Please post suggested agenda items below
or
simply post questions to which I will try to respond.
Agenda items need to be posted no later than the end of the day on Wednesday, January 4, so that I can compile the suggestions and post the agenda, linked from the Friday newsletters, on January 6.
Have a peaceful and pleasant holiday season!
Blannie
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Follow-up to 30 November Director's Coffee Morning
Dear CAISL Community,
It was good to see many of you at the “Coffee Morning” on Wednesday, November 30. The discussion was very positive and productive and I thank each of you for your thoughts and contributions.
The next “Coffee Morning” is Wednesday, January 11, 08h45 to 09h45 so the blog is now open for suggested items. Also, if you would like to attend a meeting but cannot do so in the mornings, please post a comment suggesting an alternate time and we will see what the general sentiment is.
Summary of 30 November 2011 Meeting:
Below I am attempting to summarize briefly what was a quite lively exchange, There is no way I could take “minutes” of exactly what was said or who said what and also participate in the discussions so I am resorting to brief explanations and bullet points which, I hope, will be clearer and more easily readable than a lengthy text. I ask those of you who attended to please add things I have forgotten or provide further perspectives on our discussions or to ask other questions which perhaps occurred to you after the meeting.
The agenda was the online reporting and learning systems CAISL uses (Edline and Moodle) and the distinction between formative and summative assessments and grading.
Formative and Summative Assessments: CAISL is making an effort to make a distinction between formative assessments (work students do which helps them learn) and summative assessments (where they show what they have learned.) A Powerpoint presentation I did for faculty last year is on the school web site and is the first document shown on this page: http://www.caislisbon.org/about.cfm?subpage=2028
Homework: That discussion led to the issue of homework with the following being what I believe were the main points:
· Some parents would like more information on what homework/formative assessments their children have and whether or not they are putting in the effort necessary. We discussed homework diaries which have in past years been the main communication link between teacher and parent about homework but, with the increasing use of Moodle, these seem to be not used as consistently. As CAISL makes the transition to a formative/summative process, we need to ensure that we continue to provide parents with sufficient formative data and, in fact, this has already been recognized as a need and our reporting systems being improved.
· Whether or not homework “counts” for a grade, it needs to be assessed by the teacher to indicate which sections the student did successfully and which need improvement. This is essential to learning.
· We recognized the challenge of nurturing intrinsic motivation so that students put effort into their homework without the enticement of a reward (in the past a grade). Parental suggestions included ensuring that discussions about homework between parent and child focused on what the child was learning, not whether or not homework had been done. Another parent commented that if a child does not do his/her homework, he/she would not be able to participate fully in the class the next day and would feel embarrassed. It is unfortunate that so much of life is based on immediate, short-term rewards and it will take effort on the part of both home and school to nurture the effort which is the key to long-term success.
Moodle: This is a way of organizing lessons and communicating assignments, calendars, etc. Right now, the only grades/classes which are required to make use of Moodle are English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Portuguese/Native Language in grades 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. In reality, other grades and courses are using it also as teachers become more familiar with it. The use of Moodle right now can be as simple as a “filing cabinet” so teachers do not hand out assignments on paper but post them on Moodle. Ultimately, quite a lot of assignments will be done on Moodle and there are teachers piloting this this year as well.
· Each Moodle class has a calendar which shows when assignments are due. It was asked if the calendar could be exported to Outlook or to one’s PDA. After our meeting I asked this question of Ms. Vera Tamen, CAISL Educational IT Coordinator and she says she believes it is possible but will need to investigate. When she has an answer, I will post it but it is not likely to be immediate.
· It was also asked if the calendars for several classes (such as all classes taken by an individual student) could be integrated. Again, I did not know the answer to this and it seems a bit more difficult considering the variety of classes taken by students but I will check and post when I have the answer. Ms. Tamen is investigating this also.
Edline is simply the way CAISL is reporting student work/grades. It has replaced the paper “report cards” in the Secondary and eventually may do so in the Elementary (Grades 1 and above). In Grades 4 and 5 this year, Edline is a pilot program which runs parallel with report cards. Parents who wish access may contact Helena Santos, IT Assistant, at 1to1itsupport@caislisbon.org. Edline is different from a report card in that parents can see the grade a student received on each summative assignment, rather than merely the end-of-term grade.
· The information on Edline is often not sufficient or specific enough to provide parents with the information they want. Mentioned particularly was information on the student’s formative work. As indicated above, this is something the school has already recognized as a need and we are working on improving our reporting in this area.
