Singapore Math ... What do they know that we don't?

"Singapore Math"

When compared to students around the world, Singapore's students do really well in math, literacy, and in science  (as noted on TIMSS and PISA assessments) ... Worth looking at their eduation system!

 

TVO Presents: The Secrets of Singapore's Success (Singapore's Minister of Education)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjghLU_7Gs

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYwdRa9fQM

 

Why does education in Singapore work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEn6OKsVoMs

 

Singapore Math featured on NBC's TODAY SHOW

Click the link to watch (3min 41sec)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwO_dukjucU

 

Dan Rather Reports: Take a Lesson from Singapore

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tuDF1JbhGM

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bot9HAY1aVk

 

There is no such thing as "Singapore Math" ... it is more of a way to teach math, the books used, and a systematic way of enhancing the learning of mathematices - problem solving must be at the heart and focus of mathematics learning.  A lot of teachers are already using many elements of "Singapore Math".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdbKPnxR8C0

 

Here are 2 introductory videos to help (a bit) with an understanding of what Singapore Math involves ... click each link to watch.

 

Introduction (Part 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-QMZ_f9PUg

 

Introduction (Part 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2bPwW4wc2E

 

 

Mindsets .. Developing a Growth Mindset

Mindsets in the Classroom

by Mary Cay Ricci

When students believe they can that dedication and hard work can change their performance in school, they grow to become resilient, successful students. Inspired by the popular mindset idea that hard work and effort can lead to success, Mindsets in the Classroom provides educators with ideas for ways to build a growth mindset school culture, wherein students are challenged to change their thinking about their abilities and potential. The book includes a planning template, step-by-step description of a growth mindset culture, and "look-fors" for adopting a differentiated, responsive instruction model teachers can use immediately in their classrooms. It also highlights the importance of critical thinking and teaching students to learn from failure. The book includes a sample professional development plan and ideas for communicating the mindset concept to parents. With this book's easy-to-follow advice, tasks, and strategies, teachers can grow a love of learning in their students.

 

 

Top Ten Tips for developing a Growth Mindset in your Classroom

August 3, 2014 by Pete Jones

 

Imagine if every classroom, every teacher instilled this culture within your school.  Every day, every hour, every minute. It would be transformational. Look to see how it affects the learning culture within your classroom and be prepared to share it with others. Teachers can be the very antithesis of a growth mindset. Having routines and expectations of ‘that bottom set’, which haven’t changed in the last 20 years. This is your biggest challenge. Embrace it!

 

1. Be Critical. Students should expect and welcome criticism. They must also be given the opportunity to act on any criticism or critique. This will allow students to realize that through improving their work and responding to feedback, they can be better than they were. For this to happen, the culture of improvement needs to feel completely normal. As teachers, we also need to think about how and when we give feedback. We should not always tell students how to improve. What if we gave them an exemplar piece of excellent work and asked them what changes they would make? Or get them to write a success criteria based on this to help students see what was missing? Or maybe just come back to the same piece later in the term and look at what improvements they would make. We need to make our students far more aware that they can improve without us ‘butting in’ every five seconds.

 

2. Share the pain! Encouraging discussion about what students in your class find difficult; what they are struggling with can be really helpful for students. It helps students realise that we can all be challenged, no matter our starting point. There may be ways in which students can find answers, but it’s also incredibly healthy to listen to the nature of struggle. We can all overcome challenges or set backs, and together, we can all keep going. As the teacher, we need to let students struggle. Don’t always offer the solution, this way students will realise they are capable of doing it for themselves, through perseverance, reflection and effort.   

3. Question the effort. Questioning serves a pivotal role in nurturing a growth mindset. How could this be even better? What do you need to work hard at to improve on this? Is it time to adopt a different approach or do you need to just keep going? Are you putting in enough effort for you to make major improvements this time? Go and have a look at X’s work. What can you tell me about the approach she has taken with this work? Getting the right answers is part of the battle; the other is insisting that students respond to what they know about how to improve. The proof being in the pudding so to speak.

 

 

4. Make it difficult. What about those students who are producing great work without struggle? Is this because they are working exceptionally hard? Putting in extraordinary effort or is it too easy? As designers of learning, we must ensure that everyone struggles. Without making mistakes, we don’t learn. Without a real sense of challenge, the idea that you can grow as a learner is a fallacy. There is always a sense of struggle for almost every learner. As teachers, we need to help make those challenges explicit for every learner. Students cannot hide away from the things they always find a challenge. Whether that be presenting to the class, handwriting, spelling or something more subject specific. With hard work, every student can improve. They need to know that. They need to be given the chance to find out!

