Is homework a waste of time?

President Hollande of France raised eyebrows around the world as he outlined his thoughts on banning homework from French schools.

Francois Hollande doesn’t think it is fair that some kids get homework help from their parents while children who come from disadvantaged families don’t.

Before we label Mr. Hollande as a crazy nut bag, Australia has also queried the relevance of homework in primary schools and has evidence to support their findings that  primary school homework offers no real benefit - and only limited results in junior high school.

There was genuine purpose seen in years 11 and 12 but not much else.

Whilst I am not collecting children's pocket money to raise this topic.  I do at times see it as menial work, and have found homework tasks such as a Passion Project to be far more beneficial to younger and middle years students as it allows them to drive their learning intentions outside the classroom.

In saying that i have also seen it used to great effect.

So...  I would like to pose the question

Is homework a waste of time?  And at what point does it become effective?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

3 reasons why the iPad mini is the iPad for Education

Back in January 2012 Apple hosted an educational event in New York that made a real push for the iPad to be the computing device of choice for the classroom.

With improved iBooks for text books, iTunes U and the fact that it deliberately kept the old reliable 16gb iPad 2 on the market for so long specifically for schools it made a strong case.

Today Apple released it's iPad mini a 7.9 inch iPad mini and it almost seems to have been designed with students and readers in mind. 

Firstly this thing is small enough to comfortably fit into a school bag or a large set of cargo pants.  And that reduction in size coupled with Apple's excellent design standards mean this device is the hardiest iPad on the market which is great for the classroom and should result in a lot less cracked screens. 

Darren Murph from Engadget went hands on with it and points out however that it is not too small for typing.    "It's still not "small," though. While a fully outstretched adult hand can generally grasp it without help from the other, you'll still want both for typing and using apps."

Secondly it has the best battery life of any iPad. Due to it's slightly older processor and lower resolution screen of it's big brothers the iPad mini you can comfortably squeeze out 10 hours of non stop use of this little fella.

Finally it is cheap.  At $70 less than the lowest 'BIG' iPad this is a huge saving for schools who like mine will be buying hundreds at a time.  That either means more of them for your students or budget savings for other needs.  Students tend to have smaller hands, and public school districts tend to have even tinier budgets; it's really not a matter of "if" digital devices will take the place of more traditional teaching methods, but "when."

So if you like me are looking at iPads for the classroom, then surely the iPad mini will be a must consider. 

It is by no means the most technically advanced member of the family, as it essentially a shrunken iPad 2 with a 2012 overhaul,

But with Apple's track record with these devices and the reduction in size and price for little hands and budgets it appears to be a winner.

Looking at it from another perspective.  Apple also released the iPad 4 today which is surely the least impressive update of any of their iOS devices with literally no wow factor over it's predecessor. And this gives me confidence in the knowledge that these devices have reached maturation and the iPad mini my school buys today will be not too unlike the iPad mini of two years down the track.

5 great Google sites for teachers

Google has a number of web services and tools that offer a range of use to teachers.  Here are five sites from the big G that you can use in you classroom today with some ideas to support them.

Google Custom Search Engine:  Create your own class custom search engine and tell Google which sites you  want it to index, and you’ll be able to offer your students the best of  the web.  Ie:  Create a science search engine inclusive of 10 of your favourite science sites.

Google Book Search: Search from a mammoth selection of  books ranging from popular best sellers to out-of-print books on Google’s Book Search.

Google classroom posters: When you have exhausted our awesome collection of classroom posters then,  help your students search the web better with these posters that  contain tips for using Google Search and other Google products.

Google classroom activities: Here, Google offers a small selection of activity ideas for primary school children.

Google Maps: Get your class to use Google Maps to build maps of your community, learn about cities, and more and now you can even explore the great barrier reef with street view too.

Please be sure to let us know about another great Google sites or tools you might use too.

The Seven Pillars of Successful Teachers

It would be hoped at some point in your schooling life that you had a great teacher.  Someone who inspired you to try something new or taught you something you thought rather difficult at the time.

Good teachers aren't bred overnight.  They take a little while to develop their craft of teaching, and more importantly their own style and rapport with their students.

Many traits of successful teachers are impossible to define and they go much further than just these seven qualities listed below.  But these are the key ingredients we feel all successful teachers posses.

A good teacher is organised

Getting 25 students who come from different backgrounds and have different abilities on the same page is a difficult task. Teachers must be able to manage students’ multiple personalities and organize their subject matters so that a maximum number of students benefits from their lessons.

A good teacher is enthusiastic

Excellent teachers, no matter what their age or position never lose enthusiasm for their profession. They may become weighed down by administrative hassles or isolated problems, but their underlying engagement with their work is unwavering. Students pick up on this energy, and teachers who project it will always have great relationships with teachers and students.

A good teacher is patient

No one expects a great teacher to have unending patience with students whose egos and immaturity dictates so much of your time and effort you are not able to meet the needs of others.  Be aware of these students and make them aware of your stance also.  A good teacher should however, be very patient with students who are prepared to learn.  Learning is a lifelong process and you are building the formative steps for many important lessons in life.  In some cases this will not happen in a calendar year.

