- a children’s book writer…
- a poet…
$5.00
Seriously? A children’s book about turtles is philosophical? Oh yes it is! Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), was not just a writer of children’s books, but a profound philosopher, a poet, a political advocate (sometimes controversial), and a promoter of critical thinking on all levels.
Writing is one of the four cornerstone skills of every inclusive educational curriculum. It helps us form our thoughts into coherent verses and communicate over distance and time. It is a skill usually approached as a way of appeasing bands for standardised exams, but, in fact, is the perfect tool to foster the development and expression of empathy.
Empathy is a way of connecting with other people in such a way so that you show you understand what they’re experiencing – and that you respect their experience as something meaningful – even though you may not understand exactly how it feels for them. In other words, empathy is about finding a way to connect.
Writing is one of the four cornerstone skills of every inclusive educational curriculum. It helps us form our thoughts into coherent verses and communicate over distance and time. It is a skill usually approached as a way of appeasing bands for standardised exams, but, in fact, is the perfect tool to foster the development and expression of empathy.
Empathy is a way of connecting with other people in such a way so that you show you understand what they’re experiencing – and that you respect their experience as something meaningful – even though you may not understand exactly how it feels for them. In other words, empathy is about finding a way to connect.
Using information wheels in lessons is a wonderful way of giving our students the opportunity to learn through, among other learning styles, kinesthetic interaction. They’ll be pulling from past knowledge, using deductive reasoning, negotiating meaning, and learning new subject matter, all at the same time. Studies show that learning is enhanced when students acquire knowledge through active processes that engage them. Literacy is a combination of recognising and matching oral and written language. The most effective ways of promoting literacy is to make vocabulary visible and to create high encounters with these words for your students – in interactive ways. Using wheels to scaffold vocabulary before you read a story can help. Below you’ll see how you can help your students to match words with images with an information wheel. information wheel.
Using information wheels in lessons is a wonderful way of giving our students the opportunity to learn through, among other learning styles, kinesthetic interaction. They’ll be pulling from past knowledge, using deductive reasoning, negotiating meaning, and learning new subject matter, all at the same time. Studies showthat learning is enhanced when students acquire knowledge through active processes that engage them. Literacy is a combination of recognising and matching oral and written language. The most effective ways of promoting literacy is to make vocabulary visible and to create high encounters with these words for your students – in interactive ways. Using wheels to scaffold vocabulary before you read a story can help. Below you’ll see how you can help your students to match words with images with an information wheel. information wheel.
We all know by now (pretend that you do, even if you don’t!!!) that teaching critical thinking is a never-ending job. Critical thinking strategies are domain sensitive, which simply means that a strategy that works in art may not work in history, and a strategy that works in for a verbal deliberation may not work in a situation that requires physical movement, etc.
We look at all this as an opportunity to expand our practice. We can take this as an excuse to widen even further the variety of strategies we use in our classroom activities so that when our students go out into the world, they’ll be more prepared because of this little extra effort we put into our lessons.
We all know by now (pretend that you do, even if you don’t!!!) that teaching critical thinking is a never-ending job. Critical thinking strategies are domain sensitive, which simply means that a strategy that works in art may not work in history, and a strategy that works in for a verbal deliberation may not work in a situation that requires physical movement, etc.
We look at all this as an opportunity to expand our practice. We can take this as an excuse to widen even further the variety of strategies we use in our classroom activities so that when our students go out into the world, they’ll be more prepared because of this little extra effort we put into our lessons.
Academic language is so important that experts assert that the warehouse of words a person has stored away is directly connected to their quality of thinking: higher quality of words equals higher quality of thinking.** In this age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the quality of thinking our students reach in our classes, will be the difference between being qualified for jobs that technology is (still) not capable of performing, and watching the world from the sidelines.
This applies even to our youngest learners. We can help them to assimilate academic language even before they begin to read. If we verbalise  first-, second- and third-tier words,*** through dynamic activities, we are helping them to become familiar with academic language that will serve them for the rest of their academic and professional lives.
Academic language is so important that experts assert that the warehouse of words a person has stored away is directly connected to their quality of thinking: higher quality of words equals higher quality of thinking.** In this age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the quality of thinking our students reach in our classes, will be the difference between being qualified for jobs that technology is (still) not capable of performing, and watching the world from the sidelines.
This applies even to our youngest learners. We can help them to assimilate academic language even before they begin to read. If we verbalise  first-, second- and third-tier words,*** through dynamic activities, we are helping them to become familiar with academic language that will serve them for the rest of their academic and professional lives.