ThinkEdu Blog

Thinking, Learning, Teaching by @vanweringh

Month: November 2012

bookmark_borderMaking change happen, workshop with Michael Fullan.

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Today I attended a full day workshop with Michael Fullan, expert on Change Leadership in education. We were provided with an informative booklet full of articles and ideas. There was in fact so much information that I reached saturation point at the end of the day. Below are some of my thoughts and pick-ups.

What works (in Change Leadership):

  • Focus
  • Capacity building
  • Consistency of practice
  • Learning from each other
  • Leadership that obsesses with points 1 – 4.

Teaching like a pro means:

bookmark_borderHistedchat on Ancient History (28/11/12)

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Histedchat, 28/11/12. Topic: Ancient History

Here are all the tweets with links from tonight’s #histedchat:

bookmark_borderConcept based learning in History

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Tonight’s #histedchat gave me lots of food for thought. The topic was “Context vs Concepts in History Teaching”. Concept based learning is something I am really interested in. I think it’s easy to say that it is important and ‘the way to go’ (of course it is!), but in my daily practice as a teacher, I am always wondering how I can better incorporate conceptual learning. This #histedchat gave me more food for thought.

Here is the Storify

Some things I found:

Here are the concepts from the Australian National Curriculum for History:

Historical knowledge and understanding
Historical knowledge and understanding requires mastery of the procedures, tools and methods of thinking that constitute the discipline of history. Continue reading “Concept based learning in History”

bookmark_borderUsing Tech in History Teaching

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Inspired by SAMR, getting ready for #histedchat and driven by the need to create work for my class due to my absence for an MYP planning meeting, I have created a Cold War task that relies heavily on the use technology.

It’s almost the end of the year in VCE Unit 2 20th Century History and that means that we are approaching the collapse of communism.
I could always put on a PPT but that is boring, teacher centric and it doesn’t necessarily teach them anything. I also need the kids to be doing the work because I will be absent.

So here is the task I designed: Continue reading “Using Tech in History Teaching”

bookmark_borderSAMR: What would ‘IT’ look like in my classroom?

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Integrating Technology in a meaningful way is a challenge for teachers. IT is often used as a simple a substitution for the old notebook or a white board marker.  What I like about Ruben Puentedura’s ‘SAMR’ model, is that he shows us what sophisticated and meaningful IT-use looks like.

What is SAMR?

SAMR stands for Substitute, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition and it is a model for enhancing technology integration. It helps teachers to move from a simple task where IT might replace note-taking to a sophisticated task that incorporates all elements of IT to create a new, redefined task which was impossible to imagine 10 years ago. Continue reading “SAMR: What would ‘IT’ look like in my classroom?”

bookmark_borderImplementing MYP

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Aah, such a simple title, yet those two words contain a whole universe of possibility, challenge, frustration and ultimately, improvement.

First off, a definition: MYP = the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. It fits in between the PYP (Primary Years Programme) and the DP (Diploma Programme). The MYP is for Middle School students, it’s a framework, not a prescribed curriculum. It focuses on developing the whole student, it emphasises concept based learning, inquiry based learning and cross disciplinary skills and thinking. For more general info on the IB and MYP, please go here:

http://www.ibo.org/myp/

I have been to an MYP Humanities and an IB DP History Workshop. I have been to more meetings I can shake a stick at. My copy of the Humanities Subject guide is thumbed and full of post-it notes, scribbles and highlighted sections. Slowly I am wrapping my head around Concepts, Key Concepts, Approaches to learning and Concept based learning.

Thanks to my Twitter network, I feel part of a wider group of MYP educators; check out #MYP and #IBmyp. There is a fabulous #MYPchat on Twitter, moderated by Stephen Taylor (@iBiologyStephen).

The monthly topics so far have been: Continue reading “Implementing MYP”

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