 

5. Make a big deal about effort. This starts with us posing the challenges, talking about the qualities required for excellence. “I know this is going to be exceptionally difficult”, “It’s going to take a lot of effort”. When those challenges are complete, we need to give space in our lessons to reflect and celebrate on the effort it has taken to get there. To celebrate the struggle, to ensure students realise that it was all worth it. They are now more intelligent and capable than they were at the start of this lesson, project or scheme of learning.

 

6. Acknowledge the effort. Make a big deal of those who are putting in the effort. Those who are spending time on their homework. Talk about their work ethic in the class, and what effect it has on the quality of their work and understanding. Let those who are not putting in as much effort see what happens when you do. Keep persevering with those who aren’t. The more they are surrounded by a strong work ethic and a persistent teacher, they will crumble!

 

7. Demonstrate that work ethic yourself. Be ready at the door, welcoming the students in for another challenging lesson! Have their work marked when needed. Talk to students about their improvements as they enter the door. Make sure you embody the work ethic you want to see in your students.

 

8. Display a Growth Mindset. Make your classroom a place where they can thrive as a learner. Have work of exceptional standard for them to see on your walls. Have examples of great learners in your subject. What did they do to get where they are now? How passionate about their work did they have to be become great? What would the greatest minds say about your work? If Steven King were going to mark your horror story, what would he say about how to improve the suspense in this passage?  If Sir Dave Brailsford were to mark your long answer paper for GCSE PE, what marginal gains would he say you could do to improve? Who are your local heroes? Who are those amazing people who have kept going despite enormous challenge to make a name for themselves? The Catherine Granger’s of this world.

  

9. High expectations for every single student. If you know about the Pygmalion effect, then you know about the exceptional power we have as teachers to affect students’ lives through our own expectations for them. Know every student can work hard, can embrace challenge, can develop their understanding and can continually improve.

 

10.  Provide elements of choice. Allow students opportunities for students to have periods of autonomy and choice. This will lead to greater persistence, productivity, well-being and ultimately better understanding through finding their own path, learning for themselves.

The Smartest Kids in the World

The Smartest Kids in the World
A book by Amanda Ripley

In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they’ve never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words. What is it like to be a child in these new education superpowers?

 

In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embedded in these countries for one year. Kim, 15, raises $10,000 so she can move from Oklahoma to Finland; Eric, 18, exchanges an upscale Minnesota suburb for a booming South Korean city; and Tom, 17, leaves a historic Pennsylvania village for a gritty city in Poland.

 

Their stories, along with groundbreaking research into what works worldwide, reveal a pattern of startling transformation: none of these places had many “smart” kids a few decades ago. They had changed. Teaching had become more serious; parents had focused on what mattered; and children had bought into the promise of education. A reporting tour de force, The Smartest Kids is a book about building resilience in a new world—as told by the young Americans with the most at stake.

 

For an audio reading, click the link below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zr5kpzLMM&sns=em

 

This is a CSC, Teacher & Principal recommended book that you should read ...

 

Watch this brief video from the author, Amanda Ripley. Click the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEn-auke7wM

 

Watch a presentation by Amanda Ripley ... click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g2KjP2a20g

 

Watch an interview by Walter Isaacson with Amanda Ripley ... click the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpeuxfe-JY

 

In education, continous and progressive change is important ... schools should be responsive and foster individuality, creativity, and innovation. 

More about Rigor, Change, Mindset, and Growing

The Four R's: Rigor in Twenty-First-Century Schools

May 27, 2008

By Bob Lenz

 

http://www.edutopia.org/envision-schools-rigor

 

Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms

RSA Version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

The Lecture - http://www.thersa.org/events/video/archive/sir-ken-robinson

 

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

 

Sir Ken Robinson: How to Change Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEsZOnyQzxQ

This is the follow-up to "Changing Education Paradigms"

 

Sir Ken Robinson addresses the fundamental economic, cultural, social, and personal purposes of education. He argues that education should be personalized to every student's talent, passion, and learning styles, and that creativity should be embedded in the culture of every single school.

 

Adaptability and Creativity … In education, we need to change the way we’ve been doing things from the 20^th Century and this means we need to create a system that promotes adaptability and creativity – not only from our students, but from our educators as well.  How can students learn to be adaptable and creative if they’re taught by people who are neither adaptable nor creative?

