|
Dear [member_name_first],
Happy New Year to all! After returning from a long winter break, this is a great time to reflect upon the past year and gear up for a fresh start and positive outlook on the new year to come. Writing New Year's resolutions as a group activity can be an excellent way to set goals and improve writing skills at the same time. Visit The Lesson Plans Page for New Year's resolution lesson plans.
An author by the name of Jim Collins wrote an interesting article in USA Today explaining that New Year's resolutions are not always something new to start doing, but something to stop doing. Click here to read his article.
The third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Visit Education World for ideas to help your students recognize the life and works of Martin Luther King, Jr. These activities will give your students a glimpse into Dr. King's life, and teach them that it is okay to dream their own dreams.
Learning From Online
Most professors agree that more work goes into designing an online course than a face-to-face one. But if those professors are interested in improving their teaching skills, it might be worth the extra effort.
So say researchers at Purdue University at Calumet, who believe that learning how to do distance education properly can make professors better at designing and administering their classroom-based courses.
“Most of the professors who teach at the university level have had no experience with pedagogy or instruction in general,” says Janet Buckenmeyer, chair of the instructional technology master’s program at Calumet. “They’re content experts, not teaching experts.”
Since most professors have spent their lives holding forth from the front of a lecture hall, many have not had to engineer their lesson plans with the sort of rigor required of a well-designed online course, Buckenmeyer says.
Click
here
to read the full text of this article.
National Education
News
Banks Don't Belong in the Student Loan Business
The Wall Street Journal
Since I arrived in Washington, I've been looking at every line item in the budget of the U.S. Department of Education with two questions in mind: Is this program helping students learn? And is it a good use of taxpayer money? In the case of the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, the answer to both questions is no.
Selective treatment
The Washington Post
Emma Brown's Dec. 3 Metro article, "Teaching the ABC's of crucial social skills," was very much appreciated and performed a wonderful service to children who are on the autism spectrum. However, we would like to clarify two points.
Obama's Education Advisors Discuss STEM Program(video)
Good.is
Back in late-November, President Obama announced the so-called "STEM" initiative to get U.S. students to embrace science, technology, engineering, and math. More than $260 million dollars in public and private money is going to fund the effort. American students show a below-average aptitude in math and science subjects, relative to students in other countries.
Web Resources for Teachers
TeachersContinuingEducationUnits.com - Need CEUs? Check this website out for all the information you need on workshops, conferences, and courses that provide ceu's for teachers.
TeachersProfessionalLearningUnits.com - Need PLUs? Go to this website and find all the latest workshops, conferences, and courses that will help you meet your professional development requirements.
TeacherClockHours.com - Need clock hours? This is the resource where you can find everything you need to know about workshops, conferences, and courses that provide clock hour credit for teachers.
Need graduate or undergraduate credit and want to take your courses in the comfort of your own home? Check out the universities section of our website to see a list of all our partners who offer the kind of credit you need in your state. Just select the university you want to go through and find a list of all the courses offered, type of credit offered, and total cost per course.
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) - Did you know that VESi courses transfer into the MAT program through Morningside College? This is by far the most economical Master's Degree we have found for educators. Learn more about the MAT options available, or see a list of VESi courses offered through Morningside College.
|
