a list and in graphical format), take a look at By Category

To work through the list tool by tool, start with YouTube and follow the link at the top right of each page.

Total Page Visits: 921732 - Today Page Visits: 295

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Top 100 Tools for Learning 2023 – Results of the 17th Annual Survey published 4 September 2023

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Here are the Top 100 Tools for learning generated from the 17th Annual Tools for Learning survey. There were a total of 2,022 votes and this year there were more votes from the education sector than last year, which is why many of the educational tools have regained lost ground on this year’s list. New tools on the list are shaded yellow in the table below, and tools returning to the list are shaded green. The big news for this year is that ChatGPT has jumped straight into the chart in the No 4 place. 2023 is the year that AI has finally taken off. For a categorisation of the tools (both as a list and in graphical format), take a look at By Category

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Powerful, Lesser-Known Tech Tools for Teachers Efficiency and engagement are critical components of online learning—these often-overlooked, free tools can boost both.

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Powerful, Lesser-Known Tech Tools for Teachers Efficiency and engagement are critical components of online learning—these often-overlooked, free tools can boost both.

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Efficiency and engagement are critical components of online learning-these often-overlooked, free tools can boost both.

Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo

You've probably been teaching online or with blended approaches for months now. That means you are probably familiar with Google tools, Flipgrid, Nearpod-the usual suspects of remote learning. Those tools are all fantastic and have been pillars during this unprecedented time in education.

There's plenty of reason to explore other options, however, no matter how good the standbys are. It could be that you're looking for new tools or features, or it could be that your students could use a change of pace to boost their engagement.

Here are some alternative, lesser-known, and free web-based tools that are powerful supports to online learning-and can help switch things up a bit and refresh your routine.

Mote, a Cool Google Extension for Audio Comments

Anytime we can provide feedback for students that is more personal, the better their online experience is.

Mote is a Chrome extension that makes giving feedback via audio fast, simple, and personal. When you install this extension, you can use it within Google Classroom, Google Docs, and Google Slides, and even in Gmail. By simply clicking the purple Mote icon, you can record and append audio comments to a Google doc or to Classroom to give students feedback on their work.

The Mote extension is great for giving feedback on writing assignments, but I also love using it to facilitate conversation around digital texts, particularly because with Mote, the user can choose which mode they want to use-normal commenting or audio commenting. That way, every user can engage in the way that they feel the most comfortable, which can make genuine dialogue easier and more lively.

I like to integrate Mote with Google Slides. Previously, adding audio to slides required multiple steps, but when I use the Mote extension, I can do it in one step, directly from the slides themselves.

Your students don't have to have the extension installed to receive the audio feedback, which makes this a very simple tool to use. An added bonus? I save time because I can say a lot more in 30 seconds than I can type, making me more efficient.

Dotstorming, for Smooth Collaborative Brainstorming

If you are looking for ways to get students brainstorming together, Dotstorming offers a powerful collection of tools (voting boards, "walls" [white boards and collages]) that enable collaboration. It's been around for a few years, but lately, it's added new formats and features, making it an even more valuable addition to any online learning toolbox. With Dotstorming, students collaborate, post and share their ideas, leave feedback for their peers, and come to a consensus, all via a digital bulletin board that allows them to vote up their favorite contributions from their classmates.

For example, I recently used Dotstorming to brainstorm and prioritize expectations for our virtual option this school year. As a group, we shared our ideas and then voted to determine our collective priorities.

VideoAnt, to Facilitate Lively Video Discussions

When developing online lessons for students, it's standard practice to create videos or find instructional videos from YouTube, particularly with asynchronous instruction. However, simply sharing a video as part of direct instruction is not always effective, because it can lack the critical engagement component: It's a one-way street of delivery that can make students passive.

VideoAnt, which was created by the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, can change that dynamic by allowing students to add their own comments or annotations to an online video (either one you've created and uploaded or one from YouTube). It really does transform any video into a discussion activity because students can actively engage and participate in video lessons. VideoAnt is especially useful for online learning because it takes what would otherwise be a static consumption activity (watching a video) and turns it into an active learning experience.

Blooket, for Engaging Educational Games

If you love playing review games like Kahoot or Quizizz with your class but are looking for something new, try Blooket. As with other review games that you and your students know and enjoy, teachers set up the game and students join in using a code that you display on the screen. Students can play independently or in teams.

Blooket stands out from similar tools because it offers a variety of educational games that students can play, helping to ensure that students remain engaged. As students play, they can earn coins and avatars called Blooks. You can create a game from scratch or browse the Blooket community for games that other educators have designed.

Kialo Edu, to Foster Vigorous Debate

Discussion boards are common tools in online classrooms, but they don't always work that well when it comes to facilitating complex conversations or debates. Enter Kialo Edu, a custom version of Kialo, a debate site, which is designed for classrooms and is great for instruction that builds critical thinking skills.

Instead of participating in a linear discussion thread, students provide evidence for their claims on either side of an issue using Kialo's pro and con tree structure. They can then explore the arguments shared by their classmates and develop those further with supporting evidence and counterarguments.

I love this tool for leveling up discussion board activities with students. It can feel daunting to lead a thoughtful debate online, especially when your students are working remotely. Kialo Edu creates a structure for rich, reflective dialogue online.

Classkick, to Add Rich Interactions to Classroom Materials

As we moved online in the past year, many of us needed a tool that would help our students engage with what were normally print materials. There are plenty of great PDF markup tools available ( Kami, for instance), but Classkick stands out with its additional functionality.

With Classkick, teachers upload their content to the site. Then, they and their students can add drawings, audio, video, text, and more to mark up the content. Teachers can see all students working at the same time if they're doing a synchronous activity, making it easier to provide just-in-time feedback directly on their canvases.

Classkick has really gained momentum with our online primary teachers this year. The ability for students to draw and record on their screen has been a game changer among our emerging readers.

Adobe Capture, to Design Your Materials

Adobe Capture is one of my go-to creativity tools that I use while I am designing online experiences. I use this mobile app specifically when I choose colors and fonts. So while this tool is a little different in that I don't use it specifically with students (and because it's strictly mobile), it does make my digital lessons look more polished and improves usability for my students.

If you need some inspiration in choosing color palettes, for example, Adobe Capture makes it easy to create customized color combinations. My favorite feature captures the color codes from photos I take, which I can then use as inspiration for a color palette to use in my online designs.

Another neat feature that Capture offers is font identification. Take a photo of text anywhere, and Adobe Capture shares a list of similar fonts. With Adobe Capture on my phone, I can be inspired anywhere I go and make design decisions in my online content that make it visually more appealing.

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Powerful, Lesser-Known Tech Tools for Teachers

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Efficiency and engagement are critical components of online learning-these often-overlooked, free tools can boost both. Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo You've probably been teaching online or with blended approaches for months now. That means you are probably familiar with Google tools, Flipgrid, Nearpod-the usual suspects of remote learning.

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Writing Consultations

Schedule a writing consultation/tutoring appointment at any location or register for our group programs with our online scheduler. Face-to-face (in-person), online (live video chat), and etutoring (emailed feedback) appointments available.
Schedule an Appointment
Locations

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Schedule a writing consultation/tutoring appointment at any location or register for our group programs with our online scheduler. Face-to-face (in-person), online (live video chat), and etutoring (emailed feedback) appointments available. Schedule an Appointment Krach Leadership Center (KRCH) HSSE Library (Stewart Center) WALC Hours Info

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Center for Whole-Child Education (Turnaround for Children)

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A Framework for Comprehensive Student Development

Turnaround for Children's Building Blocks for Learning is a framework for the development of skills children need for success in school and beyond. Each element represents a set of evidence-based skills and mindsets that have been proven by research to strongly correlate to, and even predict, academic achievement. The framework draws from research in multiple fields to suggest movement from lower-order to higher-order skills. Overall, it provides a rigorous perspective on what it means to intentionally teach the whole child - to develop the social, emotional, motivational and cognitive skills in every learner. Turnaround offers the building blocks framework as a contribution to a vital collaborative endeavor to deepen and transform K-12 education.

Click the blocks to learn more:

Click below to learn more:

Watch Building Blocks for Learning

Building Blocks for Learning

Turnaround for Children's Building Blocks for Learning is a framework for the development of skills children need for success in school and beyond.

The Science of Adversity

Dr. Pamela Cantor explains the science of adversity and how we can use this information to design better learning environments.

How Brains are Built: The Core Story of Brain Development

Developed by the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative

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Building Blocks for Learning - Center for Whole-Child Education (Turnaround for Children)

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Turnaround for Children's Building Blocks for Learning is a framework for the development of skills children need for success in school and beyond.

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Student agency for 2030 is rooted in the belief that students have the ability and the will to influence positively their own lives and the world around them. Student agency is defined as the capacity to set a goal, reflect and act responsibly to effect change.
RESOURCES:
>>Student Agency in brief
>>Student Agency concept note Also available in

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Student Agency - OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030

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Student agency for 2030 is rooted in the belief that students have the ability and the will to influence positively their own lives and the world around them. Student agency is defined as the capacity to set a goal, reflect and act responsibly to effect change.

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ATT : 10 TIPS FOR DEVELOPING STUDENT AGENCY 

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ATT : 10 TIPS FOR DEVELOPING STUDENT AGENCY 

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Agency is the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative-the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others' lives.
A new Harvard study , sponsored by the Raikes Foundation , suggests that student agency may be as important an outcome of schooling as basic skills.

The report, The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores: Engagement, Mindsets, and Agency , relies on the Tripod survey of teaching. Over 300,000 students in grades six to nine in 14 states were surveyed during the 2013-14 school year.

Developed by Ron Ferguson 15 years ago, the Tripod construction appears more relevant to traditional teacher-centered classrooms than student-centered approaches. As a result, there are some limitations of an instrument designed for measuring agency in low agency environments. However, next generation Bay Area models including Summit Public Schools and Education for Change (EFC) find the survey useful.

"Where this report is effective is in pushing us to think about agency in the context of what grown-ups have to do to facilitate it," said Hae-Sin Thomas, CEO of EFC. "Tripod unfortunately is not a tool designed specifically to evaluate teacher practice specific to agency, but it's as good as it gets with respect to student surveys and student-centered teacher practice."

An important subset of Habits of Success ( discussed last week ), agency, the capacity and propensity to take purposeful action, is key to success in life.

Albert Bandura said:

Through agentic action, people devise ways of adapting flexibly to remarkably diverse geographic, climatic and social environments; they figure out ways to circumvent physical and environmental constraints, redesign and construct environments to their liking... By these inventive means, people improve their odds in the fitness survival game.

Hitlin and Elder suggest four overlapping conceptions of agency:

Existential agency: The capacity, or free will, for exerting influence on our environments.

Programmatic agency: Following rules and routines.

Identify agency: What we believe about ourselves and the ways that we wish to be perceived by others.

Life-course agency: Actions that we take to affect future outcomes.

10 Guidelines for Teaching

The Influence of Teaching report makes 10 suggestions for teaching.

More Than Teaching

The report logic map is shown below. It suggests that teachers and family assets play a major role in support agency development.

The central question explored by this report is, "How do distinct components of teaching influence the development and expression of agency-related factors in sixth to ninth grade classrooms?"

A more useful question, given advances in tools and schools in the last 15 years, would be, "How do distinct components of learner experience influence the development and expression of agency?" In particular, factors related to learning models, progressions, and environments appear critical to promoting or damaging agency.

