Author Archive

STEM by Design: Strategies and Activities for Grades 4-8 by Anne Jolly

Monday, September 19th, 2016

1. What Is STEM?

STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that removes the traditional barriers separating the four disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and integrates them into real-world, rigorous, and relevant learning experiences for students. (See this short animation for a visual definition.) There is more of a focus on working in teams, and the problems do not have a single right answer. This is an emerging national trend and is noted for taking many teachers outside of their comfort zones. The purpose of this book is to give you a teaching toolkit filled with new ideas and know-how to help you start exploring and implementing STEM education.

As failure is a normal part of the engineering process, it is also a part of STEM education. The students need to know that failure is expected and that the classroom is risk-free. Teachers facilitate rather than tell as students follow an engineering design process. Students connect and apply science principles and use math and technology as tools to solve an engineering problem. Rather than conduct an experiment to test a scientific hypothesis, students engineer a solution for a real-world problem. The steps are: 1. Define the problem, 2. Research, 3. Imagine, 4. Plan, 5. Create, 6. Test and Evaluate, 7. Redesign (iterate), and 8. Communicate.

Consider adding some of these reference books to your school’s professional development library.

2. Why Teach STEM?

STEM literacy can have a positive personal impact on the lives or our students. It can also impact our country and society in general. Businesses are asking for employees with in-depth mastery of STEM skills. Anne lists seven compelling reasons. 1. Help student develop deeper understanding of science and math concepts. 2. Promote innovative critical thinkers, which can allow creativity to flourish. 3. Students learn who to approach and solve problems. 4. They develop a sense of ethics and social conscience. 5. Students develop collaboration skills. 6. Technological literacy increases. 7. Students understand the connection between STEM education and future careers.

3, STEM Variations

In addition to a fully integrated program that uses the engineering design process and integrates the other subjects, there are many variations that you may run in to. A common one stresses the subjects individually and may add engineering and coding courses to the standard science and math offerings. Some add a maker component to the school’s offerings. Others add the arts and call it STEAM. Anne suggests that art courses stay in play so that students will have artistic skills to use as they design projects.

Share this:

Posted in Book Summaries, Education Books, Leadership Books | Comments Off on STEM by Design: Strategies and Activities for Grades 4-8 by Anne Jolly

Mindset by Carol Dweck – Revised Summary
Saturday, September 10th, 2016

Back by popular demand is a revised summary of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. will help you learn how a simple belief about yourself guides a large part of your life. It is vital that all teachers and parents read this book.

Carol S. Dwech PhD

Carol is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Her research has focused on why people succeed and how to foster success. She has held professorships at Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured all over the world and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development was named Book of the Year by the World Education Federation. Her work has been featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on Today and 20/20.

Estimating Your Own Ability

Studies show that people with growth mindsets tend to be accurate in assessing their own abilities, even if it is unflattering. If you are oriented toward learning, you need accurate information about your current abilities in order to learn effectively. Howard Gardner is quoted as saying that exceptional people have “a special talent for identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.” They also have a special talent for converting life’s setbacks into future successes. Creativity research sees this as the number one ingredient in creative achievement. Dweck’s key message is that you can change your mindset as they are just beliefs.

Mindsets and Personality

Beyond intelligence, fixed and growth mindsets impact your personality. People with fixed mindsets believe that they are what they are and cannot change. They want to be praised and not challenged. Those with growth mindsets want to get better and are accepting of people who point our their shortcomings. Marriages between different mindsets can fall apart as a result. Top performers in sports are those who constantly push themselves to be better. If you get a thrill from what’s easy, you may have a fixed mindset. If you enjoy what is difficult, you may have a growth mindset. You think that becoming is better than being.

What Do the Experts Know?

If you have a fixed mindset, you think that tests and experts can somehow tell you what your potential is. Many accomplished people were thought to have little potential. Dweck lists Jackson Pollock, Marcel Proust, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, and Charles Darwin as examples. Look for students who are energized by criticism. (Doug: My daughter studied fine arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Every day she had to endure criticism of her work. As a result, she got better and better. After graduating in 2006 she immediately got work in the competitive art industry in New York City and has worked ever since.)

