Khan Academy in the New World of Common Core Standards

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

An intern at Khan Academy recently asked for suggestions on a Reddit education site. There was some interesting discussion in response around the efficacy of Khan Academy videos and how these video resources relate to Common Core standards.

One commenter notes that it is harder to grade and check answers with this approach. Another points out that math and science topics are more objective, so potentially more amenable to the use of short video lessons than say, history. “Dr. Momentum” responds that even math and science still involve opinions.

Students need to be able to understand a logical argument, construct a logical argument and refute an incorrect argument. Students need to develop their own reasoning ability. And coherence and depth in teaching a subject, not just subject knowledge, are required from their teachers.

One commenter points out that the Common Core standards for math include Mathematical Practices as well as Mathematical Content. Indeed, Khan Academy is good for the procedural side of things, and in conveying content. Practice transmission, on the other hand, just doesn’t happen on its own, and it’s not enough to explain procedures. It’s about developing expertise in students – “reasoning ability, conceptual understanding and procedural fluency,” among other attributes.

Here are the 8 practices for Math, which you can find at http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice -
MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
MP4: Model with mathematics.
MP5: Use appropriate tools strategically.
MP6: Attend to precision.
MP7: Look for and make use of structure.
MP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Attention to how a student is thinking and attempting to reason is not something a video can do. Don’t get us wrong, we love the Khan videos, and there are many of them accessible from Curriki.

It’s about the connectedness. One can pick up a procedure or three, but until one has the ability to generalize then the subject matter is not really being understood sufficiently. While some students have an innate ability to do this, most will benefit from coaching and development and assistance in seeing the larger context.

The Curriki Algebra 1 course found here is designed to align with Common Core State Standards.

Interview with Rob Lucas, Educator and Curriki member

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

The public value of learning. Social media gives students an opportunity to learn while creating knowledge of value to communities outside the school. They can conduct research of public interest, post it to blogs, wikis, and video-sharing sites, and then judge the reception of their work. By doing this, students not only develop knowledge and skills but learn why learning matters. Not everyone thinks about educational technology in these terms, so I’d like a chance to convince them. 

Why do you use Curriki?

I am inspired by the vision of educational resources that are open to all–and to building an online educational environment where teachers, students, and other citizens can learn bycontributing to the learning commons.

What advice would you give to new teachers?

Cultivate a habit of reading newspapers, magazines, professional journals, websites, and well-written public scholarship. Watch films and documentaries, too, and listen to radio and podcasts, looking for ways in which these give purpose, meaning, and value to your subject matter. Obviously, a new teacher will spend a great deal of time developing basic practices of teaching like managing a classroom–and rightly so! But the more you can remain connected to both your students and to broader public conversations, the more sustaining your work will become.  

What’s the first website you check every day?

Probably Slate.com. I love provocative well-written opinion journalism. Social studies teachers should also check out their new blog of intriguing historical documents, The Vault, written by Rebecca Onion.http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault.html

What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current role today?

Today, I’m a postdoctoral scholar, but I’d also love to be teaching high school AP US History. More and more, though, I find myself interested in documentary photography and film making. There’s no career change in my future, but with luck, I’ll find some way to work that in to my research and teaching.

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.

Spy novels on audiobook. Lately, I’ve been hooked on a mid-twentieth-century writer named Eric Ambler. Try Epitaph for a Spy or A Coffin for Dimitrios.

Handwritten Mail to the Chief

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

National Handwriting Day in the U.S.A. will be on January 23, 2013. The “lost art” of handwriting is celebrated each January 23 on John Hancock’s birthday.

In order to promote good penmanship, and civic engagement, the Handwriting Without Tears company is encouraging elementary students to send handwritten letters to the President. They can provide advice and “share … hopes for the future, words of wisdom, good wishes” as President Obama’s second term begins. Letters should be sent to Mail to the Chief by January 15, 2013. Their web site has information on how to participate, for grades K-5, including downloadable information packets and double-lined paper. You can visit their site here: http://www.hwtears.com/sites/default/lpform/mttc2012form.php?pc=website

Why handwritten letters? Handwriting Without Tears maintains that “Handwriting is more than a style—it’s a thought process. It’s the primary way elementary students communicate. Handwriting promotes an organized approach to communication, maximizes thinking time, and boosts creativity.”