A useful complement to this report is exploring how new models, like NGLC grantees, promote agency through:

Blended learning environments where students have some ability to co-create path, pace, and place;

Competency-based learning environments where students show what they know and progress based on demonstrated mastery;

Project-based and interest-based learning where students have some ability to shape the driving question, the process, and the work product; and

Work and service learning experience that students select or create.

The report completely misses model-based factors which are becoming at least as important as teacher factors. The difference between a Summit or EFC secondary school and a big bad high school is everything. There are certainly differences in teacher quality, but it's one of a dozen model factors (e.g., mission, schedule, structure, advisory, technology blend, learning trajectories, and real world connections).

The report dumps a lot in teacher's laps but most of them are stuck in an obsolete low agency model that infantilizes teenagers rather than empowering them to own their learning.

Every high agency secondary school I have visited has had some kind of an advisory structure . The sustained relationship with a caring adult that sets the cultural tone, is part of a distributed guidance system, and provides continuous feedback on success habits is every bit as important as classroom instruction in developing student agency.

Agency development isn't just a product of quality teaching, it's the product of a quality system-one designed as a high agency environment.

Hae-Sin Thomas said, "It's definitely time to take this conversation around agency to a deeper level- what are the components of agency, how do we measure those components, how do we map those components to specific practices, conditions or attitudes and then how do we measure those specific to building agency."

For more see:
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by Images from The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores: Engagement, Mindsets, and Agency. signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update

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By Tom Vander Ark - Student agency may be as important an outcome of schooling as basic skills according to a new Harvard study.

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ATT: 80 ways to differentiate, for use across the curriculum and the Key Stages.

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ATT: 80 ways to differentiate, for use across the curriculum and the Key Stages.

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21ST CENTURY TEACHER VS 20TH CENTURY TEACHER 

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21ST CENTURY TEACHER VS 20TH CENTURY TEACHER 

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21st Century Teacher versus 20th Century Teacher

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Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner | MacArthur Foundation

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21ST CENTURY SKILLS: TEACHING FOR THE FUTURE

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21ST CENTURY SKILLS: TEACHING FOR THE FUTURE

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The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed-by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others-to be critically important to success in today's world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces. Generally speaking, 21 st century skills can be applied in all academic subject areas, and in all educational, career, and civic settings throughout a student's life.

It should be noted that the "21 st century skills" concept encompasses a wide-ranging and amorphous body of knowledge and skills that is not easy to define and that has not been officially codified or categorized. While the term is widely used in education, it is not always defined consistently, which can lead to confusion and divergent interpretations. In addition, a number of related terms-including applied skills, cross-curricular skills, cross-disciplinary skills, interdisciplinary skills, transferable skills, transversal skills, noncognitive skills, and soft skills, among others-are also widely used in reference to the general forms of knowledge and skill commonly associated with 21 st century skills. While these different terms may not be strictly synonymous, and they may have divergent or specialized meanings in certain technical contexts, these diverse sets of skills are being addressed in this one entry for the purposes of practicality and usefulness.

While the specific skills deemed to be "21 st century skills" may be defined, categorized, and determined differently from person to person, place to place, or school to school, the term does reflect a general-if somewhat loose and shifting-consensus. The following list provides a brief illustrative overview of the knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits commonly associated with 21 st century skills:

Critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, analysis, interpretation, synthesizing information

Research skills and practices, interrogative questioning

Creativity, artistry, curiosity, imagination, innovation, personal expression

Perseverance, self-direction, planning, self-discipline, adaptability, initiative

Oral and written communication, public speaking and presenting, listening

Leadership, teamwork, collaboration, cooperation, facility in using virtual workspaces

Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy, media and internet literacy, data interpretation and analysis, computer programming

Civic, ethical, and social-justice literacy

Economic and financial literacy, entrepreneurialism

Global awareness, multicultural literacy, humanitarianism

Scientific literacy and reasoning, the scientific method

Environmental and conservation literacy, ecosystems understanding

Health and wellness literacy, including nutrition, diet, exercise, and public health and safety

While many individuals and organizations have proposed definitions of 21 st century skills, and most states have adopted learning standards that include or address cross-disciplinary skills, the following are three popular models that can serve to illustrate the concept and its applications in education:

For related discussions, see content knowledge and learning standards.

Reform

Generally speaking, the 21 st century skills concept is motivated by the belief that teaching students the most relevant, useful, in-demand, and universally applicable skills should be prioritized in today's schools, and by the related belief that many schools may not sufficiently prioritize such skills or effectively teach them to students. The basic idea is that students, who will come of age in the 21 st century, need to be taught different skills than those learned by students in the 20 th century, and that the skills they learn should reflect the specific demands that will placed upon them in a complex, competitive, knowledge-based, information-age, technology-driven economy and society.

While 21 st century skills are relevant to all areas of schooling and academic study, and the skills may be taught in a wide variety of in-school and outside-of-school settings, there are a few primary ways in which 21 st century skills intersect with efforts to improve schools:

Teachers may be more intentional about teaching cross-disciplinary skills in subject-area courses. For example, in a science course students might be required to learn research methods that can also be applied in other disciplines; articulate technical scientific concepts in verbal, written, and graphic forms; present lab results to a panel of working scientists; or use sophisticated technologies, software programs, and multimedia applications as an extension of an assigned project.

States, accrediting organizations, and schools may require 21st century skills to be taught and assessed in courses. For example, states can adopt learning standards that explicitly describe cross-disciplinary skills, and assessments may be designed or modified to evaluate whether students have acquired and mastered certain skills.

Schools and teachers may use educational approaches that inherently encourage or facilitate the acquisition of cross-disciplinary skills. For example, educational strategies such as authentic learning, demonstrations of learning, or project-based learning tend to be cross-disciplinary in nature, and students-in the process of completing a research project, for example-may have to use a variety of applied skills, multiple technologies, and new ways of analyzing and processing information, while also taking initiative, thinking creatively, planning out the process, and working collaboratively in teams with other students.

Schools may allow students to pursue alternative learning pathways in which students earn academic and satisfy graduation requirements by completing an internship, apprenticeship, or volunteer experience, for example. In this case, students might acquire a variety of practical, job-related skills and work habits, while also completing academic coursework and meeting the same learning standards required of students in more traditional academic courses.

Debate

While there is broad agreement that today's students need different skills than were perhaps taught to previous generations, and that cross-disciplinary skills such as writing, critical thinking, self-initiative, group collaboration, and technological literacy are essential to success in higher education, modern workplaces, and adult life, there is still a great deal of debate about 21 st century skills-from what skills are most important to how such skills should be taught to their appropriate role in public education. Given that there is no clear consensus on what skills specifically constitute "21 st century skills," the concept tends to be interpreted and applied in different ways from state to state or school to school, which can lead to ambiguity, confusion, and inconsistency.

Calls for placing a greater emphasis on cross-disciplinary skills in public education are, generally speaking, a response to the perception that most public schools pay insufficient attention to the postsecondary preparation and success of students. In other words, the concept has become a touchstone in a larger debate about what public schools should be teaching and what the purpose of public education should be. For example: Is the purpose of public education to get students to pass a test and earn a high school diploma? Or is the purpose to prepare students for success in higher education and modern careers? The push to prioritize 21 st century skills is typically motivated by the belief that all students should be equipped with the knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits they will need to pursue continued education and challenging careers after graduation, and that a failure to adequately prepare students effectively denies them opportunities, with potentially significant consequences for our economy, democracy, and society.

A related debate centers on the distinction between "knowledge" and "skills," and how schools and teachers may interpret-or misinterpret-the concepts. Some educators argue that it's not possible to teach cross-disciplinary skills separately from knowledge and conceptual understanding-for example, students can't learn to write well if they don't have ideas, facts, principles, and philosophies to write about. The basic idea is that "21 st century skills" is an artificial concept that can't be separated out from subject-area knowledge and instruction. Other educators may argue that cross-disciplinary skills have historically been ignored or under-prioritized in schools, and the push to give more emphasis and attention to these skills is simply a commonsense response to a changing world.

The following list provides a few additional examples of representative arguments that may be made in support of teaching 21 st century skills:

In today's world, information and knowledge are increasing at such an astronomical rate that no one can learn everything about every subject, what may appear true today could be proven to be false tomorrow, and the jobs that students will get after they graduate may not yet exist. For this reason, students need to be taught how to process, parse, and use information, and they need adaptable skills they can apply in all areas of life-just teaching them ideas and facts, without teaching them how to use them in real-life settings, is no longer enough.

Schools need to adapt and develop new ways of teaching and learning that reflect a changing world. The purpose of school should be to prepare students for success after graduation, and therefore schools need to prioritize the knowledge and skills that will be in the greatest demand, such as those skills deemed to be most important by college professors and employers. Only teaching students to perform well in school or on a test is no longer sufficient.

Given the widespread availability of information today, students no longer need teachers to lecture to them on the causes of the Civil War, for example, because that information is readily available-and often in more engaging formats that a typical classroom lecture. For this reason, educators should use in-school time to teach students how to find, interpret, and use information, rather than using most or all of the time to present information.

The following list provides a few examples of representative arguments that may be made against the concept of 21 st century skills:

Public schools and teachers have always taught, and will continue to teach, cross-disciplinary skills-they just never gave it a label. The debate over "content vs. skills" is not new-educators have been talking about and wrestling with these issues for a century-which makes the term "21st century skills" somewhat misleading and inaccurate.

Focusing too much on cross-disciplinary skills could water-down academic courses, and students may not get "the basics." The more time teachers spend on skill-related instruction, the less time they will have for content-based instruction. And if schools privilege cross-disciplinary skills over content knowledge, students may be denied opportunities because they are insufficiently knowledgeable. Students need a broad knowledge base, which they won't receive if teachers focus too much on skill-related instruction or "learning how to learn."

Cross-disciplinary skills are extremely difficult to assess reliably and consistently. There are no formal tests for 21st century skills, so the public won't know how well schools are doing in teaching these skills.

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The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed-by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others-to be critically important to success in today's world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces.

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IB Approaches to Learning (AtL) TOOLKIT 

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Quick and easy ideas to spice up your lessons, brought to you by @russeltarr. I teach History but many of these ideas will be transferable to other subjects too!

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"The art of communication is the language of leadership" ~ James Humes

All sort of communications happens around us but we are only able to understand and interpret few of them. This is not only because they are happening in language which we do not understand but many a times just because it takes too much of our brain and time to understand them.

Communication which is easy to understand and process by our brain is considered to be effective. Effective communication is a skill by which information is shared and transferred and in education system this skill plays a major role as maximum sharing of knowledge can only happens if effective communication takes place among peer group and between student and teacher. This skill is exhibited through interaction and language plays main role in its effectiveness. However the language need not always to be verbal, it can also be non-verbal or visual.

In today time verbal communication is the most efficient way to interact but for this command over language is very important. We can motivate, inspire and lead people with the language that we use. Verbal communication uses words to convey the information and for a student selection of these effective words is only possible if they have command over subject specific language. As an educator our responsibility begins from here. The first word a child learns is from its mother but the first subject specific word that a child learns is from its teacher. Therefore as a teacher it should be our goal to make the child aware and friendly with all such vocabulary.

