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bookmark_borderNotes from an MYP Humanities Workshop

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I attended a three day MYP Humanities (Category 2) workshop in Melbourne, 24 – 26 Sept 2012. Below are my personal notes. I am sure there are many more elements that I missed or should have written down, but these are just my take-aways. As usual, I met some wonderful people. Special thanks to Jessica, Lana and Alexia; my ‘table mates’, such a privilege to work with them.

Monday 24th of September 2012
Day 1

Session 1

New Criterion: difference between KNOWLEDGE and Knowing and Understanding.
Going from a noun to a verb. Continue reading “Notes from an MYP Humanities Workshop”

bookmark_borderIB History Category 2 Workshop, Auckland, July 2012. My personal notes.

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Table of contents:
Day 1 | Paper 1 | Extended Essay | Day 2 | Paper 2 | TOK | IA / HI | Day 3 | Paper 3

Day 1

09/07/2012 (My Personal Notes)

IB History workshop, Category 2, July 2012. Auckland.
Key issues we’ll discuss during this workshop:
Marking, exchange ideas, using criteria, IA

  • Don’t count too much on the doubling up in P1, P2 and P3, you need to really have a spread of topics so that students are covered for everything. You may get a false sense of confidence if you rely on doubling up too much. G2 form allows you to give that sort of feedback to IBO.
  • It seems to be getting harder to get a 7 in History, this is a real issue for teachers and students who may both lose confidence. 68% as a grade boundary. No essay seems to be getting more that 16 marks.
  • Internal Assessment: Make the question evaluative, to what extent.
  • History is no a one answer subject, ever changing perspectives, continual developments, historiography. Global World.

After tea break session:

  • Teacher should aim to deliver a holistic education, include TOK. What is History? Create different perspectives (Note: Any examples?) i.e. Moroccan Crisis radio program seen from different countries’ perspectives. Or use the Japanese History book, look at how they interpret History (Get that PDF from Beate?).
  • Look at leaders through the Learner Profile. (i.e. Was Napoleon a risk taker?)
  • How does it fit with TOK?
  • Students should take ownership of own learning.
  • There is just written assessment, why? Oral would be good too.
  • Values in teaching: Inquiry, Cooperation, International Mindedness,
  • Suggestion: Speak and Response cards. I did a quick search: http://www.ehow.com/info_7933461_effects-response-cards-classroom.html seems interesting, must look more in to it.

Continue reading “IB History Category 2 Workshop, Auckland, July 2012. My personal notes.”

bookmark_borderFirst World War.com – Feature Articles – If Germany Had Won World War 1…

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Full article here: First World War.com – Feature Articles – If Germany Had Won World War 1…

What a great and thought provoking read. This article, written by John D. Riley, presents an alternative view of history. What would have happened, if Germany had won WW1? Below are my highlights from the article:

  • In a way, this is a more interesting hypothesis than the more commonly asked  question about what the world would be like if the Germans had won World War II.
  • As a preliminary matter, we should note that the actual outcome of the First  World War was a near thing, a far nearer thing than was the outcome of World War  II after 1941.
  • Germany had knocked Russia out of the war
  • General Luddendorf panicked and demanded that the government seek an  armistice.
  • While the Germans were not militarily defeated, or even economically desperate,  the government and general public saw no prospect of winning.  Presented  with the possibility of negotiating a settlement, their willingness to continue  the conflict simply dissolved.
  • The Germans were defeated by exhaustion.  This could as easily have  happened to the Allies.  Continue reading “First World War.com – Feature Articles – If Germany Had Won World War 1…”

bookmark_borderPedagogy Science | Pedagogical Reflections

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  • Summary below. See the full blog post here: Pedagogy Science | Pedagogical Reflections

    • Teachers and educational organisations need to ensure that the pedagogy which we  employ and condone is grounded in evidence-based research.
    • Pedagogy needs to become more scientific
    • Teachers Make a Difference: What is the research  evidence? by John Hattie (2003)
    • Hattie looks to ‘highlight that which truly makes a difference’ and identifies  particular practices which – backed by extensive research – are most likely to  enhance student learning. His first point, however, establishes the role of  teachers as a key source (30%) of variance in student achievement – second only  to the student themselves (50%). This means that, according to Hattie, the home,  school, principal and peers make very little difference to student achievement.

