Inspiring New Futures

Parents and Teachers: The Possibility of a Dream Team | Edutopia : Ineffective communication between parents and teachers can be a major obstacle when trying to solve problems with students, but fortunately it can be improved. Let's first examine the two major causes of communication dysfunction. Problem 1: Judgment Teachers judge the parents of their students all the time. They judge them based on students' language, hygiene, dress and social skills. Parents judge teachers, too, based on comments from their children. "What did you learn in school today?" is usually followed by, "Nothing." Sometimes children accuse teachers of being unfair, picking on them, being prejudiced or a myriad of other questionable treatments. So parents and teachers judge each other constantly, and the sources of their judgments are kids, often with a vested interest. Good kids want their parents and teachers to like each other. Troubled students want the opposite. Many chil...

Chinese most popular foreign language for Thai students - The Nation : Chinese has become the most popular foreign language among Thai students, according to a top education official. Almost 300,000 students at 700 schools administered by the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) study Chinese, said Usanee Watanapan, deputy director of the Bureau of Academic Affairs and Educational Standards at Obec. Japanese and Korean are also becoming more popular, she said, with around 34,000 students studying Japanese at 175 schools and 12,000 studying Korean, which has only been offered at Obec schools for a few years.

Good grades are key to cutting 'risky behaviour', says Gove - Telegraph : A proper grounding in traditional subjects is the most effective way of preventing children having sex too early, according to the Education Secretary. A good all-round education is the best way to stop children engaging in "risky behaviour", said Michael Gove.   Photo: PA Michael Gove said formal sex education lessons may not be needed if schools can raise pupils’ overall grades across the curriculum. Addressing the Commons education select committee, he said there was a direct link between children doing well academically and their chances of indulging in “risky behaviour”.

Hamas Mulls Teaching Modern Hebrew in Gaza High Schools - International Business Times : Hamas's deputy education minister said he was considering introducing Hebrew courses in Gaza high schools. Ziad Thabit was contemplating introducing modern Hebrew classes for ninth and 10th grade

Gove: schoolchildren should be subjected to regular tests - Telegraph : Pupils should be tested every year to stop them “drifting” between key stages of their education, Michael Gove said today. Schools should assess pupils at regular stages because it helps children “instinctively” remember information and boosts their ability to perform complex tasks, it was claimed. The Education Secretary insisted he was not advocating the introduction of new national tests beyond current compulsory exams at 11 and 16.

Singapore's 21st-Century Teaching Strategies (Education Everywhere Series) | Edutopia : Singapore's 21st-Century Teaching Strategies (Education Everywhere Series) By cultivating strong school leadership, committing to ongoing professional development, and exploring innovative models like its tech-infused Future Schools, Singapore has become one of the top-scoring countries on the PISA tests. For more articles and videos about classrooms around the world, visit our  global learning resource page .

Zimbabwe's resettled farmers struggle to educate their children | Alex Duval Smith | Global development | guardian.co.uk : Students at a satellite school in Dunstan farm in Goromonzi, 30km from Harare. Photograph: Alex Duval Smith In the old kitchen at Dunstan farm, desks have been pushed up against the cream-coloured Aga. Children are having a maths lesson. The dining room where black staff served three generations of the Cullinan family is also a classroom. The children have dumped their schoolbags in the grand fireplace before sitting down for their lesson. A decade after President Robert Mugabe launched a "fast-track" resettlement programme that chased 4,500 white commercial farmers off the land,  Zimbabwe 's rural landscape has been transformed. The whites who owned vast tracts of land have been replaced by 150,000 black small-scale farmers and their families, creating the need for a rethink in the provision of education and health facilities. Yet western dono...

“Teachers can only make meaningful changes if they get practical support where it matters most: in the classroom” – USA | daily edventures : “Most school reform efforts are focused on future policy, more so than current practice,” says  David Ginsburg . “Of course we need new and better policies for tomorrow. But what about the kids that are in our schools today? We can and we must improve teaching and learning now.” A former business executive who also spent 18 years in urban schools as a teacher and administrator, Ginsburg now is an instructional coach and school leadership coach. Ginsburg believes the best way to help children reach their potential is by helping educators reach their potential.  He also authors an  Education Week  blog,  Coach G’s Teaching Tips , to give teachers practical tips for their classrooms. Here, Ginsburg shares his approach to  “cause-effect” coaching,  what he believes are the biggest obstacles in education today, a...

Six Examples of iPad Integration in the 1:1 Classroom | Edutopia : Andrew Marcinek is an instructional technologist at Burlington High School in Burlington, MA. He is also a  regular blogger on Edutopia . Follow him on Twitter @andycinek . There has been a lot of conversation and debate in multiple forums, both online and face-to-face, about schools adopting or already working in a 1:1 environment. While many of these conversations revert back to replacing teachers and what device is best, the real conversation begins with providing our students with the best learning environment possible. At Burlington High School in Burlington, MA, we are entering our eighth month of a 1:1 iPad initiative that began in September 2011. Don't get me wrong, we think the iPad is a great device for learning and gives each of our students a dynamic learning tool that can be used across the content areas and to accomplish a variety of tasks. Many of the critics claim that we are backing our students ...