 

Carol Dweck:  The Power of “Yet”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiiEeMN7vbQ

 

Should you tell your kids they are smart or talented? Professor Carol Dweck answers this question and more, as she talks about her groundbreaking work on developing mindsets. She emphasizes the power of "yet" in helping students succeed in and out of the classroom.
Basic human ability can be grown.  Are we raising our kids for now or for yet?

Rigor or Rigour ... Either Way, It's Not a Four-Lettter Word

Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word (1^st Edition, 2008 shown here)

by Barbara Blackburn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LZ6na9V1Wc

 

In education, continuous and progressive change is important. Teachers should be responsive and foster individuality, creativity, innovation, and endeavours that foster student achievement in order for students to be successful not only in school, but also in work and life in general. 

Few people question the need for schools and classrooms to be more rigorous. But there is little agreement about what rigor is and what it looks like.  Our plan is to explain what it is (and what it is not), what we need to do in order to make it present in our school, and how to do it so that it is meaningful and authentic… This includes doing things that are engaging and motivating.

 

 

At Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Academy, rigour in the school / classroom is the process of:

 

• Creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels;
• Each student is supported so that he or she can learn at high levels;
• And each student demonstrates learning at high levels. 

We are proponents of a "Growth Mindset" with the understanding that all students can and will learn ... failure is not an end; rather it is part of the process of learning.

 

The School and parents are charged with the responsibility of supporting student learning, creating the conditions to motivate and engage students to want to learn, and to encourage and inspire students to readily demonstrate their learning (even if failure is involved, and it will be sometimes).  Students take a crucial role in this learning as well - in our philosophy of learning, a student does not "get" an A or B or D even ... the student "earns" the mark.  This makes us all (school, teachers, parents, and students) accountable and assume a discernible part of the ownership for learning.  

2 Million Minutes

2 Million Minutes ... That's how much time our children spend in High School

 

 2 Million Minutes is a series of documentary films exploring how students in the United States, India, and the People’s Republic of China spend the nominal 2,000,000 minutes of their high school years.

 

There is a lot of anxiety these days over the enormous and powerful economic forces of change at work in the world. Much of the concern revolves around education: are our kids going to have the knowledge and skills they must have to live successful, happy lives?

As an entrepreneur, angel investor and professional venture capitalist Bob Compton has been active in over 30 businesses including software, telecommunication services, healthcare services and medical devices. As President/COO of Sofamor Danek, he led the largest spinal medical device company in the world. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an Honorary Doctorate from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Bob Compton also became a filmmaker, inspired as a concerned father of two to create, finance, and produce the documentary -- Two Million Minutes - an intriguing look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century - China, India and the United States - are preparing their students for the future.

 

Watch now ...

 

Introduction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eZi-eXDw54 (6 minutes)

 

Documentary:

Each part is 13 minutes in length

 

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zj7dqXEfFc

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIYfQWbpfM

Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wC5bf6QpVo

Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4DE0SlkkC8

Seven Essential Survival Skills

You remember when I first wrote about Tony Wagner? - Well, his name keeps coming up and it just seems his ideas, thoughts, and opinions still resonate with me - here we go again with Tony! 

 

Tony Wagner: Seven Essential Survival Skills

These are what we call “The Seven Essential Survival Learning Skills” needed for success in school and in the world of work and we need to teach these skills for our studens to be successful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS2PqTTxFFc

 

 

Right and Wrong Answers

Right and Wrong Answers ... What do you want kids to do with technology?

Bill Ferriter is a Teacher, Blogger, Author, and a Professional Development Provider and he created the graphic below to remind us how important technology in the classroom is.

 

His website is available WATCH IT HERE

This is a small blog with a very simple, but relevant message ... The 21st Century is ours to embrace and if we don't jump into the game, our kids will suffer the consequences of our ineptness and stubborness.  We should start soon ... we're 14% into the 21st Century! Click the link below: Reflecting on What I Know

True Grit ... leads to Success!

The Toronto Star: Education guru Paul Tough says grit is the true secret to student success

Paul Tough (who wrote How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character ) said we've long focussed on cognitive skills as the most important key to success. But Tough said researchers have started to identify other skills that matter - "grit," curiosity, conscienctiousness, self-control. Some call these "character traits," the business world calls them "executive functions"

(Note: Commonly referred to in education as Character Traits, Virtues, Work Habits and Learning Skills)  READ IT HERE

 

 

Self-Directed Learning ... It's a whole spectrum of teaching and learning - Not just kids teaching themselves!