Here are a few of the more interesting suggestions from handwritten letters send by students at the beginning of the President’s first term:

·         “You should get a group of scientists to try to make a flying car that runs on air.” (Ryan in Delaware)

·         “Always be truthful. You will avoid trouble.” (Ainsley in Rhode Island)

·         “Can you stop the racism and stop the wars? Make people remember their manners.” (Victor, 4th grader in North Carolina)

·         “Sometimes I hope schools will have better food. Sometimes it looks like it expired a long time ago.” (Joel in Arizona)

·         “I would like for you to change the Food Lion to have lower prices.” (Mirian, 4th grader in North Carolina)

·         “If reporters are asking you questions, just smile and answer one at a time.” (Sophie in Nebraska)

·         “Bullies should be arrested and go to jail.” (Eden, 2nd grader in Indiana)

·         “I know you’ve heard of global warming. Everyone has, but most people aren’t doing anything.” (Alana, 5th grader in Tennessee)

·         “My advice I’d like to offer you is to lower taxes. Also, if you are getting a dog, you should get a beagle. They are really cute!” (Julia, 3rd grader in New York)

·         “I think you should stop the wars and don’t let your dog break anything.” (Ben, 1st grader in Massachusetts)

·         “Please work with other presidents and kings. Meet with them and become their friends. Then we can all get along.” (Abigail in Wisconsin)

·         “You know there is mother, father and grandparent’s day, right? I think there should be kids day.” (Izel, 5th grader in Maryland)

·         “Never doubt or be scared, for you are the president of the U.S.A.” (Evan in Michigan)

Free Curriki Curated Resources for Social Studies and Health

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

Wow, it was a busy summer here at Curriki as a small but energetic team of teachers put together more than 150 curated collections in several subject areas. A big thank you to Jessica Flint, Nate Merrill, and Marlaine deGuia!

These new collections are available to you for FREE and we simply ask that you share Curriki with your colleagues so they can take advantage of these time-saving, best-of-the-best lessons and activities.

Since there are so many new resources, we’ve been breaking this up by subject area. In prior blogs we addressed Math and Science and Language Arts resources. Today, we’re pleased to share more than two dozen Social Studies and Health collections with you.  Please check them out, put them to work, and tell us what you think!

Social Studies:

1. Social Studies Videos and Lessons
2. Social Studies Interactive Whiteboard Activities
3. Social Studies Games
4. Social Studies Rubrics
5. Social Studies Diagrams and Images
6. Oil in Society
7. The Global Economy Today
8. Ancient Greece Graphic Organizers and Worksheets
9. Ancient Greece Lesson Plans
10. Israel and Palestine: culture and conflict
11. Constitutional Amendment Lesson Plans
12. Cultural Diffusion and Global Awareness
13. Chinese Economic Trends Today
14. Florida Native Americans
15. Islam
16. Poverty
17. Presidential Elections
18. Politics and Political Parties: Lesson Plans
19. Public Speaking
20. Personal Finance
21. Oral History Projects in the Social Studies Classroom
22. The United Nations, NATO and international treaties
23. The American Civil War Resources
24. United States Government Lesson Plans

Health:
 

1. HIV/Aids Resources, Lessons and Videos
2. Psychology Lesson Plans

We hope you enjoy working with these new collections.  Stay tuned for more new resources in the Social Studies and Health subject areas!

Happy Black History Month: Highlights from the Curriki Collection

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most memorable speech from his life as an activist, “I Have a Dream,” was delivered August 28, 1963 before more than 200,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (see Online Newhour article link below).

The speech not only helped to galvanize the already growing civil-rights movement across the country at the time, it also became one of the most influential and inspirational pieces of rhetoric in American history.

Remarkably, midway through his delivery, King suspended his pre-scripted text and began to improvise; what resulted was the speech’s most recognizable section, the passage in which the words “I have a dream” are passionately repeated…

In celebration Black History Month, check out, “I have a dream as a work of literature”. In this lesson, students will study the rhetorical influences on King’s speech, the oratorical devices that King used, and how his speech compares to other famous speeches and literary forms.

Happy Black History Month!

@Curriki

http://www.Curriki.org

P.S. Thanks to PBS NewsHour for contributing this wonderful lesson to Curriki. To see other NewsHour lessons on topics ranging from the economy to poetry to healthcare, click here.

Note: The above image can be found here and is available under the CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.

Chocolate Anyone? (Highlights from the Repository)

Leave it to Curriki contributors to submit such a thorough, integrated unit on chocolate! Geared for 5-6^th graders, this unit can be modified to intrigue many grade levels. A Matter of Chocolate exposes students to the history and science behind chocolate.  Teachers will be grateful to have ready made worksheets that outline the history of chocolate, and webquests that further knowledge.  Students will enjoy tasting chocolate from different countries, and trying out recipes for chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered popcorn. Of course, this is all has a scientific basis outlined in experiments of physical and chemical changes.  No matter what, you can’t go wrong enticing students to savor the delicacies of chocolate while having them embark on the scientific process.

Kathy Duhl

Lead Reviewer

http://www.Curriki.org

Note: The image above was created by André Karwath and was originally posted on Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 2.5 License.