How Skillshare Is Transforming Education as We Know It : Name :  Skillshare Big Idea : Provide an online hub for people to sign up to teach or attend offline classes. Why It’s Working : Skillshare allows anyone to teach a class — and make money while doing so. Users choose to learn topics in five main categories at very little cost: creative arts, culinary arts, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and technology.

The growth of the 'Titan' schools | Education | The Guardian : It has eight portable classrooms and, within a couple of years, 1,200 pupils.  Fran Abrams  visits England's biggest primary – one of a growing breed, thanks to the national shortage of places

Can Apps Change Education? - PSFK : This article titled “Dan Snow says apps can ‘radically change the way we work in schools’” was written by Stuart Dredge, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 19th April 2012 10.23 UTC “I can only assure you, I have all the zealotry and passion of a convert,” says Dan Snow over a crackly telephone line from Rome, where the TV historian is filming his next series. The passion, in this case, is for apps. Snow is the frontman for  Timeline World War 2 with Dan Snow , an iPad app that aims to provide an interactive spin on the second world war. But he was also heavily involved in its conception and production, working with publisher  Ballista Media , developer  Agant  and  British Pathé , which provided more than 100 archive videos. The app is impressive, centred around a timeline of more than 2,000 events during the war, a dynamic map, and Snow’s own commentary on the Pathé videos. His enthusiasm for the medium is clear.

How To Visualize Where Your Tweets Go | Edudemic : This is going to be an epic set of projects for your classroom.  If you’re a tweeting teacher, listen up.  If you’ve ever tweeted something and it’s gotten retweeted a few times, you probably thought ‘hey that’s great, a few extra people saw what I wrote’ and patted yourself on the back. That simple number of retweets doesn’t really tell the whole story. In fact, your tweet was likely seen by a plethora of people around the globe. They may not have retweeted you… but they saw what you wrote. Until now, it’s been nearly impossible to know who saw what on Twitter. But now there’s a classroom-tastic new (free!) tool called ‘ Where Does My Tweet Go? ‘ and it’s a WebGL-powered site that lets you input a tweet and see on a 2D or 3D (!) visualization exactly where that tweet went. It’s an incredible tool that you have to see to believe.  Important note: the site is preparing for launch and currently lets you view just a few...

Infographic: The Value of Financial Literacy | Edutopia : Students who learn financial literacy skills gain knowledge that will yield returns well into their future. BY EDUTOPIA STAFF

BBC News - Programming project comes to primary schools : Code Club is basing its projects around MIT's Scratch programming tools Volunteers have kicked off a project to set up after school clubs that teach young children how to programme computers. Called Code Clubs, the sessions will aim to instil the basics of computer programming into children aged 10-11. The clubs will be built around practical hands-on tasks that will include children making games and eventually controlling robots. It aims to have 25% of the UK's primary schools running a Code Club by 2014.

How to teach ... the London 2012 Olympics | Education | The Guardian : The countdown starts in earnest this week and the Guardian Teacher Network has lots of resources to help children find out more about this summer's Games With its spectacular wave-like roof, the Aquatics Centre is part of the gateway to the Olympic Park. Photograph: Jim Powell for the Guardian The countdown to the  London 2012 Olympics  starts in earnest this week, with Wednesday marking just 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the games. The  Guardian Teacher Network  has useful resources to help children explore the subject.

How my pupils turned journalists for the day | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional : A teacher shares a wonderful writing for purpose experience • Plus enter our competition and win an ipod for yourself and a workshop for your class at the Guardian's Education Centre Students from St Philip Howard made real progress with literacy and writing for purpose when they created their front pages at the Guardian Education Centre. Photograph: Guardian How many children of school age regularly read a quality newspaper, let alone understand how it is produced? I don't know the answer, but my unofficial research tells me not very many, unless it's a quick rifle through the Metro looking for the celeb gossip on the morning journey to school. Skimming my inbox during a rare quiet moment last summer an email from the Guardian Teacher Network caught my attention: "Make a Newspaper Front Page", free journalism workshops for school groups. Fantastic! We were successful in...

Engaging Students with Social and Emotional Learning | Edutopia : Rutgers University professor Maurice Elias serves as director of the  Social-Emotional Learning Lab  and coordinator of the Expert Advisory Group to the  NJ Coalition for Bullying Awareness and Prevention . He is also academic director of Rutgers' Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships program. [Dr. Elias discusses the history and trends in Social and Emotional Learning and Character Development  in this video .)

