Collaborative Learning and Teaching
November 16, 2017, Issue 5
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
"Learning experiences range from engaging to passive. Too often engagement is mistaken for active participation and/or time on task. If we think of engagement instead as the act of being interconnected or 'locked in' we get a better picture of what engagement really means. We want our learners to be interconnected with our content. For engagement to be most effective, it is: cognitive, physical, and emotional."
Food for Thought: "How can students be engaged meaningfully and effectively beyond active participation and time-on-task?" - Spence Rogers
Tip of the Week
Classroom Ideas - Goal of the Lesson - Objectives
"Provide your students with information about the goal of the lesson. This clearly lets the students know what they are going to learn. The statement can be fairly short: 'Today you are going to learn how to write the lower-case r.' Or it can be a little longer and bring in related skills recently learned: 'We have been working on writing complete sentences. Today you are going to learn how to write a paragraph. A paragraph is a group or related sentences.'
These statements make explicit what the lesson is going to cover and help students (as well as you, the teacher) focus on the upcoming content." - Archer
Research says that learning goals/objectives should be specific but not restrictive, communicated to the students both in written and oral form, and connect the learning to previous and future learning. Things to consider about learning objectives: Do I consistently post the learning objective? Do I consistently talk about the learning objective with my students? Do I consistently reference the objective throughout my lesson?
Impactful Professional Development Project
Prizes for levels of participation will be rewarded.
Please let me know if you are interested in participating. When we come back from the Thanksgiving Holidays curious and interested teachers will have an initial meeting.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
November 17, 2017 - End of the 3rd weeks
November 23, 2017 - THANKSGIVING
November 28, 2017 - Grades Updated
November 30, 2017 - Progress Reports Go Home
December 1, 2017 - 10:30 RELEASE, Junior High UIL Meet
December 4-8, 2017 - EOC Retakes, Book Fair
December 15, 2017 - End of the 6th weeks
December 19, 2017 - Grades Updated
December 21, 2017 - EARLY RELEASE, Progress Reports Go Home
December 22-January 7 - HOLIDAYS