click here for What We Learned from 5 million Books by Harvard researchers Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden
The guys are charming and funny and the results of their research, in charts, are revelatory– in the possibiliities they illumine. Play with the tool at ngrams.googlelabs.com. V awesome.
Common Core Grades 6–8 Text Exemplars
Informational texts: English Language Arts
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
Informational Texts: History/Social Studies
Informational Texts: Science, Mathematics, and Technical Subjects
…if we don’t spoil it with clumsy efforts to control it, if we use a light, caring, skilled, technologically and psychometrically advanced touch to orchestrate learning. Leveraging exemplary resources, honoring teachers, adding our talent, expertise, and concern to that of professional educators, we can support individualized learning for each learner. All humans deserve to learn and to develop their skills and talents. Now we have the capability to support learning for all and we can work to measure learning in less primitive and limited ways. Here are some of the strategies we hope to see more of in 2011 and beyond.
- Know what each learner knows and what grabs their interest in order to provide the most engaging and effective lesson.
- Individualize learning– providing support for each learner keyed to their interest, knowledge, and skill.
- Use our current technology and knowledge to develop engaging cross-curricular learning.
- Support learning programs that address real world problems and yield real world work.
- Utilize cooperative learning strategies for students to learn from each other in groups and to learn to listen, speak, and cooperate effectively.
- Assess student skiils and knowledge while they learn, integrated in learning, rather than in year-end tests.
- Leverage media, news, and social media in learning to connect students with history, the real world, and each other, around the world.
- Integrate all subjects in learning — as all subjects integrate in life and work.
- Provide year-round, day and night blended* learning opportunities to all, extending the school day and the school year.
- Share great lectures and lessons across classrooms, schools, districts, and states.
- Hire more art, music, dance, PE teachers and integrate their teaching in core subject learning.
- Enable all students to be taught by master teachers for at least a class a week.
- Increase hands-on science, engineering, art, music, math and project-based learning opportunities.
* Blended learning=live in-person coaching or instruction blended with asynchronous and synchronous online lessons and resources.