Dane's Education Blog: MTA versus CTA

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Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Apple Icon Steve Jobs

Posted on 04:55 by shohan bella
Two resources you might find interesting about the former Apple CEO:

1) "The Ten Commandments of Steve"

2) This is his commencement address to the Class of 2005 at Stanford University. At the least, listen to the first of his three stories.



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Posted in Ed. Assistance, Human interest, Professional Development | No comments

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part III

Posted on 06:17 by shohan bella
How can our children understand failure if they're afraid to stretch themselves to their potential?


T. S. Elliot said it well: "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
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Posted in Ed. Assistance, Professional Development | No comments

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part II

Posted on 18:30 by shohan bella
How DO we measure whether one fails or succeeds?

Imagine a person failing 6 times out of 10 attempts and being considered a huge success. Read the inspiring
NYTimes article "Ted Williams's .406 Average Is More Than a Number."

BTW, failing 7 times out of 10 attempts can be pretty good, too.
I guess failure or success is often in the eyes of the beholder, so parents be kind when your kids fail.
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Posted in Books/Articles to Read, Children - Parents | No comments

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part I

Posted on 18:25 by shohan bella
I have always thought of good classrooms as safe places to fail—students and adults. I expressed this back in the fall of 2008 when I wrote "Rethinking the 'F' Word."

Click over to this edutopia article "The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom" for another author's excellent take on mistake
making, and last week's NYTimes article "What if the Secret to Success is Failure" speaks to the importance of "grit" as an important piece of our children's character development.
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Posted in Books/Articles to Read, Ed. Assistance | No comments

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Spud — A Must Read

Posted on 05:35 by shohan bella
Having spent 11 years teaching in junior boarding schools, I fell in love with the book Spud. It is a delightful young adult book filled with laugh-out-loud humor. Author John van de Ruit tells of 14-year old Spud's struggle into adolescence. The setting is a boys' boarding school, which is located in South Africa during its 1990 break from apartheid. Also, if you enjoy the music from the play Oliver, Spud plays the lead in his school play, and you can follow the challenges he faces along with the wonderful Dickens characters.
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Posted in Books to Read | No comments

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Guide-on-the-Side OVER Sage-on-the-Stage Teaching

Posted on 14:01 by shohan bella
I loved the front page NYTimes article "In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores." Here is the sentence that caught my attention:

"The digital push here aims to go far beyond gadgets to transform the very nature of the classroom, turning the teacher into a guide instead of a lecturer, wandering among students who learn at their own pace on Internet-connected devices."


Is this what happens in your (child's) classroom?
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Posted in Books/Articles to Read, Children - Parents | No comments

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Brain Plasticity III - Fast ForWord

Posted on 11:10 by shohan bella
After reading The Brain That Changes Itself and learning about the work of Dr. Michael Merzenich, I came away with a better understanding of how the brain works and techniques that can help children in their work and development. An intervention produced by Scientific Learning developed the program Fast ForWord. Take five minutes to view this neat video.

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Posted in Children - Parents, Improvement | No comments

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Brain Placticity II - Dr. Doidge

Posted on 17:00 by shohan bella
Our faculty book group finished Doidge's book and a beautiful discussion on The Brain That Changes Itself. Neuroplasticity and brain mapping are fascinating topics that provide so much hope for the future. Listen to Dr. Doidge yourself.

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Monday, 5 September 2011

Brain Plasticity I - The Brain That Changes Itself

Posted on 09:35 by shohan bella
I was first introduced to the concept of brain plasticity when I read JoAnn Deak's Your Fantastic Elastic Brain. And the work of Carol Dweck and her book, Mindset, talk about the idea that intelligence can grow. For me, both authors helped to dispel the myth that the brain is "hard-wired" and unchangeable.



Well, for my summer
professional reading, I happened to choose The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge.



Here are several of many stories in the book that you can read, and I guarantee you that if you read them, you will want to read the whole book:

  1. Cheryl Schiltz (page 1)
  2. Pedro Bach-y-Rita (page 20)
  3. Willy Arbor (page 72)
  4. Nicole von Ruden (page 150)
  5. Emma (page 174)







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Posted in Books to Read | No comments

Friday, 2 September 2011

Independent Teacher

Posted on 04:22 by shohan bella
Independent Teacher is an excellent resource for teachers.



Here is the opening of its mission:



"Independent Teacher is an electronic journal that publishes articles on curriculum and pedagogy, across all grades and disciplines, of particular interest to independent school teachers. It is our hope and intention to promote lively discussion and debate about education that will be useful and interesting to independent school educators."



Click over to read some of the articles.



Better yet, click on the "Submissions" link and see what you need to do to have your own article published.






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Posted in Books/Articles to Read, Professional Development | No comments
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      • Apple Icon Steve Jobs
      • Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part III
      • Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part II
      • Mistakes & Failure and Grit & Success - Part I
      • Spud — A Must Read
      • Guide-on-the-Side OVER Sage-on-the-Stage Teaching
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      • Brain Placticity II - Dr. Doidge
      • Brain Plasticity I - The Brain That Changes Itself
      • Independent Teacher
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