Blogs on Teacher Development

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Dr. Richard CurwinApril 15, 2013

If you have ever lived with another person and come home to find them in a bad mood, how long did it take you to figure it out? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? Most people say "seconds," and some can tell before they even enter the same room. That's how children feel when they enter your classroom. They can tell within a minute or so whether they will like it or not. Research says within the first five minutes, but I think it’s faster.

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Dr. Joe MazzaApril 12, 2013

Last week, the annual Silfen Forum was held at the University of Pennsylvania. The theme, Open Learning and the Future of Higher Education, brought together educators from around the country, including the panelists Amy Gutmann, Martha Kanter, Thomas Friedman, Daphne Koller and William Kirwan. A common thread during the one-hour conversation was on how the world has gone from connected to hyper-connected over the last seven years. The rise of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Classrooms) has forced us to re-evaluate what traditional college and university teaching and learning look like. A full sharing of tweets from and about the forum can be found on Storify.

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Elena AguilarApril 9, 2013

Like many of us committed to public education, I'm constantly searching for what's working and what can be replicated. This year I've discovered two essential ingredients for any successful school system to be effective. Think of these ingredients as the yeast and flour of any kind of bread -- obvious and essential -- and they must be used in combination with each other. I'll name these two staples as "The Destination" and "The Road Map."

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Karen LeaApril 3, 2013

How many of you would go see a movie or read a book that was all mixed up? Let's face it, we all like a good beginning, middle and end in movies and books. So why not in our lessons?

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Brandon WileyMarch 27, 2013

Much has been made in the media and press about the Finnish education system. Our goal this week is to uncover the beliefs and practices that contribute to a successful education system here. To help us delve into this topic, we spent time visiting the University of Helsinki, a leading teacher education institution in Finland. Dr. Jari Lavonen shared the history of the Finnish education system and several key characteristics of their approach. Lavonen called our attention to these four characteristics:

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Dr. Joe MazzaMarch 26, 2013

The PennFinn13 team has been in Helsinki, Finland this week learning about education in Finland. They have been asking critical questions about core values in place, curriculum, professional development, student voice and culture, governance, finances and leadership. Learning from the likes of Finnish leaders Pasi Sahlberg, Jari Lavonen, Arto Kallioniemi, Heidi Krzywacki and Atso Taipale, the team is providing an opportunity for the rest of the world to explore teaching, learning and leading in a top-ranked educational landscape.

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Dr. Joe MazzaMarch 25, 2013

Have you ever wanted to see what really goes on in classrooms of the world's number one educational system? Well, here's your free virtual plane ticket to Helsinki, Finland.

Doctoral learners from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education will spend a "week in the schools" -- the schools of Helsinki, that is -- looking at a variety of research areas through the lenses of students, teachers, parents and leaders. These lead learners will use that week to reflect upon where the United States and Finland agree and disagree on core beliefs surrounding teaching, learning and leadership.

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Elana LeoniMarch 21, 2013

ASCD's annual conference (see #ASCD13 on Twitter) recently came to a close, and one of the main themes that kept surfacing was the need for more "connected educators." At this conference, there were definitely some great "firsts." The general session kicked off with a keynote from Freeman A. Hrabowski III, who tweeted his first tweet; an impromptu #edcampRogue sprouted up from in-attendance edcampers; and author and poet Maya Angelou was even tweeting at age 85!

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Carrie Usui JohnsonMarch 18, 2013

"The inspiration behind the residency model is that teacher candidates learn on the job, similar to the way a master artisan would have learned her craft." -- Dr. Annamarie Francois, Director, UCLA Center X Teacher Education Program

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