The Lizard Project: why scientists and teachers should work together for science outreach.
My high school students recently did something that rarely happens in a science classroom they did science.
Student Salvador Jahen gets to know a new hatchling.
Although, inquiry based instruction has long been a science education buzz phrase, all too often when kids engage in developing experiments, the answers are in fact already known to science and could be discovered through a quick Google search on the topic. This is not exactly real science. The very nature of science is to ask questions with unknown answers and produce high quality evidence to help us better understand our world. My students took a very specific question with an unknown answer and made a small, but real contribution to what is known about life on our planet.
The results of our work, Maternally chosen nest sites positively affect multiple components of offspring fitness in a lizard appeared in the journal Behavioral Ecology yesterday. This type of science rarely happens at the high school level. It certainly isn t expected to happen in an urban high school like Thomas Kelly High School on Chicago s southwest side, where more than 90% of the students are designated as low income and gang violence is a harsh reality in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Male brown anole in the wild
Although it is extremely rare, it is possible for young students to be a part of real research. Two years ago Blackawton Bees was published in Biology Letters. That paper, which examined how bees use spatial relationships with color to find food, listed 25 elementary school students as coauthors along with neuroscientist Beau Lotto, head teacher David Strudwick and classroom teacher Tina Rodwellyn. This highly publicized work involved a rural British elementary school class in an authentic research process. Students developed the experimental question, carried out the experiment and then students analyzed the results and wrote the discussion in their own words.
That work, published as our experiment was ongoing, helped to give me confidence that what I was trying to do with my students was indeed possible. Like the Blackawton Bees experiment, our research can change perceptions of what is possible in a science classroom and produced results that I feel are relevant to the way that researchers approach outreach and the way that we think about science education in general.
Our experiment, quickly dubbed The Lizard Project by my students, asked the question, How does the choice of an egg laying female s nest site affect the survival of her offspring? This question is the same type of question that is frequently asked by professional researchers like my collaborator Dr. Dan Warner, but it is not the type of question that is typically asked by high school science students. To ask this question we moved 80 lizards into our classroom and started doing science.
Attempting to do a large scale experiment required a shift in the way we did biology class.
High school students were involved in all aspects of the experiment
There would be no scripted set of procedures from the text book. Our question would not be answered neatly inside of two or three 45 minute class periods before we moved on to the next topic. My students and I were forced to improvise. Students got to take part in the process of figuring out the best way to answer our question. Rather than collecting data for a prescribed number of class periods, we collected data until we could reasonably answer our question with the level of confidence required of professional researcher. Although we didn t completely abandon the other topics in biology, we committed to seeing the project through and it took us more than four months to do that.
I made the decision that my students would have the chance to be inspired to learn by diving deep into the process of actually doing science. In practice this meant that strictly teaching to the test would be impossible, but I don t for one minute worry that my students suffered from doing science rather than learning about science. The look of wonder on a student s face was unmistakable when they proudly held a tiny lizard egg in a dirt covered hand after diligently sifting through the potting soil in hundreds of our nesting boxes.
That very same sense of wonder is what drove many of us to be scientists and science educators. Even though the personal love of science that I watched grow in so many of my students throughout the project would be justification enough for learning by doing, I was satisfied to see that despite straying from the prescribed curriculum, my biology students have been shown to score at or above the level of their peers in other classrooms at our school.
Although it is far from guaranteed when engaging in authentic research, my students did find an answer to our research question. The data my students collected showed that female brown anoles are highly sensitive to moisture when choosing a nest site and that this choice of nest can have serious survival consequences for her hatchlings through the first 12 weeks of life. We found that a good choice of nest can lead to as much as a 22% increase in offspring size, when compared to a poor choice.
The results of our NSF supported. classroom research were significant. However, more important is the way I think our project has the potential to change perceptions about the high school science classroom and what is possible for collaborations between researchers and teachers. Our experiment was considerably outside the bounds of typical high school curriculum and the logistics of converting my classroom to a functioning live animal lab was no small hurdle. My students managed more than 100 lizards in 30 controlled enclosures for more than 4 months.
