Archive for the ‘Education Technology’ Category

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December 14, 2012: A Tragic Day

| posted by smaldonado

This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on December 15, 2012 9:15 A.M.

On Friday, every educator and administrator who is fortunate enough to work with students, regardless of whether they are in a primary or secondary school, had a piece of themselves taken away.

Every day in an elementary school is a good day. However, the month of December in an elementary school is filled with magic and excitement.

In their spare time students draw pictures of Santa and make lists of the toys they want for the holidays.

As much as teachers want to focus on the common core, students want to focus on snow and presents. Presents they may receive or presents they can give to their parents.

Friday began exceptionally well as I put on my sweatpants and sweatshirt. Our school participated in a pajama day, and as I stood on the front sidewalk welcoming students off the bus wearing their pajamas I was amazed at how many kids participated. Students ran off the busses smiling and laughing. They wore pajamas with peace signs, different animals and the ever-popular Angry Birds. The students either donated a dollar, or they donated a pair of new pajamas as part of a fundraiser to provide pajamas for children who couldn't afford new ones or were living in local homeless shelters.

That's the great thing about kids. They want to help. Children are like clean slates, and every experience their teacher or parent provides them with helps them become better adults. In December, kids can be crazed with excitement which is why working with them keeps us young during the day, at the same time we go home feeling old and tired at night.

Friday

The happiness for our staff ended when we heard of the tragedy a couple of hours away in Newtown, Connecticut. We were numb when we thought of all of the students at Sandy Hook Elementary School. There are no words that can describe what happened on Friday. The news calls it a massacre but there should be new words that are created to describe what happened because massacre doesn't seem to cut it.

Elementary school children are what is great about our world. They have their lives ahead of them, and their smiles can light up a room. When we are in a bad mood a hug by an elementary school student can brighten our day. On Friday, our innocence was taken away.

As an elementary school principal, my heart is broken. Friday was never supposed to happen in an elementary school. It was tragic enough when it happened time and time again in high schools around the country. When it happened in a couple of middle schools, we all thought about how young those students were, and how tragic those events were. It was unimaginable that it would ever happen in an elementary school.

The stories will now come out. The media will inundate us with news we don't want to hear. Other media outlets will give tell us stories that will make us cry (One such story appeared in the N.Y.Times). Even in my own life, I found out that Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook, was in her first semester of the doctoral program I graduated from, and I never had the chance to meet her even though all the cohorts get together once a year.

Teachers and Students
Peter DeWitt is an elementary principal in upstate, New York. He blogs at Finding Common Ground for Education Week and is the author of Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin Press). Connect with Peter at www.petermdewitt.com, or on Twitter, @PeterMDeWitt.


Teachers and principals don't just teach their students. They love them. After being a principal for seven years I have watched countless children grow up and reach milestones. When summer rolls around, we miss the kids when we go to empty buildings. We miss the laughter, loud voices in the halls, and the engagement in the classroom.

Teachers, contrary to popular belief, look forward to the end of summer when they can meet a brand new group of students. Students who one day will grow up and become teenagers and come to see us on visits from high school or send us pictures through Facebook when they go to college. It makes all of us angry, sad...even devastated that a group of students from Sandy Hook will not be able to do that, and a group of adults that gave their lives will never be on the receiving end of those visits.

On Friday, every educator and administrator who is fortunate enough to work with students, regardless of whether they are in a primary or secondary school, had a piece of themselves taken away.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary School. A piece of all of us who call a school our home was lost that day.

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High-Needs Schools to Lengthen School Day and Academic Year

| posted by smaldonado

The National Center on Time and Learning and the Ford Foundation recently announced their plans to help high-needs schools catch up on standardized test scores, as well as reap the advantages of electives and enrichment activities rarely offered to their students. The idea? With the aid of grant money, schools will lengthen the school day and year by approximately 300 hours. The anticipated start for the plan is the 2013-14 school year.

