Reading Roundup: What’s Happening in Education Lately

I spend a lot of time reading. Most of what I read is online content to do with education and teaching. I’m one of those people that flit from article to article and follow the links and then spend ages searching for the link to the article I read last week or last month that I now need 🙂

So I thought I’d collate the articles each week here on the blog for us all to enjoy.

This week there is an interesting array of titbits from around the web and plenty to mull over and get you thinking. I’d love to hear your thoughts – let’s chat in the comments.

30 Surefire Ways To Build Student Vocabulary // BuzzFeed

What activities do you incorporate in your class to help students develop and build their vocabulary? You’ll find a great mix of templates, games and ideas here.

What’s The Difference Between Short And Long Vowels? // Spelfabet

Do you use the terms short and long vowels? Alison from Spelfabet believes the terms “short” and “long” are misleading and confusing. She goes on to say that they are completely different vowels. This article may make you think about the words you choose to use when working with kids.

Five Questions To Ask An Education Guru // Filling the Pail

I enjoyed reading this article, it helped me consider the relevance and importance of some of the professional learning that I have participated in, in the past. There are 5 main questions that a good presenter would hopefully answer throughout the presentation, but that can also be a good guide to help teachers determine the effectiveness of some approaches.

4 Ideas For Minecraft In Primary Classrooms // Teach with IT

My little girl has just started getting into Minecraft, I can’t say that I know much about it. But in the version she has (design version) she builds these different environments (in 3D) and the way she navigates the program astounds me. I don’t really understand what she’s doing! This You Tube video gives you a few ideas if you wanted to get started with using Minecraft as part of your teaching.

5 Great Things You Can Do With Google Sheets // Free Technology for Teachers

I’m a bit of a fan of Google Drive, I use sheets and docs all the time so that I have access no matter where I am or if I’m on my iPad, laptop or Mac. There are some interesting ideas in this article for using other aspects of Google Sheets. The Online Rubric Add-on would be quite useful in not only creating rubrics, but also storing the marks and then sending on to students.

So has anything caught your eye this week?