Doing this type of science may be outside the realm of possibility for most teachers working i ndependently. In this case, our experiment was only possible because of a long-term collaboration with Dr. Fred Janzen s evolutionary ecology lab at Iowa State and particularly with Dan Warner (now an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham). This relationship has proven tremendously beneficial to me, my students and Dr. Warner as we all contribute to, and learn from, real science. Completing this project leads me to believe that our work can be a new model for both researchers and classroom teachers. Here are five reasons why I think it is in everyone s best interest when scientists and science teachers work together.
1) Science outreach works best when it is ongoing.
Far too often the model for outreach is a classroom guest lecture from a visiting scientist. The ongoing collaboration, developed over three years, with Dr. Warner and the Fred Janzen Lab at Iowa State allowed for me and my class to tackle a much deeper exploration of the scientific process than ever before.
2) Teachers are experts in communicating science to kids in a way that researchers are not.
Although many researchers are great science communicators, they do not typically have education training that matches that of a typical teacher. Teachers also have existing relationships with students that are vital to motivating student learning. Students benefit when the collaboration leverages the relative strengths of both teacher and researcher.
3) Researchers are in a great position to work with teachers to foster intellectual growth and develop original experiments.
Our entire system of producing PhD scientists is already based on researchers working with motivated college graduates to encourage scholarly growth through independent research. Because of this system, it is very easy for researchers to work in this type of relationship with an interested and motivated science teacher to the benefit of both.
4) The best science learning experiences in schools are big enough to be shared.
Large scale projects offer enough hands on experience to draw students in before they have the opportunity to sink their intellectual teeth into real data analysis. This project was large scale by high school standards. To start with we had 80 lizards in 20 enclosures. By the end we had a total of 30 enclosures and lizards hatching out of the incubator almost daily. Typical public high school teachers have 100 to 150 students at any given moment. All my students got to be thoroughly involved with the experiment precisely because there was so much animal care, data collection, and analysis to be done. A smaller scale project would not have provided as many opportunities for the direct hands-on work of so many students.
5) Outreach doesn t have to take away time from research.
When researchers and teachers take the time to establish true professional collaboration, the lines between outreach and research are blurred. Dr. Warner committed to working with our class in a truly collaborative role. Through his commitment we were able to produce data that advanced his research while having a broader impact of the type that funding agencies like to see. When scientists and science teachers truly collaborate, science happens, everyone benefits and kids everywhere are capable of doing real science.
Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/lizard-project-why-scientists-teachers-together-science-outreach-142800120.html?_esi=1
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Friday, September 7, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
UK Teachers Often Lack Degrees in Subjects They Teach
UK Teachers Often Lack Degrees in Subjects They Teach.
One quarter of mathematics teachers in England don’t have a degree in the subject according to the data released by the Department of Education. In all, that means that 9,500 teachers around the country don’t have the expertise that comes from obtaining a university diploma in the subject that they teach. The worst news of all might be that the number of such teachers has grown by nearly 1,000 in the past year and is expected to go up even more in the future.
Although the situation isn’t as dire among English Language Arts instructors – only 20% lack a university English degree – among teachers of the sciences subjects like geography, only about two-thirds have the requisite expertise.
This is very bad news, according to the director to the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University Alan Smithers. Instructors who lack good academic background in the subject that they teach risk alienating their students and reduce their enthusiasm. The impact of being “turned off” due to sub-part instruction could haunt the students years down the line and reduces the number of university entrants who choose to major in mathematics or the sciences.
“The absolute essential thing is that a teacher has a good understanding of the subject at the level they are teaching it,” he said. “Our best indicator of that is holding a degree or post-A-level qualification.”
Prof Smithers added: “If you have a biologist teaching physics, even at age 11, it may well be that their enthusiasm for physics isn’t there, and the child isn’t excited by it and moves in another direction.
“It’s the understanding and enthusiasm that’s important.”
The decreasing number of properly-educated teachers could be due to an ongoing severe instructor shortage, especially in the “hard” subjects. Schools are being forced to place staff that has expertise in other areas in classrooms in order to make sure that there’s at least someone instructing the students. Over the past several years, English schools have experienced difficulties in recruiting staff qualified to teach math, science and foreign languages, so inexperienced instructors are almost an inevitable development.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “If we want an education system that ranks with the best in the world, we have to attract outstanding people into the profession, and give them excellent training – at the start of – and throughout – their careers.”
