Weekly News and Links

News of the Week:

New look for this site! All pages are the same, the look is different. To navigate, click on the three horizontal lines at the top left to see the other page choices.

Updates this week include:
Today is Digital Learning Day at Piedmont. We will celebrate with our annual DigiDine Lunch but have some special surprises, including an Everyone Matters Day Challenge Selfie booth complete with IB learner profile #Iam statements for the selfies) and PiDay QR codes to a TedED video of Pi (thanks for the reminder, Mrs. Delery!) 

 Our "Celebrating Piedmont" page   http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont  Yes, we do sit at desk sometimes (like to have deep discussions in Socratic seminar or to research with our one to one tech).  But this week we saw plenty of active STEAM-infused maker activities across the curriculum  like:

• Piedmont students creating a multimedia exhibit that won them a trip to state history day competition 
  
• Dionysus and Hera guest teaching in the sixth grade
  
• Maker Movement activities like the 7th grade science roller coaster project in action , the giant slingshot parked on our hill for egg drop day
• Active student learning in the hallways and more

Something for your students- The StudentSpace section of this website not only has info about the DLDay Selfies but also information about the items in our Media Center Makerspace  http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/studentspace

Ms. Barone's  IB self study blendspace plus notes from the NC Tech conference (courtesy of Ms. Lyttle) and news from  the NC Gifted Conference  (courtesy of Mr. Milligan, Burick, Fatzinger and Gurthie) are here   http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/piedmont-pd

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Learning about IB changes in Faculty Meeting

Links of the week:

 Free Readings Database: Central Text Anthology  - 

•  (sign in required) texts include informational and literary readings, film clips, podcasts, interviews, cartoons, charts, and photographs

• Meshes perfectly with IB, close reading, character ed, etc. 
  
• Pairs well with blended learning now that we have Chromebooks.
  
• Great resource for Socratic seminar discussions. 
  

 Curated by Teaching Tolerance, materials in this collection "encourage students to question common understandings, consider multiple viewpoints, analyze and critique power relationships, and act to change unfair and unequal conditions.

Use this anthology with the larger Perspectives Curriculum to "Build Literacy-Based, Anti-Bias Learning Plans in 3 EASY STEPS

• SELECT AN ESSENTIAL QUESTION
  
• SELECT A CENTRAL TEXT Browse a carefully curated collection of rigorous texts that exemplify anti-bias themes (link above) 
  
• SELECT TASKS AND STRATEGIES 

Playtime isn't just for preschoolers, teenagers need it, too  Giving students occasions to learn through play not only fosters creative thinking, problem solving, independence, and perseverance, but also addresses teenagers’ developmental needs for greater independence and ownership in their learning, opportunities for physical activity and creative expression, and the ability to demonstrate competence.

Research: Active Learning More Important than Flipping the Classroom  "Whether instructors flip their classrooms or not, the key to improving learning outcomes is to involve students actively in the learning process, constructing their own knowledge rather than just passively listening to lectures."If you're not using a model with active learning already, then the flipped classroom is certainly a viable alternative," said Tyler Kummer, one of the authors of the study, in a prepared statement. "But if you are, you're already going to be seeing the learning advantages in your course." full study at http://www.lifescied.org/