Sweet Discourse: Lilnks for 12-23-2013 to 12-29-2-13

• 25 Reading Strategies That Work In Every Content Area

• Enhance Project-Based Learning with These 10 Powerful Tools

• Consider Brennan’s Hierarchy of Imagination (via...
  

• Smartphone as Mentor: How Tech Could Change Behavior
  

• Dream Courses: My students write 7 course descriptions for ideal courses, and critique their teacher's attempts |
  

• 5 Online Games That Teach Kids the Art of Persuasion | MindShift

• Wappwolf, Home To IFTTT-Like Automation Tools, Launches iBeam.it For Sharing Content Across Online Services | TechCrunch

• Fall 2013: The Headless ds106 Syllabus

• Headless ds106ers, Stand Proudly! Some Disjointed Thoughts and Puny Data - CogDogBlog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

 

Tacit knowledge, abundant examples, and deliberate practice | Jon Udell

http://blog.jonudell.net/2013/08/26/tacit-knowledge-abundant-examples-and-deliberate-practice/

• 3 Things That People With Good Habits Do Differently

  • 3 Things That People With Good Habits Do Differently

     by James Clear
  • 1. They start with a habit that is so easy they can’t say no.
  • 2. They understand exactly what is holding them back.
  • 3. They have a plan for when they fail.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Gatekeepers of a Different Kind: Virgil not NSA

http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/2013/08/teachers-stop-acting-like-gatekeepers.html?utm_content=buffer52866&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

http://gatekeepingtheory.weebly.com/

 

• Sometimes I think that we need to ask this question because it is at the root of so much of what learning is all about:  who has the power?  Our learners, young or old, are in a state of wanting the power they think we have when they need to be tapping what they already have to get more of what they need.  And what is this power?  First, each of us is the product of millions of years of sometimes brutal natural selection and our DNA is the tightly helixed core of that power both instinctive and conscious.  Second, our system of government while highly in need of perfection has created learning pathways, some highly formalized (degree granting) and others highly informalized (#clmooc, public libraries, shared experience). These are dynamos for sharing The Knowledge as London cabbies call it.
  
  Teachers are in fact gatekeepers for good, for sharing, and for knowledge but you rightly flatten the hierarchy.  I prefer to think of them as gatekeepers of another kind.  They open doors to every single person and they make sure that there is equitable access to the dozen adjacent possible doors of power beyond them.  We are also the Virgil to their Dante at times, concierge to the hell that is the status quo for some of them.  Ideally, we want to be their Beatrice guiding to the gates of heaven. That kind of gatekeeping is not likely.
  
  My feelings about gatekeeper function are mixed.  I do not entirely agree that we don't need to be gatekeepers, but I agree that we don't want to be like God in her heaven parsing out the sheep from the goats like we do now.  Learning and knowledge are not scarce resources.  Let's not treat them as such.

Perhaps we can think of ourselves as 'gatekeep-peers'?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Toyhacking and connected learning | Language Publics

A very fine blog post below by Saskia Still that prompted more questions from her reflections.  Very valuable.

 

Toyhacking and connected learning | Language Publics

• • Takeaway #1: We now have a pool of tools for hacking, but I have a query: 

    Were your children taking something and questioning its assumptions and changing the toy to match their beliefs? I think hacking is a natural way to learn much like walking and talking, probably not overtly analytical like Chad's adult definition of hacking. Are your kids showning you that hacking is just a larger form of pattern making. That is what the brain does so very well.

• • Takeaway #2: We need to hack our children's idea of play. Is that a make or a hack?   

 

too mny devices

too mny devices, a photo by Tellio on Flickr.

Tellio's Cell Blog Mark sample intrusive scaffolding

Posted via email from tellio's posterous

My Word for 2013

• Please share your words today. #slice2013 « TWO WRITING TEACHERS

  Connect–I spent August connecting with other teachers nationwide. When August was over, I stopped. I miss it terribly and realize that while I am not great at connecting generally, I am good at being helpful. I will connect with those I already know through the channels I already have. I will connect with those I don’t know but follow. I will be helpful and grateful as my primary tools for connecting.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.