The Plan

According to The New York Times, five states have pledged their participation in this initiative: Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee. Some of the participating districts are Denver, East Hartford, Fall River, Rochester, and selected schools in Memphis. Under the three-year pilot program, 35 schools propose to lengthen the school day and year, while another 40 schools will lengthen class periods and after-school programs. All of the extra costs, including staffing and operating costs, will be covered through state and federal financing, in addition to the Ford grants.

The Rationale

The Ford Foundation reports that there are strong arguments supporting increased school hours. According to Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy, “Our reform bill had a number of objectives. For districts that are succeeding, we want state government to get out of the way. And for districts that are falling behind, we wanted to give them the ability to implement the reforms that we know achieve results for students. The additional funding we’re announcing today will allow for the intensive turnaround models that will help us close the nation’s largest achievement gap.”

Not only will struggling students be able to get more individualized instruction, they will be able to participate in more enrichment activities, like in the arts and music, which increase cognitive abilities. In order for students to be ready for higher education and a global workplace, they need more than just the basic curriculum.

Benefits of a Longer School Day

In a time where the struggling economy is forcing schools to pare their curriculum down to just the basics, Adam Kirk Edgerton from the Huffington Post sees this plan as having great potential for the most at-risk students. He says that his own adolescent experiences in high school band after school “saved his life.” These opportunities provide great distractions from the problems many students face outside of school walls and focus their energies into positive, constructive activities. He sees this pilot program as not only increasing test scores, but also allowing students opportunities to realize their passions.

Criticism

The New York Times also states that studies on the advantages of longer schools days and years so far have been mixed. In addition, many teachers have reported that compensation for working longer hours needs to be better and simply adding more time to a school day will not guarantee higher achievement. In response to this notion, Lisa Ubinas, the Ford Foundation president, argues that it is not “about adding time and doing more of the same. It’s about creating a learning day that suits the needs of our children, the realities of working parents and the commitment of our teachers. It’s a total school makeover.”

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National Holiday Drives

| posted by smaldonado

Our friends at Operation: Social Santa have made tremendous strides in ensuring that every child has a joyful holiday season. Since their inception in 2010, they have raised over 7,000 toys, operating in 38 cities and organizing far-reaching social media campaigns to rouse communities to action.

Operation: Social Santa is one of many nationwide holiday drives, and each plays an important role in meeting the needs of underprivileged families across America. People choose to give to different places for different reasons: some chose based on location, others chose because an organization works for a cause that is close to their hearts, and still others chose because of a group's particular mission or values. But wherever you choose to give, you'll be making a difference.

There are so many places to choose from when deciding where to give, and the Internet offers some great tools. Charity Navigator is an excellent guide that offers various features to help you decide where to give. The Better Business Bureau also has a lot of information on charities, as does VolunteerMatch.org. There is also Donation Town, which helps you find charities in your area that will pick up your donations.

Yesterday we talked about other ways to give back, so to help you explore your options for donating this season, here are six other national holiday drives to consider:

Schools Fight Hunger

Schools Fight Hunger is a national charity launched in August 2010 to "bring together America's schools and school families around the cause of ending childhood hunger." The organization inspires students to make a commitment to service by partnering with schools to organize bake sales, food drives, and volunteer days. They have a Food Drive Toolkit to help teachers and students join the fight against hunger in their schools.

Toys for Tots

The Toys for Tots Foundation is an organization of the U.S. Marines that partners with national corporate sponsors, schools, and individuals to collect and distribute new, unwrapped toys during the holiday season. Some of their sponsors include Toys ‘R Us, Babies ‘R Us, Lego, Hess, Hasbro, Build-a-Bear, and Scholastic.Each year, over 700 Toys for Tots toy drives are conducted across all fifty states.

Feeding America

Feeding America is the nation's largest coordinated effort to end hunger, and they work in local communities and on a national scale to connect people with food banks and engage them in the fight. Their nationwide network of food banks makes it possible for people everywhere to donate, and during the holidays, they maintain a special gift giving catalog.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has operated year-round since 1980 to "enrich the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work." Through its network of nearly 25,000 volunteers, Make-A-Wish has touched the lives of more than 250,000 children around the world. They partner with people and organizations to grant wishes ranging from a toy for Christmas to a visit from a favorite celebrity. This time of year is the Season of Wishes, a campaign to grant special wishes and shine a spotlight on the importance of giving during the holidays.

Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels is the oldest and largest organization of its kind, a charity dedicated to serving hot meals to the sick and the elderly. They operate across all fifty states, and their network of 5,000 local programs help serve one million meals per day to people in need.

Second Chance Toys

Founded in 2006, Second Chance Toys, is a "toy rescue" organization that seeks to "rescue and recycle plastic toys for children in need by donating them to community organizations." Second Chance Toys is different than Toys for Tots or Operation: Social Santa in that their primary collections are toys that are used, with the intent of keeping them out of landfills to help children at the same time as they are helping the environment. Toys must be in good, working condition, clean and fully functional. For students and families looking to give during the holidays but are on a budget, Second Chance Toys is a viable alternative.

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The Greatest Gift is Giving: Other Ways to Give Back

| posted by smaldonado


This week, we’ve collaborated with Operation: Social Santa to spread the word about the importance of giving during the holiday season, offer advice for starting a toy drive in your school or community, and celebrate the joy that comes from making sure children have something to be excited for.

We've interviewed the founder of Operation: Social Santa, Harrison Kratz, to talk to us about the importance of giving, and Makefield Elementary principal Donna Mccormick-Miller, to learn how to get students excited. Today, we talk about other ways to give back.

Toy donations help both parents and children alike, as they raise childrens’ spirits and alleviate stress for families struggling to make ends meet. Especially at this time of the year, donating toys is an important and worthwhile way to contribute positively to social good.

But there are also many other ways to give back to those in need--each as meaningful as the next. As long as you’re giving, and instilling the importance of giving in your students, that’s what matters. Here are just a few ways you can make a difference in somebody’s life this holiday season:

Donate Clothing

During the holidays it becomes even more important to donate clothing as the weather becomes harsher and colder. Not every person can afford a new coat to get them through the winter months, and there are many who are in need of the basics as well: warm socks, scarves, gloves, or hats. The homeless are especially impacted by the cold, as are the sick and the elderly.

Donate clothes to your church, the Salvation Army, or local clothing drive. Teachers can talk to their principals about what their school can do to collect warm clothes for the underprivileged.

Through the network of parents, families, community members, and staff, schools that organize drives are often able to raise a lot. In smaller communities, especially, schools may very well be the largest source of donations for people who need warm clothes.

Donate Food

For people and families who are going hungry, the need for food is absolutely critical, and as with the need for clothing, that necessity is exacerbated during the winter. Food drives can either be held to benefit the local community or national groups dedicated to fighting hunger. The most common items donated are canned goods and non-perishable items, as they can be stored for longer periods of time.

Feeding America is the nation’s largest organization for combating hunger, and has an array of resources for getting involved, including a helpful Food Bank Locator to find a place in your community. Schools Fight Hunger is an excellent resource to get classrooms active, and they offer a free toolkit to help teachers start a drive in their school.

Donate Time

Perhaps one of the most personal and heartfelt contributions you can make--not only for the holidays, but for every day--is your time. Spending time with those who are less fortunate than you is an excellent way to help them feel special and to let them know there are people who care.
While those in need would benefit greatly from food, clothing, toys, and other material necessities, there’s something to be said for the benefits of human contact and personal interaction. It’s good for their morale, and it’s good for yours.

One of Operation: Social Santa’s key values is the importance of following up--of actually interacting with the people you help and seeing the impact you have. Is there a better way to do this than volunteering?

This season, consider donating some of your time to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, feeding the hungry and being a comforting presence. You can spend time at a nursing home or assisted living facility, keeping people company by reading to them, playing games, or just talking. Hospital volunteers are especially needed during the holidays to help cheer up the patients.

There are opportunities all around you for volunteering your time to help the less fortunate. If you’re not sure where to look, local community groups, churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions organize service projects. You can also go directly to your local hospital, homeless shelter, food pantry, or soup kitchen to see what help they need. The Internet has some great tools for finding volunteer opportunities, including VolunteerMatch.org and the government’s Corporation for National & Community Service.

