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Vocabulary doesn’t have to be a bore
Savanna Flakes EducationDo your students cringe when you say, "We have new vocabulary terms to learn"? These students may recall the previous times they have copied words over and over again and looking up exhaustive lists of words that lack a connection to one another.
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The latest in project-based learning
Brian Stack EducationA recent Getting Smart Podcast highlights how project-based learning (PBL) connects the real world with deep impact. Blogger Bonnie Lathram highlights the Flight by Design engineering and math course at Washington state's Raisbeck Aviation High School and also a STEM program in South Carolina's Westwood High School as great examples of PBL programs for which "students are engaged in authentic and meaningful project work" that promote "deeper learning outcomes for more students." On Twitter, the hashtag #PBL is always trending with educators sharing their experiences with PBL.
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Communication is key when teaching students with LD
Hailey Golden EducationFor parents of children with ADHD, every task throughout the day can be a struggle — from getting up in the morning and making it to school on time to getting homework done and going to bed at night. These struggles are not isolated to kids with ADHD; all parents have one issue or another with their children. But, for a child with ADHD, the small fits can quickly turn into something big — especially when you break a structured routine.
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Will we really see federal restraint in new K‑12 law?
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe Every Student Succeeds Act — the new federal K-12 education law — has received plenty of accolades already, but even its advocates are unsure of the level of federal intervention going forward. At the National Governors Association's winter meeting last week, governors from across the country voiced their concerns about Washington bureaucrats' inability to stay out of state implementations. Going by past history, this is a valid concern indeed.
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Using content materials for ESL instruction
Douglas Magrath EducationStudents need to transfer their ESL skills to their academic subjects or careers. Unfortunately, this process does not always occur. Students who do well in the controlled environment of a high-level ESL class may not be able to make the final leap to a regular class.
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Do students think best on their feet?
Dorothy L. Tengler EducationThinking on your feet has always been thought of as how to perform well under pressure, staying composed — when the floor is all yours, making a quick decision or giving an answer quickly. But now, the concept is being taken to another level.
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Fostering independence in children with LD
Steve Spillane EducationA son in his early teens decides to help his single mom out by hand-washing the dishes. He is trying to please her as she is often asking for help keeping the house clean. He has never tried to help out this way before. To her surprise, when his mother returns from work, she sees the dishes in the drying rack. To her dismay, she finds that he hasn't rinsed them.
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Making it right through student voice: Restorative justice in school
Brian Stack EducationThe student-created video above from New Hampshire's Sanborn Regional High School (where I am principal) depicts a familiar scene in a high school hallway: A group of "mean girls" purposefully knock a bottle of water over onto another student.
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An idiom is worth a thousand words
Debra Josephson Abrams EducationIdioms are the "peculiar character or genius of a language." They are the keys that unlock the doors to a language's vast landscape — a landscape otherwise circumscribed by users' language limitations. Native users take idioms for granted, using them frequently. To non-native users, idioms are fascinating enigmas not easily translated into their own language if they translate at all. Non-native users are eager to learn idioms because idioms are ubiquitous.
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Can mindfulness help childhood obesity?
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareChildhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States. Despite recent declines in the prevalence among preschool-aged children, obesity among children is still too high. For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, the prevalence of obesity has remained fairly stable at about 17 percent and 12.7 million children and adolescents for the past decade.
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