The government is overhauling teacher training and offering better financial bursaries to top science, maths and languages graduates to encourage them to become teachers, she said.
Read more at http://www.educationnews.org/international-uk/uk-teachers-often-lack-degrees-in-subjects-they-teach/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
One quarter of mathematics teachers in England don’t have a degree in the subject according to the data released by the Department of Education. In all, that means that 9,500 teachers around the country don’t have the expertise that comes from obtaining a university diploma in the subject that they teach. The worst news of all might be that the number of such teachers has grown by nearly 1,000 in the past year and is expected to go up even more in the future.
Although the situation isn’t as dire among English Language Arts instructors – only 20% lack a university English degree – among teachers of the sciences subjects like geography, only about two-thirds have the requisite expertise.
This is very bad news, according to the director to the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University Alan Smithers. Instructors who lack good academic background in the subject that they teach risk alienating their students and reduce their enthusiasm. The impact of being “turned off” due to sub-part instruction could haunt the students years down the line and reduces the number of university entrants who choose to major in mathematics or the sciences.
“The absolute essential thing is that a teacher has a good understanding of the subject at the level they are teaching it,” he said. “Our best indicator of that is holding a degree or post-A-level qualification.”
Prof Smithers added: “If you have a biologist teaching physics, even at age 11, it may well be that their enthusiasm for physics isn’t there, and the child isn’t excited by it and moves in another direction.
“It’s the understanding and enthusiasm that’s important.”
The decreasing number of properly-educated teachers could be due to an ongoing severe instructor shortage, especially in the “hard” subjects. Schools are being forced to place staff that has expertise in other areas in classrooms in order to make sure that there’s at least someone instructing the students. Over the past several years, English schools have experienced difficulties in recruiting staff qualified to teach math, science and foreign languages, so inexperienced instructors are almost an inevitable development.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “If we want an education system that ranks with the best in the world, we have to attract outstanding people into the profession, and give them excellent training – at the start of – and throughout – their careers.”
The government is overhauling teacher training and offering better financial bursaries to top science, maths and languages graduates to encourage them to become teachers, she said.
Read more at http://www.educationnews.org/international-uk/uk-teachers-often-lack-degrees-in-subjects-they-teach/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Monday, August 6, 2012
Thailand Takes First Steps on Long Road to Inclusive Mainstream Education
Thailand takes first steps on long road to inclusive mainstream education.
The strict hierarchy of Thai society means the drive for inclusive education needs strong commitment from both politicians and school leaders. In the past decade, there has been significant political progress in moves to implement a system that ensures children with disabilities have access to mainstream schools. However, with cultural barriers and resistance from some headteachers, the journey towards fully inclusive education has only just begun.
"Even when I offered to work for free, they still could not be convinced," explains Paul Lennon, a British ex-pat whose son was born with Down's syndrome. When he started looking for mainstream schools for his son in Chanthaburi province six years ago, headteachers in the local area refused him a place. Yet the National Educational Act, passed in 1999 – and accompanied by posters declaring: "Any disabled person who wishes to go to school can do so" – supposedly guaranteed all disabled children access to state education.
Some headteachers Lennon spoke to were amenable to the concept of inclusive education, but didn't feel they had the resources or training to implement it effectively. Others, with decades of experience of working in special schools, felt this institutional model was more suitable.
The education act did have some success. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of students with disabilities accessing education increased from 145,000 to 187,000. These students were taught at more than 18,000 inclusive schools, defined by the government as those that teach children with and without disabilities. There was further legislative progress with the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act, passed in 2008, which made it illegal for schools to refuse entry to children with disabilities.
After much perseverance in securing a school place for his son, Lennon turned his attention to helping other children gain access to inclusive education by helping to set up the Good Child Foundation.
Nanthaporn (Nuey) Nanthamongkol, a six-year-old girl with Down's syndrome, was due to be sent to a distant boarding school before he intervened. "Without our work, Nuey would have been separated from her parents, sent to a school 80km away," says Lennon. "For kids with Down's syndrome, this is the worst possible thing you could do."