For teachers looking for ways to engage their students with community service, talk to your principal to see if there are any projects they can get involved in. As such an important part of the community, schools are well connected and a great source of information.

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Is Homework the Root of All Evil?

| posted by smaldonado

This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on December 10, 2012 3:09 P.M.

As an elementary school teacher I was required to provide homework to students every night except for Fridays. During school vacations we were required, yes...required, to provide packets of math and ELA to students. Every vacation I gave my first graders packets of dittos that they had to complete before they returned. I was young, inexperienced and untenured. I cringe at the fact that I provided that experience to students at such a young age.

There were times when homework took longer than 20 minutes.

Yes, I asked all the right questions.
Peter DeWitt is an elementary principal in upstate, New York. He blogs at Finding Common Ground for Education Week and is the author of Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin Press). Connect with Peter at www.petermdewitt.com, or on Twitter, @PeterMDeWitt.
Sadly, most parents didn't want to tell me that their children were doing homework for an hour, because they didn't want me to think their child struggled. I began having them stop after 15 minutes. Parents had to write a note on top of the assignment stating that the time was up before the assignment was completed. Unfortunately, those students who couldn't finish the homework walked away feeling like failures because they knew other peers probably breezed through it in a matter of minutes.

I could no longer afford to help ruin my students' educational experience by giving them mind numbing paperwork to do at home just to prove that they valued school. Fortunately, when the principal retired and a new one began, I was not required to provide so much homework so I limited how much I gave.

I left the school to relocate and began teaching at a school that also did not require homework. It was a less than wealthy city school and many of the students came to school every day without their homework completed. What should I do... I decided to provide them with the best education within the school day that I could because their home experience sometimes didn't or couldn't support them when they struggled with assignments. This was before the flipped classroom and most of my students didn't have books, much less computers and the internet. This was before cell phones were popular and prior to district websites. They couldn't reach me at night to ask for guidance, so I stopped giving homework.

French Law Homework

Recently French President Francois Hollande gave a speech stating that he wanted to abolish homework. In a recent New Yorker article called Today's Assignment which focused on the president's speech, Louis Menand wrote:

"Homework is an institution roundly disliked by all who participate in it. Children hate it for healthy and obvious reasons; parents hate it because it makes their children unhappy, but God forbid they should get a check-minus or other less-than-perfect grade on it; and teachers hate it because they have to grade it. Grading homework is teachers' never-ending homework."

In yet another article focusing on the topic, Mark Barnes wrote a blog called Homework: It Fails Our Students and Undermines American Education, where he said, "This practice of assigning homework, simply because it' something that's always been done, is not only absurd and outdated, it is undermining effective 21st-century teaching and learning. Most teachers link homework to grades so the students who don't do homework don't learn the material --- mainly because not enough teaching is being done in class -- and many would-be learners grow to hate school because they wind up with poor grades and, ultimately, feel like failures."

Barnes was bound to get comments and one person replied to Barnes by saying, "You've been a teacher for 20 years and you don't know why homework is important? Seriously? Sigh...To master a skill or field you must automate basic facts and procedures so that working memory is freed to explore higher level, more complex ideas and tasks. How does that automation develop? Repetition. Practicing the skill over and over again. That's what homework is all about. Teach the skill, students go home and practice it. Over and over again. Once they've automated that skill, take it to the next level. Try selling your no homework woo to a master musician, athlete, or any other professional. Then proceed to get laughed out of the room."

I agree with Barnes. Practicing a skill over and over again at home is one solid way to get students to hate school. Add that to a boring classroom experience and it's a recipe for disaster. In addition, any master musician practices an instrument because they want to and not because they have to. They choose what they practice.

If we really want students to be engaged with learning, we should allow them the autonomy to self-explore at home one their own and not give them death by ditto because it makes us feel better about the assignments we provide. Barnes went on to say, "Now, projects and individual activities and diagnostics are all worked on in class. Best of all, many of my students still work at home, but they choose what to do and when to do it. This is what independent learning is. This is what every teacher should want."

