The Digital Evolution of Schooling

I have been following Mal Lee’s blog for a number of years, and there is always a lot of thought provoking topics discussed. Basically where education is going in the digital world. Topics such as Roles of IWBs, BYOTs, harnessing Social networking, Where to now Education?
Mal Lee shares his research with Roger Broadie. Mal is an internationally published educational consultant and author specializing in the digital evolution and transformation of schooling. He writes for ACER as well as this ongoing blog. Roger’s background is more from the technology and marketing industries.
Their goal is for those globally interested in advancing, researching and analysing the digital evolution and transformation of schooling.

A learning Secret: Don’t take notes with a Laptop

This article came to my attention recently and is worth sharing. The study printed in the Scientific American outlined details of the study of many hundreds of students after lectures.

Half of the students were instructed to take notes with a laptop, and the other half were instructed to write the notes out by hand.  As in other studies, students who used laptops took more notes.  In each study, however, those who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material than those who used took notes with their laptops.

Students who used longhand remembered more and had a deeper understanding of the material.

The article also explains how social media impacts the students using laptops, how writing notes helps students analyse the information. "Instead, they listen, digest, and summarize so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information."

The Latest SCIS Connections magazine online

1,000 reasons to support Australian book creators

Jackie French

Talks about the power of great books and how they can’t be measured in Dollar terms

Dear Jackie French,
What I have learned from your book is to be wary of anyone who tries to make you angry.
Love James

James was 14, and Hitler’s Daughter was the first book he had ever read. Yet he had found the truth behind a question I had been hunting for ever since I was ten years old: how did Hitler convince most of Europe that killing over 44 million people was reasonable, from those shipped to concentration camps to prisoners who had surrendered.

Teacher Resources

 Humanities

Australian History Mysteries. Subscription site but has a few free resources and good links to the Australian Curriculum. One is a 23 page Teacher Demo case Study

How have Indigenous people's citizenship rights changed over time?

Growth Mindset for students

There have been quite a few videos worth looking at added to the ISC Libguides - Growth Mindset. The Growth Mindset for students is suitable for primary students as well.

The Learning Brain

Growth Mindset for Students E1/5 (Animation New 2016)
Growth Mindset for Students E2/5 (Learning from Mistakes)
Growth Mindset for Students E3/5 (The Power of "Yet")
Growth Mindset for Students E4/5 (The World of Neurons)
Growth Mindset for Students E5/5 (Mojo Puts it all together)

The Key to Success

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.

 Growth Mindset Teacher Resources

Mistakes - To Get Better You Have to Get Ugly

Trevor Ragan of TrainUgly.com explains how it all works and how shifting our focus from worrying about how we look to what really mattters, learning and growing can change the way we learn.

Featuring Insights From:Seth Godin, Carol Dweck,Erika Andersen, Brené Brown, John Gardner.

ISC Bookclub

The ISC Bookclub has been meeting enthusiastically to discuss new and old books every few weeks, and help choose new books for the ISC. Some are enjoying reading Jackson’s Track by Carolyn Landon. The bookclub is also reviewing and selecting books for our Fiction collection. Every meeting we try have a topic focus but being a bookclub one discussion leads to another! 

Last week’s discussion was “The Book versus Movies”. Most concluded that the book is usually far better than the movie! However, then the discussion started re horror movies and what should and shouldn’t be shown, to fables and Grimm’s Fairy tales, to finally everyone watching Into the Woods….
As a result of this discussion I have added Into the Woods, some old horror movies as well as Tim Burton's movies to Clickview (Corpse Bride,Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare before Christmas, Nosferatu and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). What do you think about books versus movies? The ISC Bookclub would love to hear your views.

   Literature Circles

All the year seven classes completed the Literature Circles program in Term 1 as part of the wider reading program at Gippsland Grammar.

Students were broken up in groups and chose a novel they would read, discuss and do activities on. A wide range of books were chosen- The Heaven Shop by Deborah Ellis, Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Find me a River by Bronwyn Blake to name a few. Students discussed connections between the books and their own lives and world events, created mindmaps and quizzes, discussed new vocabulary, and generally just enjoyed the concept of reading and discussing a shared book!

Students were very creative in their approach to their activities each week.

It is a pleasure to take up the position as Head of ISC. (Marianne is currently adventuring and volunteering and setting up a library in Vietnam.) The ISC is an outstanding library. I have been delighted with the high level of borrowing by students which is indicative of a strong reading culture. The ISC in 2016 will continue to nurture good reading habits by providing a rich and diverse collection, celebrating reading through special events (Premier’s Reading Challenge) and author’s visits. Electronic resources will continue to be added for the learning community though its dedicated website. In 2016 some of our goals are to continue to increase student participation in the ISC by running more student run competitions, implement augmented reality workshops and hopefully assist and support students/staff in using 3D printer.

The year got off to a bang when  “Ripping into Research” began for the year 7 students. This involves a basic introduction to the ISC Libguides, access to school referencing sites and online databases. Currently Joy, Lyn and myself with Year 7 English teachers Leah Stoffels, Julie Cannon, Faye Kennedy are running the wide reading program called Literature Circles. Literature Circles are basically student centred book discussion groups which meet weekly over a six week period. The groups formed are differentiated, enabling each group to be challenged by a novel at their reading level. Each week sections of the novel are read at home, a specific role is completed and a group collaboration occurs where students discuss and analyse what they have read, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of the novel.

Last year an ISC book club was launched, students will meet four times a term to discuss the book they are reading, or choose a commo book they can share, and also to choose new resources.

In Week 8, as part of our wide reading program,  the very successful Premier’s Reading Challenge will be launched to all Year 7’s and Year 8’s by convenor Joy Reid. The Challenge involves students reading at least fifteen books between March and August.

I will endeavour to continue Marianne's fantastic "in the Know" blog, keeping you up to date with emerging trends, helpful links and support, and ISC events.