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Long-range planning you can use for next year
Aileen Miracle EducationSince it's summer, it's a great time to sit down and really look at our overview for the next school year. What do we want our students to learn? Which songs and pieces will we use? Long-range planning is a passion of mine, something I learned about in my Kodály training at Capital University, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I began to understand how all of the pieces fit together. Here is a list of the different types of long-range plans for the music room and how I feel they fit together.
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Moving beyond standardized tests
Brian Stack EducationEarlier this summer, Education Week published a thought-provoking blog by Maryland elementary principal Margaret Pastor, where she explored the question, "Why Standardized Tests Aren't Working for Teachers or Students?" Pastor talked about how her view of the role of standardized testing changed when a colleague told her that she should match her lowest performing kindergarten teacher with her highest performing teacher, based on recent standardized testing. From there, she began to formulate her opinion that many educators have "deep misgivings" about the role standardized tests should play.
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Bullying vs. learning disabilities
Amy Temple EducationI'm sitting here writing this to you to proclaim that I am a survivor of bullying and harassment. I can very easily say junior high school were the worst two years of my life. Every day, I endured horrible name-calling, taunting, pushing and physical threats. I remember being so scared walking down the halls in between classes that I would huddle up against the wall, clutching my bookbag. I would often go home sick.
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Dental students in Costa Rica design metal saliva ejector to reduce waste
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareA group of dental students has engineered a solution to the wastefulness of one-time use plastic saliva ejectors that most U.S. dentists use daily. Dentists must dispose of plastic saliva ejectors after each patient in accordance with infection control protocols. But thanks to the ingenuity of these conservation-minded dental students, this could become a thing of the past. The four students at the University of Costa Rica have developed a metallic saliva ejector that can be cleaned in the autoclave and reused again and again.
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A group of modern-day Nightingales strive to improve healthcare with SONSIEL
Amanda Ghosh Medical & Allied HealthcareRebecca Love, a nurse entrepreneur and TEDx speaker, reminded us by mentioning of the work of Florence Nightingale that it was nurses who transformed the "dark ages" of medicine, and nurses who will likely do so again. Love is the first nurse to be featured on the main TED.com platform, and her argument was noteworthy. Nurses who feel called to improve healthcare with transformational ideas will be interested in the organization that she, along with other notable "rockstars" — as she calls them — have founded: SONSIEL.
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Reading and L2 acquisition
Douglas Magrath EducationLanguage skills can develop naturally. Language acquisition comes under the field of psycholinguistics: Children learn L1 without any active intervention. It is a natural process. But materials may not always be available. A case in point is a Korean student, Sodam, who excelled in English, winning awards and speaking with native fluency, according to her teachers. "Sodam had no special advantages...She had never lived in an English-speaking country. The difference was that Sodam was a reader."
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School counselors prepare students for 21st-century computational thinking…
Angela Cleveland and Jennifer Correnti EducationCounselors are at the forefront of opening doors to opportunities for all students. It is crucial for educational leaders to recognize the impact and service school counselors have in every school community as stakeholders and embrace engaging educational environments that support pathways to sustainable and rewarding post-secondary opportunities. Counselors recognize that technology is changing every career. Engaging students and families in conversations about sustainable careers means talking about the intersection of computer science with every vocation.
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Competency-based learning systems continue to take hold across the nation
Brian Stack EducationEarlier this summer, the International Association of Online K-12 Learning, better known as iNACOL, released its most recent map displaying the implementation of statewide K-12 competency-based learning policies across the nation. The map now shows 17 states that have reached an advanced level of implementation with comprehensive policy alignment and/or an active state role to build capacity in local school systems for competency-based learning. This current map is in stark contrast to the 2012 map, which listed just three states at the advanced level.
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Struggling readers have no time to lose: Social-emotional learning
Howard Margolis EducationPeople are social and emotional beings. Some have great social and emotional understanding and skills; others barely squeak by. Generally, those with greater social and emotional understanding and skills do far better in every major aspect of life than those who struggle. Compared to those who struggle, they’re happier, healthier, and more productive. Usually, they enjoy and keep their friends and tend to avoid the life-threatening dangers of loneliness. Unfortunately, difficulties with the social-emotional aspects of life severely wound many struggling readers (SRs).
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What have you learned?
Debra Josephson Abrams EducationIn the early 1990s, I happened upon a small book loaded with invaluable insights far greater than its 0.5 by 6 by 4.5 dimensions. "Live and Learn and Pass It On: People Ages 5 to 95 Share What They’ve Discovered About Life, Love, and Other Good Stuff" is the brainchild of H. Jackson Brown Jr., who compiled and edited it. You may be familiar with Brown’s other books, including "Life’s Little Instruction Book, A Father’s Book of Wisdom" and “Life’s Little Treasure Book On Hope." A few years after the initial release of “Live and Learn," Brown published Vol. 2. Certainly, the title intrigued me, and I was dazzled by the gems of wisdom.
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