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Tapping the potential of students with learning disabilities
Mary Jo Puglisi EducationStudent underperformance frequently causes stress for classroom teachers, and one of the most underperforming populations is students with learning disabilities. Often, these students spend years observing that their best effort falls short of mediocre efforts on the part of their peers. At some point, they stop giving their best effort in an attempt to preserve their fragile egos. "I only studied for a minute, so of course I got a D" is much easier than "I studied for hours over the course of the past week and only got a C, when my best buddy studied in the locker room for 15 minutes and got an A."
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It won’t happen forever: A family history project
Debra Josephson Abrams EducationI don't remember a time when I didn’t know my family originated in Russia. I grew up eating kasha and beet borsch and creamed and pickled herring and honey cake and halvah. My grandfathers were born in Russia. Although I never knew my grandfathers — they died before I was born — I knew my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother, Rose, lived with us. At times, she spoke Yiddish to my mom and dad and Aunt Pearl, and I learned a few words.
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Got a few student behavior challenges? Not anymore
Savanna Flakes EducationIn a supportive, inclusive learning environment, all students are valued members of a welcoming and responsive learning community that the teacher proactively cultivates. The foundations of creating a classroom climate conducive to inclusive practices are building a collaborative classroom community, establishing consistent routines and praise, and teaching students to cultivate a growth mindset.
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Successful communication between home and school
Brian Stack EducationAs a high school principal, one of the things I dislike to hear from parents is when they tell me they don't know what their child is doing in the classroom. While we have a sophisticated communication plan for schoolwide news and announcements, we fall short as a school in a systematic common approach to how we handle classroom-level communication between teachers and parents. In the new year, it is a personal goal of mine to work with my staff to improve in this area.
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More states looking at VR for education
Bambi Majumdar EducationArkansas' public schools are all set to receive 500 virtual reality classroom kits from Facebook. The donation value is worth $1 million and is aimed at enhancing the overall STEM program of the state. For Facebook, this is the first step in bridging the gap between VR and education, and they are hoping for similar collaborations with other states soon.
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Should English as lingua franca influence language teaching?
Sheilamary Koch EducationToday, the vast majority of the English spoken around the world is not between native speakers — in actuality, only about 25 percent involves L1 speakers. Such use of English as a contact language between people who don't have the same mother tongue and often share no other language is referred to as English as lingua franca (ELF). It is currently the most prevalent way English is used globally and becoming more so each year.
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KWL for professional development
Pamela Hill EducationThe beginning of a new year is a natural time to reflect on the past year's experiences of teaching students with special education needs. When seeking ways to make educational changes based on past experiences, professional development opportunities may be considered.
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Changing the way we think about education security
Dean Wiech EducationWhen we think of education technology, we typically think of its use within a classroom environment. When we think of education security, the physical safety of the students and staff are first to mind. How do the two concepts merge into ensuring the identity and data security for students and staff within educational and technological environments?
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Using gestures to enhance language instruction
Erick Herrmann EducationActive engagement is an important tenet of instruction and learning — important in both learning and mastering content as well as language. There are many ways to keep students engaged in instruction, including using a variety of activities and discourse, and teaching relevant and interesting content to students.
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The real cost of being a teacher
Brian Stack EducationThis fall, the daughter of one of my co-workers was eager to start her first school year as a new teacher in a nearby urban school district. After she was hired over the summer and received her classroom keys, she was eager to get into the room to start decorating her space in anticipation of the first day of school.
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