CityNews: GTA school adopts "Self-Directed Learning" Program 

CityNews reporter Stella Acquisto speaks with students at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School about a new program being adopted by the school in September called self-directed learning. 

 

This is a programme that Mary Ward CHS has been using for years ... it's gaining greater attention and respect and now other high schools are attempting to implement it. 

 

Here at Epiphany, in order to better prepare our students for their continued learning, we also gear our teaching in some respects in our Intermediate division utilizing a blended Self-Directed Learning model. 

 

WATCH IT HERE

 

What is Self-Directed Learning (SDL)?

Self-directed learning (SDL) involves initiating personally challenging activities and developing personal knowledge and skills to pursue the challenges successfully (Gibbons, 2002).   For students engaged in self-directed learning, there will be: Ownership of Learning Management and Monitoring of Own Learning Extension of Own Learning         What are some indicators of SDL? Students who are self-directed learners might display some of the following behaviours: Construct 1: Ownership of Learning  1. Student sets learning targets for himself/herself. Construct 2: Management and Monitoring of Own Learning  2. Student knows which parts of the lessons he/she does not understand.  3. Student asks questions when he/she is not sure about the lessons.  4. Student looks for more information to help understand the lessons better.  5. Student makes a list of what he/she needs to do for his/her learning.  6. Student completes his/her schoolwork on time.  7. Student tries to understand where it went wrong in schoolwork.  8. Student tries different ways to solve problems on his/her own. Construct 3: Extension of Own Learning  9. Student uses what he/she learns in class after his/her lessons. 10. Student finds out more than what teachers teach in school. 11. Student uses the computer to:         - go online to ask people outside the school for ideas on lessons;         - become better at a skill that he/she is interested in;            - get ideas from different websites and people to learn more about a topic.  Self-Directed Learning with ICT Theory Practice and Assessment.pdf

Learning - The Keys to Learning ... An Absolutely Amazing Site

I can't say enough about this site ... it is overwhelming how in depth it is in its quest to understand LEARNING ... This is right from the site:
 
What is learning?
Learning is the most important thing that living creatures do. As far as any living creature is concerned, any action that does not involve learning is pretty much a waste of time. This is especially so for a human one. An organism cannot properly animate itself without first learning how to. Humans, before they can satisfy their own needs, first have to learn how to do it. Although the difference between a baby at birth and a fully grow adult human, is thought of as growth, most of that growth would be entirely useless without accompanying learning.  In his book "Brain Rules" John Medina points out that how the brain grows is entirely dependent on what is learned. It seems fairly safe to say, "No learning, no brain growth". Yet despite the seeming essentiality of learning to life, the fact is that most adult humans tend to learn less and less as they get older.


So learning is essential to life, but what really is learning?
It is suggested herein, that learning is that which enables living things to grow, survive and realize their potential. It is further suggested, that learning is accommodating our view of the world to be consonant with contradictions of that view as they occur. Or to put it another way, it is the revision of our theories about the world to conform to an objective reality as presented by events that refute those theories. It is as Piaget might say, the assimilation of non contradictory data into our model of reality, adding to it, and the accommodation of contradictory data into our model of reality, thus changing it. From an evolutionary perspective learning is change in us, for the betterment of ourselves and our species. Ultimately learning is how we can better both ourselves and humanity generally.

"Change is the end result of all true learning. Change involves three things: First, a dissatisfaction with self -- a felt void or need; second, a decision to change to fill the void or need; and third, a conscious dedication to the process of growth and change -- the willful act of making the change, doing something." Leo Buscagilia

You can visit the site at:
http://www.learning-knowledge.com/learningkeys.html  or click the image below

There are 12 keys involved in learning - I'm sure there are more, but let's go with 12 for now.  Visit the website as it won't disappoint.  Great site.

I have been posting each Key to Learning for teachers (on another website/memo) - I have not posted them on this blog, but I think I will from now on.  They are worth "learning" about!

The Principal is the KEY to a School's Success

Let me start off with:  The title is wrong ... The Principal isn't the key to a school's success ... it's the teachers.

