Videos that describe new learning

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/5-videos-that-describe-new-learning/

"Prepare kids for change."  An excellent suggestion for teachers as we prepare kids to enter a world which is changing at an exponential rate.

"If I ain't learnin', it ain't fun."  Engagement is number one in education.  The only problem with this quote, is that kids are interested in many different things.  Engaging students in subjects or ideas that do not interest them can be very challenging.  So it is easy to say, but not easy to do.  Nevertheless, our job as educators is to engage.  Students who are engaged and invested will learn and retain more.


Project based learning is a great way to learn.  Above I wrote about engagement, and this is the ultimate form of engagement.  Project based learning empowers students and makes them feel like members of the workforce, and that they are making a difference.  Their learning matters.  I'm hoping that the 8th grade continues to teach Maine history as part of our curriculum.  I have several ideas for project- based learning and Yarmouth history that would be beneficial to the Yarmouth historical society as well as future 8th grade classes.


Gaming video:
blissful productivity: "happier working hard than just hanging out".  Quotes that describes gamers.  Can we harness this energy?  Put it to use to solve world problems?  What if we all went to work with this kind of engagement?   Wow.  Quite a video on how gaming can solve the world's problems.  The challenge will be to create games that are engaging enough to entice gamers to solve these problems.  A great idea that will work if the games are engaging.  It would be fun to pilot some of these games in the classroom- using the class as a collaborative environment to compete against other classes... teachers and students can be on the same team to solve the problems together- and compete against other classes.  Sounds like fun to me!