Edutopia by Laura Buechel

Edutopia by Laura Buechel https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia Go to https://www.edutopia.org/assessment. Find one page you think is really interesting. Post it below, and write a few words as to WHY it's interesting. Then comment on someone else's post and rate it. en-us 2020-08-05 09:50:06 UTC 2020-10-29 17:30:11 UTC hello@padlet.com Going gradeless https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/763572862 This article is about why more and more teachers are going gradeless and I think this is a very important point. Most of the time we just study for the grade and not for the knowledge itself which is a pitty! We as teachers should show our pupils that they are learning for themselves and that it’s about trying out and „aha moments“ and not about a number on their report card.]]> 2020-09-21 10:05:57 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/763572862 6 ways to give effective feedback https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/768122689 I find this video quite useful, as I want to give feedback on a regluar basis once I have my own class but don't really know how to do it without it being too time-consuming. I'm really glad for some of those tips, especially for the idea that the learners can chose for which work they would like feedback.]]> 2020-09-22 13:46:59 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/768122689 3 Reasons Students Procrastinate—and How to Help Them Stop https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/768483981 I choose this article because I'm one of those guys, who procrastinate a lot of things (except this task...). In fact, 50 percent of the students procrastinate on a regular basis. However, the article is about the reasons why students procrastinate, what are the impacts of procrastinating and what can you do about it.

]]> 2020-09-22 14:57:35 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/768483981 Summative Assessment in Distance Learning https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771345500 The article gives some useful tips for assessment in distance learing. The main points I think are:
- not to assess everything; it is more effective to assess the important things
- trust students
- split big tasks into shorter tasks and use it over a long term]]> 2020-09-23 08:51:28 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771345500 Fan fiction – Let them write! https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771361767 This article focuses on writing and gives an example how fan fiction can be motivating for the students to start writing.
It also says that it's important that the students just write, write and write and as a teacher you shouldn't always care about the grammar and you don't have to assign every single text.]]> 2020-09-23 09:00:32 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771361767 5 Apps to Enhance Distance Learning https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771401822 I chose this topic because I am not a big fan of distance learning. Maybe these apps change my opinion - let's see ;-)

1) Flipgrid (for free)
Flipgrid is a tool where students and teachers can record short online videos. Teachers can easily create accounts and the students can join the "classroom" via code.

2) WeVideo (free and paid)
WeVideo is an online video editor. During the pandemic the programm offered free upgrades.

3) Google forms (free)
Oh I love that one! Google forms is an easy tool to create survey. What I didn't know is that the quiz feature can block users from opening other windows (so there is no cheating).

4) Google Meet (free?)
Google Meet is a variation to Teams, Zoom etc. Lessons can be recorded.

5) Google Classroom (free?)
A platform to assign, collect and give feedback on student work.

Because of the fact I don't like distance learning I was interrested in new tools. Some were new to me others were not. I think there are milions of tools that would make distance learning easy. I am also impressed by the tools Laura is using.]]> 2020-09-23 09:25:36 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771401822 60-Second Strategy: Interview Assessments alessia_castrovinci https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771427671 --> get information about the own teaching and find out what kids already know
--> keep it quick and in a relaxed way.
--> gives students a possibility to really show what they know

Nice way of assessment! Would like to included that in my own classroom as I think some of the students show more during an interview than on a paper based test. ]]> 2020-09-23 09:41:31 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771427671 The Power of Being Seen https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771496238 SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Read about how to improve your relationship to your students and how this will change their school life.

I think that in Switzerland their are so many rules and borders. Swiss schools mostly forbid contact to students, that would be important sometimes (like a hug, when the kid is only crying or something). But in this article, they show you how you can improve the relationship by knowing your students better. Improving the relationsship between student and teacher makes a difference in so many ways. It is really worth reading!

https://www.edutopia.org/article/power-being-seen

]]> 2020-09-23 10:28:43 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771496238 Why Students Cheat - and What to Do About It https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771512904 Sometimes I ask myself why pupils cheat and how I could broach this issue in class.This article informs you about possible motives for cheating as well as intervention possibilities/ strategies.

Reasons:
- Students rationalise cheating because they find it legitimate, don't see a value in the work, feel pressured to obtain expectations
- Their point of view on cheating depends on their development stage. Younger learners are take more risks and gable because they think they get away with it or they feel peer pressured.
- Technology facilitates cheating. Learners have easy access to smartphones and the internet and they see digital plagiarism as "trivial".

Strategies to reduce cheating:

- Turn down pressure cooker: give a free pass, drop lowest score, give an assignment that measures competences
- Be thoughtful about language
- Create student honour councils with honour codes and rules.
-Use metacognition "thinking about thinking"
-Bring honesty and moral discussions into the classroom

I think cheating in Switzerland is more common in secondary school than primary school. However, our school system can exert pressure on learners to be successful (can also be internalised). You should talk about cheating with your class and write down classroom rules that include cheating and their consequences.