In the End

What's interesting for me is that the roles have reversed and I could require homework or I could require teachers not to give it but I don't do either. Teachers have autonomy to follow their own course, just as students should have autonomy to follow their own course. Interestingly enough, some parents love that and other parents do not. There are parents who ask for homework and some teachers feel pressure because of parents, not because of their principal.

I have worked with teachers, not in my current role, who provided homework because they needed extra grades for report cards. They also happened to be the ones that took report cards hostage if parents didn't show up for parent conferences. I don't think there is a silver bullet solution for homework, just like there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for education as a whole.

Although I can see why the French President wants it abolished, I do not think it is not the root of all evil either if it is relevant and engaging. The only thing that makes it the root of all evil is if the homework teachers give hasn't changed over the past twenty years that they have been in the classroom.

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Teaching the Gift of Giving–An Interview with Operation: Social Santa

| posted by smaldonado

Social Santa Teach.com has partnered with Operation: Social Santa to bring you a week-long series about giving back during the holidays and how teachers can organize toy drives, food donations, and service projects at their schools to teach students the importance of giving.

Operation: Social Santa was founded in 2010 as "Tweet Drive" and combines the power of social media with the efforts of volunteers to organize toy drives in communities across the country. Centered on the idea that "giving is the greatest gift one person can give during the Holidays," Operation: Social Santa has empowered communities to raise over 7,000 toys for underprivileged children to date.

We recently interviewed Harrison Kratz, founder of Operation: Social Santa. Read on to see what Harrison had to say about toy drives and what it means to give back during the holidays!

TEACH: Tell us a little bit about Operation: Social Santa. How did it start? How have you grown since you began, and where do you see Operation: Social Santa going?
I think during the holidays, our efforts produce so much more than material objects. Even if those efforts result in something as simple as a toy, we have the ability to provide joy and a sense of warmth when needed most. Giving is the greatest gift during the holidays, and it’s an experience and responsibility we can all partake in.


Harrison Kratz: I actually ran my first toy drive for a local homeless shelter outside of Philly in 2009, but going into 2010 I wanted to do something much bigger. I was doing a lot of work around social media and saw it as an opportunity to get the word out and build something potentially on a national scale. In that first year, with only six weeks of planning, we were able to organize toy drives in 24 cities and collect about 2,000 toys. In 2011, we were able to really grow in terms of national partnerships, cities, and toys, and were able to organize toy drives in 38 cities and collect over 4,200 toys.

This year has been a huge year for us so far in terms of partnerships. We’ve secured the support of some of the largest startups in the world and generated more online buzz than ever. We’ve collected about 1,000 toys in our first week-and-a-half, and we’re well on our way to eclipsing last year’s mark. I don’t know what the future holds for O:SS, but I do know it will continue for some time to come.

TEACH: Do you think schools are a good place for children to get excited about giving back?

HK: Absolutely. My elementary school was the first place that I had the opportunity to give back. We would run food drives, coat drives, and even go to retirement homes to sing Christmas Carols. Each of these experiences stayed with me and has lead to a toy drive where I’m able to give back to kids all over the world. With that in mind, I think schools have a responsibility to teach their students the importance and value of giving back. That lesson has the potential to last a lifetime.

TEACH: Part of what makes you guys great is your face-to-face interaction with the people you’re helping. How important is that to the whole giving experience? For school toy drives, it's sometimes harder for students to have that interaction. Are there ways teachers can ensure students see the impact they're making?

HK: It’s extremely important to see the effects – those are the moments that keep a cause going and motivate people to do even more. That said, it’s important to know that even if you can’t see the people you are helping, that doesn’t mean you aren’t making an impact on their lives. There’s a balance that must be struck, but seeing the effects firsthand is always a big component to a charity effort sustaining.

There are several ways teachers can show students the impact they’re making – they can organize visits to retirement homes or homeless shelters. Those trips always stuck with me because I could see the happiness I created. Another way is to do something where students can video chat with some of the organizations they help. With all the communication tools we have today in the classroom, there are endless ways to show kids the impact they can have.

