Better Learning for Schools

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/writing_for_the_governement.mp3

This podcasts explores what it is like to be an educator who writes for the government.  Our guest is Suzy Meyers–a long time teacher who now works and writes for her state’s Department of Education as a literacy and writing consultant. She helps oversee the training of tens of thousands of teachers when it comes to literacy standards and reading and writing instruction and assessment. Suzy shares tips for communicating through writing with clarity.

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog: Prescriptions For Education

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/Minkels_Elementary_Writing_Tips.mp3

 

This podcast explores writing in education with our guest–Justin Minkel.  Justin is an elementary school teacher and was recently named the Arkansas Teacher of the Year.  He was also given the Milken Educator award.  He teaches in a high-achieving public elementary school where 97% of the students live in poverty and 85% are English Learners. Minkel previously taught 4th grade in Harlem, New York City.  His writing and commentary have been featured in the Washington Post, Education Week, and a bunch of other places.   I recently had the opportunity to have lunch with Justin at restaurant downtown and fortunate to be able to ask him a few questions.  The food was excellent…and so was insight.

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog: Prescriptions For Education

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/interview_glenn_wiebe.mp3

 

In this podcast, we visit with Glenn Wiebe.  He is an educator, social studies guru, and blogger on the widely popular website History Tech.  Glenn shares his thoughts on the need for teachers to regularly write alongside their students.

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Prescriptions For Education

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/academic_writing_tips_janet_stramel.mp3

 

Since writing is an attempt to fix meaning on the page, do you think educators are held to a higher standard when it comes to writing? The best writers can do is to contribute what they know and feel about a topic at a particular point in time.

In this podcast Dr. Curtis Chandler visits with Dr. Janet Stramel about writing and how people just need to get started in writing.  Dr. Stramel shared a tip that it is better to write something that may not be the greatest than not to write at all.

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

 

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

Did you know there are essentially five different types of writing? The types of writing teachers are engaged in the most depends upon their district, what is required of them and where they are in their career.

In this podcast Dr. Chandler visits with Jennifer Gonzolas; author, mother, teacher and coach about how writing is for an audience and each audience is different and what it takes to successfully write to that audience.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/cult_of_pedagody.mp3

 

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

Conventional wisdom holds that one of the best ways to help student learn to engage in critical thinking is to foster their ability to write. But as teachers, a lack of well-written, poorly-reasoned student papers might lead us to wonder…

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/critical_thinking_and_writing.mp3

 Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

 

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

It is one thing to help teachers to find the time to write.  It is quite another to give them the tools they need to be able to write better.  In this podcast Sarah Brown Wessling–the National Teacher of the year–shares tips for doing both.

 Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

 

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/getting_teachers_to_write_better_interview_SB_wessling.mp3

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

One of the most challenging aspects of being an educator is getting those outside of the profession to take you seriously.  Unless, of course, you are Lori Rice. Not only did her opinion catch the attention of her legislature, it also ended up in the Washington Post. In this podcast, we hear from Lori about her experiences in the media and in the classroom.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/when_writing_goes_viral.mp3

 Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

In education, just because everyone claims to be doing something similar doesn’t ensure that they are doing it well…or the even the same.   Project-based learning, or PBL, continues to gain momentum in schools and districts across the country as a means of ameliorating student engagement, retention of content, and students’ attitudes toward learning (Holm, 2011).

But as John Mergendoller recently wrote……popularity can bring problems. …If done well, PBL yields great results. But if PBL is not done well, two problems are likely to arise. First, we will see a lot of assignments and activities that are labeled as “projects” but which are not rigorous PBL, and student learning will suffer. Or, we will see projects backfire on underprepared teachers and result in wasted time, frustration, and failure to understand the possibilities of PBL. Then PBL runs the risk of becoming another one of yesterday’s educational fads – vaguely remembered and rarely practiced.

I was fortunate to have a conversation recently with John Larmer of the Buck Institute for Education regarding the potentially problematic, wide-spread adaption of PBL. In this podcast, John shares several tips to help classrooms ensure that teacher efforts are calibrated to a ‘golden-standard.’ He also offers his thoughts on the role of technology in helping (or hindering) project-based learning.

Holm, M. (2011). PROJECT-BASED INSTRUCTION: A Review of the Literature on Effectiveness in Prekindergarten through 12th Grade Classrooms. InSight: Rivier Academic Journal, 7(2).

Larmer, J., Mergendoller, J. R., & Boss, S. (2015). Setting the standard for project based learning: A proven approach to rigorous classroom instruction.

Getting Your Feet Wet with Project-based Learning

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/recalibrating_PBL_IT.mp3

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

Email:  [email protected]

Subscribe to this podcast and many others!

 

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >

As human-beings, we tend to learn the most when we are given something to do and a problem to solve. For example, when I visit with schools, I often challenge teachers to search their own memories of being a student and identify 2 or 3 learning experiences that they considered to be the most meaningful. It comes as no surprise that no one identifies a particular piece of content or an assessment. What they do seem to recall is being engaged and immersed in some sort of classroom challenge that required them to do something with their head and their hands.

Over the years, a number of teaching approaches and learning models have emerged that attempt to move students away from paper and pencil activities that merely require students to define, describe, summarize, and retell. Instead…these emerging, more effective classroom approaches seek to engage young people in more complex problems and project-based tasks that require learners to analyze, evaluate, critique, disseminate, invent, and create.   An increasingly utilized approach is PBL, or project-based learning, in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge from the real world (Boss, Larmer, & Mergendoller, 2013).

In a few weeks, the Buck Institute of Education—arguably the leading non-profit organization and authority on project-based learning—will release what it has entitled the Gold-Standard of PBL. I had a chance to visit with John Larmer, one of the individuals that heads up the Buck Institute. For ten years John taught high school social studies and English. He’s worked with WestEd, the National Academy Foundation, the Oracle Education Foundation, and Pearson Education. John also co-authored the widely utilized Project Based Learning Handbook. He now authors and edits project-based materials and tools for the Buck Institute. In this podcast, John and I discuss ways for educators to ‘get their feet wet’ with Project-based Learning.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/remarkablechatter/PBL_getting_your_feet_wet.mp3

References

Boss, S., Larmer, J., & Mergendoller, J. R. (2013). PBL for 21st century success: Teaching critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. Buck Institute for Education.

Markham, T., Larmer, J., & Ravitz, J. (2003). Project based learning handbook. Buck Institute for Education.

Curtis Chandler can be contacted at:

Twitter @curtischandler6

Blog:  Better Learning For Schools

Email:  [email protected]

Subscribe to this podcast and many others!

 

target="_blank" title="Share On Facebook" >