Ways to improve Verbal communication skill:

Provide subject specific Command terms to the student

For a particular unit provide list of difficult words with their meaning.

Encourage students to write letter, blogs, and articles as per the subject requirement.

Give opportunity of debating in class

Give open ended topic and let them speak for a minute.

Encourage role play

Give opportunities for paraphrasing.

At the same time nonverbal communication is transfer of information through visual aid, facial expression, artifacts or signs. This type of communication is very helpful for students who have language disability. Such student struggle in writing long paragraphs or also at times in making effective sentences, but if they are trained with the skill of non-verbal communication they get an equal opportunity to put forward their thoughts/ ideas. Also in work like extended essay and internal assessment of IBDP where students are limited to word limit this skill is very helpful in conveying the message.

The nonverbal and visual communication are separated by a very thin line. Basically visual communication is a subtype of nonverbal communication in which the ideas are presented in a way which can easily be visualized like tables; graphs; diagrams; images ; flowcharts mainly all that what we can see but the nonverbal communication along with these also include body language; gestures; volume pitch and tone and emotions.

Ways to improve Non- verbal communication skill:

After completion of the topic let students summarize their understanding in the form of flow chart.

Give opportunities to present information in the form of table and graphs.

Play games like dumb charades.

Do stress management activities which will help students to tune their volume and control their body language.

Conduct activities which give student opportunity to look into each other eyes and speak confidentially or express them without using words but just with gestures.

Communication skill is of foremost importance because if a student masters this skill and is able to excel in all the 7C's of communication he/she is also able to achieve other ATL skill as these 7 C can be related to other skills as follows.

1. Completeness: If the communication is complete, that is the other person is able to draw correct conclusion from then it is considered that student has also developed organization skill because he/ she is able to organize the thoughts before speaking.

2. Conciseness: If the idea is presented in short clear sentence then it is considered be concise and if the child is able to do that he has learnt self-management skill to some extent.

3. Consideration: While conveying our own thoughts if we think about its impact on other persons emotion we are actually displaying affective skills.

4. Clarity: When the ideas are clearly transferred either verbally or non-verbally, it indicates that before transferring brain has given a thought to it therefore thinking skills have played its role.

5. Courtesy: In nonverbal communication if our body language is showing respect to others then also we do display affective skills.

6. Concreteness: If the communication is supported with instances basically evidence it indicates that some research has been done before conveying the information which must have developed research skills.

7. Correctness: A correct communication is always the one with examples, evidences and which is easily interpreted that means, critical thinking and transferring skills are achieved.

As we can see good communication skill covers up all the other skills and develops leadership qualities it is important not for students but also for teachers to display them. Teachers are always the role models for the student and they easily learn what they see.

Ways to exhibit good communication skill

For Teacher

For Student

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Strategies for communication- ATL Skill - IB Speak

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"The art of communication is the language of leadership" ~ James Humes All sort of communications happens around us but we are only able to understand and interpret few of them. This is not only because they are happening in language which we do not understand but many a times just because it takes too...

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ATT : Four ways to implement ATL skills in the classroom

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ATT : Four ways to implement ATL skills in the classroom

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It is essential for our students to become confident in the approaches to learning (ATL) skills, considering that they are a requirement for the IB Diploma Programme (DP). These skills can be learned, taught and improved during their time in the Middle Years Programme (MYP). It is vital that facilitators provide a common language that both students and teachers can use to reflect on, and articulate, the process of learning.

To a certain extent, teaching ATL skills does happen organically in our classroom. However, if we spend time teaching and coaching students how to best approach them, it allows them to push their own learning.

"Teaching ATL skills can significantly benefit students with different learning styles and needs."

In my experience, I have found that if I systematically go through related ATL skills with my students, they realize how these fit in and make a conscious effort to apply them to their studies. With firm understandings of what, how and when to use the ATL skills, students learn to push their own approaches to the assigned tasks.

Make connections

I spend time deciphering the different skills whenever I introduce them to my students. We differentiate and define them, as well as brainstorm exactly which ones are relevant to visual arts.

My aim at this early stage is to introduce the skills and encourage students to make connections with them and to think about how they will use them effectively to enhance their own learning. Students also begin to discover which skills are most effective in both independent and collaborative learning environments.

Create a learning toolkit

Teaching ATL skills can significantly benefit students with different learning styles and needs. Sometimes students suffer from inadequate preparation of a specific task or cannot organize their thoughts clearly. This is where ATL skills can really help students manage their own learning styles or patterns.

"As international educators, it's our duty to create a welcoming and rewarding learning environment."

ATL skills can be used as a toolkit to help students learn in different ways based on their individual needs. Different year groups grasp the skills in different ways, but I do notice a real difference in the way students approach their studies when they start learning about and using ATLs from the middle years.

Team them with the IB learner profile

One of the most important aspects of teaching the ATLs is making meaningful connections with the IB learner profile. ATLs complement the attributes if specifically taught in context with the topic or subject.

As international educators, it is our duty to create a welcoming, challenging and rewarding learning environment for our students and the teaching of ATL skills in relation to the IB learner profile enables students to further develop their skills, outlook and approaches to learning.

Reaching full potential

ATL skills are fundamental in helping students achieve their full potential in the already challenging and personal journey that is the DP. With these skills, students develop confidence, versatility and resilience when approaching demanding content.

My aim is to teach and develop strategies using specific ATL skills in my lessons, to best help students understand and achieve better results.
This article is part of a series of stories from IB World Magazine that bring to life the wonderful initiatives undertaken by IB students and educators from around the globe. Follow these stories on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and feel free to email us your story. If you enjoyed this story, consider reading more below:

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Four ways to implement ATL skills in the classroom

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It is essential for our students to become confident in the approaches to learning (ATL) skills, considering that they are a requirement for the IB Diploma Programme (DP). These skills can be learned, taught and improved during their time in the Middle Years Programme (MYP).

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Reflection
Pick three active learning activities that you may use in your own classroom:

1. How could you apply this activity to your own classroom and course material?

2. What question would you ask to start the activity? For example, what question would work well for Quescussion in an Introductory Psychology Course? In Applied Math?

3. Why would this activity be useful to your students? What do you see them gaining from this activity?

4. What would you have to take into consideration when you are preparing to facilitate this activity?

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Pick three active learning activities that you may use in your own classroom: How could you apply this activity to your own classroom and course material? What question would you ask to start the activity? For example, what question would work well for Quescussion in an Introductory Psychology Course?

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Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.

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Resources to generate memes:

Memedad.com – Self-explanatory, ads-free and most important – doesn’t leave a watermark.

MemeGenerator.net – Probably the most popular of them all. Supports different languages, offers convenient sharing options and showcases a list of examples for each meme.

imgur.com/memegen – A meme generator by Imgur, the popular free image hosting platform. Straightforward and simple.

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator – Fast, clear and easy to use. Allows users to create “private” downloadable memes that won’t go online unless you decide to publish them.

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The internet is a living thing. It changes, evolves and responds to live events. With technology constantly developing, one can blink and miss the current golden age of the latest online phenomenon. So if you suffered from a really long blink during the last decade, give or take, you might have missed the divine wonders that go by the name - "memes."

Before we begin with this "everything you wanted to know about memes, but were too afraid to ask" guide, let's make sure we're all on the same page regarding the pronunciation of this funny word. The word "meme" is pronounced with a long "e," like the word "seem," just with an "m" instead of the "s." Afraid you won't remember the right pronunciation and cause havoc mixed with embarrassment if the subject comes up during the next family dinner? Remember this sentence:

"Low self-esteem? Every night the same bad dream? No one wants to join your team? Don't worry, it's not extreme. Have a cup of ice cream and send someone you like a funny MEME."

We could have just given you a link to a recording of someone saying the word, but where's the fun in that? Not everything can be as easy as creating a stunning Wix website.

The original "meme" was a term coined by Richard Dawkins to describe how cultural information spreads. However, unless you're wandering through the halls of the nearby sociology school, when someone mentions the word "meme," they're probably referring to a funny image or a video being shared on social media. The common use of the word "meme," usually refers to the "internet meme," a subset of the general meme concept.

Remember that thick book you used as a weapon during fights between you and your brother? Well, dictionaries have other purposes. One of them is to provide us with dry but informative definitions. Case in point:

Wow. That was something, right?

Most common internet memes are image macros - photos with a bold caption written in Impact font. The text will usually be humorous or sarcastic. Aside from this familiar form, memes can also be a video, GIF, saying, an event or pretty much anything that can be copied or slightly changed and go viral across the web.

If you got this far, you probably understand what memes are, so the next question in line is, why do so many people use them around the world every day? Simply put, they are the internet's inside jokes. They convey a feeling of familiarity and relevance, being a part of something bigger. The cultural knowledge you gained from years of watching television and browsing social media channels has now made it possible for you to understand and enjoy this joke. That's the secret ingredient that turns memes from regular jokes to viral material.

There are few more reasons why memes are one of the go-to moves of the average social media user:

They are eye-catching.

They enable you to express complex ideas through a simple concept by relying on the meme context, origin and common use.

They have a viral potential.

They push you to paint your creative thoughts in more humorous colors.

They are easy to create and are just too much fun!

The most vital part of using memes is to understand the context of the content you're sharing and to know how to leverage its full meaning. The best way to do so is by spending some quality time with your best pal Facebook, and start putting some work into the scrolling wheel. If your Facebook friends prefer a wild bingo night over sharing funny memes, you can always visit Know Your Meme. This website documents internet memes and serves as a knowledge hub about their origins. You can browse the most popular memes and check out common uses of each one.

We can continue with more detailed descriptions of meme usage, but sometimes, it's better to show the flying, yellow elephant than to talk about it. For this showcase, we decided to focus on image macros, so "Rickrolling," "Be Like Bill," "All Your Base Are Belong To Us," "Spinning Dancer Illusion," "Double Rainbow Guy," or "Dancing Baby" - we're sorry, but don't wait for an invitation to this party. Here are 10 examples of the web's greatest, funniest and most popular image macro memes:

Wondering how to create a meme by yourself? Well, you can sleep late and prepare the pancakes, because it's easy like a Sunday morning. Meme generators are scattered all over the web like flyers on the sidewalk, just next to the guy who hands them out. They're free, simple, accessible and they don't require any kind of software installation. No need to waste time on choosing a font or trying to center the text - all of these preferences are already set. Because we don't want to exhaust your tired fingers with typing "Meme Generator" on Google, here are some great resources you should try:

Memedad.com - Self-explanatory, ads-free and most important - doesn't leave a watermark.

MemeGenerator.net - Probably the most popular of them all. Supports different languages, offers convenient sharing options and showcases a list of examples for each meme.

imgur.com/memegen - A meme generator by Imgur, the popular free image hosting platform. Straightforward and simple.

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator - Fast, clear and easy to use. Allows users to create "private" downloadable memes that won't go online unless you decide to publish them.

By Chen Attias
Community Manager

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What Are Memes and How You Should Use Them

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The internet is a living thing. It changes, evolves and responds to live events. With technology constantly developing, one can blink and miss the current golden age of the latest online phenomenon. So if you suffered from a really long blink during the last decade, give or take, you might have missed the divine wonders that go by the name - "memes."