    • Hattie then goes onto list the influences in order of effect on student  achievement: Continue reading “Pedagogy Science | Pedagogical Reflections”

bookmark_border#Abundance; some videos about an optimistic future

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It’s always hard to mark up your mind about the way the world is heading. I am generally quite optimisc, believing in Ester Boserup’s population theories and “necessity is the mother of invention”. With my Year 10 students, we do an opinion line where they place themselves according to the “Boomster vs Doomster” opinion line. The Boomster side is Ester Boserup and Julian Boserup, the Doomster side are the Malthusians and the Neo-Matlhusians. When I do that activity in class, most students cluster towards the middle / optimistic side, while there are always some who choose one of the opposite ends; and are able to defend their position very strongly.

Next time I do this in class, I plan to show them two videos from TED2012. This came from a post by @BiologyStephen on http://i-biology.net/2012/03/02/so-is-the-earth-full-or-is-abundance-our-future-ted2012/

Here are the two videos: Continue reading “#Abundance; some videos about an optimistic future”

bookmark_borderBusy Stanley and Livingston in the Internet Jungle

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Cliches: Time flies. Have been so busy the last month. No time to reflect or to blog.

Stanley explorer

Such a shame really, isn’t it? It’s boring to be busy. Everyone is busy. We only have 24 hours a day at our disposal. The priorities you have, the choices you make about what you do with your precious time, that is what makes us who we are. It makes us the teachers we are.

So with a mere 24 hours at my disposal, I choose to spend some of that time online, on Twitter. What is it that attracts me to it? It’s the social element, and the excitement of discovering interesting links and new ideas. To me the internet is like an amazing jungle of ideas and information, and I feel like Stanley and Livingstone, especially when I stumble upon a new concept or a new way of doing things. So I love it…. but what about other teachers? So many of the people around me do not see the point of it at all. Am I such a nerd?

It comes back to being busy. When you’re busy, you stick to what you know, because it’s quick.

I imagine the many teachers walking along the wide, well-travelled roads that criss cross the Internet jungle, missing interesting little paths that lead to new and better destinations and ideas.  It’s understandable, because wide well travelled roads are quick, comfortable and save time. But those people miss out; there is so much beyond the obvious and the well known.

So, I hope that people will channel Stanley and Livingstone, and try some new ways to explore the online jungle. And as for you, busy reader…. well done on finishing this post and getting to the end. Now, off to the jungle…

 

bookmark_borderGoogle+ and Facebook, an analogy

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I heard a good analogy, but I can’t remember where. I think it was in a podcast.

The presenter said that Google+ is like the BlueRay discs and Facebook is like the good old DVDs that every one has. BlueRay discs were/are touted as the next big thing, better quality, better storage, better everything, just like Google+. But in spite of BlueRay possibly being better, everyone sticks with their old DVDs. They are cheap, good, plentiful and easy. Same with Facebook. Everyone is on it, we know it, it’s easy. Google+ may be better, but why change? Many of us are already suffering from information overload, you’d need a really good reason to add / replace an online social network.

bookmark_borderUsing Google Docs Forms to make report writing just a little easier…

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My school has changed its report writing structure, so we now write our reports earlier inreport the year. This year I have streamlined my report writing by using Google Docs forms in a more efficient manner.

(Updated and extended PD version of this post here: http://thinkedu.net/blog/web2/reports/)

All students complete a Google Docs survey before I write the reports. The survey contains questions which relate to the subject, their performance and their experiences of the subject. Here are two examples: Continue reading “Using Google Docs Forms to make report writing just a little easier…”

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