Most Clicked ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief Stories
1. Canadian family wins battle to exempt children from homework
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
Globe and Mail (Toronto), The (19 Nov.)
2. Educator trains teachers, students in new technology
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
An educator in England has created two Web sites to improve classroom technology use among teachers and students. Both Web sites provide video training on using new technology such as Twitter and Wikimail, but one site is targeted to teachers, and the other site is for students. Independent (London), The (19 Nov.)
3. Understanding by Design Exchange
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
Understanding by Design is a framework for designing curriculum, assessments and instruction. This framework explores questions such as: What is teaching for understanding? How can you unpack content standards to identify the important big ideas that you want students to understand? What instructional practices are engaging and effective for developing student understanding? To help educators enrich student understanding, ASCD offers the Understanding by Design Exchange, a Web site dedicated to the design of curriculum, assessment and instruction that leads students to deep understanding of content.
- Find out more.
- Also available: Review other Understanding by Design resources
4. Toronto students stay in school "Beyond 3:30"
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
Beyond 3:30, a Toronto pilot programme at eight middle schools, gives disadvantaged students free after-school access to food, homework help or even chess. Officials say they launched the programme based on research showing that middle-school students without structured activities engage in high-risk activity after school. Metro (Canada) (17 Nov.)
5. Teaching Kids to Teach Each Other
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
In a new ASCD book, "Productive Group Work," authors Nancy Frey, Doug Fisher and Sandi Everlove guarantee that engaged, cooperative group work can occur in every classroom. How can teachers use collaborative learning to help students "consolidate what they know, clarify what they don't know, and extend their learning skills"? The authors recently sat down for an ASCD Talks With an Author interview, where Frey called productive group work the "linchpin for what happens in student learning."
6. Schools to use technology to access labs throughout the world
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
Students in the US are using lab equipment at Australia's University of Queensland via a live webcam and a programme known as the iLab Network. "ILabs demonstrate how innovative learning technologies can level the playing field and provide all students -- regardless of a school's location or resources -- access to advanced and authentic science lab experiences," one educator said. United Press International (17 Nov.)
7. Pakistan's schools are urged to abandon focus on memorisation
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
Some are calling for Pakistan's schools to abandon their focus on rote memorisation and adopt a more inquiry-based approach to learning, which will encourage critical thinking and curiosity among students. This focus has put a spotlight on a speech-writing competition, with one teacher arguing that some student speeches are actually written by teachers or parents, with students simply memorising the words. News - International (Pakistan), The (16 Nov.)
8. Head teacher: England's focus is on average students, not the gifted
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
England's schools are too focused on boosting the performance of average students to give extra attention to gifted students, one head teacher says. "I find there is a huge reluctance amongst my secondary head colleagues to focus any kind of real attention, activity and resources on the most able," Liz Allen said while speaking at the Girls' Schools Association annual meeting. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said new, individualized curriculum will allow for a focus on bright students. Telegraph (London) (17 Nov.)
9. Four Australian private schools close because of financial problems
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
Four private schools that have filed for bankruptcy have closed, and Australian officials are investigating 41 others believed to be having financial trouble. The closed schools enrolled 2,700 international students, and Australian officials have pledged to help students find other schools or reimburse their tuition. VietNamNet Bridge (17 Nov.)
10. Expert: Australian teacher satisfaction could improve with changes
ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
According to the Australian Education Union's annual survey of new teachers, their top concern is classroom violence and bad student behaviour -- and it may be why many new teachers are quitting and about half plan to leave the profession, an education expert writes in this opinion column. Kevin Donnelly suggests that conditions could improve if principals were given more autonomy over school operations. Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia), The (16 Nov.)
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