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A meme is something such as a video, picture, or phrase that a lot of people send to each other on the Internet. The image quickly became a meme. (Collins Dictionary)

“A unit of cultural information, as a concept, belief, or practice, that spreads from person to person in a way analogous to the transmission of genes.” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
How to use it

to convey a concept in simple terms - using visuals and words

to spread a concept or behaviour (e.g. beliefs, fashions, stories, and phrases)

for humour (to poke fun at specific behaviour)

to create shock and a reaction (e.g. at a social norm)

a way of having fun with ideas

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Twitter is a social networking service that allows people to send and read short 140-character messages called tweets.
How to use it
icebreaker

discussion starter

wall of quotes

opinion collector

clarification

articulating an idea

giving advice

plenary / summing up

Activity

Using a controlled and focused number of characters (140 per message) requires people to clarify their ideas in a succinct way.

This can be used as an icebreaker, discussion starter or a way of collecting viewpoints.

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A Six-Word Memoir is a storytelling tool. It is a focused way of telling a story in six words. According to literary legend the novelist Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a short story in only six words. Hemingway’s six word story read: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

The U.S. based online storytelling Smith Magazine took this idea and asked its readers to tell their life story in just six-words. Smithreaders submitted their six-words via www.smithmag.net, and Smith's Twitter account and this gave birth to the Six-Word Memoir book series.
How to use it
focused writing

crystallizing a concept or idea

providing a definition

prioritization - going to the heart of an issue

plenary activity

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Appreciative Inquiry Commons - The Appreciative Inquiry Commons

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This site proudly hosted by The David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College in continuing partnership with Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.

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ATT: A paragraph, sentence, phrase, word

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ATT: A paragraph, sentence, phrase, word

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How to use

understanding and evaluating a text

prioritizing

discussion starter

planning tool

Activity

Individually or as a group review the paper and then:

highlight a sentence that helped you understand the paper and contains the 'big idea'
underline a phrase that resonated with you - in a meaningful or provoking way
circle a word that stood out to you and captured your attention

Each person or group shares their thoughts with each other. What is highlighted? What is at the heart of the paper? How did you make your choice?

Look at your responses. What are the implications of your choices? Which common themes emerge? Which questions remain?

This protocol is based on Harvard's Project Zero Visible Thinking Routines whose website can be accessed here

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Download free educational graphic organizers for use in your classroom.

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ATLs for PYP

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ONLINE RESOURCES FOR ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM

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ONLINE RESOURCES FOR ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM

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Online Resources for: Academic honesty & Plagiarism

Title | 'Noodle' Bibliographic tool for students to support academic honesty
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Academic honesty
Date submitted: | 2007-04-19 11:18:15.0
URL: | http://noodletools.com
For use by: | Students
Description: | This is a relatively inexpensive subscription webtool which helps students grades 5 and above with bibliographies and has a built-in note-taking feature. Students can also share their notes and bibliographies with teachers.
Reason for recommendation: | Not only useful for helping with bibliographies, but has helped us discover and resolve some student research and note-taking issues.

Title | Teaching Information Technology Ethics
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Academic honesty
Date submitted: | 2005-05-17 12:25:14.0
URL: | http://www.doug-johnson.com/ethics/
For use by: | Both
Description: | Doug Johnston internet information guru provides us with examples and scenarios of how to support students (childrren to young adults) in their learning of ethics when using information technologies.
Reason for recommendation: | Another viewpoint for academic honesty

Title | Citation Machine
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Academic honesty
Date submitted: | 2004-11-13 13:09:00.0
URL: | http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/
For use by: | Students
Description: | The Landmark Project - Citation Machine
Reason for recommendation: | This site helps kids to cite sources as well as increases awareness how easy it can be to Cite sources. Use online or use to introduce how to cite sources.

Title | The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (USA
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:31:58.0
URL: | http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html
For use by: | Students
Description: | The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (USA) provides clear and simple guidance for students with many useful handouts on a variety of topics, such as sentence construction, capitalization, spelling and, most importantly, documenting sources.

Title | Plagiarism: what it is and how to recognize and avoid it
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:29:15.0
URL: | http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
For use by: | Students
Description: | Guidance for students on plagiarism
Reason for recommendation: | Guidance for students on plagiarism: what it is and how to recognize and avoid it, provided by Indiana University (USA).

Title | The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (UK)
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:28:24.0
URL: | http://www.ilt.ac.uk/resources/Culwin-Lancaster.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (UK) provides a useful web site on Plagiarism, Prevention, Deterrence and Detection with numerous references and links to other web sites.

Title | Citation Machine
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Academic honesty
Date submitted: | 2004-11-13 13:09:00.0
URL: | http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/
For use by: | Students
Description: | The Landmark Project - Citation Machine
Reason for recommendation: | This site helps kids to cite sources as well as increases awareness how easy it can be to Cite sources. Use online or use to introduce how to cite sources.

Title | Stauffer Library, Queen's University Webpage
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Web sites about plagiarism, paraphrasing etc
Date submitted: | 2003-09-25 22:45:49.0
URL: | http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/plagindex.htm
For use by: | Both
Description: | The New Plagiarism: Rise of the "Copy and Paste" Generation
Reason for recommendation: | Overview with links and refs

Title | Concordia University Libraries (USA)
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:32:42.0
URL: | http://library.concordia.ca/services/plagiarism.html
For use by: | Students
Description: | Concordia University Libraries (USA) provides a paper on plagiarism in academia. The paper has links to: general guides for faculty, guides for students on avoiding plagiarism, citation guides and paper mill sites, detection sites.

Title | Web site to check for Computer Science plagiarism
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Authenticating students' work
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:40:38.0
URL: | http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~aiken/moss.html
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | The following site can check for Programming/IB Computer Science plagarism. The site can check Java, C++ and Scheme programs and Pascal code.
Reason for recommendation: | Moss (for a Measure Of Software Similarity) is an automatic system for determining the similarity of C, C++, Java, Pascal, Ada, ML, Lisp, or Scheme programs.

Title | Web site to check for Computer Science plagiarism
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Authenticating students' work
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:38:51.0
URL: | http://www.jplag.de/
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | The following web site can be used to check for Programming/IB Computer Science plagarism. It can check Java, C++ and Scheme programs.
Reason for recommendation: | JPlag is a system that finds similarities among multiple sets of source code files.

Title | Modern Language Association (MLA)
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Academic honesty
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:34:11.0
URL: | http://www.mla.org
For use by: | Students
Description: | This is the home page of the Modern Language Association (MLA). The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (1999, fifth edition) can purchased from this site. It would be a very useful book to have in your school library.

Title | This is a link from the Internet Public Library
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:35:00.0
URL: | http://ipl.si.umich.edu/div/aplus/
For use by: | Students
Description: | Clear, step by step guidance for students on how to write research papers. This is a link from the Internet Public Library, described as a public service organization and a learning/teaching environment at the University of Michigan School of Information. It also provides useful links to online resources for research and writing.

Title | A Guide for Writing Research Papers Based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:33:27.0
URL: | http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml
For use by: | Students
Description: | A Guide for Writing Research Papers Based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation, prepared by the Humanities Department and the Arthur C. Banks Jr. Library, Capital Community College, Hartford, Connecticut. A site with detailed guidance on how to write research papers.

Title | Concordia University Libraries (USA)
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Useful web sites
Date submitted: | 2003-02-27 17:32:42.0
URL: | http://library.concordia.ca/services/plagiarism.html
For use by: | Students
Description: | Concordia University Libraries (USA) provides a paper on plagiarism in academia. The paper has links to: general guides for faculty, guides for students on avoiding plagiarism, citation guides and paper mill sites, detection sites.

IB OCC ONLINE Extended Essay Resources

Title | Extended Essay Wiki
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Extended essay
Date submitted: | 2008-02-05 10:54:42.0
URL: | http://tedibextendedessay.wikispaces.com/

Title | Sample Extended Essays
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Extended essay
Date submitted: | 2007-02-07 05:36:49.0
URL: | http://www.huskieibpo.com/EssaySamples.htm

Title | Kingshurst Extended Essay Website
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Extended essay
Date submitted: | 2005-02-21 21:50:29.0
URL: | http://www.digitalbrain.com/roztru/web/ExEssay/

Title | Purdue University OWL, MLA Style
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Extended essay
Date submitted: | 2005-01-13 13:26:46.0
URL: | http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Title | Columbia University Press
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Extended essay
Date submitted: | 2003-03-13 14:45:31.0
URL: | http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html

Title | plagiarism
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Malpractice
Date submitted: | 2003-01-30 11:54:21.0
URL: | http://www.plagiarism.org

Title | MIT Writing Center
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The writing process
Date submitted: | 2002-11-02 17:35:47.0
URL: | http://web.mit.edu/writing/Writing_Process/writingprocess.html

Title | Columbia University Press
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The writing process
Date submitted: | 2002-10-08 13:58:48.0
URL: | http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/basic.html

Title | LEO: Literacy Education Online
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The writing process
Date submitted: | 2002-10-08 13:40:33.0
URL: | http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html

Title | Elements
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Group 4
Date submitted: | 2002-09-11 13:13:14.0
URL: | http://.ul.ie/elements

Title | Peter Childs' Homepage
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Group 4
Date submitted: | 2002-07-17 13:21:24.0
URL: | http://www.ul.ie/~childsp/

Title | Pratt Institute
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The writing process
Date submitted: | 2002-07-11 10:40:44.0
URL: | http://www.pratt.edu/wtc/

Title | tpgi
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The research process
Date submitted: | 2002-07-06 14:26:47.0
URL: | http://www4.tpgi.com.au/welwel/Studentguide/Studentguide.htm

Diploma Implementation Online Resources:

Title | Recording IA Orals
Linked to | School policies that support implementing the Diploma Programme
URL: | http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Description: | Audacity - free software that simplifies recording of internal assessment orals. Use a 'splitter' to allow two microphones to be plugged into your computer - we used cheap headsets - and also download LAME MP3 encoder (there's a link from the site & instructions) so you can export the file(s) in MP3 format and then burn to audio CD from your computer - just burning the files for students selected for moderation.

Title | IB Coordinator virtual handbook
URL: | http://tedibcoordinator.wikispaces.com
Description: | This is a wiki created for our own school's IBDP, explaining how different tasks are carried out. We continue to build on this, and we're open to contributions from other coordinators. This might be of help to new coordinators with practical questions.
Reason for recommendation: | I began this to help colleagues who are new to IBDP coordination and who have asked me lots of practical questions about running the program. This is an example of web-based information sharing using a wiki, which is a simple website that can be edited easily by any number of people.

Title | Extended Essay
URL: | http://kingshurst.digitalbrain.com/roztru/web/ExEssay/Extended%20Essay%20Intro.db_psc
Description: | A guide to the extended essay for students. Includes advice on layout, referencing etc.

Title | TOK Website
URL: | http://kingshurst.digitalbrain.com/roztru/TOK/Theory%20of%20Knowledge.db_psc
Description: | A website for students covering the main aspects of TOK including essay titles etc.

Online Personal Project Resources

Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Addressing the areas of interaction
Date submitted: | 2009-03-03 15:07:07.0
URL: | http://www.storyofstuff.com/
For use by: | Both
Description: | Great introduction to get students thinking about introducing green design and what the current environmental situation is. Clearly explains what the whole market driven economy is leading us to.......
Reason for recommendation: | Excellent AOI Environments connection.

