Student News

Here is an excellent site for teachers, students, and parents.  It is a great way to get the news streamlined into something students can more easily understand. 

Student News is something I’ll be using not only for my students but for myself as well.  I hope you enjoy it as well :) 

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Okay, first I should tell you that the healthy school lunch isn’t to be found in an American public school.  Chef Dominique Valadier is the man who purchases the majority of the food served at the school within a thirty mile radius of the school and then prepares it with little or no frozen ingredients.  All at the cost of about $3 per student.  If you want the full story you can check it out here.  Makes cafeteria food sound yummy!

So here is what I was wondering…why can’t we do the same kind of thing here.  I mean I’ve heard the odd story about our schools getting healthier and you hear about the ‘war on obesity’ all the time BUT I don’t see many changes in actual school lunches.  At the schools I’ve worked at the usual lunches were pizza, some variety of meat nuggets, fried this and that.  Yes, we started having salads but they consisted of iceburg lettuce a few slices of tomato and cucumber and cheese.  Uhm…not so nutritionally superior in my opinion. 

Wouldn’t it be great if all public schools were required to follow health guidelines just as they are required to follow curriculum guidelines?  If the government is going to control the schools then dang it they could do something about the food while they were at it.  Or, and this is probably the solution I like better, they could privatize schools completely.  I’m pretty sure if parents were picking where their kids were going to school and had an influence in where their education dollars were going they’d be more vocal and more insistent in their cries for healthy food.

Do you think school lunchrooms should strive to make healthy food a priority?  Do you think the government should force public schools to serve healthy (and tasty, of course) food?  OR do you think the government should back off all the regulating and let the private sector take over?

This is what I’m talking about!  Some decent media coverage about putting education front and center in the presidential election.  It makes me happy that someone who can do something (as in not just me and my little blog) is trying to make this a national issue.  As a matter of fact the article says that polls are showing that education and the economy are ranking as more important than the war in Iraq. 

I was all kinds of shocked to hear that.  I mean the war in Iraq IS important and all of the men and women over there should definitely be in our minds this election season but that is what everyone is focusing on in the media.  There cause doesn’t need me to go around waving the banner.  Education on the other hand does need some banner waving. 

One last thing, I’m not by any means saying I’m with Watts on what he thinks needs to be done with education but any discussion at all is better than what I have been seeing!

Do you think education will play an important role in the presidential election this year or am I just dreaming??

As a follow up to the adverb video thought I’d post the Grammar Rock adjective video.  An excellent and cute video.  Kids (heck adults for that matter) often learn better when something is put to music.

So is the song stuck in your head?  Do you love or hate these videos?

I bet that got your attention.  You are probably either really for it or really against it.  Either way here is an interesting little story from across the pond for you.  This story talks about children who after a lesson on Islam were asked to pray to Allah.  Ummm what?  That would soooo never happen here.  Additionally, they were punished when the refused.  Can you believe that a school actually disciplined children for not wanting to recite something that was showing allegiance to a god they did not worship (never you mind that Allah and the Christian God are the same, from a historical and theological stand point anyway)?

I bet you’re wondering where I’m going…well I’m almost there :)  American schools do this ALL the time.  It is called the Pledge of Allegiance.  Does the phrase “one nation under God” sound familiar?  Hmmm??? Whose God do you think that little bit of wording is referring to?  The Christian God.  That isn’t mandatory, you say?  Oh really?? Every principal I’ve ever worked for told me to make the students say it through example or intimidation or whatnot.  Of course, I didn’t do it.  As a matter of fact I’d stand and be respectfully silent every morning as it was said.  The students finally got around to asking me why I didn’t say it and I said I had a variety of reasons.  The one I usually gave was that I once had a student from another country (in this case Canada) who at the end of one school year asked me what the pledge meant and why we said it every day.  I asked her why she’d done it all year long if she didn’t know and she said she’d been afraid not to because she thought it was mandatory.  She thought it was mandatory because in practice it is even if it isn’t in law.  Peer pressure at its best, people.  I explained what it was etc and told her she didn’t have to say it if she didn’t want to (boy would I get chewed out about that if it got back to our superintendent).  From that moment on I refused to be a part in the brainwashing/peer pressure culture of our school. 

All rambling aside, for those of you who were outraged that a child would be ‘forced’ to pray to Allah please take a moment to reflect on the Pledge of Allegiance.  How would you feel if it said “one nation under Allah” (Allah just means God, folks)  Would you be comfortable with your child being pressured to stand and say the pledge if it was rewritten to say Allah?  No?  Then why is it ok to pressure students to say the pledge now?? 

If you want some detailed information (or a general idea at least) of what I mean when I say FCAT reading camp you can check out a news article about one in Orange County here. 

If you aren’t from Florida you should know that the FCAT is our standardized test that is given to make sure students are performing at a certain standard (well, that’s what it is supposed to be for).  If you fail the reading portion of the FCAT in the third grade you fail the third grade as well.  (Hmm, well most of the time anyway..there are ways around that little rule so don’t think that means everyone who makes it out of the third grade actually knows what they are supposed to, but I digress).  If you fail the test you are allowed to participate in an intensive FCAT reading camp for part of the summer.  The curriculum is set by the school district and is different from county to county.  I’ve actually taught at one of the FCAT Reading Camps and therefor am not totally blowing steam when I tell you it isn’t worth the money the districts have to pay teachers. 

