The Extra-Credit Question: Should You Offer It or Resist?
(The Chronicle of Higher Education)
It may be the most easily predictable behavior in the undergraduate repertoire. Toward the end of every semester comes the clarion call: “Is there any extra credit I can do to help my final grade?”
Learning Science for All
(Inside Higher Ed)
Carnegie Mellon spent millions of dollars developing tools to help instructors improve their teaching. Now other institutions are invited to use them, too.
How Student SEL Competence Assessment Can Improve Teaching and Learning
(CASEL’s Measuring SEL)
In this blog, I will explore ways to use student SEL competence assessment as part of a continuous improvement cycle designed to support effective SEL instruction.
How to Turn Failure into Success
(Scientific American)
Research reveals strategies for staying motivated in the face of challenges
Classroom Strategies To Encourage Participation And Learner Agency
(KQED – Mind/Shift)
“You need instructional strategies and routines that allow everybody an entry point, particularly at the beginning of the class,”
Do You Like School Salad Bars and SEL? Tim Ryan Does. He’s Running for President
(Education Week’s Politics K-12 – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
Ryan says he’s recently become convinced that social-emotional learning should be a top priority for schools. On his congressional website, he highlights a bill he first introduced in 2011 (and reintroduced as recently as last year) that would have allowed federal money to go to teacher and principal training on SEL.
GUEST POST: The 5-Sided Flashcard
(The Learning Scientists)
The first flashcards were probably etched on small stone tablets by anxious cave-students. Innovations since then have included printed cards, new fonts, color, and the ability to design flashcards on-line. But I’m here to tell you about what I (humbly) consider the best innovation ever: The 5-sided flashcard.
Conversation #82: Melissa Beers on Classroom Management
(CAT FooD – Podcast)
A conversation between Melissa Beers (The Ohio State University) and Elizabeth Yost Hammer (XULA) on classroom management.
Top 5 Skills Employers Seek in Psychologists
(APA’s Monitor on Psychology)
Between 2015 and 2017, the most in-demand skill categories listed in job advertisements posted to the APA psycCareers website were “leadership” (19% of ads) and “cultural awareness” (18% of ads).
What Do Today’s Students Get Right And Wrong In How They Take Lecture Notes?
(BPS Research Digest)
Do students take notes in an optimal fashion, in line with what psychology research identifies as best practice? It’s an important question given that modern surveys suggest that most students’ preferred approach to exam preparation is to memorise their notes. To find out, a team led by Kayla Morehead at Kent State University has quizzed hundreds of university students about their note-taking methods and preferences, and they’ve reported their findings in the journal Memory.
Assessing Student Learning Is Integral Part of Teaching
(The Chronicle of Higher Education – Response letter)
But let’s not let hard work get in the way of doing what is right. Assessing student learning is important because learning is the point of higher education.
Individual ‘Success Plans’ for Every Student? Harvard’s Education Redesign Lab Proposes 10 Guidelines for How Educators & Communities Can Unite to Support the Whole Child
(The 74)
When children visit the doctor, they receive different treatment plans or medicines, all of which go into a medical record tracking their health. Should the same practice be adopted in education?
Education Dept. Rejects Vast Majority of Applicants for Temporary Student Loan Forgiveness Program
(The Washington Post)
Tens of thousands of public servants have applied to have their federal student loans forgiven through a temporary relief program run by the U.S. Education Department. Fewer than 300 have had success.
Leading the Way
(APA’s Monitor on Psychology)
Today’s more inclusive field of psychology wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication and determination of an earlier generation of women of color researchers. Here are the stories of some of those trailblazers.
Screen Time—Even Before Bed—Has Little Impact on Teen Well-Being: Study
(Medical Xpress)
Data from more than 17,000 teenagers show little evidence of a relationship between screen time and well-being in adolescents.
Increasing APA’s Focus on Applied Psychology
(APA’s Monitor on Psychology)
We are elevating our focus on the ways psychologists solve real-world problems, from coping with the stressors of everyday life to exploring the universe
Colleges’ Message to Ease Student Stress: Failure Is Normal
(The Washington Post)
“Failure is normal. It’s healthy. And I think people on this panel would argue it actually is transformative,” Peter Forkner, director of Bentley’s counseling center, told students. “If you’re not failing, it probably means that you’re not taking enough risks.”
A ‘Million Word Gap’ for Children Who Aren’t Read to at Home
(Science Daily)
Young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to, a new study found. This ‘million word gap’ could be one key in explaining differences in vocabulary and reading development.
Racial Bias Associated With Disparities in Disciplinary Action Across Us Schools
(Science Daily)
Across US counties, black students experience higher rates of suspension, expulsion, in-school arrests and law enforcement referrals than whites, according to a new study.
Should Schools Embrace Social and Emotional Learning?
(Education Next)
Debating the merits and costs. Calls for schools to pay heed to children’s social and emotional learning have proliferated in recent years. Is the current enthusiasm for educating the “whole learner” a much-needed correction to the narrow concentration on academic skills in the modern reform era? Or is it a misguided retreat from academic rigor and an attempt to sidestep demands to hold schools accountable?
Almost Half of New Teachers Consider Leaving Within 10 Years, According to New Study
(Science Daily)
Workload and a better work/life balance are the main reasons teachers leave or consider leaving the profession within 10 years, a new survey of 1,200 teachers finds. The nature not the quantity of the workload, with its emphasis on accountability and performance, was the crucial factor in decisions to leave.
What Are Trainee Teachers Being Taught About Reading?
(Filling the Pail)
Promoting multiple-cueing strategies to trainee teachers is not quite the same as promoting blood-letting to trainee doctors, but it’s not far off. We will know we are a profession when we take a more evidence-informed approach to training new entrants.
With Teen Suicide Rates Soaring, Some High School Athletes Focus on Mental Health
(Forbes)
“Too many times, experts said, athletes try so hard to project an image of strength that their serious problems can go unaddressed.”
How America’s College-Closure Crisis Leaves Families Devastated
(The Chronicle for Higher Education)
When colleges shut down, people get hurt
Just Because You’re Practicing an Instrument Doesn’t Mean You’re Learning
(Retrieval Practice – Weekly Learning Tips)
When practicing an instrument, completing math problems, and acquiring other skills-based content (surgery, anyone?), we assume students are learning because they’re retrieving. But that’s not always the case.