Title | Media Violence
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2007-12-15 18:06:23.0
URL: | http://http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/index.cfm
For use by: | Both
Description: | Media and Internet Education resoures offers articles on many issues such as Media Violence.This is tackled in detail and other aspects are analysed such as: -reports and surveys on the issue. -Violence in Media Entertainment -A snapshot of how violence is used in movies, television, music videos, video games and web sites -The Business of Media Violence How market forces promote increasingly violent media imagery -Research on the Effects of Media Violence. An overview of the scientific research on the effect of media violence on children -Media Violence Debates The arguments for and against regulating media violence -Government and Industry -Responses to Media Violence Canadian government and industry initiatives to limit television violence, and an overview of Canadian ratings for films and videos -Media Education and Media Violence
Reason for recommendation: | A great site which is worth exploring to pave the way for exploring the AOI in connection to this issue

Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-12-12 08:09:55.0
URL: | http://www.hcu.edu.tw/brutus1/course/Data/format.htm

Title | Learning Disabilities
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-11-14 21:42:22.0
URL: | http://http://www.ldonline.org/
For use by: | Both
Description: | This is a monthly newsletter that has all sort of articles on this topic:Learning disabilities.This month the newsletter deals with: -Especially for Teachers: Whether this is your first year hosting parent-teacher conferences or your hundredth, articles that will help your conferences run smoothly. -a Tool Kits for Parents -NCLD Introduces No Child Left Behind Guide -Carnegie Study on How to Help Older Students Who Struggle to Read -Learning Disorders a common Thread and many others.
Reason for recommendation: | It helps parents and teachers who have children with this problem by publishing interesting articles with "hands on" activities that enlighten anybody who reads them

Title | Citing bibliography
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-08-20 13:14:10.0
URL: | http://http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/harvard_5.pdf
For use by: | Both
Description: | his site deals clearly with the Harvard Method to cite bibliography : books, journals, Intrnet,references, etc.
Reason for recommendation: | Many univerisities use the Harvard Method to cite bibliography.This site is useful as it provides the theory and shows examples to make it clearer.

Title | Survey as a tool to collect information
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-08-20 13:08:26.0
URL: | http://http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/whatsurvey.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | The American Statistical Association has designed this site to help those engaged in research using surveys.It covers many aspects such as: : What is a Survey? "What is a Survey ?" "How to Plan a Survey" "How to Collect Survey Data" "Judging the Quality of a Survey" "How to Conduct Pretesting" "What are Focus Groups ?" "More About Mail Surveys" "What is a Margin Of Error ?" "Designing a Questionnaire" "More About Telephone Surveys"
Reason for recommendation: | Surveys are an important tool when researching so it is very useful for teachers and students to know more about its use.

Title | topic for project: Bullying
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-08-20 13:02:13.0
URL: | http://http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/publications/factsheets/safeschools/FS-SC07.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | The University of Colorado offersthis site :Safe Schools Fact Sheets. It includes: Bullying Prevention: An Overview of Bullying dealing with the main issues and then recommending further reading. FS-SC07
Reason for recommendation: | This is a very interesting site, worth recommending for students who have chosen this topic and for all teachers who need to have and implement a bullying policy in their schools.

Title | Reading: tips to encourage reading
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-08-08 20:56:00.0
URL: | http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/tutor_tips.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | It's an interesting site that deals with tips for teachers such as: -Why good reading instruction is important - General advice for reading tutors -Strategies for Tutoring Students with Disabilities and Most common disabilities that affect learning to read
Reason for recommendation: | It may be an interesting topic to research for personal projects

Title | Caribbean Council
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Assessment
Date submitted: | 2005-09-26 23:27:36.0
URL: | http://www.cxc.org/exemplars.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | There are some very nice high level examples of artwork and evaluations. Good descriptions in terms of design and composition. Also, a discussion of what students would have/should have thought about.
Reason for recommendation: | I would use this as a learning tool for reflection and evaluation with the students.

Title | RESEARCH CASE STUDIES
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-12-14 15:40:21.0
URL: | http://www.rgu.ac.uk/research/activity/page.cfm?pge=568
For use by: | Students
Description: | Research Case Studies gives examples of current research projects within the University. Enhancing production in oil and gas Detecting heavy metals in contaminated land Tidal power generation system Stalking and harassment: Legal aspects in Scotland Homes for people after long-term residential care Materials research to benefit implant patients The sustainability of contemporary visual arts Microbiological quality monitoring of sterilised milk Making Web products `smart'
Reason for recommendation: | Good examples of interesting topics to develop as personal projescts as they are clearly based on certain areas of interaction.

Title | DOING RESEARCH FROM A DISTANCE
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2004-12-14 15:30:08.0
URL: | http://www.royalroads.ca/coppul/
For use by: | Students
Description: | This guide is designed to help you to do research. It is written especially for students who are taking courses through distance education. If you use this guide, you will learn how to: Define your topic; Get background information; Plan your search; Do your search; Evaluate the results of your search ; Get the items identified in your search ; Write your paper; Prepare a good bibliography
Reason for recommendation: | A very useful site to check as it is very complete and practical. It is meant to help students who are on their own and studying for some American universities.

Title | UNESCO
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2003-05-22 18:31:38.0
URL: | http://www.unesco.org
For use by: | Both
Description: | This web site offers a wide variety of resources such as statistics, documents, publications and forums on different subjects of interest.
Reason for recommendation: | Represents a source of inspiration or a reference for any type of personel project.

Title | Trenches on the Web
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-12-15 16:33:04.0
URL: | http://www.worldwar1.com
For use by: | Students
Description: | A great site about that terrible period of the 20th Century, the First World War, not only the war but the period from 1871 to 1914 that led to the war, the life in the trenches, etc.
Reason for recommendation: | It gives the student many ideas for a personal project, a model (life in the trenches), an essay (did the technology develop by the war, helped to kill more people than it saved?), how war affected the environment, how the end of the war affected the economy of the winning nations, and so on...

Title | United Nations Environment Programme
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-12-19 18:24:31.0
URL: | http://www.unep.org/
For use by: | Students
Description: | Gives a good insight about the environment programme of the UN, the problems they are trying to solve about the matter, and also, an understanding of the organization in itself.
Reason for recommendation: | It is an agil website, changing when the matters change. It also has photographs and reports on different environment issues, shows how the organization is organize and how is how in it. It connects very smoothly with the AoI Environment, and students can actually see what is all about.

Title | IMC Global
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-12-19 18:32:55.0
URL: | http://www.imcglobal.com/
For use by: | Students
Description: | An environment company presents itself and shows how "they care about the environment"...Very interesting from different points of view.
Reason for recommendation: | Shows the students the perpective of a great corporation about the environment. In it you can see the different aspects of Community Service, environment and Health and Social Education. All in one.

Title | United Nations Environment Programme
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-12-19 18:24:31.0
URL: | http://www.unep.org/
For use by: | Students
Description: | Gives a good insight about the environment programme of the UN, the problems they are trying to solve about the matter, and also, an understanding of the organization in itself.
Reason for recommendation: | It is an agil website, changing when the matters change. It also has photographs and reports on different environment issues, shows how the organization is organize and how is how in it. It connects very smoothly with the AoI Environment, and students can actually see what is all about.

Title | The Aerodrome
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-12-15 16:19:44.0
URL: | http://www.theaerodrome.com
For use by: | Students
Description: | Excellent site for WWI fans with special emphasis on the war in the air. It has a discussion forum, a book resource site, and much more information about the war.
Reason for recommendation: | I am a WWI fan and have written more than one paper, personal project and essays about this terrible period of the world's history. This site was very useful for me when writing about the war, specially about the war in the air.

Title | Humbul Humanities Hub
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-06-12 20:22:23.0
URL: | http://www.humbul.ac.uk/output/subout.php?subj=american
For use by: | Students
Description: | It offers studies on different cultures, with projects, research questions and teaching/learning resources.
Reason for recommendation: | Very good to find ideas, specially for those students/teachers that do not know how or where to start.

Title | The great Buildings Collection
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2001-06-12 20:08:26.0
URL: | http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings.html
For use by: | Students
Description: | More than 800 great buildings from around the world and across history are listed and illustrated at this web site and The Great Buildings Collection CD-ROM, with photographic images, architectural drawings, discussion, bibliography, architect info, and live 3D walkthrough computer models.
Reason for recommendation: | Excellent not only for a model type project but also, for a research type project about architectural styles.

Title | MYP Teacher Induction Website
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 1999-12-08 08:13:36.0
URL: | http://www.nmhs.schools.sa.edu.au/ibmypweb/index.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | Website devised and offered to MYP teachers by Norwood Morialta High School - 5044.
Reason for recommendation: | This website provides new teachers with a good introduction to the principles of the MYP.

Title | Boston Museum of Science - Leonardo section
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | The personal project
Date submitted: | 2000-11-17 17:07:44.0
URL: | http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsWorkshop.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | This is a great site to inspire both students and teachers to get back to the wonders of observation and process work required for CREATION projects. Some parts of the site are slow loading but there is a wealth of inspirational examples from the life and spirit of Leonardo da Vinci.
Reason for recommendation: | Students tend to see the usefullness of a journal more clearly when they know that the "great" inventors and artistsused them too, and this "process" highlight leads them to appreciate their own process work more.

Implementing MYP - Online Resources:

Title | The Good Habits Blog
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2006-08-07 05:53:29.0
URL: | http://www.goodhabitsgoodstudents.com/blog
For use by: | Both
Description: | Based on Good Habits, Good Students: A Complete Guide for Students Who Want to Succeed, the site includes book excerpts, tips, links to other resources, and a free download of the book itself in PDF format.
Reason for recommendation: | Identifies the good habits schools expect. Shows students how to replace bad habits with good ones. Interactive comments allow readers to contribute questions and ideas. Author has 25 years' experience.

Title | Teaching Intercultural Awareness
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Areas of interaction
Date submitted: | 2005-11-05 15:22:00.0
URL: | http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/front_multicultural.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | A series of short articles around the topic of intercultural awareness, preparing students for a multicultural world and the role of the International school is covered.
Reason for recommendation: | Articles link to a current discussion thread on the forum on intercultural awareness.

Title | Taking Notes
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Areas of interaction
Date submitted: | 2005-09-29 10:02:17.0
URL: | http://www.infoplease.com/homework/studyskills2.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | Useful hints on notetaking.
Reason for recommendation: | Notetaking is an important skill to be taught explicitly - this website has a useful and clear list of ideas.

Title | A Collection of Essential Questions
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Areas of interaction
Date submitted: | 2001-08-10 21:49:07.0
URL: | http://www.essentialschools.org/fieldbook/classpractice/curriculum/eqcollection.html
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | Gives a list of examples of essential questions in various contents.

Title | UNESCO - Teaching and Learning for a sustainable future
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Environment
Date submitted: | 2001-08-14 01:41:04.0
URL: | http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | An UNESCO site offering a 100 hour professional development for teachers in the area of teaching and learning for a sustainable future. It is divided into modules, each with objectives, activities and weblinks. In addition to the PD component the site includes UNESCO reports and many resources about countries including graphs and data sources.

Title | UN Global School Bus
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Community and service
Date submitted: | 2001-01-18 04:21:50.0
URL: | http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/index.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | This is a well thought out educational start point for many possible activities that easily move between the areas of interaction. It is also intercultural by nature. You do need to have a bit of initiative to discover its potential, and you do need to understand the nature of the different areas of interaction.