· Also brought up was that grades were sometimes not posted often enough and some parents would like to see grades posted not just at mid-quarter and end-quarter. This has been extensively discussed by the professional staff and it is a delicate balance between keeping parents informed in a timely manner and posting so often that learning takes a backseat to the percentage. We are still working to get the balance right.
As I come to the end of this edition of the blog (and my notes from the meeting), I again invite comments and questions and also ask anyone who attended the meeting and wishes to remind me of a critical point which did not get into the narrative above to post a comment.
Thanks
Blannie
Monday, November 28, 2011
Agenda for 30 November and Responses to Comments
Agenda 30 November CAISL Coffee Morning--and responses to posts
Coffee Morning
November 30, 2011
08h45 to 09h45
“Old” Elementary Cafeteria
and
Responses to Posts
Thanks to each of you who posted on this blog. This is proving to be one more way to communicate but, while I value the technology and the ease of a blog, we cannot allow it to take the place of in-person conferences or other direct communication.
One of the procedures I am trying to figure out is whether or not to put online a response soon after a parent posts a question or comment or to wait and see if other parents post on the same topic. I hate waiting what could be a month or more to give a response and yet I do not want to be too hasty to post an answer and perhaps cut-off other parental posts/questions. Your ideas on this would be helpful.
The Agenda items and the posts which proposed them are shown immediately below. Further below are responses to other posts.
CAISL’s Use of Online Learning and Reporting Platforms
(Moodle, Edline, and website Teacher Pages)
Summative and Formative Grading
These items were selected out of the posts which came in because questions raised are so fundamental to home-school communication and because, in addition to the posts, questions on these topics also come up in dialog with parents.
The posts related to these topics are cut/pasted below:
Lucia Velazquez has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
I would like to talk about Moodle, Edline, and teachers'websites. Right now, the varied software/pages that teachers use to put out info and post grades is a bit confusing since they use some, all, or none of these methods and I - maybe other parents have mastered this already - have to go searching through different places to get info on my child's assignments and grades
I would like to talk about Moodle, Edline, and teachers'websites. Right now, the varied software/pages that teachers use to put out info and post grades is a bit confusing since they use some, all, or none of these methods and I - maybe other parents have mastered this already - have to go searching through different places to get info on my child's assignments and grades
Vanda Guerra has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
I would like to ask, if possible, to define some rules for the information shown in medmood. In some (few) cases, it is written what is supposed to do and when it is due but in others, I'm not able to check if my children are doing what they are supposed to because there's a lot of information but nothing is mentioned about what to do or when it is due.
I would like to ask, if possible, to define some rules for the information shown in medmood. In some (few) cases, it is written what is supposed to do and when it is due but in others, I'm not able to check if my children are doing what they are supposed to because there's a lot of information but nothing is mentioned about what to do or when it is due.
Lucia Velazquez has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
Seeing as the parent/teacher conferences have just finished and we are now almost half way through the school year, I would like to know more about the new grading system CAISL is using – “summative” grading. I am a bit confused because from what I understand, children are assigned homework, but they are not given any credit for completing it therefore homework is now not a requirement or part of the overall class grade.
Seeing as the parent/teacher conferences have just finished and we are now almost half way through the school year, I would like to know more about the new grading system CAISL is using – “summative” grading. I am a bit confused because from what I understand, children are assigned homework, but they are not given any credit for completing it therefore homework is now not a requirement or part of the overall class grade.
Ana Moreira has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...
4. Summative grading
I also would like to understand this better.
I also would like to understand this better.
5. Medmood
My son is in 6th grade. I was informed that Medmood is not mandatory, but the fact is that the teachers are using it regularly. So that this can be used as a help to the student, rather than a distraction, I suggest that the school looks for the best way to structure the pages and maintain them all similarly organized.
I have seen a documentary on TV showing that studying from documents with links (like what happens in many documents on the web) damages learnability, unless one is organized enough to read the whole document in several iterations, where in the first all the links are ignored.
How can school teach students leaning techniques for children to use on the web? How can an 11 years student ignore the web of links available in many of the electronic documents they need to access so that they use their time productively?
Is it wise to allow such young students study for a subject simply through the internet?
BC RESPONSE: Some of this last post is also responded to below.