Nuey's story also highlights the cultural complexities of disability in Thailand. Sermsap Vorapanya, who is the author of A Model for Inclusive Schools in Thailand and has conducted a study on Thai inclusive education practices, explains: "It is critical to understand that most Buddhists [in Thailand] believe in reincarnation. Disability is widely viewed as a deserved failure to lead positive previous lives."
Theravada Buddhist teaching on rebirth led some families to report feeling shame about having a disabled child.
However, many headteachers in Vorapanya's study cited the Buddhist belief in the need for compassion as a reason they support inclusive education. Meanprasat private school in Bangkok, which combines western-style "child-centric" learning with a Buddhist ethos of moral ethics and regular meditation, is recognised as a national leader in integrated educational practices. In total, 130 of its 1,300 students are disabled. The school's philosophy is that children with disabilities "should have the chance to mix with society and be accepted by it". More than 5,000 teachers visit the school annually and attend workshops held to help spread good practice.
State schools, however, which have much less funding, have been described by Vorapanya as having "woefully insufficient resources" to implement inclusive education properly. Headteachers have complained that while schools can now access a minimum of 2,000 baht (approximately £41) funding for each disabled child, this is not enough to cover the required resources or training expenses. Another problem is that this funding can only be given if the child has been officially certified with a disability. Teachers have reported that some parents do not want this social stigma or are fearful that this certification will lead to discrimination.
Despite the significant challenges, Lennon is optimistic. "We are making great strides," he says. "If we keep doing good, the results will surely follow."
Chanthaburi province is moving away from the special schools model, placing students with moderate special needs in mainstream schools. Lennon helps place volunteers in local schools with children with Down's syndrome, and is working with local government to demonstrate how this practice can be replicated across the province.
Inclusive education remains in its early development stages in Thailand. But, as Vorapanya says, the country has "made a great beginning" to a monumental task.
Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/27/thailand-first-steps-inclusive-education
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
The strict hierarchy of Thai society means the drive for inclusive education needs strong commitment from both politicians and school leaders. In the past decade, there has been significant political progress in moves to implement a system that ensures children with disabilities have access to mainstream schools. However, with cultural barriers and resistance from some headteachers, the journey towards fully inclusive education has only just begun.
"Even when I offered to work for free, they still could not be convinced," explains Paul Lennon, a British ex-pat whose son was born with Down's syndrome. When he started looking for mainstream schools for his son in Chanthaburi province six years ago, headteachers in the local area refused him a place. Yet the National Educational Act, passed in 1999 – and accompanied by posters declaring: "Any disabled person who wishes to go to school can do so" – supposedly guaranteed all disabled children access to state education.
Some headteachers Lennon spoke to were amenable to the concept of inclusive education, but didn't feel they had the resources or training to implement it effectively. Others, with decades of experience of working in special schools, felt this institutional model was more suitable.
The education act did have some success. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of students with disabilities accessing education increased from 145,000 to 187,000. These students were taught at more than 18,000 inclusive schools, defined by the government as those that teach children with and without disabilities. There was further legislative progress with the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act, passed in 2008, which made it illegal for schools to refuse entry to children with disabilities.
After much perseverance in securing a school place for his son, Lennon turned his attention to helping other children gain access to inclusive education by helping to set up the Good Child Foundation.
Nanthaporn (Nuey) Nanthamongkol, a six-year-old girl with Down's syndrome, was due to be sent to a distant boarding school before he intervened. "Without our work, Nuey would have been separated from her parents, sent to a school 80km away," says Lennon. "For kids with Down's syndrome, this is the worst possible thing you could do."
Nuey's story also highlights the cultural complexities of disability in Thailand. Sermsap Vorapanya, who is the author of A Model for Inclusive Schools in Thailand and has conducted a study on Thai inclusive education practices, explains: "It is critical to understand that most Buddhists [in Thailand] believe in reincarnation. Disability is widely viewed as a deserved failure to lead positive previous lives."
Theravada Buddhist teaching on rebirth led some families to report feeling shame about having a disabled child.
