Monday, February 27, 2017

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 02/28/2017

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 02/15/2017

  • tags: critical thinking media literacy

    • When politicians and thought leaders can’t or won’t agree on a basic set of facts, how can we motivate students for the noble pursuit of truth and help them see why it still matters?
    • An unavoidable challenge arises when students realize that no matter how many facts support a certain conclusion, denial and dissent remain.
    • “You have to trust [that] the best information, the truth, will always prevail,” he said, though “that’s tough when you face a crowd of people screaming at you on Twitter in probably not the nicest way.”
    • history tends to prove his assertion right.
    • “I think we are losing the graces of dialogue and respect, and the ability of at least listening to one another a little bit,” he said, reminding me that truth affects people differently. It would be hard to dispute that coal contributes to global warming, for example, but it’s also true that efforts to stop its production place jobs in jeopardy.
    • discuss the truth and its ramifications from multiple angles
    • students should read broadly from individuals across the political spectrum. “Then, it’s important that they have a chance to test those opinions, and their ability to express them in discussions—both with their peers and with knowledgeable others,”
  • tags: empathy character character education

    • Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
    • In psychology, there are currently two common approaches to empathy: shared emotional response and perspective taking.
    • Shared emotional response, or affective empathy, occurs when an individual shares another person’s emotions.
    • Perspective taking, also known as cognitive empathy, occurs when a person is able to imagine herself in the situation of another.
    • Teachers can be role models who, by example, show students the power of empathy in relationships.
    • Ask students to break into small groups and discuss how important it is to understand that many people disagree with us simply because they have a different point of view. Debrief the student comments.

       

    • In the classroom, literature can be used to help students see a situation from different perspectives.
    • We designed the HEAR strategy to help students recognize and block out that noise as they devote their attention to listening to one another. The HEAR strategy consists of these steps:

       

      Halt: Stop whatever else you are doing, end your internal dialogue on other thoughts, and free your mind to give the speaker your attention.

       

      Engage: Focus on the speaker

    • Anticipate: By looking forward to what the speaker has to say, you are acknowledging that you will likely learn something new and interesting,
    • Replay: Think about what the speaker is saying. Analyze and paraphrase it in your mind or in discussion with the speaker and other classmates.
    • Be aware of your feelings and thoughts about your ability to understand and share in the feelings of others. With metacognitive awareness, we can all become more effective at taking another’s perspective throughout our lives.

       

  • This resource contains mainly forms related to service learning.

    tags: service learning community service

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 02/14/2017

    • They are not interested in outcomes and results. They don’t work at something to improve themselves or come to a conclusion. Play is the essential work of a preschooler, and this is how they mature.
    • the preschooler has only three true needs: play, rest and tears.
    • drop the idea that rewards and logical consequences will have a real effect on a preschooler.
    • The problem with these choices is that the logic is trying to appeal to a part of the brain that is simply undeveloped.
    • So stop expecting him to care, and stop using logic to combat emotion. If you do these two things, you are already going to be on your way to a better morning.
    • A strong routine is key. Great teachers use very specific steps in a routine, inject fun (in the form of music, clapping or dancing) and lovingly keep everything moving forward.
    • Great teachers don’t offer choices when transitioning to another activity.
    • Great teachers make room for the tears that come when children don’t get their way.
    • Don’t lecture your son about clothes and food and teeth and hair. If he won’t get dressed, scoop him and the clothes up and dress him downstairs or in the car — not to humiliate him, but to move the moment along. If he is pushing the food around, grab two waffles, put them in a paper towel, smile and say: “Eating breakfast in the car is fun. Let’s go!”
    • Finally, no matter how much you lost your patience in the morning, no matter how angry you became, no matter how big his tantrum was, make your separation peaceful and full of warmth. Hug him, smile and say: “We made it! I love you, and I am not angry.”
    • Finally, I am not above a small treat here and there.
    • Dr. Brown says empathy consists of four qualities: the ability to take the perspective of another person, staying away from judgment, recognizing emotion in others, and communicating it. She defines empathy as “feeling with people,” and notes that it’s a “vulnerable choice” because it requires a person to tap into something personal that identifies with the struggle of another.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 02/11/2017

    • Studies show that kind people are not only happier, they are healthier.
    • Kindness is like a muscle. For some it may be naturally stronger, but every person can build that muscle with practice. And practicing kindness can be simple if we built it into our routine.
    • The simple fact is, no matter what the politicians are doing, there are basic values and ways of interacting with each other that we want our children to demonstrate. We can remind children what our standards are for acting with good character traits, without discussing the presidential candidates. No matter their political views, or the behaviors the candidates are demonstrating, children need to act in a way that they have learned is morally right.
    • “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Compassion is a muscle. It’s flexible when used. Employing it we enter wider circles.
    • Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries, as the Dalai Lama has often said. Our survival both as individuals and communities will now depend on understanding this.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 02/09/2017

  • Tips for managing the barrage of email.

    tags: email time management

    • check email only at set points during the day.
    • reserve time to read and respond to email after a long period of focused work, or at the time of day when your energy and creativity are at their lowest (this means that you can do higher value work at other times).
    • if the email will take less than two minutes to read and reply to, then take care of it right now, even if it's not a high priority.
    • For emails that will take longer than two minutes to read or respond to, schedule time on your calendar, or add this as an action on your To-Do List , to do later. Most email programs allow you to highlight, flag, or star messages that need a response, so utilize this handy feature whenever you can.
    • Gmail, allow you to establish "Rules" that sort email into a particular folder as soon as it comes in.
    • If you regularly receive email such as newsletters, blogs and article feeds, you could re-route these to another email address, or use rules, so that they're instantly delivered to a particular folder.
    • For instance, if certain team members regularly send you long, drawn-out emails, let them know. Tell them gently but firmly that because of the demand on your time, you'd appreciate emails no longer than a paragraph or two. Anything longer than that should warrant a phone call. Alternatively, they could drop by your office for a discussion.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.