beyondchips

Students getting up from their seats seems to be a thing these days, and many struggle when students get up and leave with or without permission. Rather than react, consider a more fundamental and proactive approach. When was the last time the classroom looked transformed communicating a shift in mindset?  Some say, offering students agency over their seating arrangements, promotes students thinking about the learning environment and the freedom to make their own positive decisions. This, of course, can be seen as a difficult departure from the control of the seating chart and not everyone is ready. The seating arrangement impacts the dynamics and flow of instruction. Lessons in a U- or circle-shaped classroom encourage greater student participation and interaction than those taught in rows. Standing desks, exercise balls, and beanbag chairs are just a few of the flexible seating alternatives that provide kids the freedom to learn in the most productive setting for them. Each learn...

  In the book How Children Fail, the author likens students belonging either to a group of hopeful travelers on a journey with wonderful thoughts of an eventual arrival at a destination, or prisoners in a chain gang forced to work under threats of punishments with no knowledge of where they are at the moment, or will be down the line. Here’s the book: http://www.schoolofeducators.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/HOW-CHILDREN-FAIL-JOHN-HOLT.pdf   Many students perceive schools as a place where they are forced to go, where they are told what to do, and where their lives become miserable if they don't comply. For these students, the primary goal of school is not learning. Rather it is a place where mundane activities are performed with minimum effort and unpleasantness. They are often labeled as those who don't care.   Here’s a way forward for your consideration…   https://ace.edu/blog/new-kids-on-the-block-reaching-and-teaching-generation-alpha/   Key points of the ...

  Once in a while articles find me and I am compelled to share. This one is about how to deal with people who may be hostile. We perceive them to be angry, antagonistic, abrasive, harsh, etc. and we are often times called to engage similarly thereby increasing the propensity for an escalation.   The brief article allows for a brief reflection on how we deal with hostility. The best part is, there is a way out. The answer starts with the person in the mirror… I invite you to read on.   https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202307/understanding-the-abrasive-individual

Christensen, E. W., Anakwe, U. P., & Kessler, E. H. (2001). Receptivity to distance learnings The effect of technology, reputation, constraints, and learning preferences. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33 (3), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/08886504.2001.10782314  While this article was written some time ago, it continues to reverberate with timeless ideas that remain relevant today. In the context of technology and education, the best indicator of students' openness to distance learning has to do with how valuable they believe distance learning tools are. The article emphasizes the importance of assisting students in appreciating the benefits and use of platforms and technologies for online learning. Technology that promotes interactivity and collaboration is of utmost importance. In addition, features that foster flexibility, relationship-building, and student-centered learning attract further engagement. When promoting online learning as an option to in-per...

My learning environment is in the midst of change. A significant number of new families have settled in the neighborhood during the course of the last ten years. The neighborhood is now densely populated as single-family houses become a rarity in favor of multi-unit dwelling complexes. A significant number of students are learning English as their second language and hail from a broad range of cultural traditions from various parts of the world, including Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. Although it remains a working-class neighborhood, the area immediately around the school has experienced an increase in both property values and rents as a result of young professionals moving into newly constructed apartments. Within the walls of the educational institution, administrators and teachers are struggling to genuinely collaborate to find ways to meet the needs of an ever-evolving student body. Although new programs have been implemented for those who are learning English, there ar...

Truth be told, I have not heard of geocaching in over twenty years. I remember it was quite popular with those with interest in technology, the outdoors, and adventures. At the time, GPS devices were just beginning to enter the consumer market and early adopters were installing them in their vehicles replacing paper maps. Handheld versions were standard equipment for extreme hikers who venture towards the unknown.  Apparently, geocaching enthusiasts have maintained its popularity since its inception. Originally called, “geostashing”,  geocaching traces it origin in the forests of Oregon, where Dave Ulmer described the activity in an online forum where GPS coordinates of hidden repositories or caches may be shared online, enabling other individuals to navigate to these repositories and acquire various items (Telaar et al., 2014). Much has happened since geocaching’s early days and the activity has now made its presence beyond recreation to other sectors including  educatio...

I started my career making websites for schools and colleges back in the 1990s. At the time, building web pages always started the same way by typing the characters “<HTML>” onto an empty text editor. From there, the web page development can be as simple as a static page displaying text, hyperlinks, images, and media files, or as complex combinations of the same files, resulting in interactivity that attracts users to return. Decades later, I cannot imagine making the web pages we visited today by manually editing the publishing language of the World Wide Web. Since the early days of the internet, websites have come a long way. HTML is a very simple language that does not permit much customization or interactivity. In recent years, there has been a trend toward developing websites that foster interactive and engaging user experiences. The solution for developing these websites is software, and Articulate 360 serves as a perfect example. The advent of such tools for the automated ...