My posts for this week:
I read the
Brain Rules book a few months ago and have so many of the pages dog-eared. It's definitely worth a read. The videos very briefly illustrate
some of the main points of the book; however, if you're looking for a summer
read, I definitely recommend the book because of all the anecdotes about people
who have had brain injuries or who have brain anomalies - such as the guy who
played something like 50 games of chess at once -- blindfolded -- and won all
but one or two matches!
Anyway, the
videos are interesting, too. These are the three that I watched with the
important point(s) and implications for us as teachers:
Basically, we
need two-hour intervals of repetition of new information. Therefore, when
students are given homework, two hours have passed from the time of learning,
so the homework in not really a review - students are having to learn the
content again. The brain can hold 7 pieces of factual information for about 30
seconds (that's why phone numbers are only 7 numbers - I learned this not from
the book/videos, but this video confirms it). If the new information is
not repeated, it will disappear. If the information is repeated within 30
seconds, the brain will keep the information for 1 - 2 hours. If the
information is not repeated again, it will go away permanently.
Lesson for us: Repeat soon, repeat
often.
2. Vision trumps all other senses.
The video provides some information about an experiment detailed
in the book in which wine tasting experts were given white wine dyed red and
were fooled. The point is that vision is very powerful. The brain
sees letters in words as tiny pictures, so that transference is cumbersome, but
humans are great at remembering visuals. I don't know if any of you have
ever heard of the Learning Pyramid (see online), but the information in the video -- that when we hear
something, three days later we remember 10% whereas if a picture is added, we
remember 65% -- reminded me of it. Our sense of vision is so strong
because we have relied on it to survive and thrive.
Lesson for us: Use visuals - fewer words
on teaching materials (PowerPoint, for example) and let the images help us
teach better and help students remember better and more.
3. Schema.
For sure we all
learned about this in our teacher training: activate schemata. The
video demonstrates how understanding and thus memory can be impeded without
activating schema. As the video shows (you have to see it to understand
the demo), a simple introduction such as "This is all about X" before
a talk / lecture / lesson can really boost comprehension. Prior knowledge
has a strong effect ("can disturbingly shape") on memory and
retention. If schema is triggered near the moment of learning, that learning
has a greater tendancy to be more permanent.
Lesson for us: Plan activities that will
tap into what students already know before presenting new content; connect
lesson content to previously-taught/learned content. Activate schema!
To conclude this post, watch these videos if you can't buy the book! Great tips! One that is in the book that I plan to try this summer is with the sense of smell. You know how when we experience a certain aroma, it can take us back in time to a specific memory? The book suggests spraying a scent in your classroom on the day when you are going to teach a really challenging topic. Then, when reviewing and on "test" day, spray the same scent and see what happens. The author of the book, John Medina, said he tried it with Brut, the men's cologne. I'm going to try it with some Glade vanilla... Anything to help students succeed! :)
I have used some of these sites before, so I’ll concentrate on
those that are new to me or that I have only had limited experience with.
1. ClassTools.net
I have presented on/written about (for OTAN) and used just a
couple of the many cool tools on ClassTools: QR
Treasure Hunt Generator, The Random Name Pickers http://www.classtools.net/random-name-picker/ andhttp://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine and the countdown timer tools http://www.classtools.net/timer/ and http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/timer.
However, these are mostly for on-ground F2F classes, so I decided
to try a relatively new tool on the site, the Fake Facebook page, Fakebook. There’s a video tutorial online and help sheet, a lesson plan idea. Basically, the template allows users to create online profiles,
like Facebook.
Fakebook could be used for many
different types of activities / assignments:
·
Biography of a historical figure, celebrity, politician, athlete,
etc.
·
Autobiography or interview a classmate and create a page for
his/her biography
·
A profile for a book character or figure from classroom readings
·
Your profile 10 years from now (Me in the Future)
The
site has a save/edit function, so that you can return to your fake profile
later and continue to work on it (you enter in a password when you save, and
the site gives you a special URL where the profile is located).
Example George Washington Fakebook from
the Gallery
Fakebook is just one of many fun tools with on the site.
Definitely check it out!
2. Flubaroo
I am very excited to use Flubaroo because,
as I’ve mentioned, I love all that is connected with Google. I attended a
Webinar a couple of months ago, in which this Google Doc Flubaroo How-to was shared.
The quizzes you can create with Flubaroo look clean / un-cluttered
with easy navigation for students – basically just like a Google Form.
The video demo on the site is helpful. I plan to use Flubaroo as an activity in
my final project for this course and will give you more information on ease of
use, etc., at that point.
3. Edueto
Finally, I just signed up for an account with Edueto, a resource for
making online quizzes. It seems awesome!
There are several types of exercises you can create:
multiple-choice quizzes, gap-fills (cloze), matching, writing/essay questions,
sorting, picture tagging, and sequences. You can insert YouTube video and
upload files. Students can be grouped into classes, and you can view students’
results.
It reminds me a bit of Polldaddy but it’s more versatile and has more
features. It’s also similar to Classmarker, which
has most of the same features for free but with all features unlocked with a
paid subscription.
I don’t know
that I’d use Edueto much, though, because my CMS links quiz results with its
built-in gradebook.
Resources
Assessment
1. goo.gl/e94Xl
(Student Involved Assessment)
2. goo.gl/H7yud
(Collaborative Assessment)
3. http://goo.gl/rK3sw
(Using Games for Assessment)
4. goo.gl/mAEbn
(Using Rubrics for Assessment)
5. www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Papers.html
Does Assessment Hinder Learning?
Learning
1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=193&v=MFzDaBzBlL0
(What does riding a bicycle backwards have to do with learning?)
2. http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-‐1/esl.html
Very
basic information on
Assessment
Brain Research
1.
Six
Tips Brain Based Learning Guide
http://www.edutopia.
http://brainrules.net/brain-‐rules-‐
videoorg/pdfs/guides/edutopia-‐6-‐tips-‐brain-‐based-‐learning-‐guide-‐print.pdf
2.
Brain
Rules Videos
http://brainrules.net/brain-‐rules-‐video
Tools
Quizlet (https://quizlet.com),(flashcard making program which includes
games)
Kahoot-(requires a mobile device) to make
games: http://getkahoot.com----- to play games, students go to (http://kahoot.it) Be sure to check out the public kahoots.
Socrative: http://socrative.com--Socrative (http://www.socrative.com) is an assessment tool that is free for
educators. I love using it because students can put the app on their phone and
it becomes an Instant Student Assessment system. There are no ads and it is
easy to use. Be sure to check out the Socrative Garden at http://garden.socrative.com/
Eduet: https://www.edueto.com-----Open education resource that allows you to
create all types of different activities
Polleverywhere: http://polleverywhere.com
(interactive pollmaker)
Flubaroo: http://www.flubaroo.com/ Create quizzes from Google Forms
Polldaddy: http://polldaddy.com (similar to polleverywhere)
Classtools.net: http://classtools.net (many many different tools for making quizzes, timers,
etc--It is easy to spend the rest of your life here there are so many tools.
Pick one only due to time.)
Rubrics located at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/ I
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