Get outside!
Some great reading and resources:
(thank you to Gerald Fussell in SD71 for this list. His blog is here: http://whynot-gfussell.blogspot.ca/)
As another school year comes to a close we are filled with memories, fatigue, and gratitude. We also look forward what is coming. Eventually, because educators (lead learners) are wired this way, our minds will turn to our own professional development and planning for our next year. Below you will find a list of possible places to look for some brain candy. I hope this is helpful. Have an awesome summer.
Books
A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown is an often referenced book for valuable and current information about the learners we work with.
Creating Thinking Classroom: Leading educational change for the 21st century world by Garfield Gini-Newman and Roland Case offers ideas, challenges, and solutions for supporting deeper, meaningful learning in our schools.
Inquiry and Innnovation in the Classroom: Using 20% Time, Genius Hour, and PBL to Drive Student Success by A.J. Juliani describes how we need to modify our classrooms to instill in students the drive for inquiry and innovation that they will need to succeed beyond school doors.
LAUNCH: Suing Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani provides a process that can be incorporated inot eveyr class at every grade level….even if you do not consider yourself a ‘creative teacher.’
Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you do as the title suggests.
The 20time Project: How educators can launch Google's formula for future-ready innovation by Kevin Brookhouser illustrates how to develop a 20time program in middle and high schools across curricula, how to effectively communicate the rationale of the program to administrators, parents, and students, and how to execute the program so students are able to manage their time effectively for a successful final project.
The Innovator’s Mindset is an excellent book by George Couros (from Alberta) that looks at creating a mindset conducive to creating innovative learners. It is also full of great links, connections, and ideas.
The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom by Denise Krebs and Gallit ZVI is a practical book that shows teachers how to implement Genius Hour, a time when students can develop their own inquiry-based projects around their passions and take ownership of their work.
Tuned Out by Karen Hume is an excellent read with a lot of researched information about our digital students and ideas/strategies, etc. to engage them. My notes from reading it are available on my blog.
Unselfie: Why empathetic kids succeed in our all about me world by Dr. Michele Borba takes a look at nine essential habits that provide the ‘empathy advantage’ in our digital age. Developing a healthy sense of empathy is a key predictor of which kids thrive and succeed in the future.
Web-Sites and Apps
Adobe Spark Video is a platform that makes creating quality videos easy and fun.
A. J. Juliani’s blog has a wealth of links and resources related to innovative teaching that are very helpful and well worth spending some time poking through.
Burnaby School District has prepared a great site with documents of the different curricula with elaborations included.
Cale Birk is a good person to follow on Twitter and his blogprovides some great food for thought.
Chris Kennedy and Jordan Tinney both have very good blogs that have a wealth of information, insight, and contemporary thinking.
Coding is not only popular, it can be a very valuable learning tool. There are many sites out there that help people learn to code and the structures that go along with it. Several good apps to start with are Hopscotch and Tynker. Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations. And the Hour of Code has a plethora of on-line resources.
Kathy Cassidy’s blog is well worth looking at for ideas of how technology can enrich, deepen, and accelerate learning.
My son was working on a project for his Math class and needed to demonstrate graphs, charts, etc. and he found Piktochart. It seemed to support his learning and allowed him to go deeper.
WolframAlpha is a great learning tool that could be harnessed to profoundly change the way we have students learn. It is far more than a search engine, it is a knowledge engine that is very powerful.
Interesting
The Paradox of Choice is a TedTalk by Barry Schwartz that talks about the paralysis being experienced by the abundance of choices we have in every facet of our lives.
Smarter Every Day is a YouTube channel with a plethora of videos full of information – some valuable, some just purely entertaining. I found the Backwards Brain Bicycle quite interesting.
Books
A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown is an often referenced book for valuable and current information about the learners we work with.
Creating Thinking Classroom: Leading educational change for the 21st century world by Garfield Gini-Newman and Roland Case offers ideas, challenges, and solutions for supporting deeper, meaningful learning in our schools.