Share this:

Tags: Carol Dweck, Mindset
Posted in Book Summaries, Education Books, Leadership Books | Comments Off on Mindset by Carol Dweck – Revised Summary

The Myths of Standardized Testing – Short Summary
Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

I’m still on the road, so today you get a shortened summary of The Myths of Standardized Tests: Why They Don’t Tell You What You Think They Do by Phillip Harris, Bruce M. Smith, and Joan Harris. If you agree with me that the current state tests imposed by the federal government are harmful to students and teachers, you will find ammunition here to help me fight this battle. If you want the longer summary, click here.

Scores Correlate With Wealth

The tests rely on items closely linked to socioeconomic status and inherited aptitudes to spread out the scores. As such they tend to measure what students bring to school, rather than what they are taught once they get there.

Just Pass or Just Fail?

Any student can go from proficient on one version to needing remediation on another. Items are chosen to spread out the scores of the test takers. Time limits spread out scores even more. As students can only sit and focus for so long, the tests can only deal with a small fraction of the domain. Some topics have to be skipped. Timed tests also produce test anxiety.

Who Wants to be Judged by a Snapshot?

Tests depend on the idea that a small portion of a student’s behavior fairly represents the whole range of possible behavior. To draw valid inferences from a test, it must cover more than a small part of the content domain.

What They Don’t Measure

They don’t measure goals schools pursue like creativity, critical thinking, motivation, persistence, empathy, leadership, courage, compassion, honesty, and curiosity. Students with high scores may be shallow thinkers. Important items that all students should know are left out at the expense of items that half of the students will miss. There are too many standards to use criterion-referenced tests.

Fuzzy Math

Test scores are not clean, crisp numbers but fuzzy ranges that extend above and below the score, and 5% of the time the true score isn’t even in the fuzzy range

Are They Really Objective?

A look at how the tests are made reveals a good deal of subjective human judgement from the people who write, edit, and assemble the test items. Setting the standards also requires judgement that occurs in a political and social context. Achievement levels are, first and foremost, policy statements.

Carrots and Sticks by Mostly Sticks

There is excessive reliance on rewards and punishments. Research shows how rewards dampen interest in, and enthusiasm for, the activity that is rewarded.

Teachers Cheat

“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures, and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor.

The Narrowing Effect

High-stakes tests have narrowed and dumbed down curricula and eliminated time spent on untested subjects by about a third, including recess. Tests also drive instruction towards items with one clear, right answer at the expense of open-ended problem solving.

True Predictors

Nonacademic accomplishments are better predictors for future accomplishments than grades or test scores. Grades are much better predictors than tests since they often consider more qualities than test scores. The best predictors of future accomplishment are similar accomplishments.

The Back of the Bus

We expect everyone to learn the same things, to the same level, at the same time? What is the point when everyone is unique? Our obsessive focus on academic achievement measured by tests has pushed other goals to the back of the bus.

Share this:

Posted in Book Summaries, Education Books | Comments Off on The Myths of Standardized Testing – Short Summary

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson
Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson, PhD (©2009, Penguin Books: New York, NY) deals with the point where natural talent meets personal passion. Ken explores the conditions that lead us to live lives filled with passion, confidence, and personal achievement. The stories about people from a wide variety of fields entertain and inspire. The book is a classic. If it’s not on your shelf, click the icon below to get your copy. If you read it a while ago, my summary will be a good review. Also check out Sir Ken’s TED Talks.

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to governments, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to education. Originally from a working-class Liverpool family, Robinson now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Marie-Therese and children James and Kate.

Introduction

We are all born with tremendous natural capacities, and we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world. Ironically, one of the main reasons is education itself. Young children are confident in their own imagination and usually see themselves as being creative when they start school. By the time they finish formal education, most don’t feel that way. Ken uses the stories of people who did find their Element and offers them to help us all do the same. Most of the stories were gathered via direct interviews that often feature twists, turns, and surprises.

Who’s Stories?

Here are some of the people who’s unlikely stories help make this book so special: Matt Groening – Simpsons creator, Gillian Lynne – dancer and founder of company that did Cats and Phantom of the Opera, Paul Samuelson – economist and author, Paul McCartney – Beatle, John Cleese – Monty Python member, Mick Fleetwood – drummer Fleetwood Mac, Bart Conner – Gold Medal Gymnast, Gordon Parks – Founder of Essence Magazine, Buckminster Fuller – architect, Ewa Laurance – woman’s world billiards champion, Aaron Sorken – award winning writer for stage, movies, and television, Meg Ryan – Actress, Arianna Huffington – creator of The Huffington Post, and Richard Branson – Entrepreneur.

