Human Flourishing

Classroom Goal Structures Goal structure in the classroom refers to the degree to which students are placed in competitive or cooperative relationships in the earning of classroom rewards (Slavin, 2006). These rewards can include: special privileges (i.e., lining up first for recess); public recognition by the teacher; and grades. Goal structures are a common approach employed by teachers in order to manage classroom behaviour. As well, teachers use goal structures to encourage and facilitate academic achievement. Goal structures take on many constructs in the classroom. There are, however, three fundamental types of interpersonal goal structures that can be implemented in the classroom: cooperative, competitive, ... Read Full Story

As a student, the bulk of my experience has been positive both with respect to the process of learning and the demonstration of that learning. That is, I’ve been successful as a student and performed well on assessments of my learning. However, my experience of those assessments has been mixed. Specifically, I am aware that my performance while being formally assessed has not always been reflective of my learning. There are three key aspects of assessment which determine the efficacy of the assessment. Namely, the validity, reliability, and authenticity of the assessment instrument influences the utility of the assessment both with respect to assessing ... Read Full Story

A learning community of reflective practitioners must focus on three core issues. First, practitioners must ensure students learn. That is, learning, not teaching, must be the focus. Second, a culture of collaboration, where practitioner feel safe to explore issues is key. Third, practitioners must focus on results both of the collaboration and the learning outcomes (DuFour, 2004). In addition to improving personal professional competency, teachers serve as role models for students in ways of collaborating, and as part of a learning community, jointly focus on students who are experiencing problems. Feeling less isolated and more energized, they explore new teaching behaviors and new technologies ... Read Full Story

When used as an electronic bulletin board, an edublog provides a fast, efficient means of communication between classroom teacher, students, and parents. Edublogs can also be used as an instructional resource to extend classroom learning. Finally, edublogs can be deployed as collaborative tools where students and their teacher can work together, online, to teach, learn, and demonstrate knowledge (Ray, 2006). Collaborative literacy, through technology, enables students of mixed-ability to leverage their strengths. Specifically, with respect to writing, students collaborating through technologically tend to identify new strategies for accomplishing new tasks, often performing above the specific expectations for the project ( Boling, Castek, Zawilinski, Barton, ... Read Full Story

Teacher subject matter or content knowledge informs more than the instructional approach in the classroom (Spear-Swerling, Brucker, & Alfano, 2005). Understanding central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline are crucial for integrated unit and lesson planning. In order to develop authentic cross-curriculum links, classroom teachers are required to have sufficient content knowledge of the subject being taught in order that they may identify opportunities for cross-curriculum linkages (De Nobile, 2007). Further, through integrated unit planning, classroom teachers are able to create more authentic instructional and learning strategies which serve to consolidate student learning and develop higher level thinking skills in their ... Read Full Story