However, many headteachers in Vorapanya's study cited the Buddhist belief in the need for compassion as a reason they support inclusive education. Meanprasat private school in Bangkok, which combines western-style "child-centric" learning with a Buddhist ethos of moral ethics and regular meditation, is recognised as a national leader in integrated educational practices. In total, 130 of its 1,300 students are disabled. The school's philosophy is that children with disabilities "should have the chance to mix with society and be accepted by it". More than 5,000 teachers visit the school annually and attend workshops held to help spread good practice.
State schools, however, which have much less funding, have been described by Vorapanya as having "woefully insufficient resources" to implement inclusive education properly. Headteachers have complained that while schools can now access a minimum of 2,000 baht (approximately £41) funding for each disabled child, this is not enough to cover the required resources or training expenses. Another problem is that this funding can only be given if the child has been officially certified with a disability. Teachers have reported that some parents do not want this social stigma or are fearful that this certification will lead to discrimination.
Despite the significant challenges, Lennon is optimistic. "We are making great strides," he says. "If we keep doing good, the results will surely follow."
Chanthaburi province is moving away from the special schools model, placing students with moderate special needs in mainstream schools. Lennon helps place volunteers in local schools with children with Down's syndrome, and is working with local government to demonstrate how this practice can be replicated across the province.
Inclusive education remains in its early development stages in Thailand. But, as Vorapanya says, the country has "made a great beginning" to a monumental task.
Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/27/thailand-first-steps-inclusive-education
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Global Education-Bringing the World to Your Classroom
Global Education: Bringing the World to Your Classroom.
I love to travel. In my eight years of teaching, I have seized several (free) opportunities to see the world. Travel has enriched my teaching, allowing me to bring international experiences directly back to my students.
This year I participated in the Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship, a program of the U.S. State Department.
I joined 64 teachers from around the country in completing an online course on best practices in global education. In February, we attended a global education symposium in Washington, D.C., accompanied by administrators from our schools.
And I just returned from an eye-opening trip to Brazil with 10 other TGC teachers. We spent two weeks observing and co-teaching in schools (both public and private). Other teachers in the program traveled to India, Ghana, Indonesia, Morocco, and Ukraine.
One takeaway from my fellowship experience is a clearer understanding of what teaching global competencies might look like in practice. The Asia Society and the Council of Chief State School Officers have produced a series of global competence matrices (PDF). I started using these matrices this year as a way to evaluate my own curriculum. Recently, I've been embedding competencies into my student assessment rubrics.
The four main elements of the global competence matrix are:
• Investigate the world.
• Recognize perspectives.
• Communicate ideas.
• Take action.
We should be teaching our students these skills, and of course, mastering the competencies ourselves. They probably sound familiar: Some call them 21st-century skills, and others refer to them as the new basics. Students need to go beyond their comfort zones and actively learn from (not just about) people who have different worldviews.
This is not a call to throw out the curricula that we are currently using. On the contrary, it's an opportunity to enhance our practice and create a more rigorous and meaningful learning environment for our students.
In teaching U.S. history this past school year, I have worked with colleagues to revise our Progressive Era and Great Depression units, incorporating more opportunities for students to develop global competencies.
Investigate the World and Recognize Perspectives
Progressive Era unit: After a look at Teddy Roosevelt and the creation of the national parks system, students learned about differing views on the management of public lands a hundred years ago (focusing on John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Richard Ballinger). Students analyzed and debated the decision to dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. We tried to push students to recognize their own perspectives within the spectrum of preservationist, conservationist, and laissez-faire attitudes.
Great Depression unit: We redesigned our Great Depression unit to follow an arc that led to a study of the Great Recession of 2007-09. We began by looking at the causes of the 1929 stock market crash and the widespread bank failures that followed. Then we moved on to study the "alphabet soup" of New Deal programs and the impact of the depression on people's everyday lives. Next, we compared different economic perspectives on the causes of and responses to the Depression, including a theoretical comparison of capitalism and communism.
Communicate Ideas / Taking Action
Progressive Era unit: We finished the unit by turning to the present. Students studied the current debate over the Keystone Pipeline project. After role-playing a town hall meeting on the pipeline issue, students wrote letters to President Obama that showed an understanding of multiple perspectives and incorporated the history of American conservationism and environmentalism. We hope that the President will be impressed by the level of global competence in the 100 letters, especially the act of sending them.