Share this:

Tags: Ken Robinson, The Element
Posted in Book Summaries, Education Books, Leadership Books, What can Dr. Doug do for you? | Comments Off on The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson

How to Be Connected With Your Students by Christine Allen
Saturday, August 20th, 2016

How to Be Connected With Your Students by Christine Allen will help all teachers strengthen the relationships with students that are vital to their success.

Introduction

Some of us were lucky to meet teachers who managed to build a strong connection with them. Those who did meet them, know that teaching doesn’t have to be all about giving tests and lecturing. Teachers who manage to build a connection with their students, are able to inspire, to motivate, and to help them. And that’s an amazing thing.
It is important for a good teacher to become connected with their students. This is probably the easiest and pleasant way to shape young peoples’ minds and to help them change their lives. For some students, school is a place that allows them to escape their unpleasant lives at home and to believe that things can get better. A good teacher can support them in that effort.

Moreover, if you know more about your students, you can understand why some of them fall behind in the class, why some of them don’t have time to do their homework, among other things. It is very important for the teacher to see the whole situation before starting to judge their students. However, despite the fact that many teachers understand the importance of building a connection with their students, only some of them actually know how to create and support this connection. This is easier than it seems. All you need is to follow a few simple tips.

1. Take time to talk with your students

Even if you spend five minutes of your class talking with students, this can still work wonders. Ask them about their interests, hobbies, discuss new music hits or TV shows, and talk with them about their day and their plans for the future. The only important thing here is to be really interested in what they are saying. This way they’ll slowly learn to trust you. If you think that some of your students have problems, try talking with them in private. However, it’s important not to rush this conversation. Start only when you are sure that your students trust you enough to share private things.

2. Start class discussions

Most of the information in class comes from teacher. It can, however, be changed from time to time. A class discussion will allow students to communicate both with a teacher and with each other, to speak in front of an audience to express their points of view and to support them with arguments, to be the center of attention, and to learn more about their fellow classmates. You can discuss possible topics of such discussions with students. This way they’ll talk about things that interest them and you will learn more about them.

3. Go to see the events your students participate in.

Not every teacher has enough time and desire to pay attention to what their students are doing after classes. However, it’s one of the best ways to build a connection with them. If they like you, they will be happy to see you and to receive your support. Moreover, this way you will show them that you are really interested in them and in things they do. This way you may also be able to meet (or at least see) their families, to talk to them and to learn more about them. Parents too will see that you care about their children. This usually encourages them to communicate and to cooperate with teachers more. Even if you are very busy, you can add some events to your schedule from time to time. Just be sure to plan them as early as possible so you won’t miss them.

4. Show students that you are available.

This doesn’t mean that you have to stay after school talking with your students. These measures are required only in emergency situations. You can still show them that you are available during your working hours. Encourage them to come to you if they need something or just want to spend their break somewhere where it’s quiet. Tell them that you can help them both with their homework and their problems if they want to. And be sure to keep this promise. After all, if you want your students to rely on you, you have to become really reliable. I hope these tips will help you to gain students’ trust and to build a strong connection with them.

Christine Allen

Christine Allen from Chicago, USA, is young writer and blogger at essaystorm.com. She believes that you can get everything that you want. You just need to be sure in what you really want and be patient. You can follow her on Facebook and Google+.

Share this:

Posted in What can Dr. Doug do for you? | Comments Off on How to Be Connected With Your Students by Christine Allen

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »

Author Archive

STEM by Design: Strategies and Activities for Grades 4-8 by Anne Jolly

1. What Is STEM?

2. Why Teach STEM?

3, STEM Variations

Mindset by Carol Dweck – Revised Summary

Carol S. Dwech PhD

Estimating Your Own Ability

Mindsets and Personality

What Do the Experts Know?

The Myths of Standardized Testing – Short Summary

Scores Correlate With Wealth

Just Pass or Just Fail?

Who Wants to be Judged by a Snapshot?

What They Don’t Measure

Fuzzy Math

Are They Really Objective?

Carrots and Sticks by Mostly Sticks

Teachers Cheat

The Narrowing Effect

True Predictors

The Back of the Bus

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson

Introduction

Who’s Stories?

How to Be Connected With Your Students by Christine Allen

Introduction

1. Take time to talk with your students

2. Start class discussions

3. Go to see the events your students participate in.

4. Show students that you are available.

Christine Allen

Book Summaries