Title | International Year of Volunteers 2001 Sitemap
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Community and service
Date submitted: | 2001-01-18 04:27:16.0
URL: | http://www.iyv2001.org/sitemap.htm#f
For use by: | Both
Description: | 2001 is the UN international volunteer year and this is THE site. A great place for our students to show off their great work, spirit, and share in the community spirit of others.
Reason for recommendation: | The best place to get quick ideas and support. Again, it gives you a window to share your CS with the world.

Title | Inspiration - mapping ideas and topics
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2001-04-07 00:22:21.0
URL: | http://www.inspiration.com
For use by: | Both
Description: | A wonderful site that demonstrates ways of using concept maps/mind maps/spider diagrams to plan and explore topics. There are numerous examples in the areas of social sciences, sciences and more. This site is advertising the inspiration software which allows students to create their own maps and there is a free trial version available to download. However, the site is very useful in its own right as it is possible to print out excellent examples of concept maps.
Reason for recommendation: | Using concept maps is an excellent way for some students to approach planning a topic or piece of writing. It provides structure to otherwise complex topics and assignments/pieces of writing

Title | How to Study
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2002-02-03 01:01:28.0
URL: | http://www.how-to-study.com
For use by: | Both
Description: | A website covering a range of study skills. It is presented in an accessible way for students to use. Most pages are in the form of lists of good study practises and it covers topics like listening, note taking and reading for information. Will work best for motivated students however!

Title | Reason!Able
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2001-05-26 00:32:32.0
URL: | http://goreason.com
For use by: | Both
Description: | A website that provides structured ways of developing complex reasoning - specifically into written, essay form. You can buy software through the company (I haven't as yet) but there is a free trial and loads of examples that can be adapted for your use.
Reason for recommendation: | Structuring reasoning is tricky to teach - but this website shows how this can be done using graphic organisers and diagrams that could help many students.

Title | The gateway
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Areas of interaction
Date submitted: | 2001-07-21 03:59:47.0
URL: | http://www.thegateway.org
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | An American website designed to enable teachers to access a wide range of teaching resources and lesson plans. The site effectively acts as a search engine, allowing teachers to type in requests and select resources for specific grade levels and subject areas. It is designed for American teachers but the resources are useful regardless of where you teach. Developing ATL skills needs sound content and this site provides teachers with a wealth of ideas and content. I typed in 'Thinking Skills',

Title | Stenhouse publishing
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Curricular strategies
Date submitted: | 2002-04-21 00:01:42.0
URL: | http://www.stenhouse.com/0328.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | A useful book on middle schooling 'Meet me in the Middle' available on the web. Useful for Areas of Interaction as it covers learning (ATL), social and health of middle years students and the community of the middle years.
Reason for recommendation: | To have the whole book available on the web is excellent. It is presented in such a way that you can flip from page to page. It seems well written and thoughtful - although I haven't read every page!

Title | Spartanburg District 3 County Schools
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2001-08-10 21:43:51.0
URL: | http://www.spa3.k12.sc.us/essentialquest.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | Provides templates and examples of essential questions.

Title | NCREL - North Central Regional Education Laboratory
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2002-04-21 00:07:36.0
URL: | http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1grorg.htm
For use by: | Both
Description: | Excellent page of graphic organizers to support students' writing - concept maps, question structures and outlines.
Reason for recommendation: | A well constructed site that has clearly displayed examples of graphic outlines. The general ncrel.org site is an excellent resource for teachers covering topics from Maths to Literacy and teacher professional development. Well worth a look!

Title | How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2002-05-11 01:28:48.0
URL: | http://books.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | An online book from Amercia that covers how children and teachers learn, effective teaching and learning styles.
Reason for recommendation: | A useful resource for reading ABOUT Approaches to Learning and how we might look at how we teach in the classroom.

Title | Essential Questions for Standards-Based Learning
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2001-08-10 21:45:51.0
URL: | http://www.coorisd.k12.mi.us/ged/haf/sbp/sbquest.html
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | Provides an outline for using both Essential Questions and local standards in instruction.
Reason for recommendation: | Provides an outline for using both Essential Questions and local standards in instruction.

Title | Big 6: An Information Literacy Problem Solving Process
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2002-05-11 01:41:38.0
URL: | http://www.big6.com/
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | A comprehensive site that allows teachers to use links to read different ideas related to Approaches to Learning including some comprehensive sections on critical thinking, thinking fairly and bravely and how to plan and structure work.
Reason for recommendation: | Useful to get teachers thinking about a range of learning processes and experiences that can enrich classroom learning.

Title | Essential Questions
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2001-08-10 21:47:23.0
URL: | http://www.wiredteaching.org/teaching/essquest.htm
For use by: | Teachers
Description: | Gives examples of good essential questions and links other related sites.
Reason for recommendation: | Gives examples of good essential questions and links other related sites.

Title | Concept mapping
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Approaches to learning
Date submitted: | 2002-05-12 01:13:23.0
URL: | http://www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~johnson/misconceptions/concept_map/concept_maps.html
For use by: | Both
Description: | Excellent examples of concept maps. Particularly interesting for Chinese schools as contains examples in Chinese.
Reason for recommendation: | Concept maps are useful in Approaches to Learning

Title | A Questioning Toolkit
Resource type: | Web site
Linked to | Areas of interaction

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How often do you ask your students to think about thinking? If I am honest with myself, I have done it far less in the past than I am doing in the present. Metacognition is critical for the learning process. It's teaching the why, not just the how. It helps students to be active readers and critical thinkers. What's more, it increases confidence and empowers students to transfer the concepts they learn in the classroom to other disciplines and to real life.

Let's take a look at five important ways to incorporate metacognition in the secondary classroom:

Metacognition with Reading

Explicitly teach comprehension strategies. In other words, when asking students to approach a text for comprehension purposes, give them some direct instruction on the skill(s) you want them to be honing during that particular reading. To illustrate, perhaps you are preparing to read "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst. Before doing so, present a brief mini-lesson on the concept of inferring. Teach students how to make inferences, what types of inferences readers can make, when to use the strategy, and (most importantly) how it will lead them to deeper understanding of the text.
Content area teachers can do this just as easily as ELA instructors. Teach students to recognize the text structure and features of your course literature. Help them think about effective ways to approach and comprehend stories, articles, and textbooks for your science, math, or history class.
Metacognition with Writing

Before beginning an essay, teach students multiple methods for how to complete their prewriting or brainstorming. Model examples, and discuss with students how each approach benefits the writer differently. How does a graphic organizer help a writer to prepare for writing? How does it contrast with an outline approach? What are the benefits of freewriting as a prewriting tool? Teaching students to recognize modes of brainstorming as well as to analyze how each strategy empowers and positions writers slightly differently will help them to write their papers more efficiently.

Metacognition with Vocabulary

When students are learning new words, they often resort to memorization. It's easy, but it's not effective. Even when we ask students to interact with their words meaningfully on a daily basis, we should also be teaching them why the strategies we are suggesting are effective. Case in point. Let's say you want to engage students with differentiated vocabulary instruction. Good for you! They'll enjoy it. But...do they understand the brain benefits?

Engage students in a reflection activity that focuses on metacognition. After completing the activity, have a meaningful discussion with your class regarding how our brains learn new information. Discuss the process of associations and kinesthetic learning. Talk about learning styles. Then, reflect on the tasks they completed. Ask students how the differentiated vocabulary practice brought them to a deeper level of retention than surface-level memorization.

Metacognition with Research

All teachers should prepare students to think about thinking when it comes to research. We shouldn't assume they've already been taught how to approach, for instance, bias in a text. It's helpful to prepare a brief lesson where educators compare multiple texts on the same topic. As students read each article, ask them metacognitive questions.
What might the author's ulterior motive be in this article? Is there any reason we as readers should be hesitant to trust the writer? As active readers, what types of questions can we be asking of this text to determine whether or not it would be beneficial to cite it in an essay? Try to approach this text through a different lens than your own. What messages might this text send through someone else's perspective that you can't see from your own?
Metacognition with Visual Texts

Instead of simply asking students to respond to a set of questions for an educational video clip, begin by teaching them how to approach a visual text. Sure, teenagers in the twenty-first century are surrounded by technology, but have they ever considered how to read them? Probably not. The strategies students use for comprehending and analyzing social media outlets, video games, and movies are different than those needed for reading a visual text. Teaching students to think about comprehending visual texts is a best-practice in any subject area.

Ultimately, when students think about their thinking process, they grow, acquire more knowledge, and learn to adapt their study habits to maximize learning. The role of metacognition in learning and achievement is unquestionable. As secondary teachers, we can support students through metacognition in purposeful ways in order to build their confidence and self-awareness.

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The Importance of Metacognition in Learning | Reading and Writing Haven

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How often do you ask your students to think about thinking? If I am honest with myself, I have done it far less in the past than I am doing in the present. Metacognition is critical for the learning process. It's teaching the why, not just the how.

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This post is part of TED's "How to Be a Better Human" series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Public speaking is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences that many of us face in our daily lives (although it's dropped off the list of Americans' biggest fears in recent years, replaced by more immediate threats like ... sharks?).
Part of our fear is about what we're going to say, but the other part is about how we're going to say it, according to communications expert David JP Phillips (TEDxZagreb Talk: The 110 techniques of communication and public speaking). Phillips has spent years analyzing 5,000 public speakers to identify what moves work - and which ones don't - when talking to an audience.

When we think of body language, many of us immediately think about hand and arm gestures. But body language is so much more than that - and it's also something that we should all get comfortable with. By making small, easy tweaks to how we stand, move or even smile, we can help hold an audience's attention. While Phillips has an entire 110-step system to public speaking, there's no way or need to master them before your next presentation. Here, he shares 7 body-language tips that anyone can use.

Lean towards your audience

"Taking a step back indicates that you are threatened and makes your audience feel less relaxed," says Phillips, who is based in Sweden. "Whenever we are threatened, we tend to close our body language, tense our muscles, and take a step back." Crossing your arms is another move to avoid - it's something else that people do when they're nervous or scared and it puts those watching us on the defensive. So keep your arms open, and lean towards your audience. Make sure your head is inclined too; tilting your head backwards signals to your listeners that you feel superior to them.

Match your gestures to your words

Phillips' rule of thumb when it comes to hand gestures: Make them functional (they should always have a purpose) and make sure they match your message. "The core of all communication is to make your message as clear as possible," Phillips notes. If you're talking about sales figures going up, that's a good time to use a gentle, rising motion. If you're setting two rhetorical options out for your audience to consider, place your hands on either side as if you're weighing items in your palms. Humans are visual creatures, and movement will arouse an audience's attention. But do not abuse this tendency. "If a person is using non-functional gestures, they can become annoying very quickly," explains Phillips. "Functional gestures, however, are rarely used too much."

Give your hands a rest

Most of us struggle mightily with what to do with our hands while talking. Put them in our pockets? (No, says Phillips: Too closed off.) Clasp them behind our back? (Nope: Domineering and overly formal.) Phillips has a whole lexicon of poses not to do with one's hands, such as the "the prayer" (hands clasped in front) and "the beggar" (hands in front, palms up). And then there's "the peacock": hands on hips with elbows flapping loosely at your sides. "You often see this one being used by people who are nervous and who desire to quickly become 'bigger' in front of their opponent," he explains. Phillips's recommendation: "Leave your hands by your sides when you're not using them."