Great Depression unit: Similarly, we ended the Great Depression unit in the present. We looked at the recent economic recession, focusing on the collapse of the housing bubble, and the growing income inequality gap. Students debated three perspectives on economic policy:
• The call for a "New New Deal" and increased taxation of the wealthiest Americans.
• A focus on deficit reduction and tax cuts.
• A call for a new, more just system altogether.
Background materials included rhetoric from the Obama campaign, the Republican Party's economic platform, and the Occupy Movement. We hope that students take action by personally engaging with these important issues, and that those who are eligible voters will feel informed enough to participate in this November’s presidential election.
But you don't have to be a social studies teacher to incorporate the global competencies—the matrices address numerous content areas.
And you don't have to take students across international borders. You can help your students practice the skills of recognizing different perspectives and communicating ideas effectively in your own classroom, engaging the diverse perspectives found in your own community and school.
There are also easy ways to connect with classrooms around the world. You can start by simple class-to-class communication and then advance to collaborating with classes in other countries on specific projects. (I've listed some of my favorite resources below.)
The time to take global education seriously is now. Whether you believe we need to prepare students to compete economically with students from other nations or that graduates need to have the skills to collaborate with others to solve complex problems, the global competencies are critical.
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/07/03/tln_zeichner.html?tkn=NXVDqq2alkusePtHLnERebzr7NQfrwDKMPu0&intc=es
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
I love to travel. In my eight years of teaching, I have seized several (free) opportunities to see the world. Travel has enriched my teaching, allowing me to bring international experiences directly back to my students.
This year I participated in the Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship, a program of the U.S. State Department.
I joined 64 teachers from around the country in completing an online course on best practices in global education. In February, we attended a global education symposium in Washington, D.C., accompanied by administrators from our schools.
And I just returned from an eye-opening trip to Brazil with 10 other TGC teachers. We spent two weeks observing and co-teaching in schools (both public and private). Other teachers in the program traveled to India, Ghana, Indonesia, Morocco, and Ukraine.
One takeaway from my fellowship experience is a clearer understanding of what teaching global competencies might look like in practice. The Asia Society and the Council of Chief State School Officers have produced a series of global competence matrices (PDF). I started using these matrices this year as a way to evaluate my own curriculum. Recently, I've been embedding competencies into my student assessment rubrics.
The four main elements of the global competence matrix are:
• Investigate the world.
• Recognize perspectives.
• Communicate ideas.
• Take action.
We should be teaching our students these skills, and of course, mastering the competencies ourselves. They probably sound familiar: Some call them 21st-century skills, and others refer to them as the new basics. Students need to go beyond their comfort zones and actively learn from (not just about) people who have different worldviews.
This is not a call to throw out the curricula that we are currently using. On the contrary, it's an opportunity to enhance our practice and create a more rigorous and meaningful learning environment for our students.
In teaching U.S. history this past school year, I have worked with colleagues to revise our Progressive Era and Great Depression units, incorporating more opportunities for students to develop global competencies.
Investigate the World and Recognize Perspectives
Progressive Era unit: After a look at Teddy Roosevelt and the creation of the national parks system, students learned about differing views on the management of public lands a hundred years ago (focusing on John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Richard Ballinger). Students analyzed and debated the decision to dam the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. We tried to push students to recognize their own perspectives within the spectrum of preservationist, conservationist, and laissez-faire attitudes.
Great Depression unit: We redesigned our Great Depression unit to follow an arc that led to a study of the Great Recession of 2007-09. We began by looking at the causes of the 1929 stock market crash and the widespread bank failures that followed. Then we moved on to study the "alphabet soup" of New Deal programs and the impact of the depression on people's everyday lives. Next, we compared different economic perspectives on the causes of and responses to the Depression, including a theoretical comparison of capitalism and communism.
Communicate Ideas / Taking Action
Progressive Era unit: We finished the unit by turning to the present. Students studied the current debate over the Keystone Pipeline project. After role-playing a town hall meeting on the pipeline issue, students wrote letters to President Obama that showed an understanding of multiple perspectives and incorporated the history of American conservationism and environmentalism. We hope that the President will be impressed by the level of global competence in the 100 letters, especially the act of sending them.