Honestly, I am quite expensive at an hourly rate and I’m by no means (not even close) the most expensive teacher out there.  As a matter of fact I live in a rural area (read we get paid less than those big city teachers) and I didn’t have decades of experience when I taught the program.  Even with all of that I was paid close to $25 per hour for this program.  I taught my little heart out and did everything in the program and bought stickers and special pencils to help motivate my kids.  I planned for hours and even got a local bookstore involved and helped to set up a little ‘bookstore’ at the school where the children got to pick books to take home and keep. (they loved this by the way).  Don’t forget that in addition to paying me the district also paid for the transportation of the children and their lunches and the curriculum etc.  Guess how many passed the test? (out of a class of oh say 6).  NONE.  And would you like to know why??  Was it the fault of the curriculum? Nope, pretty decent.  My fault?  Not in my opinion but then I suppose I am biased.  Whose fault then?  No ones. 

The reason is hinted at in the article referenced above.  The reason these kids didn’t do any better on the second test is because:

1. Their attendance wasn’t mandatory.  Many of the students went on ‘vacation’.  This speaks to a lack of parent involvement and dedication.  What is more important your child’s education or going to the beach?  The same parents that answered beach are the ones whose children wracked up record absences during the school year.  If you aren’t in school you won’t learn.
2. Many students were not native speakers of English.  Instead of getting year round intensive instruction many are tossed into the general population.  How do you think you’d do if you were plopped into a Russian school in the third grade?  Hmmm??? and if that didn’t work out do you think an extra month of ‘intensive’ instruction would fix it?
3. Students with learning disabilities.  One of my angels (and I actually mean that because this student was such a sweet heart) had an IQ that was around 70 which is classified as “extremely low”  This child will never receive a standard diploma and will eventually be on special standards.  There were other students with what I believed were undiagnosed learning disabilities but nothing I could do about them (as in I couldn’t diagnose because that is a ‘process’ that has to begin during the school year) except note the problems I saw in my end of lesson notes.
4. You then have students that had ‘problems’ throughout the school year.  These could be discipline or family related.  Again, nothing that is typically resolved by the summer.

So what is my point?  My point is I think these camps are pointless.  I don’t think they are cost effective.  If the child didn’t get it during an ENTIRE school year a few weeks in camp isn’t going to fix it.  For students with learning difficulties or who are new the English language another year in the same grade is a good thing.  It gives them a whole extra year to become proficient in the skills they are going to need in the next grade.  For students who had other “issues” bad choices should result in consequences.  If you chose not to come to school, messed around while at school, or “Christmastreed’ the test then you shouldn’t be given another opportunity, you should fail.  Period.  The idea that everyone is intellectually equal is ridiculous and offensive.  People are different and that is ok.  If it takes you two years to make it through a grade but at the end of those two years you are ready for the next step then that is fine. 

What do you think about the extra programs in the summer to help students who haven’t managed in the entire previous year to master standards move on?  Do you think it is possible to cram a years worth of information into a few weeks?  Do you think it is an effective and/or fair way to use taxpayer dollars?

I found a great series of videos that explain some grammar rules.  I love it!  If you’ve ever been confused about what it is an adverb does or how and when you are using them (because you do even if you don’t know it) This is the video for you.  For that matter it is a great little tool to refresh your child’s understanding during the summer or to help them with adverbs during the school year.

What did you think of the video?  Did it bring back great memories?  Do you understand adverbs any better?

I had so much fun with the geography games from yesterday that I thought I would do a follow up geography post with this map video.  The map video shows you how to read a map.  Pretty darn cute.  Would be a great way to introduce a map lesson or a fun video to show before letting the kiddos loose on the map games I mentioned yesterday!

What did you think of the video?  Do you like songs that teach?  Do you have a favorite learning song??

As I was randomly surfing the Internet I found (you are going to have to work to follow me here but it’s a fun trip) a YouTube video that explained how maps worked that led to another video about a map game.  This map game looked like fun but I couldn’t figure out how to find it online so I read the information from the person that uploaded it and there was the link!  However, the user said they had since found a more entertaining group of games.  The link for the more entertaining games can be found here. Ah…there is no end to the amount of work I will go to just to find something to entertain and educate you!

All of the quizzes ask you to locate specific items on the map.  There are over two dozen games to play.  You can choose The World, variations on the United States, or various other countries or continents. 

These would be great to use with your children over the summer.  IF you are a teacher you could use these as rewards.  Kids love games and any excuse to be on the computer makes them happy.  If you can sneak in a learning experience all the better!

I played several of the versions and even though I taught Geography for a couple of years I was surprised by what I did (and more often didn’t) know :)  Go play the games and let me know how your geography skills stand up!  Are there other geography games out there that you especially like?  Leave your suggestions below and I’ll go check them out!

The topic of education is in the election news today.  This makes me happy and I can’t wait to see more of it.  In the article I read Obama really only says that college is not affordable for many students and that McCain has passed up opportunities to make it more so in favor of tax cuts for corporations.  Interesting, and you can read the entire article here, but I’m more interested in the education of children.  Is a college education a good thing? Yes.  Do I wish more people who want to go to college could go? Yes.  Do I think it is the most important topic in education for this election? Not by a long shot.

Ohhh candidates???  Are you listening?  Answer these questions and quit focusing on saving people money.

• How are you going to give the arts a more prominent position?
• How are you going to make our educational system more globally competitive?
• How are you going to fix (or please, please get rid of) No Child Left Behind?
• Can you make national standards and guides so all schools are teaching the same thing (with the exception of state history)
• Can you start funding public schools and let private schools take care of themselves?
• What about a required foreign language from elementary school?  Citizens of most countries speak a minimum of two languages.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could catch up?

So those are a few of the random things I’d like to see make it to the campaign chats the candidates will have along the way.  What questions would you like answered or what topics would you like addressed?