Tilt your head

Some of the ways that humans communicate nonverbally are pretty hardwired in us, says Phillips. One of these nonverbal signals is something you probably do all the time without realizing: When you're trying to show empathy, you tilt your head to one side. "Good listeners are head tilters," Phillips says. The same empathy signals work - even when you're the one doing the talking.

Smile like you mean it

One of the most important things that a public speaker can do is deliver a Duchenne smile - the kind of genuine grin that fills your face and reaches your eyes. People respond more warmly to a Duchenne smile. "It will help make the audience more at ease and relaxed. And if they are at ease and relaxed, you'll become more that way too and you've created a positive spiral, making you deliver your talk better. Also, adds Phillips, "as our emotions work from the inside out and the outside in, it means that you can affect your own emotional state in a positive way by smiling on stage." No need to fake it - just bring to mind a person, place or animal that you know automatically brings a Duchenne smile to your face.

When you slip up, don't panic

We've all had that moment: We practiced our speech until we could recite it in our sleep, but suddenly we can't remember what comes next. The best way to recover, according to Phillips, is to act like you're not panicking. "Avoid reacting on your fear," he says. "Your body will want to tense up, reverse, hide in a corner, but all that just makes you feel less confident." Instead, he suggests, "lean forward, open up your posture, breathe deep and slow, talk slowly, pause, and smile a Duchenne smile. All of those in combination will make you feel more comfortable."

Practice - even when you're not in front of a crowd

One of Phillips' favorite mottos when it comes to body language is: "It's a skill, not a talent." He believes that anyone can become a great public speaker, even the most awkward and nervous of us. He says that a good first step is to simply become more tuned in to your everyday body language. Learn what gestures you tend to use to get your point across. Once you've gotten familiar with your existing body language vocabulary, you can start changing it and expanding it. "My most practical tip is to pick one to three skills and practice them every day until they become part of your natural way of communicating."
Watch his TEDxZagreb talk now:

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7 ways to be a better communicator - by tweaking your body language

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This post is part of TED's "How to Be a Better Human" series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

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Join us at a free webinar series to learn actionable ways educators can focus on SEL for their school, their students, and themselves.

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ProCon.org - Pros and Cons of 100+ Topics

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Explore both sides of debated issues. Presented in a non-partisan format with supporting background information, statistics, and resources.

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We are a globally renowned resource that provides assistance with English to students, teachers, professionals, and organizations across the world. Our goal is to assist clients in their development as writers - no matter their skill level.

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Purdue OWL® - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

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We are a globally renowned resource that provides assistance with English to students, teachers, professionals, and organizations across the world. Our goal is to assist clients in their development as writers - no matter their skill level.

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When we think of people who are known for their astonishing creativity, it's easy to assume that they were somehow born different from the rest of us, with minds wired to forge new connections and see the world in a novel way.

We forget that apparent geniuses often spent years on less successful projects - practice that helped to hone their thinking until they finally created something truly original. The fact is that almost every great writer, artist or inventor underwent a period of 'apprenticeship' in which they learnt how to develop and refine their ideas before they had any major breakthroughs.

"Many people simply don't know that creativity is a trainable skill," says Professor Gerard Puccio, who chairs the Department for Creativity and Change Leadership at SUNY Buffalo State College, US. And this assumption - that creativity is innate, rather than learnt - can be very off-putting whenever we are tasked with original thinking.

With a steady stream of research, however, psychologists like Puccio have identified the best ways to kickstart the learning process. Their evidence shows that, with practice, we can all learn to think more originally in our day-to-day lives, building greater innovation - and fulfilment - into whatever we choose to do.
Thinking skills
Of the many creativity-training programmes out there, Puccio's Thinking Skills Model offers one of the best-tested attempts to teach workplace creativity.

The programme emphasises the need to balance two types of thinking: convergent and divergent. Divergent thinking is the kind of free-wheeling idea generation that we often associate with the stereotypically scatty inventor, with novel - if sometimes hairbrained - solutions to problems. Convergent thinking, in contrast, concerns the selection and development of the best ideas to make sure that they have potential use.

Both are essential. Without the former, your ideas will be too mundane and boring; without the latter, they may be impractical.

After learning these concepts, people trained in the Thinking Skills Model are taught to apply divergent and convergent thinking in seven distinct steps that are thought to be essential for most creative problems: assessing the situation, exploring the vision, formulating the challenges, exploring ideas, formulating solutions, exploring acceptance and formulating a plan.

In one recent trial, Puccio recruited 559 participants from the university. This included people who had taken no creativity training, people who had attended a three-day course based on the Thinking Skills Model, and those who had undergone much more extensive education, such as completing SUNY's master's degree in creativity, which also involved a cognitive approach to improve original thinking as well as ambitious projects to put the theory into practice.

During the experiment, the participants were split into small groups, according to their level of creativity training, and asked to come up with ways of encouraging people to use the bus network in the Greater Buffalo, New York area. Their solutions were rated by independent judges on qualities such as flexibility - whether the group were considering a wide range of ideas - and originality.

As you might hope, the groups of people who had undergone some creativity training performed much better than those without any training or guidance - generating four times as many original ideas. There also appeared to be differences between the training programmes; participants from the three-day course produced 67 original ideas, on average, while those who had undergone more extensive education produced 81.

That may seem like a modest improvement, given the differences in time commitment between the short course and a master's degree. Importantly, however, those with the advanced training were also more skilled at selecting, developing and refining their proposals. Puccio points out that they often combined multiple ideas, for instance - whereas this possibility did not seem to occur to the other groups. This meant that their final solutions were substantially better than those of the other groups.

Spending time practising and honing original thinking pays dividends, the research suggests (Credit: Getty)

Clearly, a quick primer in creativity can provide an immediate boost to people's thinking - but it can't make up for regular and sustained practice. "Creativity is damn hard work," says Puccio. "It takes a lot of time to develop these skills, like the critical thinking to determine which are the most promising ideas."

Martin Meinel recently tested a creativity-training programme at Germany's Friedrich-Alexander- Universität in Erlangen-Nürnberg, with very similar conclusions. "You can think of creativity as a muscle," he says - it needs constant practice to grow and to remain strong.

With a little work, you may be surprised by your progress, says Meinel - even if you have never shown any great feats of creativity previously. "The ones who were least creative at the beginning, they made the biggest gains."
Primed to learn
This is all true, provided you start out with the right mindset. Ella Miron-Spektor, an associate professor of organisational behaviour at the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France, has shown that people's beliefs and attitudes to work will have a big impact on their creative development.

Some people, she says, are "performance-oriented": they are very concerned about how they compare to others. In general, they see their talents as fixed, and so prefer to stick to tasks that will consistently result in a success. A failure, for someone who is performance oriented, would be deeply discouraging. "They tend to take feedback more personally," says Miron-Spektor. "They think that if you are unable to perform well, it's because of the lack of capability - and it's not something you can develop."

Others are "learning-oriented": they tend to be more focused on the opportunity to increase their skills and broaden their knowledge. They are also more resilient in the face of failure, since they analyse what went wrong and use those lessons as an opportunity for growth.

To see whether these mindsets could influence people's creativity over time, Miron-Spektor examined the employees of a large electro-optical manufacturer in Israel. The management had introduced an innovation programme, asking employees to submit any ideas that might improve processes or products. Each idea was evaluated by an expert panel, who rated the potential of the proposal and gave feedback to the original inventor.

Looking at seven years of data from the scheme, Miron-Spektor was able to plot each employee's "creativity trajectory" and compare them to the results of questionnaires measuring people's learning or performance orientations. Overall, she found that the learning-oriented employees showed greater improvement in the number and quality of ideas they contributed to the scheme, compared to those who were performance-oriented, who tended to give up and stop trying after they had faced a disappointment.

"It's not just that the people with the learning orientation are more creative, on average; we saw that they learned faster, so they were able to improve their creativity over time," says Miron-Spektor.

The creative life

The most obvious conclusion from these studies might be that businesses could invest in more training for their teams - rather than assuming that creativity will flow automatically. Importantly, however, they also need to create the right working environment to promote a learning orientation in employees. "You have to encourage people to treat failure as part of the process," Miron-Spektor says. This should be evident in the overall corporate culture, but also in the ways that managers give feedback - to frame the criticisms as opportunities for future growth.

Puccio agrees that leaders' attitudes can make a crucial difference. "If a leader's behaviour is not aligned to this new set of creative-thinking skills, the impact is limited," he says.

Even small pieces of guidance can offer employees an initial head start. In Puccio's experiment, some of the participants with no previous training were told to separate their problem solving into two distinct stages - idea generation (involving divergent thinking) and idea selection (using convergent thinking). He found that they were subsequently much more creative than those who were left to their own devices.

If you hope to enhance your own creativity, Meinel recommends regularly testing yourself in the small problems that you encounter. We all have certain routines that we use to deal with common tasks, but you might start to consider whether there are alternatives - and more original - ways of dealing with them. Soon, you may find your brain is "programmed" so that it automatically thinks of ingenious solutions, he says.

With time, idea generation and refinement will become second nature - a "habit of creativity" that allows you to tackle life's bigger problems with greater flare and originality.
David Robson is the author of The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes, which explores the best ways to improve our thinking, decision making and learning in general life and in the workplace. He is @d_a_robson on Twitter.

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Can you 'programme' your brain to think of genius solutions?

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When we think of people who are known for their astonishing creativity, it's easy to assume that they were somehow born different from the rest of us, with minds wired to forge new connections and see the world in a novel way.

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Explore these free professional development resources to help you learn more about key areas of the Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum.

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(Image credit: Image by Jess Foami from Pixabay )

Despite the hardships of pandemic learning there have been bright spots and even many learning gains, say educators.

While the potential for learning loss is very real, simply comparing students' scores this year to previous years doesn't tell the whole story and ignores the difficult but also rich life experiences students have had over the past 15 months.

"Learning loss suggests that, whether it's the ACT or MAP score, or you name the test, that's our goal," says Dr. Theresa Ewald, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin. "For years, us educators have been saying we do more than that."

For the past 14 months almost every educator Tech & Learning has spoken with has discussed how during the pandemic students and their teachers have embraced a new way of learning and teaching, and have grown. Here are just a few of the prominent learning gains that have occurred.

1. Increased Communication Skills

Ewald's son is a high school senior and remote learning forced him to develop his written communication skills. "His reaching out to a teacher in an appropriate way -- with appropriate communication, not texting language -- has just gone through the roof," she says.

He's now much better at describing what he needs help with self-advocating for his own education. "So some of those skills, which you aren't going to measure on an ACT, but that's what kids lack when they go to college," she says. "We have data that [when] our kids don't finish college, it's not because they can't do math or read or write. Our kids are very skilled at that. It's that they can't do those other things. And so this year our kids have been forced through circumstances to grow some of those skills."

2. Students Taking Ownership of their Own Learning

Some students in Texas' Pasadena ISD have struggled with disruptions caused by the past year, but Daniel Hoppie, the district's executive director of curriculum and instruction, has also seen successes. "One of the big pieces that has been gained is that students own their own learning," he says. "Instead of coming to a school and being sort of forced fed the learning, they recognize, 'Hey, if I'm, if I'm going to learn, I'm going to be the one who has to do some things.' And when they're the ones who own their learning, ultimately, they're the ones who are driving the exploratory bus, so to speak."