Inquiry and Innnovation in the Classroom: Using 20% Time, Genius Hour, and PBL to Drive Student Success by A.J. Juliani describes how we need to modify our classrooms to instill in students the drive for inquiry and innovation that they will need to succeed beyond school doors.
LAUNCH: Suing Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani provides a process that can be incorporated inot eveyr class at every grade level….even if you do not consider yourself a ‘creative teacher.’
Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you do as the title suggests.
The 20time Project: How educators can launch Google's formula for future-ready innovation by Kevin Brookhouser illustrates how to develop a 20time program in middle and high schools across curricula, how to effectively communicate the rationale of the program to administrators, parents, and students, and how to execute the program so students are able to manage their time effectively for a successful final project.
The Innovator’s Mindset is an excellent book by George Couros (from Alberta) that looks at creating a mindset conducive to creating innovative learners. It is also full of great links, connections, and ideas.
The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom by Denise Krebs and Gallit ZVI is a practical book that shows teachers how to implement Genius Hour, a time when students can develop their own inquiry-based projects around their passions and take ownership of their work.
Tuned Out by Karen Hume is an excellent read with a lot of researched information about our digital students and ideas/strategies, etc. to engage them. My notes from reading it are available on my blog.
Unselfie: Why empathetic kids succeed in our all about me world by Dr. Michele Borba takes a look at nine essential habits that provide the ‘empathy advantage’ in our digital age. Developing a healthy sense of empathy is a key predictor of which kids thrive and succeed in the future.
Web-Sites and Apps
Adobe Spark Video is a platform that makes creating quality videos easy and fun.
A. J. Juliani’s blog has a wealth of links and resources related to innovative teaching that are very helpful and well worth spending some time poking through.
Burnaby School District has prepared a great site with documents of the different curricula with elaborations included.
Cale Birk is a good person to follow on Twitter and his blogprovides some great food for thought.
Chris Kennedy and Jordan Tinney both have very good blogs that have a wealth of information, insight, and contemporary thinking.
Coding is not only popular, it can be a very valuable learning tool. There are many sites out there that help people learn to code and the structures that go along with it. Several good apps to start with are Hopscotch and Tynker. Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations. And the Hour of Code has a plethora of on-line resources.
Kathy Cassidy’s blog is well worth looking at for ideas of how technology can enrich, deepen, and accelerate learning.
My son was working on a project for his Math class and needed to demonstrate graphs, charts, etc. and he found Piktochart. It seemed to support his learning and allowed him to go deeper.
WolframAlpha is a great learning tool that could be harnessed to profoundly change the way we have students learn. It is far more than a search engine, it is a knowledge engine that is very powerful.
Interesting
The Paradox of Choice is a TedTalk by Barry Schwartz that talks about the paralysis being experienced by the abundance of choices we have in every facet of our lives.
Smarter Every Day is a YouTube channel with a plethora of videos full of information – some valuable, some just purely entertaining. I found the Backwards Brain Bicycle quite interesting.
Healthy Food Ideas for Lunches
Cick on the image to head to a great resource page with ideas for healthy lunches based on seasonal foods!
Healthy Food is the foundation of good learning.
For this article: http://afineparent.com/positive-parenting-faq/social-exclusion.html
Ministry information - New and exciting directions:
Videos I love and wish to share:
Warning: Although "To This Day" holds an important and inspiring message about the lifelong effects of bullying, it does contain strong language that may not be suitable for all listeners.
Games for Change
Video games with a social conscience. Click image to explore...
WHAT THE WORLD EATS:
http://www.welovechildrensbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/files/WhatWorldEats.pdf
TEACHING TOLERANCE:
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/exploring-young-immigrant-stories
http://www.welovechildrensbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/files/WhatWorldEats.pdf
TEACHING TOLERANCE:
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/exploring-young-immigrant-stories