Mancession

Young men without work | Nov. 10, 2011

It's a crisis. It's a crisis at my school. The girls are outperforming the males in every aspect of school life, including academic, extra-curricular, and leadership. Solutions are not easily found, but if there is already a problem with unemployed males now, then, oh God, just wait 10 years.

"We’re at risk of having a generation of young males who aren’t well-connected to the labour market and who don’t feel strong ownership of community or society because they haven’t benefited from it"

"But young men who live at home also have less incentive to find work. The longer they go without work, the dimmer their prospects become."

Whack-A-Bully

Why do we need an anti-bullying law? | Dec. 08, 2011

Should not inviting someone to a party be against the law? Provincial legislation is a bit of a blunt instrument to deal with a very complex issue. Again, teachers, admin, students, and parents all have a roll in stamping it out. It's a daily battle, and needs to be dealt with whenever it pops up, every time.

Sticks and Stones

Raising Resilient Kids: Are we bubble wrapping our children? | parentscanada.com

An article about over-protected children suffering from a lack of challenges and difficulties.

Outside the Box

Five Lessons on Teaching From Angry Birds that Have Nothing Whatsoever to do With Parabolas | Oct. 3, 2011

Wonderful thinking from Dan Meyer, as always.

Math On Call

Too Many Teachers Can't Do Math | Sept. 29, 2011

An article about the difficulties many teachers have with math and the lack of any real training available in teacher's college.

It is difficult to read this kind of thing, largely because there is a lot of truth to it. Not necessarily that teachers struggle with math, for the most part, the math in elementary is basic enough that most teachers grasp it. The problem is with the discovery curriculum, as mentioned in the article, and the fierce resistance from teacher's colleges to actually teach anyone how to teach.

Study Hard

Korea Cracks down on cram schools | Oct. 4, 2011

An article about the extreme competitiveness in S. Korea, and the proliferation of after hours private schools that often run late into the evenings.

Achievement Gap

Super People | Oct. 1, 2011

An article about how applicants to elite schools are more qualified and capable than ever.

Boards are coping with low achievement, under-achievers, and difficult students. The news (good news?) is that they're not dragging down the high achievers. If anything, the achievement/abilities gap is wider than ever, making it all the more difficult for low achievers to make they're way in the world.

Buyer Beware

Inflating the Software Report Card | Oct. 8, 2011

The article reveals that claims made by publishers of ed. software are often greatly over-optimistic. It's another article examining the difficulties with integrating tech in shools. Technology is crucial, and teachers need to understand it's potential, but also it's limitations. Instructional websites and software cannot replace a good teacher, and boards need to be wary before buying into an (expensive) new program.

Meritocracy

New Haven’s Teacher Improvement Plan | Sept. 25, 2011

"...union took a bold step last year in agreeing to a new teacher evaluation system that aims to reward excellent teaching and to retrain or remove poor performers. The first year’s promising results...:

And we're back

That was a long summer break.

No Friends

Professional Advisory on the Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media Feb. 23, 2011

New guidelines from the College on the professional use of social media. These kinds of advisories are embarrassing, like teacher dress codes. It's unfortunate that we need to be reminded of these kinds of things, when, one would think, a teacher's sense of professionalism would be enough to keep them acting properly. But, I suppose a reminder is in order once in awhile. I've known teachers who have friended their students on FB, and it is utterly ridiculous and unprofessional.

The First Five Years Last the Rest of their Lives

Altered brain development following global neglect in early childhood

Further to the post below, Perry and Pollard 1997 is cited quite often in education discussions concerning both brain development and early childhood education. I thought I'd post the actual article. The highlight, the reason it got the attention it did, is below. The story, though I don't have time to confirm it, is that the poor child on the right is from a Romanian orphanage where neglect was the norm.

“These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the developing brain. In the CT scan on the left is an image from a healthy three year old with an average head size. The image on the right is from a three year old child suffering from severe sensory-deprivation neglect. This child’s brain is significantly smaller than average and has abnormal development of cortex.”

It's Not Rocket Science

(It's brain science.)

2009 Atkinson Series: Brainstorm

A brilliant series from a couple of years ago documenting the growing fusion of education and neuroscience. MRI's only came into wide use 20 years ago. Just imagine the next twenty. I think that downloading data directly into your brain is a bit far off, but here's hoping.

"We used to say that intelligence was 80 per cent genetic and 20 per cent environmental," says Martin Westwell, a neuroscientist in Adelaide at Flinders University. "Now we tend to say that it's 20 per cent genetic and 80 per cent environmental."