]]> 2020-09-23 10:40:36 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771512904 Allowing Test Retakes—Without Getting Gamed wydlernanuk https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771519703 When I think about offering retake tests I feel like I'm sitting on the fence. On the one hand I feel like students should have the chance of retaking tests and actually understand the material since the mastery of a subject is most important to me. On the other hand I worry that students won't study hard enough if there is always the option of retaking the test. In life you also won't get a second chance.
So what to do?

This article offers answers to this questions and give examples how teachers manage to offer retakes without getting gamed.

]]> 2020-09-23 10:44:53 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/771519703 On Standardized Tests, Students Face an ‘Online Penalty’ https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/772452314 The article deals with a current topic regarding to the Covid-19 situation:
A lot of students had to take a standardized online test and performed worse than student who wrote the exam on papers.

In fact, online exams are part of our future and no longer a rarity. The shown statistics make me even more unsure about how effective online testing really is. There has been cases on two students who are equally proficient in a topic but had different test scores based on how familiar they are with computers. This also depends on the access to computers, which is given by students from wealthier families.
In Switzerland, we have in most schools access to computers, laptops, iPads etc. They can be part of a lesson, but I personally believe that there should be a balance between paper-based tasks and online tasks. ]]> 2020-09-23 15:08:46 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/772452314 Summative Assessment in Distance learning https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/777211912
https://www.edutopia.org/article/summative-assessment-distance-learning

Interesting topic. A teacher once told me the difference between children who get help at home and the one's that don't is huge. But she can't really do anything about it, because of the distance learning. That made me think about how unfair the grades during these times are.

The article mentiones different ways to do it. But the last sentence pretty much sums it up: Ultimately, teachers need to use their professional judgement when summatively assessing students.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/summative-assessment-distance-learning

]]> 2020-09-24 18:49:16 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/777211912 3 Reasons Students Procrastinate—and How to Help Them Stop https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/779522668 According to this article the reasons for procrastinating (in case of college students) are their fear of failure and criticism, confusion about the first steps of an assignement, avoidance and also thrill-seeking, which I can all relate to.

This is relevant for Swiss primary teachers as not only college students procrastinate, kids do that too and in order to help them overcome procrastination teachers should be aware of where that might be coming from. The article shows 5 ways to do so, for ex. give supportive feedback.]]> 2020-09-25 15:01:30 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/779522668 I chose this article because I can really relate to it. It addresses the most common reasons for procrastination, which are: fear of failure and criticism, confusion and unclarity, prevention and need for pleasurable experiences. As I read the article, I asked myself why some tasks are easy and why others are very hard for me to complete. And yes, if I feel overwhelmed or like I won’t be able to do the task I usually have a harder time to even get started. Although I have made the experience that the most difficult part is usually to get started in the first place. When your are on it, it get’s easier step by step.I think this is important to consider with students as well. Procrastination itself is not the problem, but we need to figure out where the actual problem and blockage lies. And then as teachers it is our job to help the students to overcome these obstacles. https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/779941846 2020-09-25 16:37:33 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/779941846 Fast and Efficient Ways to Provide Feedback https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/782377888 This article focuses on a very fast way of giving productive feedback. This so-called "flash-feedback" helps the teacher to not get buried by the amount of giving constructive individual feedback.
This particular goal can be reached by giving only 2-3 small feedback chunks per student.

The article mentions further 2 key-points:

> Targeted response
If a student has big problems with commas, instead of mark all hundreds of commas in an essay. The teacher should give the student a new exercise which targets the correct use of commas.
> Micro-conferences
Make small 1-2 minute conferences with each child to talk about their progress instead of making longer conferences.

These two points can easily be applied to Swiss primary teachers. ]]> 2020-09-27 13:48:48 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/782377888 3 Reasons Students Procrastinate https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/787253854 I felt very called out while reading this article, as I am a huge procrastinator myself but never really thought about the reasons behind it. For me it is actually a combination of all the reasons but I still feel that there is a fair share of lazyness involved as well, at least for me. Also I feel like it is a very strong habit that I've formed over a long time which maybe could've been prevented if I learned about it in school - which then applies to how this article could be useful in Swiss Schools. ]]> 2020-09-29 10:04:50 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/787253854 Using Student-Generated Questions to Promote Deeper Thinking https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/787800587 Generating questions helps students to understand the learning material better, because they need to think deeper.
"We’re often convinced that we know something, but upon closer examination, it’s just an illusion."
-> use it in a classroom activity
-> use "explain, why, how" for the questions
https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-student-generated-questions-promote-deeper-thinking]]> 2020-09-29 13:44:14 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/787800587 Using Student-generated Questions https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/807463711 It's a website that is asking students to create their own questions because it has a powerful impact on learning and there are given 5 tips to encourage high-quality questions.

]]> 2020-10-06 16:40:01 UTC https://padlet.com/laura_buechel/Edutopia/wish/807463711