Video+Responses

= = = Germany Takes on Education Reform (Education Everywhere Series) =

=media type="youtube" key="2LAuHwwZhtI?rel=0" height="270" width="480"= //**Video Response 1**:// In 2000 Germany saw their schools score low in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams. Schools were given the freedom to innovate. They became part of the "Responsible Schools" program. Part of this program was the requirement for teachers to work in teams. They have weekly team meetings and discuss students' progress. When they are happy with their results they share it with other teams so that they can benefit from their success. One of the ideas was to have students and parents sign a contract to make sure students take their learning seriously. There is an individual parent, student and teacher meeting where the student's strengths and weakness are discussed. The students mentioned what they are good at and where they have difficulties. The teacher also shares what they observe of the student in class. All parties agree in what needs to be done to help the student succeed. Team work as helped German schools be successful. =Singapore's 21st-Century Teaching Strategies (Education Everywhere Series)= media type="youtube" key="M_pIK7ghGw4?rel=0" height="270" width="480" //**Video Response 2:**// Singapore is one of the world’s leading education programs. Ngee Ann Secondary School is one of country’s seven “Future schools”, public schools which emphasize the use of technology, digital media and integration of 21st century skills. They believe that school should be fun as to keep the students engaged and interested and willing to get out of bed in the morning and go to school without any reservations. The way teachers taught in the 1990’s is no longer the way teachers teach today. A teacher must always keep evolving with the times. They need to always be learning something new and finding new ways to communicate with kids and challenging them. A success key factor is the ongoing of professional development. They have formed professional learning communities to share and discuss ideas and grow through feedback and communication.

=Big Thinkers: Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences =

=David Thornburg on the Evolving Classroom (Big Thinkers Series)= media type="youtube" key="R4CeceFQAJ8?rel=0" height="270" width="480" The traditional way of teaching is not best for every child. It’s not because of the teacher or what he or she teaches but because of the structure of the classroom. Studies have shown that the traditional method of students seating in rows facing the front of the classroom is ineffective and therefore new ways must be developed. A "holodeck" is an empty room that one can turn it into anything they want; therefore, students have endless possibilities especially when doing a project-based approach. Technology takes on an important role. The walls in a classroom become viewports and they can become almost anything the computer program is telling it to do. In project based learning students are engaged in learning and they tend to remember what they learned for a longer period of time. Teachers need to challenge their students with questions that they can’t go to places such as Google and get the answers. Students are taking more control of their learning by bringing their smartphones and tablets to school. A student can get the data and information and the teacher is now liberated to work on the knowledge and understanding part of the project. Technology will allow us to achieve educational goals in powerful ways that provides means of growth to the learner and society as we know it = = =**Finland’s Formula for School Success (Education Everywhere Series **=
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media type="youtube" key="HsdFi8zMrYI?rel=0" height="270" width="480" Finland believes that early detection of difficulties and problems and early intervention are keys to educating the whole child in Finnish schools. Most Finnish students of ages 15-16 has had some “special education” which means “special” is really nothing special. A child or student that has never had any “special” services those are the special ones. They believe that early intervention is the key component for success. Most other countries do not intervene until a problem as emerged and by then it’s too late. In fact, schools in this country believe that “90% of students can succeed in regular classrooms” if intervention is present. Providing students with the skills to ask questions if content is not understood will be beneficial later on in one’s education. The first step is what they call the first intervention is when the special education teacher and subject teacher arrange a time for the special education to come and observe the subject teacher and student in the class. This will help identify the students’ needs and provide assistance for that student. Each student has an individual learning plan. By taking such measures it guarantees that no one is lacking behind. A student welfare team consisting of the principal, special education teacher, nurse and class teacher meet twice a month to discuss student’s progress.
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Recording full: [] Tiny URL for recording: [] Recording Chat: http://wiki.classroom20.com/CR20LIVE+DEC15012

In this classroom 2.0 live video the topic of discussion was BYOT/BYOD. It was presented by #BYOT chat team. The #BYOT chat team is made up of four individuals Steve Hayes, Tim Clark, Jeremy Angoff and Nathan Stevens. In the beginning there were some poll questions that the people watching the video voted on and the moderator posted the results. One of the questions was “Do you feel that the benefits of BYOT/D outweighs the concerns? “ The results from the poll were that 61% believed that yes the benefits outweigh the concerns. One of the features is that the different participants can chat live. There is the live binder which shares links and supplemental resources for all to use. The idea of BYOT/D is that it’s more project base learning. This empowers the students to become more responsible for own learning. There are many myths about BYOT/D and one of them is “the teacher does not have to be tech experts on each individual device the student bring in”. In the environment we work in “change is slow” and some are reluctant about that change. The additional technology into the classroom and what tech tools are used varies depending on the task. When students are given the options of choosing what tools to use more control of learning is put on the student. The #BYOT/D chat teams believe in taking the learning outside of the walls of the classroom. By doing so it opens up the learning opportunities. It’s really authentic and impactful; there is real life interaction with things and people. The 4 C’s of digital age are Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity. Not every student will have a device but through collaboration students can share devices and what they have learned with them. The chat team offered some examples on how to use the 4 C’s: collaboration with Wikispaces, critical thinking with Socrative, communication with Voice Thread and critical thinking with Green Screen. There are unlimited amounts of free knowledge on the internet, one does not have to reinvent the wheel many are willing to share their resources. BYOT/D is to enhance the learning experience in a classroom and not hinder the learning. Many teachers are reluctant to change but technology is the way of the future.
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