 

I'm sorry, it's true.  Don't get me wrong - the Principal is very important, very important indeed.  He/She plays a role, an integral role in the school's success (or failure) as an institution of learning. The Principal can be a lot of things and usually wears many hats and without the Principal/Head Master, there are issues ... But the one thing the Principal is not, and never will be, is the KEY to success and achievement!  The Principal is an integral part of success once the KEY opens the door, but the Principal will never be the KEY and rightfully should never be the KEY -

 

         Gandalf needed Froto - why?

 

                   Jesus needed disciples - why?

      

They needed a KEY to unlock understanding, commitment, motivation ... a KEY to LEARNING.

        

                            Principals need teachers - why?

                   

The KEY opens the door to the success - in our case, the success of a school and consequently of its inhabitants ... Without a KEY, all you have are a vision\prophecy, a budget, a title, a pedestal\forum, and if you're lucky, you've got a small cozy office with a little window with a street view.  With all this, the Principal needs a KEY ... one KEY to begin to unlock it all in hopes that others will follow through the doorway that is unlocked and become themselves keys to learning.

 

The Principal can start the fire (and good ones do and they fan the flames for a long time), but in the end, the Principal needs a KEY ... oh, and a MASTER KEY would be even better in terms of time commitment and reducing the number of failures or locked doors that should seemingly be unlocked, but that's another parable or tale for another time.

Principal as an Instructional Leader - NOT QUITE!

I have concluded and I must confess I came to this conclusion early in my career as an administrator and it was solidified when I became a Principal - The Principal is not an Instructional Leader.  No matter how many authors write to this and how many educational politicianatos there are spewing this falsehood, Principals is not, okay according to me, Principals are not Instructional Leaders - They are leaders, but not Instructional Leaders.

Principal as a Leader, I like to call  "Instructional Prophets" Here's my argument - An instructional prophet has a vision of what could be, if leaders take up the cause and believe in the vision for the good of all (it's not a personal gain thing).  Leaders are those who lead for the long haul and do so by modeling and sacrificing and have within them all the by-products of a growth mindset (unbridled imagination, creative effort, persistence, tolerance, failure, determination, work ethic, selflessness, and a belief that all this work is for the greater good of all - and they know that it is hard work, but worth the effort in the long run).

 

Principals aren't around a school long enough to be the "true instructional leaders" - the teachers though, now they stay around even longer than the dust mites ... They are your instructional leaders! 

 

As long as I'm a Principal in public education, I will not call myself the instructional leader.  I was an instructional leader when I was a classroom teacher and my students went ahead to make something good of their life - they grew and grew and grew and I was the instructional leader ... I was the instructional leader. 

No matter how much those above tell me or documents tell me, I know in the current state of public education, I am no longer an instructional leader - no leader can lead without a flock to follow. What a Principal can do is set the conditions for the instructional leadership to take hold.  Someday, I may become a true teacher again - and I see areas in education where this can come to fruition and I will need to explore this in the upcoming years (there are flocks out there, but not as a Principal in public
education) - see this is a mixture of growth mindset with a hint of fixed mindset!   To me, the Principal can "ask", "motivate", "guide", "emplore", "support", the teachers to engage in instructional leadership - Does it stick? Do leaders emerge as the "prophet" fades into the background? 

 

Instructional Prophets are leaders - Principals are leaders - They are either followed (whereby a member of the flock is motivated and decides to lead) or they are gone (i.e., transferred, forced out, asks to be moved, burned at the stake).  Don't get me wrong, the Principal can be a teacher and they can be leaders - but a true instructional leader has an audience and his\her words are put into action by the "grasshoppers" - your flock.  The Principal's grasshoppers march to a different drummer called CBA.  The good part is some members of the flock have strayed and are beginning to lead, and one or two could be enough to engage the flock.  The Instructional Prophet must have all the by-products of a growth mindset just to make any progress (inspire a leader among the flock to step up; someone to see the good in the message; take the message ... be a Moses or a Joshua). 

 

Without long-haul leadership, the prophet's message leaves when she\he does and there is no sustainability.  This is my biggest fear as a Principal and it will undeniably be my greatest failure ... maybe ... or maybe not - we'll see ... someday it might, but NOT YET!