My son is in 6th grade. I was informed that Medmood is not mandatory, but the fact is that the teachers are using it regularly. So that this can be used as a help to the student, rather than a distraction, I suggest that the school looks for the best way to structure the pages and maintain them all similarly organized.
I have seen a documentary on TV showing that studying from documents with links (like what happens in many documents on the web) damages learnability, unless one is organized enough to read the whole document in several iterations, where in the first all the links are ignored.
How can school teach students leaning techniques for children to use on the web? How can an 11 years student ignore the web of links available in many of the electronic documents they need to access so that they use their time productively?
Is it wise to allow such young students study for a subject simply through the internet?
BC RESPONSE: Some of this last post is also responded to below.
RESPONSES TO OTHER POSTS ARE BELOW.
THE POST COMES FIRST AND MY RESPONSE FOLLOWS (LABELED “BC RESPONSE AND IN BOLD ITALICS.
Pedro Campos d'Oliveira has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
The school is the place most kids have the second most important meal of the day: Lunch. So it is naturally the best place to learn some traits such as eating healthier or to have proper manners at the table.
Kids in general at some International Schools, and Caisl in particular, have in general defficiencies in their behaviour/manners at the table. It would be important to have a teacher that could share with them some etiquette manners: how to eat with the fork and knife correctly, to clean their lips before drinking from a glass, to not rest the elbows on the table, to never point the kife or display the utensils in a vertical form, to only start eating when all the people at the table have been served.
Home should not have the complete burden to teach all these things as then arguments arise every evening on the table, when we should have sometime for a nice end of the day family dialog.
So in fact, I suggest for the school to have, at least, once week, a Table Etiquette Lesson pointing out some mistakes children make, while everyday supervision of these lessons should be offered by a teacher at the cafeteria.
Kids in general at some International Schools, and Caisl in particular, have in general defficiencies in their behaviour/manners at the table. It would be important to have a teacher that could share with them some etiquette manners: how to eat with the fork and knife correctly, to clean their lips before drinking from a glass, to not rest the elbows on the table, to never point the kife or display the utensils in a vertical form, to only start eating when all the people at the table have been served.
Home should not have the complete burden to teach all these things as then arguments arise every evening on the table, when we should have sometime for a nice end of the day family dialog.
So in fact, I suggest for the school to have, at least, once week, a Table Etiquette Lesson pointing out some mistakes children make, while everyday supervision of these lessons should be offered by a teacher at the cafeteria.
BC Response: I understand your concerns and do believe that both home and school share a responsibility in this area. At school, while we do not have table etiquette lessons, we do have teachers in the lunchroom when the students are eating to ensure polite behavior and to insist on “please” and “thank you”. Further than that I do not believe that we as a school can go partly because our curriculum is already quite full and partly because table manners are very culture-specific, including such basic table etiquette as the use of knife and fork which is different in different cultures.
The Second issue, is just a suggestion. The Pasta bar should have daily only whole wheat pasta. There could be a transition period with both types, whole wheat and non-whole wheat pasta, supported with some information why kids should make the change both given orally and in a visble sign near the pasta bar. There is an extraordinary difference in the richness of a meal when this type os pasta is offered.
BC Response: Thank you for the suggestion and the catering company is looking into this.
BC Response: Thank you for the suggestion and the catering company is looking into this.
Lori Figueroa has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
I would be interested to know if there is any way to streamline or facilitate more kids getting through the lunch lines and actually having more of their lunch time to eat their food. I have heard good comments about the new lunch menu and caterer, however mixed with the frustration that the line is often too long and that a student would often spend more time in line than to eat; this also seems to hold true to trying to use a microwave, of which there are too few.
BC Response: We and the catering company (ITAU) have been, of course, well aware that the lines in the cafeteria were too long and it was taking too much time of a student’s lunch/recess to get served. There were several reasons for this. One is that more students are eating the lunch. The other is that students get to the serving counter and ask for special combinations—the meat/fish from one menu and the vegetable from another. Honoring these special requests slowed down the line considerably. The solution was implemented effective as of Nov 16. In addition to the pasta bar, there are two serving lines. One serves the set lunch menus with no choice and the students can go through quickly and pick up their plates. The other will continue to honor special combination requests.
As to the line at the microwave, there are two microwaves on the cafeteria level and two on the snack bar level. The professional staff on duty in the cafeteria has not seen any long lines at the microwaves this year. Last school year, there was a period when there was a long line at the cafeteria microwaves. It turned out that the temperature control on one of the microwaves had been accidentally set to low so it was taking a very long time for anyone to heat their food. Since this was discovered and the control reset to high, there have been no long lines in evidence.