A good teacher always relates learning to real life.

Every lesson should be taught in a context that is relevant to your students.   Teaching Algebraic equations to a 14 year old is easy.  Taking them outside and finding a link to something in nature or their own lives can be difficult.  Before you ask your students to open up page 131, get them to watch a video clip, give them a famous quote supporting the learning intention and find out the name of the guy who invented algebra and tell your students why he had such a passion for it.

A good teacher is compassionate

Great teachers are able to work with students with varying levels of maturity and knowledge. No matter whether you are 25 or 55 remember that you were once a child without the wisdom of the world behind you and you must respect that it is there role to find their direction in life but today it is your job to guide them.

A good teacher is a lifelong learner

 If you have no interest in the subjects you teach then why are you teaching?  All good teachers are intellectually curious and naturally driven by their interests in their chosen fields

A good teacher is well planned.

Good teachers must have a plan.  You don’t always have to stick to them and at times it can be foolish to.  But you must have a learning intention and a plan or you have got nothing. Effective teachers sense when students need more time to absorb the material and, within limitations, are willing to give it to them.

If you feel that there are any other skills a great teacher should possess, please don't hesitate to make a comment below.

Has the iPad Peaked in Education?

As we, and I assume many other schools around the world prepare to buy computer resources for 2013 and beyond it is been apparent that 'The must have tool in Education"  for the last 18 months is the iPad.

This comes with good reasoning too as it has refreshed our view of learning technologies and really freed us from the shackles of desktop computing and showed many a fresh alternative to windows.

The question I find myself asking now as we look at three year lease programs is has the iPad Peaked in education?  Barring a few software tweaks and faster processors is this as good as it gets?  The more I speak to others in education and start to look at alternatives I am increasingly seeing that the iPad's future is not as bright as Apple would like to have us think.

For example Last month we had the sales and Education reps come in from Apple Australia and woo our region for a day about 'How the iPad has been  the saviour of education' and that we should not doubt the ingenuity and creativity Apple has been responsible for in changing the direction of technology for the last few years, and furthermore we should not question this continuing in the future.

The problem I found with the barrage of iOS worship from cool guys in black skivvies and T-shirts was that for the first time, nearly everybody in the room had heard it all before.  And some of the statements about the iPad we heard were so desperate to grab our attention I definitely sensed they were shooting the iPad down more than pumping up its tyres.

Statements such as "No one will be carrying wallets by the end of the decade thanks to iOS 6's passbook"  were just plain embarrassing and insulting for anyone who has used it.

The second point for consideration I began to wonder after seeing some educational workshops regarding Garageband and iMovie in the classroom I had seen twice before now is, what is Apple planning for the future in Education?

Next, we got a 10 minute lecture on how brilliant iTunesU is for teachers to create content for their kids to access on their iPads only to be instantly shot down by the fact that in fact teachers cannot currently do this unless you are a lecturer at a University. So it's great but 95 percent of teachers cannot access this.

Just last month Apple released the iPhone 5 and try as you might to upsell how great a phone it actually is at the end of the day it is esentially an iPhone 4 with another row of icons and a faster processor.  It's not the kind of innovation we have become used to from Apple, and I can't see this changing anytime soon as Apple now seem a little hamstrung by an environment they have created.

I don't feel Apple are asleep at the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, it is more of a case they have played 5 years of winning hands in the tech stakes and they are now left holding a number of minor cards, whilst their opposition begin to rollout both similar and even more innovative tech solutions for education around them.  It has happened in every form of industry for decades.

Another point of consideration is the fact the iPad has always had a mixed relationship in education in the sense that kids and teachers loved it because engaged kids and had thousands of great educational apps that could be downloaded and used instantly. But it definitely has it's shortcomings as a genuine enterprise learning tool.

Let's not hide fact the iPad is fatally flawed by its association to the mess that is iTunes and iCloud. It cannot connect to existing 96% of school networks running windows, it cannot print to an enterprise network with any great success and has nothing close to Microsoft Office when you tire of playing math swipe games and actually need something substantial for a presentation, project, want to do some web design or use any of Adobe's creative tools such as Photoshop beyond removing redeye or cropping.

I own an iPad, my wife kids and I love it, but hate what it can't do too and I get the feeling many others are finding this too.

With Windows 8 only days away and a monsoon of both cheap and expensive tablets already available for it.  And the diversity of Microsoft's own surface tablet which at this point appears to do everything an iPad can as well as offer 100 percent functionality of a windows PC too our school regions are beginning to think Windows 8 tablets have a great deal to offer teachers and students over the iPad.

I would love to hear your thoughts about what your schools are doing now and looking into the future when it comes to putting the best piece of hardware in front of our kids to offer the best learning opportunities.

Why we should value art more in the curriculum

As we become more dependent on data driven results in maths and literacy to gauge our kid’s intelligence and academic performance the first area to generally see budget and time cuts is the arts. However, there are compelling reasons why art should remain an important part of a K -12 curricula even if it means sacrificing in other academic and extracurricular areas.