“Chess can be a student’s driving force, helping in every aspect of critical thinking development” – Garry Kasparov – Russia | daily edventures : It’s no secret that I am very interested in gamification, and the promise it brings education. So I was excited to speak with world chess champion, Garry Kasparov recently at the  UNESCO Education Innovation Days  in Paris.  As founder of the  Kasparov Chess Foundation  and now an activist in education, Kasparov speaks passionately about the role chess can play in transforming the classroom. Chess is an interactive game that stimulates the player to use logic, creativity, visualization, anticipation and discipline. Kasparov also notes that chess can be “the one great equalizer in education, in which anyone with determination to succeed can excel.” According to Kasparov, more than any other game, chess can transform a child. If taught correctly, chess can be a student’s driving force, helping i...

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action” – Russia | daily edventures : “Being an innovative educator means being immersed in the process of learning, self-learning and sharing,” says Elena Babina. “That’s why I recognize the importance of innovative approaches in the use of technology-rich environments for learning and teaching, and try to do all possible to further the professional development of fellow teachers.”

“Stop-motion animation as an educational tool creates big results in the learning process and give my students an opportunity to be animation heroes”- Macedonia | daily edventures : It’s no surprise that an art teacher would employ stop-motion animation to teach art – it’s a creative solution for a creative subject. What is surprising, though, is the way Macedonian teacher Darko Taleski has used the approach to help teach math, science, language and other subjects – twelve in all.  Taleski may have stumbled on one of the most unique ways to engage animation-loving primary students in learning. The process encompasses storytelling, quizzes, interactive lessons, feedback and competition and helps students develop critical thinking and other 21 st  century skills. Taleski was recognized last month at the  Microsoft Partners in Learning European Forum  in Lisbon (winner, Educators’ Choice award). We asked him to share more about  stop-motion animation as a...

Google Earth Helps Reunite Man With His Mother After 25 Years [VIDEO] Mashable Google Earth Helps Reunite Man With His Mother After 25 Years [VIDEO] | The top source for social and digital news : Saroo Brierly was separated from his older brother in a train station in India in 1986. For most of his life, he thought he would never see his family again. Twenty-five years later, he has reunited with his mother, thanks to the magic of  Google Earth . Brierly was illiterate and didn’t know the name of the village where he was raised. All he knew was that he rode a train for 14 hours to arrive in Kolkata after losing his brother in the train station near his home, the  BBC  reports. Brierly knew his home should be roughly 1,200 kilometers from Kolkata, because he remembered the approximate length of the train ride. He drew a circle with its radius around Kolkata on a map and began searching Google Earth. After four years of searching — while living with his adoptive parents...

Online Reputation Important for Grads in New Job Market | Education News : Big Blue Robot founder Dan Sorensen argues that developing and protecting one’s online reputation is vitally important for graduates entering the job market. Dan Sorensen, President of  online reputation management firm Big Blue Robot,  has released guidelines for graduates to develop and protect their online reputations. “Because current college graduates will most likely be changing jobs a number of times over the next 20 years, the reputation they build at a single company won’t be worth much as they look for other opportunities-or if other opportunities come looking for them,” said Sorensen. “That’s why it’s important to start cultivating a great online reputation now, so these graduates can be ready for the future.”

Shakira Talks Education at Summit of the Americas | Ecorazzi : Over 30 world leaders gathered together in Cartagena, Colombia for the annual Summit of the Americas, an event that seeks to find solutions to problems faced in the Western Hemisphere. President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were among the thirty leaders joined by singer/activist  Shakira  who was recently named to Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Shakira delivered a heartfelt speech where she asked world leaders to improve childhood development policies by supporting education. In her speech  she remarked , “I am convinced that by far the best way to fight poverty in Latin America is to invest in the education of all our youths, and to do so particularly from the months before they are born. I firmly believe this social investment must come not just from government but from all of us, including those in the business community.”

Brazilian City Tackles Truancy With Technology | Education News : A Brazilian city is using locator chips embedded in school uniforms to tackle truancy problems in its public school system. There are 43,000 students between the ages of 4 and 14 in Vitoria da Conquista’s public school system. Next year all of them will be wearing  microchips embedded within their school uniform  designed to electronically monitor when they enter school. The program began this week. The city’s education secretary, Coriolano Moraes, was enthusiastic about the new way to tackle an old problem:

What makes an outstanding school? | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional : Putting Ofsted definitions to one side, our blogger shares the recipe for a school where staff and students are truly fulfilled What makes a school truly outstanding to work and study in? Photograph: Image Source / Rex Features I  did , I  didn't  and I  do  work in an outstanding school; and I don't mean Outstanding by  Ofsted  definition, I mean outstanding in terms of student and staff fulfilment. Let me set my stall out from the start. This article is "not" based on Ofsted definition, so if this is why you came here, you will only be disappointed, so I suggest you are better off reading  this . Many years ago I did: I was fortunate enough to be appointed to my first middle leadership position. Starting in 1999, I joined the school as the 13th teacher working for 160 students. Today, the school now thrives with approximately 150 members of staff and...