Also on pricing - why does food in the snack bar cost more than if one goes down the street for the same or similar item at the local cafe or the most classic of Portuguese prato do dia fare cost significantly less down the street than the school lunch menu?
BC Response: Since this comment was posted, I have done some cost comparisons. First, the CAISL individual ticket lunch costs 5.25€ (grades 3 through 12) and 3.25€ (EC3 through 2nd). If one buys quarterly lunches, the cost is considerably less (3€ to 4.20€ depending on student grade). There is no place that I have found where one can get a lunch for this amount. The main plate at one of the local cafes ranges from 6.00€ to 9.00€ and then one pays extra for bread, salad, desert, water, etc. At another of the local cafes, there are “set plates” with bread, salad, main course, water, and coffee for 8.50. Other schools also charge considerably more. A well-known international school in the Lisbon area charges 8.50€ for lunch and a well-known Portuguese religious school charges 7.50€
As to the snack bar, my comparisons also showed that the CAISL snack bar is overall lower cost than the Linhó cafes. Using coffee as an example, in the CAISL Snack Bar the cost is 50 cents; in the cafes a coffee ranges from 55₵ to 60₵. This comparison held true for other foods in our snack bar although our snack bar also serves foods (such as pizza by the slice) which cannot be found in the cafés in Linhó.
Vanda Guerra has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
. . .I would like to know why we (parents and / or students) have never seen any summer photo challenge results or, more important, photos. I found it very interesting because it was a way to put students interested in visiting monuments, museums, landmarks, often places that they are not very keen about. I thought that their photos would be posted in the corridors for them to see each other’s' photos and put questions among them to better understand some places visited. But I've never seen anything about it. Is there a reason?
BC Response: Yes, the reason is simple. First, very few submissions were received and second with the moving into the new campus and the need to find/create a map the right size, the display of the pictures was unfortunately delayed. They are now posted outside the library and we are hoping to continue the initiative for holidays this year to get more pictures to display.
Jennifer has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
I am sure that CAISL has developed an emergency action plan in the unlikely event of an earthquake or a security situation. As a parent, I would appreciate knowing what I should expect to do, who I should call, or who I might expect to hear from in the event of such an event.
I am sure that CAISL has developed an emergency action plan in the unlikely event of an earthquake or a security situation. As a parent, I would appreciate knowing what I should expect to do, who I should call, or who I might expect to hear from in the event of such an event.
BC Response: We have an extensive Emergency Procedures Manual, based partly on the manual published for overseas schools by the Department of State of the USA and partly on the recommendation of local safety and security agencies. When this question was posted, I checked to see what parts of the manual could be posted online for parents and then put up on the school website (in the section called Parent Community) everything I thought was safe to put online. Even though the Parent Community section is pass-worded, it is not advisable for us to put online for wide distribution most of the security procedures which we have in place. Please go to the site and see what I have posted and give me feedback (either on this blog or to me personally or via direct email).
Tammy has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
Let me first say that after reading the comments above and nowing this page is here I would be happy to hear/read the results of the meeting. I am not able to attend this coming event, but would like to add my comments. My son is new to the school and so am I. The lunch meals in primary school have been very well received by my son and I would like to thank Caisl for the very healthy lunch meals he has enjoyed. As for table manners I would only like to note that my son at 7yrs old has improved on his table manners and will improve on this through proper parenting and I don't believe this to be something the school needs to take on board. Family meals (2/day at home) are where these manners need to be learned and taught and the school are already doing such a great job at so many other areas that manners at the table is a bit far to go. If Caisl was a prepatory school the case may be different, but as it is a school for learning about subject matter table manners should not be the schools area of focus.
The emergency plan for a natural disaster is useful and I hope that youa re able to share this.
Let me first say that after reading the comments above and nowing this page is here I would be happy to hear/read the results of the meeting. I am not able to attend this coming event, but would like to add my comments. My son is new to the school and so am I. The lunch meals in primary school have been very well received by my son and I would like to thank Caisl for the very healthy lunch meals he has enjoyed. As for table manners I would only like to note that my son at 7yrs old has improved on his table manners and will improve on this through proper parenting and I don't believe this to be something the school needs to take on board. Family meals (2/day at home) are where these manners need to be learned and taught and the school are already doing such a great job at so many other areas that manners at the table is a bit far to go. If Caisl was a prepatory school the case may be different, but as it is a school for learning about subject matter table manners should not be the schools area of focus.