TEACH: Are there any particular stories that stand out when thinking back on all the children you’ve helped?

Operation: Social Santa HK: I could go on for hours here, but I’m going to talk about a story from this year. Just this past week, I learned about an incredible young man, Benjamin Wallace. Benjamin is 7 years old, blind, and battling a rare, undiagnosed blood disease – the same one that took his brother, Zachary’s life in 2005. After learning this, I drove to Philadelphia the next day (after our toy drive event in Baltimore) to meet Benjamin and deliver some toys. I know that these toys do very little in the grand scheme of things, but after seeing his smile when he opened his presents, I knew we were making a difference.

I don’t know how yet, but I plan on extending these efforts to help Benjamin, his family, and the foundation named after his brother, the Zachary Wallace Fund. For me, this shows that a lot can come from a simple thing such as happiness – no matter how fleeting it is. I hope I’ll be able to do more for them, and any help you can provide would be amazing.

Ultimately, we all can do a little bit to help others, and it starts at an early age. My teachers had a huge influence on my desire to give back, and I hope they understand that because of the opportunities they gave me, thousands of kids like Benjamin now have something to smile about on Christmas morning.

When he’s not playing Santa Claus, Harrison is the community manager for MBA@UNC, the top online MBA program at the University of North Carolina. Away from the computer, Harrison switches his focus to great food, watching any sport that’s on TV, all things Disney, and traveling. You can find Harrison on Twitter @KratzPR.
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Engaging Gifted and Talented Students

| posted by smaldonado

The National Association for Gifted Children defines gifted children as “those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude or competence in one or more domains.” While many public schools offer specific gifted and talented programs, a number of schools do not, especially in states where it is not mandated.

Most teachers are likely to have the pleasure of teaching gifted and talented students at different points in their careers, and while such experiences may be enjoyable, the education of gifted and talented students comes with unique challenges, particularly in full-inclusion classrooms. Gifted and talented students are more likely to be bored and under-stimulated in regular classes, so it is up to the teachers to provide appropriately challenging curriculum. Here are five tips on engaging gifted and talented students in your classroom:

1. Curriculum Compacting

It can be frustrating to be asked to relearn material that you have already mastered, and this is often the case with gifted and talented students. Hoagie's Gifted Education advises that teachers give gifted students opportunities to show mastery of content at the beginning of units. If students can get through the unit with relative ease, they can be given study guides of the material, assuming responsibility for learning the material at a faster pace while freeing up time to pursue enrichment opportunities. Gifted students can still participate in periodic assessments with the rest of the class.

2. Differentiation

Just as materials are adapted to meet the needs of students with disabilities, Teach-nology emphasizes scaffolding materials for students with advanced abilities. Gifted students should be offered more challenging versions of class projects and assignments. Barbara Swicord, president of the Summer Institute for the Gifted, urges that teachers must be trained in the ability to differentiate instruction for all students so they can encourage gifted students to study content more deeply and at an accelerated pace. Swicord says, “Within-classroom accommodations that respond to the varying needs of gifted students include curriculum compacting, self-instructional programs, learning packets or learning contracts, and advanced materials.”

3. In-Depth Learning

Valorie Delp, from LoveToKnow Kids, says that gifted students often comprehend “cause and effect relationships” at higher levels than other students their age. As part of the differentiation process, allow students to study problems from different angles and points of view. Have students extend their learning into enrichment projects and experiments.

4. Distance Learning

The Davidson Institute for Talent Development states that distance learning opportunities have dramatically increased over the past few years. The Internet provides opportunities for students to take classes in subjects that are not offered at their schools and also enable secondary students to take college-level coursework. Enrichment opportunities can be offered in virtually every subject area, from Mandarin Chinese to physics.

5. Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning allows gifted students to capitalize on their abilities to understand “cause and effect relationships” in order to solve real-world problems, with authentic final products. These types of projects give students increased independence and the ability to study material at their own pace. The concept centers on five principles, as described on PBL-Online. Sample projects can be viewed on Edutopia. Project-based learning provides the right opportunities for gifted and talented students to be truly engaged and stimulated.

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