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Flipped classrooms: A technology-driven teaching method
Bambi Majumdar EducationFlipped classrooms promise a more innovative and interesting mode of learning and teaching. Perhaps no other emerging technology has created such a stir in the education world as this one, leading to heated debates, a spate of analysis and studies, parent-teacher meetings and more administrative and expert involvement than ever before.
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ESL teacher electracy: A shift from flat to digital teaching and learning
Beth Crumpler EducationTeaching and learning have changed in the 21st century. With new technology adoptions and their ever-growing and ever-changing landscape, ESL teachers need to be prepared for these teaching and learning environments. Teachers need to transition from flat teaching and learning environments to digital teaching and learning, which provide a necessary skill set development by ESL teachers in electracy.
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Grouping students: Heterogeneous, homogeneous and random structures
Erick Herrmann EducationWhat is the typical classroom seating arrangement? Are students seated in neat rows, in a U shape, in small groups of 4 or 5, at tables or at desks? Teachers have long recognized the power of grouping students together for a variety of reasons: to collaborate with each other on a project, for cooperative learning opportunities, to work with a small group of students on a particular skill and more. But how do teachers decide how to group students together, and when is a particular grouping structure best given the learning or task at hand?
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10 years of change: Public-private initiative for Texas education
Bambi Majumdar EducationRecent times have seen Texas shine bright in a few key areas – a more stable economy compared to other states, state tax policies aiding in growth of business and the mastery of project-based learning (PBL) while other areas are just warming up to the concept. The state has now gone a step further to set up the public-private initiative of Communities Foundation of Texas, which is better known as "Educate Texas."
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Changing school culture 1 step at a time
Steve Wehrle EducationOften physical education teachers feel there is a great number of difficulties and obstacles that can get in the way of creating a quality physical education program. These obstacles include physical education time being cut for standardized test subjects, overcrowding of classrooms, and sometimes even the general impression that physical education is not valued. This culture is present in many schools across the country, but it doesn’t mean that it cannot change — one small step at a time.
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ELL reading development: Modified guided reading, interventions, support
Beth Crumpler EducationGuided reading is an instructional method that allows students to learn how to read and comprehend text. As students progress in their reading abilities and understanding, the difficulty of the text is increased. Teachers determine student reading levels by administering benchmark assessments, or developmental reading assessments (DRAs).
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Leaving a leadership legacy
Andy Curtis EducationFor those of us in TESOL, one of Nelson Mandela’s most relevant (and most famous) quotes is: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." More specifically, in relation to first and second languages, he said that: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
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Bill for mandatory cameras in Texas special education classes still stuck
Bambi Majumdar EducationIn recent years there have been numerous disturbing incidents that have made both authorities and parents concerned about student safety on campus. Measures are being taken around the country to secure premises better. At the same time, there has risen a need to protect children from dangers within the campus as well, especially special needs children who cannot verbalize their trauma. Texas has paved the way for an unprecedented action — protecting differently-abled children and aiding in their development by making cameras mandatory in special education classes. The bill, S.B. 1380, easily passed in the state Senate, but has been stuck in a legislative black hole since then. And it's unclear when it will resurface.
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Compliance or engagement: When are students truly engaged in class?
Erick Herrmann EducationConsider a time that you felt you were extremely engaged in the task at hand. Were all of your thoughts, attention and actions focused on the task at hand? Did your thoughts or attention wander at any time? Did upcoming tasks, events or past events from the day pop into your mind at some point? Did you still consider yourself engaged in the task, or did you feel that those moment took you off-task? In the classroom, the importance of student engagement is paramount. If students are not engaged in the tasks at hand, they are not likely learning what we are teaching and what we expect them to learn and be able to do.
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Uses for GIS mapping technology in fields of ESL
Beth Crumpler EducationGeographic information system (GIS) mapping technology is not the same as GPS mapping. GIS relies on computerized hardware and software to add data to maps, while GPS is a location device that relies on satellites. GIS helps answer information about the world around you. The Geographic Information Systems Collaboratory at DePaul University and the Chicago Federation of Labor Workers Assistance Committee have created an example of using GIS to for data analysis purposes in the field of ESL.
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