The emergency plan for a natural disaster is useful and I hope that youa re able to share this.
BC Response: Thank you for your comments. Please see my comment about emergency plans in response to the post above.
Skakam has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
Unfortunately, I too, will not be able to attend the meeting, but I would love to see th responses to the excellent points brought forth by this blog (GREAT idea, by the way!!)
While I do not share an interest in ALL of the topics raised so far, I would like to hear the responses to the following - Moodle/edline issues, length of time spent on line at lunch (my son has TWICE not been able to even GET lunch due to this problem),prices of the snack bar food, emergency plan for natural disaster (should I try to meet up with my son at school, call the school, wait at home, etc.?). Will the minutes from your meeting be posted anywhere that we can keep up with it?
BC Response: I hope most of your questions are responded to in other sections of this blog. Within a few days after the Coffee Hour on the 30th of November, I will post an update/summary of the main points.
Unfortunately, I too, will not be able to attend the meeting, but I would love to see th responses to the excellent points brought forth by this blog (GREAT idea, by the way!!)
While I do not share an interest in ALL of the topics raised so far, I would like to hear the responses to the following - Moodle/edline issues, length of time spent on line at lunch (my son has TWICE not been able to even GET lunch due to this problem),prices of the snack bar food, emergency plan for natural disaster (should I try to meet up with my son at school, call the school, wait at home, etc.?). Will the minutes from your meeting be posted anywhere that we can keep up with it?
BC Response: I hope most of your questions are responded to in other sections of this blog. Within a few days after the Coffee Hour on the 30th of November, I will post an update/summary of the main points.
Ana Moreira has left a new comment on your post "Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee...":
1. Classes 90 minutes long.
Although for certain subjects this might be a good idea (PE and Art), for most subjects this is anti-pedagogical. Most children (if not all) are unable to concentrate for that long without a break.
I know that in certain subjects students spend some time developing projects and are allowed to move around. Despite this, I am still sceptical about the idea.
I would like to hear from the school examples where this approach has been tested with positive results.
1. Classes 90 minutes long.
Although for certain subjects this might be a good idea (PE and Art), for most subjects this is anti-pedagogical. Most children (if not all) are unable to concentrate for that long without a break.
I know that in certain subjects students spend some time developing projects and are allowed to move around. Despite this, I am still sceptical about the idea.
I would like to hear from the school examples where this approach has been tested with positive results.
BC Response: Historically, classes in American schools were 40 to 45 minutes in length. This was the default organization of schools whose sole goal was to produce students who were literate and numerate. Students went to school to have the teachers convey knowledge to them. (An interesting TedTalk on this issue is Diane Laufenberg at http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_laufenberg_3_ways_to_teach.html .) Today, the knowledge is not just at school and not just in the teacher’s head. Knowledge (or at least information) if available all around at all times. For a student to go beyond the basics of knowledge acquisition to synthesis and analysis and independent learning and collaboration, a daily “dose” of 45 minutes is not sufficient. During a class period, a teacher would barely get to help students with the lower levels of knowledge acquisition before the bell would ring. The higher order thinking skills require the longer time blocks.
The issue of “attention span” is an interesting one. If a human is asked to sit quietly and focus on a teacher talking, the attention span is measured in a few short minutes. Attention span increases with engagement in a lesson, with being actively involved and not just a passive recipient.
Now, all of that having been said, there are two content areas in which the shorter time blocks have proven more effective than the longer ones—the beginning levels of a foreign language and the acquisition of math skills below the level of Algebra I. It is for this reason that 7th grade math is now 40 minutes long daily and that 6th grade teachers have always had the flexibility, within the constraints of an overall time schedule, to adapt class contact time as the students need.
2. Breaks
I hear that breaks are too short to allow students to move between classes (especially if they need to use the toilet). Also, with two consecutive classes of 90 minutes each, students need a break for a snack. Please remember that many students have their breakfast very early in the morning.
3. Lunch & afternoon snack
I also hear that lines for lunch are sometimes long and that there is not enough time for lunch.
Also, I would like to understand why the afternoon snack has been removed from middle school. Please remember that some students live far from school and take over one hour to get home. They get home starving, sometimes even feeling nausea.
