Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Easy Classroom Management!
Like many other teachers, I use a clip chart in my class. I updated my clip chart and uploaded it to TPT for only $2. And... it includes a parent letter to explain the chart to parents. Check it out by clicking the picture below.
I wont go into too many details on the chart above, but I do want to take some time to talk about one of my FAVORITE classroom routines... the most points!
This is one of my favorite routines because it’s really fast, and really easy! We all know how much kids love positive reinforcement and praise… it’s so easy to say “I love how so-and-so is sitting” And they just love getting little tangible items, like pencils and stickers. Now, what if we combine these two ideas, and each time you praised them get got something that was tangible? It sounds like it’s a lot of work, but it’s not! The tangible thing that they’re getting is actually “points!” My students respond to “So-and-so is getting points” far quicker than “I notice that so-and-so is sitting so nice!”
I never actually write down the points, I just constantly tell the class that I always remember who I gave points to. If you want to write it down, that’s totally up to you!
Anyway, back to the routine! At the end of the school day, I look at the list and pick one student to get the “most points” for that day and put a sticker next to their name. The graph-like nature of this management routine helps to keep the rewards totally fair. You can easily pick even the most challenging student to get the most points, by telling the class “Today so-and-so got so many points!”
Now… what do they “win” if they get the most points? I usually give the student with the most points two rewards:
1. They get to pick what job they want next week.
2. They get the first turn for the next activity that we do.
It’s easy and effective... and, its FREE! I created three lists, one for up to 20 students, one for up to 25 students, and one for up to 30 students. Click the picture above to head to TPT to download it!
What Happened to E learning and Why
Link to article (PDF) (by The Weatherstation Project)
Link to Learning Alliance (For Higher Education)
"To the dismay of many, e-learnings reality never matched its promise by a long shot. There has been no pedagogical revolution or financial windfall . Fathom and NYOnline are gone; Cardean U and UNext are continuing to undergo makeovers. There has been no real burgeoning of distance educations emerging successes have been limited and owe more to their past market triumphs than to the new technologies. What happened to e-learnings potential? While all innovations make exaggerated claims, why was the forecast for e-learning so far off the mark? This issue of The Landscape sets out to address this question, using research conducted by The Weatherstation Project, a collaborative effort to provide a practical way of estimating e-learnings current and future trajectory."
You have to read this article, as it will look into some of the old predictions and analyze what really happened . There is no doubt e-learning is here to stay, but if it will play more of a supporting role, or a leading role in the process of learning that is a big question. However, at the moment blended or hybrid learning seems to be the best approach, and that is why we practice that at UNITAR. Here is a link to the full report for those that really want to know the details: Link to full report (1.78 MB, PDF).
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
How to Make Portrait Slides in PowerPoint!
More than half of you voted for this in the poll, but the other options were definitely still contenders! Dont forget to vote on next weeks poll!
Heres the tutorial!
For next weeks poll, Im going to add how to make easy page borders in Microsoft Word! Heres an example of one....
How to Easily Make Your Text Italic
Well... if you use italic text in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, or if you use it on Blogger, this tip will save you a little bit of time!
Malaysian e Learning Stories
- Link to Malaysian e-Learning Stories
Besides reading the latest research papers and news about in e-learning in Malaysia, it is also critical that we reflect past e-learning adventures, implementations, experiences and findings, so that we can learn from them. I have just started (yesterday) compiling interesting Malaysian e-Learning stories (research papers, reports, articles, etc.) that I have discovered. The discovered e-Learning stories have been organized according to chronological order, starting with the latest year first (e.g. 2007).
Currently, I am simply using Google Docs to create this compilation list. Perhaps in the future I will use a more dynamic tool, if necessary. However, sometimes using simply web pages can actually produce better results. Lets see how it goes!
At the moment there is not much there, but give it a week or two; I believe I will have discovered many more interesting e-learning stories that are scattered all over the Web. We just need to find them, and that is what I am doing now. If you have a Malaysian e-Learning story to share, please post it in the Comments section, and I will add it to this growing list.
If you are doing research, or want to know more about e-learning in Malaysia, this compilation might be a good starting point (and evolve into a Gold mine!). Have fun discovering e-learning in Malaysia!
Click here to begin :)