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3 critical conditions for teaching struggling learners that often go missing
Howard Margolis EducationFor struggling learners (SLs) to have a good chance of mastering the subjects and activities with which they struggle, it’s critical that schools, teachers, and parents create and sustain conditions for success. This article features three of the many conditions that provide a foundation for successful learning. Too often, however, they’re ignored. Not surprisingly, these create powerful barriers to success.
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Tips for teaching music classes on testing days
Aileen Miracle EducationIf your school is like mine, your students have been testing quite a bit lately. How can we as music teachers make sure that students are engaged and excited when they've already been sitting for hours, taking a test? Here are some ideas that have worked with my classes.
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A lack of proper training is the biggest threat to K-12 cybersecurity
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe digitization of education has meant that efforts to ensure data security have become imperative in recent years. Yet, much remains to be done in improving technologies and training K-12 staff. The emerging technologies in this niche are hard to pin down. They are evolving rapidly, and cash-strapped districts often find it hard to keep up with the latest trends and techniques. It is hardly any wonder that they are subject to more malicious cyberattacks than most industries.
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Advice from a learning-disabled individual: Part 2
Amy Temple EducationI have learning disabilities. There...I said it. Was it hard? No, not at all. You wouldn’t know by looking at me. I don’t carry a neon sign above my head with an arrow pointing down and the words learning-disabled flashing continuously. I didn’t have cards made up with the words, "My name is Amy Temple. I have learning disabilities," so I could pass them around to whoever would care. I also have fine motor skills issues, which is pretty common for people with learning disabilities.
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School counseling and ethical empowerment
Sweety Patel EducationAccording to the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, school counselors have an essential role as social justice advocates who affirm and support students from diverse populations. They are central to servicing students so that students may move toward self-determination and self-development. Standard A.10 speaks of underserved and at-risk populations, for whom school counselors strive to contribute to a safe, respectful, and nondiscriminatory school environment.
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Audiologists address the gaps in newborn hearing loss screenings
Sheilamary Koch CommunicationsA child’s ability to hear and distinguish sounds is a critical component in his or her early language development. Unlike other deficits in the speech-language-learning realm that have a birth to 3 years old early intervention window, the critical window is much smaller for infants born with hearing loss. "If a child can’t hear, that child can’t communicate," emphasizes Jennifer Phelan, AuD, CCC-A, specialist in the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss in children at the Center for Audiology, Speech, Language and Learning at Northwestern University.
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How to protect against cybersecurity threats in schools
Brian Stack EducationI’ll never forget the first cybersecurity attack I endured as a high school principal. It happened years ago, after I had to assign consequences to a tech-savvy student who regularly would hack into our school Wi-Fi network to access websites and social media platforms that, at the time, were blocked from student access during the school day. I remember the student being upset because he was trying to meet a critical deadline for his international business, and his two other partners needed his help to finish a project for their company. The three ran a company that rented and sold server space to gamers around the world. Mind you, my student had just recently celebrated his 15th birthday.
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Establishing a positive school climate meets the needs of English learners…
Erick Herrmann EducationIt is clear that a positive work environment benefits everyone and allows for a healthy, happy, and collaborative environment where everyone can work to accomplish goals in a meaningful, engaging way. When it comes to schools, a positive environment not only benefits the staff but the students, too. This is especially important when we are discussing potentially marginalized populations in schools. We can best meet the needs of English learners, students with special needs, and other student groups when we consider their needs along with each of the populations of students in the school.
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Are Lexile reading-level scores flawed?
Howard Margolis EducationThe progress of many struggling readers is undermined by slavish adherence to Lexile reading-level scores. Though I haven't observed that a majority of teachers, learning consultants, and school psychologists are subservient to these scores, I’ve observed it far too often to think it’s rare. In contrast, it’s obvious that Lexile scores, flexibly used as tentative guides, can advance decision-making but cannot take the place of a highly knowledgeable and insightful teacher’s observations. Essentially, Lexile scores are produced by readability formulas that analyze the difficulty of texts, such as passages, articles, and books. To do this, they analyze the length of sentences and the frequency with which words occur.
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The technologies transforming classrooms in 2019
Julie Anne Wells EducationTraditionally, technology has been associated with distraction in classrooms. If students are beating their high scores or texting their friends during class, they won’t listen or retain the lessons. But technology harnessed for the purpose of learning offers limitless potential for students. If students use technology as a tool rather than a toy, they can engage with the material they are learning more fully. While cellphones and laptops might still be up for debate, there are many new devices and platforms that encourage students to think critically and creatively on a daily basis. Here are a few key pieces of technology that are transforming classrooms in 2019.
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