BC Response (I have combined #2 and #3 into this one response as they are closely related):
1. I have addressed the issue of the lunch line earlier so will not repeat myself.
2. There has never been an afternoon snack period between classes. The time between classes in the afternoon has been shortened by a couple of minutes but it was never long enough—and never meant to be long enough—for a snack.
3. The morning break is sufficiently long for students to take care of their personal needs and have a snack. It is true that sometimes the line at the snack bar is long and we are working to streamline service there. Many students bring a snack from home and this is an option rather than buying a snack in the snack bar.
4. I will also address the comment in #4 below about the time without eating on half days for secondary school students. On half days there is still a sufficiently long morning break for a snack. The factor which could interfere would be the length of the line at the snack bar which sometimes clears quickly and sometimes does not. A snack from home is always an option.
4. Half days and “bridges”
I would like to suggest that the school finds an alternative solution for the teachers’ meetings. Although I understand those are necessary, this system is very disruptive and not all parents can miss work to be at home at lunchtime to receive the children. Also, in these days, students do not have time for lunch, what means they can be from 7 am to 13.30pm without eating!
Another issue is that of “pontes”. The school closed, for example, last Monday October 31st.
I am sure the school calendar starts early enough to discount for these. However, for many parents, it would be easier to have children on holidays an extra week or two in September than having all this interruptions during the school year.
BC Response:
“Pontes”—There is no way the school will every do this to the satisfaction of everyone. Annually, we take some pontes but not others, depending on how close the ponte would come to other holidays. This year, for example, we took the one on 31 October but are not taking the two in December. We occasionally get complaints about taking the pontes but we equally get complaints when we don’t—and we can count on a higher absence rate on a ponte day when much of Portugal takes the day and we don’t. It is quite possible that the change of the holiday calendar which is being discussed as part of the austerity measures will take care of this dilemma for us as it appears as though some holidays could be eliminated and/or moved to the nearest Friday or Monday.
Half Days—I realize the potential for child care problems caused by the 7 or so half days for professional development during the year. However, the positive impact on coordination of school programs is great and there is no other way that works as well as the occasional half-days. It is not possible to compress the time into a week or so at the beginning or end of the year as the need is for time to work together beyond what we can carve out after school and then for teams of teachers to work on their own and come back to the larger group. Last year and this year, for example, we have been writing our report for our 10-Year Accreditation Visit in March and learning how to use and coordinating the use of Edline and Moodle. A compressed time frame would not be nearly as effective as time on a half day, followed by individual or small team work, followed by time together again. We also meet after the school day but always face the challenge of having all of the teachers we need available as so many are involved in running after-school activities.
4. Summative grading
I also would like to understand this better.
On the Agenda for 30 November
5. Medmood
My son is in 6th grade. I was informed that Medmood is not mandatory, but the fact is that the teachers are using it regularly. So that this can be used as a help to the student, rather than a distraction, I suggest that the school looks for the best way to structure the pages and maintain them all similarly organized.
I have seen a documentary on TV showing that studying from documents with links (like what happens in many documents on the web) damages learnability, unless one is organized enough to read the whole document in several iterations, where in the first all the links are ignored.
How can school teach students leaning techniques for children to use on the web? How can an 11 years student ignore the web of links available in many of the electronic documents they need to access so that they use their time productively?
Is it wise to allow such young students study for a subject simply through the internet?
5. Medmood
My son is in 6th grade. I was informed that Medmood is not mandatory, but the fact is that the teachers are using it regularly. So that this can be used as a help to the student, rather than a distraction, I suggest that the school looks for the best way to structure the pages and maintain them all similarly organized.
I have seen a documentary on TV showing that studying from documents with links (like what happens in many documents on the web) damages learnability, unless one is organized enough to read the whole document in several iterations, where in the first all the links are ignored.
How can school teach students leaning techniques for children to use on the web? How can an 11 years student ignore the web of links available in many of the electronic documents they need to access so that they use their time productively?
Is it wise to allow such young students study for a subject simply through the internet?
BC Response: This is also on the agenda for 30 November but let me respond briefly here.
Moodle is merely a tool; it has material (documents, links to web site, activities) posted by the teacher. In the past the material was Xeroxed and handed to students or “worksheets” were given which were corrected in class the next day. Moodle allows work to be created which gives immediate feedback (although not all teachers are using this yet.) To say that “students study for a subject simply through the internet” is inaccurate. Documents on the internet selected by the teacher are accessed by the student; there is very little difference between reading a document in a textbook and reading a document online except the technology involved—and the fact that the online document is likely to be more current.
