The Act of Teaching
Teachers can convey their ideas more powerfully if they take time to improve their presentation skills. In The Act of Teaching, Nancy Houfek, Head of Voice and Speech for the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University, leads a workshop that stresses the importance of communication with the whole self in order to reach an audience. Throughout the workshop, she introduces participants to the same techniques that actors use to prepare and deliver a performance, including warm-ups, relaxation, strengthening, and visualizing exercises. In Part I, Theater Techniques for Classroom and Presentation, Houfek focuses on overcoming stage fright, knowing your objectives, and “landing your message.” In Part 2, Physical and Vocal Exercises, she leads teachers through 20 minutes of exercises specifically designed to prepare them for the physical challenges of the classroom, beginning with “Waking Up the Body,” and moving to vocal warm-ups that treat the voice as an instrument requiring care. Together, these techniques and exercises present a new set of resources that greatly broaden the avenues we customarily use in communicating with colleagues and students. For more, visit http://bokcenter.harvard.edu
Duration : 0:3:8
Control Your Professional Development
This programme takes a look at how teachers can decide the direction of their own careers, right from the outset.
Lorne Charles explains how he has avoided the isolation that a classroom can bring by taking on CPD with the help of the General Teaching Council.
In the studio, Peter Curran talks to Anne Jasman from the General Teaching Council and Alison Kitson from the Training and Development Agency. Peter is also joined by Patrick Nash from the Teacher Support Network, and all discuss how to judge what CPD to take on and when.
The programme also explains how to put the skills into practice, while various teachers discuss the benefits that CPD has brought them.
http://www.teachers.tv/video/20474
Duration : 0:13:59
Educational Technology – Smartboard: Basics
This short, entertaining, and educational video will help you master some of the basics of your Smartboard. Here are some of the topics covered in this first episode:
Connectivity – hooking up the cables
Screen settings – how to change display settings (single, clone, extended screen)
Focusing and aligning the screen image on the Smartboard
Basics of using the Smartboard in a classroom setting
Basics of the Smartboard Notebook software
Duration : 0:9:40
The Magical Classroom™
A short film by SMART Technologies showcasing the magic of their touch screen interactive whiteboards. Visit http://www.smartloveoflearning.com/
Duration : 0:2:52
What Does it Mean to be Literate in the 21st Century? (short version 8 min)
This video is an exploration of the definition of literacy: more specifically, of what it means to be a literate person in the 21st Century. Both producers are reflective practitioners who have strong literacy backgrounds. As practising teachers they have a vested interest in this subject. The producers realize that new media in a technological world is shaping the lives of youth and that as a result, redefining the literacy skills that will be necessary for youth to be able to function successfully in the world they are growing up in. The latter implies, by necessity, that the how, what and why of teaching literacy must also change. As a result of having the supposed static, print-centric notion of literacy upturned, the producers became interested in finding out if other educators at their worksites were experiencing this shift and in exploring how these educators were grappling with the notion of what it means to be a literate person and the corresponding implications in terms of their own teaching practise. Were they indeed rethinking what it means to be literate in an information and communication technological world, or upholding the traditional print-centric, paper and pencil viewpoint?
What Does it Mean to be Literate in the 21st Century? is an important and relevant issue that invites dialogue from all practising educators who work with youth. The world is changing and schools are required to make those changes necessary to help youth become fully competent, critical, and thoughtful citizens in the world they live in.
Duration : 0:8:3