The best end of year class activity

As the school year winds to a end here is an excellent little activity for your class. This activity can be used for students from 5 years old up to university age, is easy to organise and will keep your class quiet for hours.

Stop school cheats

When it comes educational discipline, and in particularly preventing cheating at school, the Chinese seem to be in a world of their own.

16 signs your classroom is behind the times

I saw this today on the I love Edtech website. Thought it was a very good list about the way education is heading and if we as teachers are keeping up.

The state of digital education - are you prepared?

This is an interesting infographic on the current state of e-learning. There are some sobering statistics below and while they refer to USA I am sure that the rations are similar to New Zealand. 
Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Graeme Aitken: Innovation - Lamborghini or Lemon?

Interesting talk from Graeme Aitken, Dean of Education at the University of Auckland, arguing that we need criteria to assess both the likely and the actual value of innovation in teaching.

He talks about a variety of innovations that haven't worked and in this talk he shares his belief that educators need to look at effective teaching and teachers work when assessing the value of innovations in the classroom.

 I love his short story about Mathletics and the way he used it with his Grand child and the reason for it failing. i am a fan of Mathletics but it is a tool that needs to be used effectively in the class.  He also talks about the 3 things that effective teachers do - provide great interest, increase student achievement and develop greater confidence. These three pillars are highlighted through a video of a class in Auckland.

Ulearn notes - click here