 Plato mentions art schools as early as 400 BC.  Art education became popular in the late 19th and early 20th century and continues to be taught in public and public schools today.  Art education was retained as a part of the core curriculum in the “No Child Left Behind Act” in the United States.  However, unlike other areas of the curriculum, schools are not required to assess students in the arts, nor are they required to report on their progress.  Therefore, many schools are decreasing the amount of time that students spend studying the arts.

Why Is Art Important?

 An art education curriculum is important to students at all grade levels.  At the elementary school level, art education helps students enhance their language development.  Students are encouraged to describe their art and the art of others. This requires them to use descriptive words and to develop critical linguistic skills.

At the high school level a solid foundation in the arts can lead to different work opportunities.  A student may decide to become a traditional painter, sculptor or woodworker or follow a more modern career path and become a graphic artist or a web designer.

At all levels, art education teaches students to be creative, to be thoughtful and to take pride in their work and it teaches them how to accept and use constructive criticism.  It also reminds makes them more aware and mindful of their surroundings. 

How to Fund Art Education?

 As with most academic subjects, the majority of the funding for art education comes from the local school budget.  However, school boards, principals and concerned parents should be aware that there are other sources of funding available such as an art education grants.

 It may be useful to consult your local board of education to see if there are any state grants available to help offset the cost of the art teacher or art supplies.

 Additional art education grants are available through private organizations.  IN the United States the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes art education for all students, not just those with exceptional talent.  The organization believes that art is very important to the education of all children from prekindergarten through high school.

Art Education Curriculum

 There are many different art education curricula available.  Each art education curriculum takes a different approach to achieve much the same goals.  There is no one curriculum that is right for art education across all schools just as there is no one algebra curriculum that works in every high school.

 Local art teachers and principals will need to work together to study different art curricula and art education resources to determine which is the right fit for their school.

Opportunities for Serious Artists

 While art education is undoubtedly important for all students, talented and serious artists often need more art education than their school can provide.  Accordingly, many communities have established charter schools or other special high schools that focus on the arts.  The budding artists are able to spend more time intensely studying their craft while still receiving all of the core academic education that their peers in the regular high school receive.

When schools decide their annual budgets they undoubtedly face difficult challenges because there is a set amount of money and many worthwhile programs which require funding.  Yet, it is the responsibility of those school boards to make sure that students receive the best education possible.  Art education becomes important in that regard as it helps create confident, insightful and sensitive children who become excellent students and productive members of the adult society.

Why teachers drink

Have you ever taught a lesson and thought you did a great job of it? Only to be demoralised when your students come to you with a completely wrong understanding of what you have just taught.

Below are a collection of some great misunderstood lessons. I'd love to hear of any you have to share

Have you ever taught a lesson and thought you did a great job of it? Only to be demoralised when your students come to you with a completely wrong understanding of what you have just taught.

Below are a collection of some great misunderstood lessons. I'd love to hear of any you have to share

10 Common grammatical errors that drive teachers nuts.

Hey, I'll be the first to admit that everyone makes the odd grammatical error every once inow and then.  But there is an ever growing incidence of students are making unforgivable mistakes with their grammar because it is almost common place.

These mistakes might get overlooked in junior high or elementary school, but as students start going for jobs and or university places these common grammatical errors can be near fatal in some employers and educators eyes.

So... Here are ten of the most common grammatical errors that every teacher should aim to drive out their students before the end of the year.

Let us know if you have any others.

"Alot"

Despite not being an actual word, "alot" certainly sees a staggering amount of usage both on the Internet and in the classroom. More of a spelling error forcing "a" and "lot" into an unholy portmanteau than a grammar offense, it nevertheless elicits more than a few eyetwitches.

Your vs. You’re

This one drives me insane, and it’s become extremely common among bloggers. All it takes to avoid this error is to take a second and think about what you’re trying to say.

“Your” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your blog.” “You’re” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re screwing up your writing by using your when you really mean you are.”

There vs. Their

This one seems to trip up everyone occasionally, often as a pure typo. Make sure to watch for it when you proofread.

“There” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Always do the “that’s ours!” test—are you talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “their” will get you there.

Tense disagreement

Before turning in that term paper, do make sure that every verb tense agrees with one another. Otherwise, one ends up creating an exceptionally awkward reading experience.

In my personal opinion:

If it's your opinion, it's personal. The qualifier "personal" is redundant. This one is so often used, though, that it can be hard to avoid.

Affect or Effect:

It's not entirely surprising that these are mixed up often, given their similar spellings and meanings. Affect is a verb, and effect is a noun. You can affect something, which might have an effect.

"Ain’t"

Some enjoy touting, "ain’t ain’t a word," but its cozy little spot in Merriam-Webster would beg to disagree. Although this doesn’t mean it inherently works in a formal writing piece. Save it for something more casual — or fiction.

Punctuation outside quotation marks

When writing dialogue or embedding a quote, remember that any appropriate punctuation belongs inside the quotation marks.

Loose/lose

"Loose" happens when something isn’t tight, whereas "lose" provides verbage for the phenomenon of a noun managing to either disappear or seem like it did.