6. Flip teaching
I would like to see this subject explored in this meeting. How does this work with 6 graders?
6. Flip teaching
I would like to see this subject explored in this meeting. How does this work with 6 graders?
BC Response: Flip Teaching is providing the basic content and skills instruction at home via video or audio clips so that the teacher can work in class with students on actual skills acquisition and analysis. This is more common in math and science than in other disciplines although the other disciplines are catching up. The advantage of using instructional video/audio clips is that some students “get it” the first time they hear and some need to hear and see the material several times to “get it.” Using an online source allows students to “rerun” the instruction at their own speed as many times as they wish. It is called “Flip Teaching” because it “flips” the instruction and practice model. Traditionally, the teacher in class did the instruction and the students at home did the practice. The result was that some students struggled with the practice—alone at home—and often got themselves confused. Flip Teaching changes the process so that the basic instruction can be done electronically at home and a student’s own speed and the practice done in the class where a teacher can give assistance at the first sign of confusion. One of the major sources for home instruction information can be found at http://www.khanacademy.org/
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Wednesday, November 30: Monthly Director's Coffee Morning, 08h45 to 10h00
Dear CAISL Parents,
Traditionally, there have been 4 "open forum" meetings for the parents of the CAISL community, 2 held by the Board of Trustees in the evenings and 2 held by me (called Coffee Mornings). All of these sessions had the goal of meeting informally with any parents who wished to attend, to hear concerns, engage in productive dialog and problem-solving, and respond as far as possible to questions.
The 1st Coffee Morning was held on 26 October and at that meeting it was decided that instead of twice a year, the Coffee Mornings would occur monthly.
So the next Coffee Morning is Wednesday, November 30, from 08h45 until 10h00.
What is different from the past is that there will be an agenda, generated via this blog, based on what is on your minds, what you would like to talk about, what questions you would like answers to.
As always, however, there are some parameters within which we will operate. If you have a question or concern which directly relates to your own child, other children, a specific teacher or other CAISL employee, you will need to address that privately with the person most able to respond--the teacher or other employee first, then the Principal (or Business Manager or other direct supervisor if the employee is not a teacher). Individuals will not be discussed.
To put an item on the agenda for 30 November, please add a comment below. Please sign your name as anonymous posts will be deleted and not considered. Posts which have negative comments about individuals will also be deleted. If you wish to bring something to my attention but hesitate to put it in a public posting, please email me.
This blog will be "open" for suggestions for the 30 November agenda until 25 November at which point no further suggestion for the November Coffee Morning will be accepted and the agenda will be posted.
At the 30 November Coffee Morning, we will set the date for the next Coffee Morning and a blog will be opened for suggested agenda items for that meeting.
I look forward to meeting with you monthly and to your comments and suggested agenda items.
Traditionally, there have been 4 "open forum" meetings for the parents of the CAISL community, 2 held by the Board of Trustees in the evenings and 2 held by me (called Coffee Mornings). All of these sessions had the goal of meeting informally with any parents who wished to attend, to hear concerns, engage in productive dialog and problem-solving, and respond as far as possible to questions.
The 1st Coffee Morning was held on 26 October and at that meeting it was decided that instead of twice a year, the Coffee Mornings would occur monthly.
So the next Coffee Morning is Wednesday, November 30, from 08h45 until 10h00.
What is different from the past is that there will be an agenda, generated via this blog, based on what is on your minds, what you would like to talk about, what questions you would like answers to.
As always, however, there are some parameters within which we will operate. If you have a question or concern which directly relates to your own child, other children, a specific teacher or other CAISL employee, you will need to address that privately with the person most able to respond--the teacher or other employee first, then the Principal (or Business Manager or other direct supervisor if the employee is not a teacher). Individuals will not be discussed.
To put an item on the agenda for 30 November, please add a comment below. Please sign your name as anonymous posts will be deleted and not considered. Posts which have negative comments about individuals will also be deleted. If you wish to bring something to my attention but hesitate to put it in a public posting, please email me.
This blog will be "open" for suggestions for the 30 November agenda until 25 November at which point no further suggestion for the November Coffee Morning will be accepted and the agenda will be posted.
At the 30 November Coffee Morning, we will set the date for the next Coffee Morning and a blog will be opened for suggested agenda items for that meeting.
I look forward to meeting with you monthly and to your comments and suggested agenda items.
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