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Essential Learning that Transfers
This blog is an excerpt from the manuscript of our forthcoming book, Learning that Transfers, publishing March 2021 “Why do we have to know this?” It’s the age-old question students pose when they doubt the importance of the content they’re asked to learn. It’s hard...
Concept Attainment in a Language Immersion Classroom
By Nathalie Lauriault Lire en français ici. Some language teachers claim that students should spend a lot of time on repetition and memorization of vocabulary words before they ever do any type of thinking about content. However,...
Learning Transfer: What is it and why does it matter?
Note: This is an excerpt from the manuscript of our forthcoming book. “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” -- Albert Einstein We have yet to encounter a teacher whose aims for their students stop at the classroom...
Modern Literacies: Framing new ways of knowing, doing, and thinking
Of all the phrases floating in education’s buzzword soup, 21st Century Learning has become one of the soggiest. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with it. On the contrary, its ubiquity speaks to its relevance. It’s used by everyone everywhere. We’ve used...
Teaching for Transfer Online Learning Template
The COVID-19 outbreak is changing the way the world thinks about public health, governance, and economics. Soon, it’ll shape the way we think about education too. As an increasing number of schools move to distance and digital learning, the conversation around...
Making Sense of Current Events Through Learning Transfer
This post is written by contributor Trevor Aleo. All student samples are shared with permission. My students didn’t come in to class today talking about the shows they binged, gifts they received, or books they read over break—they were too busy discussing #WW3. Some...
Here’s Why You Should Teach for Transfer
The following article was originally shared on the Corwin Connect Blog on October 21st, 2019 by Trevor Aleo. It’s 1:52pm on the last day of school. There are about two dozen sixteen-year-olds in my 7th block class sitting in a giant circle. No one is on their cell...
What Is Schema? How Do We Help Students Build It?
This post was originally shared on Peter DeWitt's EdWeek blog on October 20th, 2019 by Julie Stern. Have you ever been frustrated by how quickly students seem to forget what you've taught them? Or by their struggles to use what they've learned in one context in a new,...
How to Build Expertise in 4 Steps
The following article was originally shared on the Corwin Connect Blog on November 8th, 2019 by Julie Stern. “Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.” – Henri...
Clarifying Transfer: The Ultimate Goal of Learning
This post first appeared on Corwin Connect. Most often when we ask teachers about why they want their students to learn certain topics, we hear teachers say that they hope their students will lead productive lives in the future. They want students to be strong...
An Amazingly Simple Way to Empower Students to Change the World
This blog first appeared on Share My Lesson. Most educators aim for a level of comprehension that moves beyond memorization. We want students to be strong thinkers and problem-solvers, and to be empowered to use their learning beyond the school walls. But applying...
What No One Tells You About Bloom’s Taxonomy
This blog first appeared on Share My Lesson Spread the word: The triangle is not the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. Why does this matter? All good teachers savor “aha” moments—when students demonstrate deep understanding, make connections, or transfer their learning to new...