 

We are all on a journey along a path with many twists, turns, and diverse people along the way - we criss-cross with other paths and other journeymen (sorry women), and sometimes we appear off course.  But, that's okay.  In the end, I think we'll get there, but I don't know where "there" is anymore as I've seen much more than I anticipated and done more than I thought I could (and sometimes done less than I thought I could) - So, I'm staying open to where I'm going, who I'll meet, and what I'll find.  All that I do know is that we have essentially our inner selves to guide us - our principles, our moral compass, and last but not least, we have the innocence of "wonder" that no amount of education can eliminate or keep down. 

 

That's makes a Principal a journeyman, an adventurer, a leader, and an instructional prophet!
 

Michael Fullan

Leading Student Achievement: Our Principal Purpose Symposium - April 2005

Dr. Michael Fullan, Author, Educator and Consultant; appointed April 2004 as Special Advisor to the Premier and Minister of Education; Head of Leadership for Change; Former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

In the video segments below, Dr. Michael Fullan begins by reviewing the ten guidelines in the book What's Worth Fighting For in the Principalship? and then outlines the six fundamental issues in education today. He next defines "school capacity" and uses a video of Montview School in Colorado to illustrate this definition.

Video Segments:

What's Worth Fighting For in the Principalship? (Length: 7 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSA2005/d1S20.wmv

The Six Fundamental Issues Today (Length: 7 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSA2005/d1S21.wmv

School Capacity Defined (Length: 18 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSA2005/d1S22.wmv

Conclusion (Length: 10 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSA2005/d1S23.wmv

Leading Student Achievement: Our Principal Purpose - May 2007
In the video segments below, Dr. Michael Fullan highlights a number of 'newish' concepts that underpin successful educational reform and describes six key insights regarding successful change. He also touches on the topics of tri-level reform and the principalship.
Video Segments:

Introduction (Length: 3 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s1fullan.wmv

Factors in School Reform Which Lead to Improvement in Student Achievement (Length: 7 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s2fullan.wmv

Theory of Action That Underpins Our Strategies: Seven Newish Concepts (Length: 7 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s3fullan.wmv

Six Insights That Lead to Action and Result in Improvement (Length: 10 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s4fullan.wmv

The Three Levels: School, District, and Province (Length: 8 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s5fullan.wmv

The Principalship (Length: 3 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s6fullan.wmv

Conclusion: Questions and Answers (Length: 13 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/s7fullan.wmv

View Full Video (Length: 53 minutes)
http://media.curriculum.org/curriculum/LSAAug2007/ALLfullan.wmv

Jonah and The Whale

This is a story about the Prophet Jonah, who was reluctant to do God's will.  Jonah tried to go against God, but in the end he did as God wanted - God wanted Jonah to bring a message of love and peace to a people that were not on the path to a blessed life ... Jonah was given the task to tell them of God's laws and if they didn't repent and change their ways, there was a reckoning coming!

Well, you can watch the story here ... Click on the link or the picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEUyhJzdRLs

The Key Principals of Catholic Social Teachings

The message is seemingly clear ...

What is Catholic Social Teaching? Here's a basic introduction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG8SfBfivTI

Jesus taught that hypocrisy is the counter to truthfulness, that we should walk the talk and practice what we preach.  He preached this a lot! 

In the 1971 synodal document entitled, "Justice in the World", notes that the social mission of the church is quite clearly stated as one grounded in action to liberate the human race from oppression ... "The Church, which is the sacrament of Christ, is called upon by missionary mandate to practice what it preaches about justice and rights." (Catholocism, P.3630)

As Pope John Paul II wrote:
"As far as the church is concerned, the social message of the Gospel must not be considered a theory, but above all else a basis and motivation for action." (Catholocism, P.3628).

             ... So, why don't we get it!  Watch the Prezi Presentation on CST (click the links at the end)

Introduction
How to view a Prezi online:

You can click on either one of the links below to view a Prezi on Catholic Social Teachings.  This is an assignment for an AQ course (Religious Education II), but you can copy, modify, share, and use as you wish. 

When the presentation comes up, click on the HOME icon (right side) to get a sense of what you're seeing ... Then, click the ARROW key to move forward (and the other ARROW key to go back).

With YouTube embedded videos, they should start on their own, but if they don't, just click the triangle (PLAY button) inside the video and it should play, no problem.  If you see any bothersome ads at the bottom of the video, merely click the "x" in the top right corner of the ad to eliminate it.

Sit back and watch ... Click either link to view:

http://prezi.com/lbnzmuhno5z9/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

http://prezi.com/lbnzmuhno5z9/present/?auth_key=90ds8vf&follow=fpp5e8pkhfda