Winnie Cooper

Danica McKellar is an all-star. She writes books that help girls succeed in math. Considering how most celebrities cope after their star has begun to fade, she is a real standout.

Success (and math) For All

Program could help kids get jump-start in math | Jan. 15, 2010

If you haven't heard about JUMP Math, read about it. It's a step-by-step, repetition based technique, that is a nice counterbalance to the text-heavy, discovery based Nelson textbooks currently used by so many boards.

They Don't

Changing Education Paradigms - Animated | Oct. 14, 2010

An animated depiction of a TED talk by Sir Kenneth Robinson, British author and thinker, in which he discusses how schools are too rigid for the majority of learners. The popular phrase that has become associated with this talk is: "Do schools kill creativity?"

There are a couple problems here. Blaming schools for what ails people/society is a popular and crowd-pleasing tactic. But, blaming schools takes the responsibility off the individual, off the student. In reality, as a result of opinions such as Sir Kenneth's, and such a huge emphasis on differentiated instruction, schools are bending over backwards to have everyone succeed. If the student can't step up and meet the school system halfway, there's nothing more the school can do about it.

So often a young man, alienated, angry, unemployed (I'm met many) will blame the school for never giving him a chance, for never working for a kid like him. In reality though, that young man would have been given chance, after chance, after chance, with teachers year after year trying to help him succeed. He blew every one of those chances, and opinions such as Sir Robinson's allow him to legitimize his blame.

The second major problem is that a speaker can say whatever they want at a TED talk, romanticize a perfect solution, wow millions, and never have to put anything concrete into action. Talk is cheap.

School's Out

School closings will gut town | Feb. 20. 2011

This issue comes up year after year, and it's not unique to Ontario. When a school closes in a small town, much is lost.

Once in the cloud, always in the cloud.

New Jersey Teacher Suspended Over a Post of Facebook | April 1, 2011

As long as there is Facebook, there will be teachers (and cops, judges, doctors, politicians) posting inappropriately. New Jersey teacher trashes her class on FB. Staff room talk is embarrassing, staff room talk in public is humiliating.

Rubber Room

The Rubber Room | Aug. 31, 2009

An absolutely shocking article, a couple years old, that should be read by anyone interested in the difficulties admin sometimes faces when trying to dismiss the most ineffective and incompetent of teachers. In New York, for a inability to dismiss them, and an unwillingness to let them back in the classroom, teachers sit with pay day after day waiting for the union-admin battles over their fate to run their course.

It must be noted though, that the rooms are no longer being relied upon. Teachers will now "be assigned to administrative work or non-classroom duties in their schools while their cases are pending. "

Boys will be...

Failing Boys | Dec. 6, 2010

A brilliant series on the state of boys education in Ontario. In my classroom, and so many others, the girls outperform the boys in nearly every area. These articles examine the national, if not international, phenomenon. The most unsettling line in the entire series comes from part 1: "...could be a harbinger of social and economic upheaval if males drift to the fringes of productivity and women have to be both primary breadwinners and child-bearers."

Violence Begets...

Assault on Learning | Mar. 27, 2011

4541 violent incidents in a school year. It works our to 25 per day. In perspective, there are 268 schools in the district. Nevertheless, 9 out of 10 schools reported a violent incident last year and given the reported pressure teachers feel from admin to under-report incidences, the numbers are in reality much higher. And, ONLY 46 schools account for the majority of the violence. As is obvious, the distribution of violence is not equal, leaving some schools a haven for assault. Philly is the most violent city right now in the US, kids learn at home, in their community, violence begets violence.

The article is a bit sensational, and makes only token mention of the schools' successes. A couple years ago, the Philly school district made national headlines after racial tension and violence between black and Asian students reached a critical point, with a couple severe violent incidences in particular. This series in an attempt to look at how things are a year later, better or worse. The paper doesn't really quote any teachers who say the problem isn't that bad. My question is whether those teachers are silent because they don't exist, or because the paper chose not to print them.

Raise you glass status

How to Raise the Status of Teachers | Mar. 27, 2011

Times article on raising the status of teaching as a profession. It's been said often, countries that hold ed. professionals in high regard see higher student achievement. Ways to see that teachers are held in high regard are elusive and can encounter resistance, but they generally include higher pay, better training (ie. more intellectual study, less drawing on chart paper with markers), and merit based treatment.