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Helping your school go green
Brian Stack EducationLast month for an Education Week blog, Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Program participant Michael Cruse, a special educator from Arlington, Virginia, talked about his travels to Israel to study different models for green schools. Cruse's biggest takeaway from his Middle East experience that he would apply to American schools was this, "Since coming back to work at my school and reflecting on how my experiences in Israel translate into my teaching, I realized that the best lessons about sustainability are actually about people. That can be in their classroom, on the playground, at home, or in the community."
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Is our focus on academic language promoting a colonial mindset?
Erick Herrmann EducationTeachers actively work to dismantle the disadvantages our students face, especially in our service to students of color, English learners, students who live in poverty, and other marginalized groups. In the case of this article, and English learners in particular, we should address if our focus on academic language is instilling an attitude in our students of the superiority of the dominant language and culture at the expense of their home languages and cultures. Given this, is our focus on academic language promoting a colonial mindset? The short answer to this provocative question is, hopefully not. But it may depend on the way you focus on language and culture in your classroom, and the purpose of learning academic language.
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My life vs. the workforce
Amy Temple Education"What is it like living with learning disabilities?" some of you might be asking. Do I wish I were any different? Do I complain about why I have these difficulties learning? In all honesty, no... I don't. I fully accept my learning disabilities. I always have. Besides... what could I do about it anyway? The thing that I have personally experienced and seen is the — dare I say — ignorance from others about learning disabilities.
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Using points to reward your music classes
Aileen Miracle EducationSince I started teaching, I've rewarded individual students for exemplary behavior by choosing star students, or one or two children at the end of the class who have showcased exemplary behavior. It wasn't until a few years ago that I began rewarding whole-class behavior. I read "Classroom Management for Art, Music, and PE Teachers" by Michael Linsin, which is a great read for any special areas team. In the book, the author outlined a four-point system for rewarding whole-class behavior.
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Social communication from a speech-language perspective
Sheilamary Koch EducationThe ability to adapt language to a specific situation or audience is an important social communication skill. This fact was driven home when interviewing Judith O. Roman, clinical faculty member at Northwestern University’s Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning about pragmatics, otherwise known as social communication. Social communication, or pragmatics, corresponds to the “use” component of the “form-function-use” framework that has created the structure for this exclusive MultiBrief series on expressive language from an SLP perspective.
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Is facial recognition needed for school security?
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe unfortunate increase in school shootings across the country has thrust the school security debate into the spotlight. Parents, teachers, administrators, and the government are concerned about security and safety of all present at school premises. A Seattle-based company, RealNetworks, recently made headlines in this regard. It has introduced facial recognition technology to increase security at one Seattle school as a part of a preliminary service experiment. The experiment has fueled a fierce debate about privacy concerns.
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Morphology and syntax: Key to successful reading
Sheilamary Koch EducationSimple sentences are great for social media — but when elementary school children use them exclusively, it could indicate difficulties with morphosyntax, which may be undermining their reading. Continuing with our expressive language series, we turn again to Judith O. Roman, M.A., CCC-SLP, clinical faculty member at Northwestern University’s Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning to answer questions on morphology and syntax. Morphology and syntax correspond to the function component of the "form-function-use" framework for expressive speech that Roman introduced in the first article on semantics, the form component.
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Part 2 of 2: Language development is essential to educational success,…
Shirley Veldhuis EducationMany classroom teachers may not be aware of the difference between phonemic awareness and phonics. The teacher preparation program at their universities may have only emphasized phonics instruction, so these teachers may not provide direct instruction of phonemic awareness skills. However, without phonemic awareness, phonics makes little sense. Phonemic awareness is a leading predictor of reading success in young children. Phonemic awareness skills have a direct impact on reading comprehension so these skills need to be explicitly taught.
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The learning power of breakfast
Brian Stack EducationMany mornings as a school principal, I feel like I am fighting a losing battle with my students with regards to breakfast. They say it is the "most important meal of the day," yet it is obvious to me that many of my students don’t see it that way. Last spring, I surveyed the 700 students in my New Hampshire high school and found that 25 percent of my students report rarely or never eating breakfast before school. Another 30 percent report that they skip breakfast 2-3 days per week. Sadly, only 33 percent of my students report eating breakfast every day. This statistic is at the higher end of the national trend.
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Refresh, refocus, and assess your students with processing breaks
Savanna Flakes EducationDoes anyone have a class in which every student is the same? Silly question, right? Of course not. Every student is significantly different, and each student brings a variety of talents, interests and preferred modalities. Students still got the squiggles after lunch? Students distracted by the snow? Students lethargic in the morning or after lunch? Try a processing break! Processing allows teachers the opportunity to reach every learner while assessing understanding and maximizing our precious instructional time.
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