Thomas Education

At YISS we have data projectors in each classroom, but no Interactive WhiteBoards. An idea to make our classrooms more amenable to data-projector use; to gain one of the benefits of a SmartBoard:   Currently most classrooms have 2 large WhiteBoards attached to, and centered on, one wall of the classroom.  They also have an electric-rolldown projection screen centered on that wall, with a projector aimed at the screen.  Thus, when the screen is not rolled down, the image projects onto the WhiteBoards, with the metal border of each board precisely down the center of the image!   The projector lens is focused on the roll-down screen; but the additional distance to the WhiteBoard is not so great as to make the image fuzzy when projected directly onto the Board.  However, the vertical metal frame down the middle makes the image almost useless when projected directly onto the Boards. Solution, given existing purchasing stock of WhiteBoards:  shift the Boards at...

Notes on the feasibility of using SafeExamBrowser for final exams, after some practical experience 30May morning with English9 final exams. Summary:  Planning for final exams online, from MPR: 1- Best to stagger logins, so that the servers are not overwhelmed by a surge of requests; 2- SafeExamBrowser is markedly less functional with editable textboxes (i.e. not good with lots of essay questions) 3- SafeExamBrowser is probably most appropriate when we need a few students to take an online quiz without our close monitoring.    4- Need to remind SafeExamBrowser users -- maybe add some text on the YISS splash page like this: The SafeExamBrowser is designed with some features different from a regular browser.  Certain features are disabled:  switching to another window, copypaste and selection keys.  Because of extra security, the response time may be a bit slower than usual, so be patient.  Note the “busy traffic” blinking icon shows in the...

A thoughtful writer comes up with explanations for Interactive WhiteBoards' tepid success in helping students, and great success in selling product to administrators.  Lesson: now sell your stock in Promethean. Check out this article on Edsurge , by J.Orbaugh. As much as I have loved using Interactive WhiteBoards in the classroom, their cost seems quite disproportionate to the benefit in most classrooms.   In most cases, a simpler technology that allows the computer to track gross pointer movement onscreen would be sufficient.   The extra software control requires so much investment in training -- and adjusting lesson plans -- that few teachers use it, and few administrators allocate the training time and administrative attention to get it used. Again we return to my basic assumption: administrator attention is where things happen.  

At the NESA2012 Spring Educators Conference, teacher Pilar Quezzaire, of the American Community School in Beirut, presented a short workshop on the use of live simulations.  During the workshop, participants practiced with a brief simulation of the Syrian crisis – we randomly selected disparate roles of participants, then provided some statements and responses that would be characteristic of those roles.  Ms.Quezzaire added a modern twist to the role-playing by instructing us to act as bloggers.  Role-playing allows us to avoid personal conflicts in class, but even so it often engenders empathetic reactions.  Blogging our comments provides some emotional distance, and also allows students to research through that very medium – i.e. finding and reading weblogs of people filling each role in the society. Further, the spotlight on blogs allows students to see more directly the isolating nature of the medium, thereby encouraging them to recognize the ...

Relections on the Classroom Use of Simulations, as discussed at the NESA Spring Educators Conference April 2012 Neil McCurdy, Ph.D. taught the Technology-Infused Project Learning Institute at the NESA Spring Educators Conference, April 1, 2012. Dr. McCurdy now serves as Assistant principal at a new charter school in San Diego, Coleman Tech. He formerly taught at High Tech High with pairs of teachers (science & language), but he was dissatisfied because of lack of differentiation there. He recommends using StarLogo TNG v1.5 (The Next Generation) software for teaching programming concepts while working on realistic projects. This particular Project-Based Learning emphasizes the additional level of abstraction presented in creating computer simulations. Although computer simulations are fun and engaging, they actually require students to exercise some higher-order thinking skills in mapping – read, abstracting – live behaviors onto a computer screen. ...

The NESA Spring Educators Conference earlier this month included a provocative speech by Ian Jukes about Education in an Age of Disruptive Innovation. Ian Jukes proposes that we are living in an age of disruptive innovation that poses a particular challenge to educators. Most of us have sat in an education-centered box for our whole lives, and thus we suffer from an affliction he humorously terms Terminal PP, i.e. Terminal Paradigm Paralysis . Disruptive innovation occurs when a new product creates new spinoff markets. For example, when first invented, the telephone needed operators, then rotary dials replaced operators, then pushbuttons enabled automation, then portable phones removed the tether, then cell phones made universal accessibility ubiquitous. Now smartphones replace many other devices -- e.g. landlines, alarm clock, and wristwatch. In the case of computers, keyboard and mouse input is now being disrupted, as touchscreens are the new normal. We must try to imagine...

The 13th annual conference of the Teachers Of Young Children gathered at Dhahran campus, March 8 , 2012. President Ros Power introduced gue st speaker Jim Leahy of IP S school. Both Barb and Jeff gave presentations during the breakout sessions: Barbara: Third Culture Kids Jeffrey: Teaching the I-Child, Unplugged  click here for the slideshare presentation.