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Dental licensure may get a little easier
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareYou’ve upgraded your technology over the years, yes? Surely you’re not still using a flip phone. Or a VCR to record your favorite shows. How about dial-up internet? So, it makes sense that industries would upgrade policies and procedures as technology makes strides in making everyone’s lives simpler and more streamlined. Dentistry included. Calling for the modernization "upgrade" of the dental licensure process, three dental associations have teamed up to become the founding members of a group called the Coalition for Modernizing Dental Licensure.
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Varied assessments to give to your music classes
Aileen Miracle EducationMy district has been focusing on formative assessment strategies for years, and for that, I am very grateful. We as teachers have been provided with lots of professional development about the topic of assessment, with strategies to gauge understanding and adapt instruction. One "a-ha" moment I had on my own is the idea of variety. In today’s article, I’m offering a wide variety of ways to assess your students during any given marking period, as a means to not only collect a wide variety of data, but also for your students to show you how well they understand the many aspects of musicianship.
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Insights from a speech-language pathologist: Semantics
Sheilamary Koch EducationImagine a boy in a classroom who regularly raises his hand to respond to questions, yet when called on hems and haws not knowing what to say. While he claims to have the answer, no one has time to wait for him to come up with it. Meanwhile, other students shout it out and the teacher wonders why he raised his hand in the first place. One viable explanation for the boy’s actions comes from Judith O. Roman, M.A., CCC-SLP, who is a clinical faculty member at Northwestern University’s Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning. In this series, we turn to Roman, an expert in the field of pediatric speech and language pathology, who shares her experience in the area of expressive language.
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What difference does it make? — Mentoring
Debra Josephson Abrams EducationIn an effort to do the right thing, organizational administrators often hastily create "mentoring" programs that are anything but. Mentoring is a commonly used term, especially in education, but too often it is incorrectly used because its origins and meanings are unknown or misunderstood. Without a solid understanding of the history and evolution of mentoring, programs that cast themselves as mentoring ones, but are not, create more problems than they intend to avert or solve.
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Part 1 of 2: Language development is essential to educational success,…
Shirley Veldhuis EducationLet’s imagine a struggling school district where the new superintendent just received results from the state assessment, which revealed a large percentage of the elementary students were not proficient in reading. She is not alone. Reading proficiency is declining across the state. She thinks about an important book she had read by Dr. Sally Shaywitz, entitled "Overcoming Dyslexia." In one chapter, Dr. Shaywitz discussed the role of Dr. Paul Broca, who established that the root of reading is language and speech. The superintendent repeats this statement — the root of reading is language and speech.
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Do smaller classes reduce performance gaps?
Bambi Majumdar EducationNew research from the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences (CBS) produced some interesting insights for class sizes. The new study points to the impact of class sizes on students' performance. Researchers found that smaller classes can help reduce performance gaps, especially in science or STEM. Data collected from four institutions, which included exam grades and non-exam assessments, show that class sizes not only affect performance, but also have an influence on student attrition.
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Why cultural understanding is essential
Douglas Magrath EducationESL professionals need a basic understanding of the effects of cultural contrast on ESL learners. The percentage of ESL students in public schools is a significant factor. Add to these the international students coming on study visas and the residents in ABE/ESOL programs and one can see how cultural understanding is essential. As I wrote in the first part of this article, the instructor cannot be an expert on every culture but should be aware of some of the more common areas of potential conflict.
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Maximizing learning time while riding the big yellow bus
Brian Stack EducationMy seventh-grade son Brady informed me the other day that with the change to bus routes this year, he is now on the bus for nearly 45 minutes each way to school. At first, I was surprised. We live in a small town of about 10 square miles, and it would take less than 10 minutes to drive from our house to the school. Yet, he was right. He is one of the first students picked up in the morning, and one of the last to be dropped off in the afternoon. Each day, Brady, like millions of other children from coast to coast, deals with one of the great inefficiencies of our education system — bus transportation routes.
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My life with learning disabilities
Amy Temple EducationHi, everyone. Now before I begin, I am going to give you all a head's up and let you know this is not going to be the typical article that you are probably used to reading here, but bear with me... I have quite the story to tell. My name is Amy Temple and I have learning disabilities. I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old, but before that, a few members of the medical community sure did try to figure out what was wrong with me. I mean...there had to be something!
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Selecting the right choral repertoire for your class
Aileen Miracle EducationHave you ever struggled to find the perfect repertoire for your choir concert? In this article, I'm outlining how I select songs for my choir program, to ensure variety, accessibility, and engagement. I was a trumpet player all through school, and before my Kodaly training, I had only been in one semester of choir. Because of this, it has taken me quite a while to feel comfortable selecting repertoire, as well as directing the choir! Here are some questions to ask yourself as you choose choral repertoire.
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