Welcome!
Look to Learn: Developing a Culture of Inquiry in Early Years’ Classrooms
The Blurb: Experienced teachers know that positive routines form a foundation to classroom learning. However, routines can also be used to engage students in critical thinking and knowledge building, activities often considered beyond the abilities of early years learners. Participants in this one-day session will experience what it’s like to ‘Look to Learn’ from the inside and then use and create such activities for their own students. See how rich digital media like blogs, videos, podcasts and images stimulate interest that is then developed through routines that prompt critical and creative thinking. This hands-on workshop provides the theory and practice to enhance the spirit of inquiry and appetite for learning that is already alive in your classroom.
Discussion and Orientation
Given “The New Default”, what are our challenges? (stixy)
examples 1: Mankind is No Island, Miniature Earth, Global Rich List
examples 2: Slides
Look to Learn Links
- Look to Learn presentation
- Look to Learn – overview
- Look to Learn Web site
- Look to Learn Sample Prompts
- Thinking Routines overview
- Thinking Routines from the Visible Thinking team at Harvard
- Article on Making Thinking Visible by David Perkins
Online Samples
- 1984
- Miniature Earth
- VisionShift: Whose Future?
- “I Can”
- Nuclear Giving
- There’s Data in them ther Kids (cartoon)
- The Global Rich List (interactive site)
Building your Looking to Learn Platform
Choose your Approach
If WordPress, then get started!
- Embed YouTube (remember &rel=0)
- Try TubeChop.com
- Embed a podcast with a player
- Embed all kinds of media in WordPress (maps, images, documents or polls?)
- Revisit the Thinking Prompts: Look to Learn Sample Prompts and Thinking Routines
- Consider a PageFlakes RSS Feed (make your own Pageflakes feed?)
- Add a link (like Pageflakes?) to your “Blogroll”
- Do you want to add the Web 2.0 Tools Panel?
Visible Thinking Tools
- Exploratree
- Twiddla
- Dabbleboard
- Typewith.me
- Stixy (try this)
- Voicethread
- Glogster (EDU registration)
Site to visit Regularly
- WorldMapper
- TagGalaxy
- iTunes Podcasts Web sampler
- Google Zeitgeist
- Google News Search feed (example: Natural Disaster)
- TED (themes and A to Z)
Manage your Rich Media Links
- (Social Bookmarking explained by Common Craft)
- Diigo Social Bookmarks: get the toolbar, login and start bookmarking!
- Consider joining or pinching from the Look to Learn Diigo Group
- Revisit the Look to Learn site to bookmark what you like