Recently in education Category

I saw this commercial last night, and I have to tell you, I was pretty annoyed. Now, I don't know much about the articles and story headlines referenced in the commercial. I didn't read them and won't pretend that I did. But what I can tell you is that there is one candidate in this election that is wrong for education, but it sure as hell isn't Barack Obama.

Across America, Moms and Dads are spending freely to make sure that their children are prepared for the upcoming school year. Most of the crap that is purchased in unnecessary and arbitrary, but looking cool is much more important than learning, I'm sure.

As a teacher, this also means that it is back to work for me. I always get random emails and phone calls all week about what my students will be needing for the year. My advice to parents everywhere: if you're going to purchase your child mechanical pencils, please choose wisely.

This piece was written in the Spring of 2006. Enjoy.

As an educator, new instructional strategies and classroom initiatives are thrown my way pretty much on a weekly basis. Some of these curriculum ideas are recycled from fads in years past with different jargon being the only new thing, really. Others are, in fact, new and innovative, even having the research on their side to prove their worth. The problem is that once educators are settled and happy with their new curriculum based on district initiatives, it gets thrown to the wayside for something new and better (or in some cases, not better). The cycle continues infinitely.

An article intended for my students in the April 28th edition of Time for Kids caught my eye and just may forever change they way I teach.

First off, I don't speak like that.

I text full words and capitalize when need be. I actually write out, "In my honest opinion." But some people don't. Even the Freakonomics guys say, "IMHO." They are very smart, the Freakonomics guys. Very smart.
So, using Text-speak does not preclude anyone from being smart. That's first.

But what I'm here to do is defend the young bucks. They are not dumb.

Baby Steps

I attended a presentation entitled Into the Millennium: Nurturing the Whole Child Monday night given by Rick Ellis, an adjunct professor at Rider University and the Bank Street College of Education. An expert in the field of Early Childhood Education, Mr. Ellis stresses the importance of developmentally appropriate teaching from preschool through first grade, and with the academic standards continually rising in the United States, the expectations are for students to accomplish tasks that are too advanced for their age. His advice? Slow down.

The Issue

I recently read an article in the National Education Association's publication, neatoday, entitled the Mind the Gap. The article discusses the "participation gap" that exists amongst our nation's public schools, in which digitally disconnected students are suffering due to a lack of learning opportunities. Where as the "digital divide" addressed the access to and discrepancy of technology in American schools and libraries 20 years ago, the "participation gap" refers to students who only have access to the Internet at school or in a public library, as opposed to students who have 24 hour broadband accessibility.