Putting students in the driver's seat of their education can encourage them to explore new topics and delve deeper into subjects. "From a student's perspective, they're thinking, 'I don't know if I ever would have learned this if I just sat and listened to an adult talk about it, but now I've seen this video, or this, piqued my interest, and I'm diving into this rabbit hole,'" Hoppie says.

3. Resilience and Learning Outside of School

"We've seen students take on incredible independence. There's the agility and resilience to be able to shift their way of learning," says Karen VanAusdal, senior director of Practice for The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

Students have been acknowledging that learning is happening in all sorts of spaces, and have been creating interesting projects at home. "[For example] I've seen students figuring out how to really understand how COVID has impacted different communities in different ways, and students taking political action in our current context in ways that they may not have had space to do in a traditional school year," she says. The education community and society has also placed increased emphasis on SEL.

4. Time Management

The pandemic has encouraged some educators to think about time differently and reexamine requirements such as as educators realize what matters is mastery and not how much time a student sits in class or in front of a screen.

However, educators are not the only ones learning to see time differently during the pandemic. Ewald says students are also now managing their time better. "I've had teachers talk about, 'Okay, you got eight hours now, are you gonna watch Netflix and take naps? Or let's chunk out your time. Can you do an hour of this and an hour of that,'" she says. "Where in a traditional school kids just are lemmings. They just go by the bell. They walk to the next room, bell, next room. Time management is a huge skill."

5. Teachers Learning to Be Guide On the Side

"One of the greatest gains has been teachers learning to do asynchronous assignments with their students, and then providing support to them as they need it," says Michael Dodes, Queens library coordinator for the New York City Department of Education School Library System. "This is a positive shift for teachers learning to be a guide on the side rather than explaining everything to their students."

As part of this, educators and their students are learning to utilize technology that can increase learning and access. For instance, ebook reading has surged during the pandemic.

Continuing to Implement Lessons Learned

Pandemic restrictions are easing and parents, educators, and students are hopeful that next year's school year will be free of COVID-era restrictions. Still, many stakeholders are eager to utilize what worked well from this time.

While some students have struggled in the hybrid or remote setting scene much of the past year, others have thrived with increased flexibility, says Melissa Jacobs, director of the New York City Department of Education School Library System.

"I don't think we're going to go back to the way we were teaching or learning before the pandemic, and I don't think we should," she says. "I think that there are lessons that have made a very positive impact in the progress we've made."

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5 Learning Gains Made During the Pandemic

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(Image credit: Image by Jess Foami from Pixabay ) Despite the hardships of pandemic learning there have been bright spots and even many learning gains, say educators. While the potential for learning loss is very real, simply comparing students' scores this year to previous years doesn't tell the whole story and ignores the difficult but also rich life experiences students have had over the past 15 months.

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Attention getters, do nows, morning meetings, hugs, and high fives. These are often the ways teachers start their days. By now, you probably have your routines in place for how you start your day or class period. But sometimes it's good to mix it up. Or maybe you're looking for an exciting entrance to a specific lesson plan. Just like writers, teachers often need a hook!

Whether you're mixing it up or just curious about what other teachers do, check out these five videos to see five different ways teachers start their lessons.

1. Start with a Video

Everyone loves a good video, especially kids. Video can be a great way to pique interest or teach a simple concept before a lesson. In Coding in the Algebra Classroom, high school teacher Joshua Kwon starts his lesson with a clip from a car racing video game. He hopes by asking his students to watch and wonder about something familiar to many of them, he can warm up their brains for the math concepts in his lesson, where they'll be creating their own computer animations.

2. Start with an Object

Another way to get your students wondering about a topic is to show them objects related to the content. Ready to do some creative writing? Inspire them with sensory objects. Getting ready to read a book? Show them objects from the book and ask them to make connections, predictions, or ask questions. You could bring in actual objects for students to touch and smell, or simply show a set of images. In Scaffolds for Critical Thinking, Sarah Brown Wessling opens a mystery box filled with photos before starting a challenging lesson with a class of fourth graders. Watch as she uses this box to create an environment that encourages her students to be curious.

3. Start with a Question

Find out what your students already know or think about a topic with a question. There are so many ways to do this: ask the whole class, encourage small group discussions, write it on the board and ask students to do a quick write, or try using a poll. To see a poll in action, watch Using Technology to Boost Confidence. In this video, high school teacher Johanna Paraiso explains how she uses technology to build communication skills in her class, including warming up her students for academic discussions with polls using Google Forms. No matter which method you try, questions are a great way to get your students thinking.

4. Start with Movement

Have an early class of tired high schoolers? Are your 1st graders squirmy after lunch? Get them on their feet with Sarah Brown Wessling's Stand Up Game. For this strategy, you start your lesson with a question, but the twist is that you get everyone on their feet to answer it. Students are able to sit down when they share their answer with the class. Take two minutes to watch this fun idea and then give it a try yourself.

5. Start with a Mistake

Make learning from mistakes a natural part of your daily lessons. Next time you're thinking of starting off your lesson with an exemplar, consider what could be learned by sharing student work that's not quite perfect. Take a look at My Favorite Noto see how Leah Alcala begins her lesson with a brief formative assessment activity and uses it as an opportunity to teach her students to learn from their mistakes. And for more ways to begin your lessons with formative assessment, be sure to check out our Formative Assessment Deep Dive filled with ideas for you to explore.

How do you like to start off your lessons? Share your thoughts below. And, let us know if any of these ideas sparked your creativity!

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Attention getters, do nows, morning meetings, hugs, and high fives. These are often the ways teachers start their days. By now, you probably have your routines in place for how you start your day or class period. But sometimes it's good to mix it up.

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Battelle for Kids P21 Framework for 21st Century Skills

The Battelle for Kids P21 Framework for 21st Century Skills is a framework designed to help practitioners integrate 21st century skills into the teaching of core academic subjects. It was created by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21), a network of Battelle for Kids, with input from teachers, education experts, and business leaders. It focuses on the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in work, life, and citizenship in today's world.
View All Term Definitions
Breakdown by Domain

Domain Key

Key Features

Context & Culture

Provides online professional development that helps teachers develop strategies to reach diverse students

Acknowledges that learning occurs across all contexts, both in school and out, and from birth through career

Provides targeted resources for personal, work, and community environments

Outlines key characteristics of effective 21st century learning environments

Developmental Perspective

No information or learning progression provided

Available Resources

Support Materials

Summary documents with descriptions of framework and definitions

A self-assessment tool for measuring how well a school is implementing 21st century skills and identifying strategies for improvement

In-depth research reports on various skills in the framework

Videos showcasing best practices, examples of successful initiatives, lessons from the field, and more

Blog featuring insights/learnings from educators and experts

Guides/skill maps for integrating 21st century learning into key subject areas

Online and on-site professional development courses

Links to external resources related to skills in the framework such as articles, best practices, and activities, and more

Programs & Strategies

Outlines key characteristics of effective 21st century curriculum and instruction

General toolkits, guides, and videos for planning, implementing, and integrating 21st century learning initiatives into educational settings

Parent guides with tips and strategies

Provides links to external resources that include best practices, recommendations, and strategies or activities for promoting skills across three dimensions (learning and innovation skills; information, media, and technology skills; and 21st century interdisciplinary themes)

Measurement Tools

Outlines key characteristics of effective 21st century assessment systems

Includes example assessments and guidance on how to implement them

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The Battelle for Kids P21 Framework for 21st Century Skills is a framework designed to help practitioners integrate 21st century skills into the teaching of core academic subjects. It was created by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21), a network of Battelle for Kids, with input from teachers, education experts, and business leaders.

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P21's Frameworks for 21st Century Learning were developed with input from teachers, education experts, and business leaders to define and illustrate the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in work and life, as well as the support systems necessary for 21st century learning outcomes. They have been used by thousands of educators and hundreds of schools in the U.S. and abroad to put 21st century skills at the center of learning.

Battelle for Kids looks forward to engaging yet again with educators and other experts to update the Frameworks. We encourage personal use of these Frameworks by all who can benefit:

Permission for Use

Permission for commercial use and/or distribution of these resources or other information produced must be made in writing to Battelle for Kids with a clearly defined request and description of how the material will be used. Permission will be granted provided that:

Content remain unchanged.

Attribution be given to Battelle for Kids.

Attribution will include a link to Battelle for Kids' website.

Content will be used solely for educational purposes.

The party using or referring to Battelle for Kids' intellectual property will not represent themselves in a manner that can be interpreted as implying that they are officially certified or endorsed by Battelle for Kids.

In addition, please note that:

The Frameworks for 21st Century Learning or its representational images may not be used to endorse specific products or services

Battelle for Kids reserves the right to restrict usage of any intellectual property that Battelle for Kids finds is being used in an inappropriate manner

Battelle for Kids network, member, or partner names, logos and other content may not be used without permission for any purposes other than to demonstrate the organizations and corporations that are partners or members of Battelle for Kids or its networks. Partners and members may not be listed selectively. Any other requests for use of Battelle for Kids partners' or members' trademarks and logos must be approved by the member organization prior to use

Battelle for Kids will continue publishing frequently requested P21 materials and refreshing them for the benefit of the 21st century education movement and community. Please check back often for updates.

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The is a process model for information problem-solving. It integrates information search and use skills along with technology tools in a systematic process to find, use, apply, and evaluate information for specific needs and tasks.

The Big6 was developed by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz and is the most widely known and widely used approach to teaching information and technology skills in the world. It is used in thousands of K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and corporate and adult training programs and is applicable whenever people need and use information ().

The Big6 model has been adopted at the Dubai Women's College and is part of the curriculum. Although students may find this page helpful, especially the table below, the reference materials are for educators.

Here is a summary of the information literacy experience using the Big6 model as a framework:

Summary of Information Literacy Experience

STEP 1: Task Definition

What does my teacher expect me to do?

Do I understand what I need to do?

What are the questions I need to answer?

What do I need to know about the topic?

STEP 2:Information Seeking strategies

Where can you start to look for information?

Who can I talk too to get information?

What are the best sources to use?

STEP 3:Location and Access

Where can I find these resources?

How do I search to get to them?

Where do I find the information in the resource?

STEP 4:Use of information

Read, view information - decide which parts you want to use (and leave out)

What type of information did I find?

Will the information answer the questions I have?

How do I write notes on the information?

Is the information reliable?

STEP 5:Synthesis (Putting Puzzle together)

How do I fit all the information together?

How do I write an outline of the project?

How do I present the information to my teacher to answer the question?

Did I remember to make notes of all the sources for the bibliography?

Realize what work needs to be done

Confidence in ability to do the task

Increased interest

STEP 6:Evaluation

Did I solve the problem?

Did I write the project in a format that will be understood?

Will I do anything different the next time?

What did I learn?

Am I pleased with the project?

Sense of Relief

Sometimes Satisfaction

Sometimes Dissapointment

Reference Documents - Step 1

Reference Documents - Step 2

Reference Documents - Step 3

Reference Documents - Step 4

Reference Documents - Step 5

Reference Documents - Step 6

Other References

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The is a process model for information problem-solving. It integrates information search and use skills along with technology tools in a systematic process to find, use, apply, and evaluate information for specific needs and tasks. The Big6 was developed by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz and is the most widely known and widely used approach to teaching information and technology skills in the world.