Great Depression unit: Similarly, we ended the Great Depression unit in the present. We looked at the recent economic recession, focusing on the collapse of the housing bubble, and the growing income inequality gap. Students debated three perspectives on economic policy:
• The call for a "New New Deal" and increased taxation of the wealthiest Americans.
• A focus on deficit reduction and tax cuts.
• A call for a new, more just system altogether.
Background materials included rhetoric from the Obama campaign, the Republican Party's economic platform, and the Occupy Movement. We hope that students take action by personally engaging with these important issues, and that those who are eligible voters will feel informed enough to participate in this November’s presidential election.
But you don't have to be a social studies teacher to incorporate the global competencies—the matrices address numerous content areas.
And you don't have to take students across international borders. You can help your students practice the skills of recognizing different perspectives and communicating ideas effectively in your own classroom, engaging the diverse perspectives found in your own community and school.
There are also easy ways to connect with classrooms around the world. You can start by simple class-to-class communication and then advance to collaborating with classes in other countries on specific projects. (I've listed some of my favorite resources below.)
The time to take global education seriously is now. Whether you believe we need to prepare students to compete economically with students from other nations or that graduates need to have the skills to collaborate with others to solve complex problems, the global competencies are critical.
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/07/03/tln_zeichner.html?tkn=NXVDqq2alkusePtHLnERebzr7NQfrwDKMPu0&intc=es
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Austria Boost Vietnam's Tertiary Education
Austria Boost Vietnam's Tertiary Education.
HCM CITY — Viet Nam and Austria would continue strengthening co-operation in tertiary education and science and technology, a forum was told in HCM City yesterday.
The Viet Nam-Austria forum on tertiary education, science and research was attended by Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.
The forum was considered an important bridge between the two countries' higher education and science and technology sectors.
Speaking at the event, President Heinz Fischer said he was pleased with the development of bilateral ties in the science and research sector through co-operative agreements between tertiary education and research agencies, as well as the framework of the Austrian Southeast Asian University Partnership Network (ASEA-UNINET) initiated by Austrian universities.
Deputy PM Nhan affirmed that the forum represented the two countries' determination to make tertiary education, science and research a priority in bilateral co-operation.
Viet Nam considered education and science and technology vital for rapid and sustainable development, he said.
In its tertiary education strategy, Viet Nam would improve the quality of higher education by building high-quality universities, strengthening international co-operation in tertiary education and stepping up scientific research at universities, he added.
According to Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, Viet Nam attaches importance to scientific and technological co-operation with Austria, reflected by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on scientific and technological co-operation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research in late 2011.
The MoU affirms the two ministries' commitment to creating a mechanism to encourage co-operation between the Vietnamese and Austrian scientific and technological communities, especially between universities and research institutes.
At the forum, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research officially launched a programme to support bilateral research co-operation between Viet Nam and Austria in the 2012-2025 period.
Under the programme, the two countries' scientific communities will receive financial support to boost joint research co-operation activities and train scientists in the three priority areas of network security, intelligent transport and renewable energy.
During the event, six MoAs were also inked between leading universities of Viet Nam and Austria.
On the same day, Austrian President Heinz Fischer met with Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Le Hoang Quan, who expressed his belief that the visit would boost multifaceted co-operation between Austria and Viet Nam and between Austria and HCM City in particular.
Read more at http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/politics-laws/225531/vn-austria-boost-tertiary-education.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
HCM CITY — Viet Nam and Austria would continue strengthening co-operation in tertiary education and science and technology, a forum was told in HCM City yesterday.
The Viet Nam-Austria forum on tertiary education, science and research was attended by Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.
The forum was considered an important bridge between the two countries' higher education and science and technology sectors.
Speaking at the event, President Heinz Fischer said he was pleased with the development of bilateral ties in the science and research sector through co-operative agreements between tertiary education and research agencies, as well as the framework of the Austrian Southeast Asian University Partnership Network (ASEA-UNINET) initiated by Austrian universities.
Deputy PM Nhan affirmed that the forum represented the two countries' determination to make tertiary education, science and research a priority in bilateral co-operation.
Viet Nam considered education and science and technology vital for rapid and sustainable development, he said.
In its tertiary education strategy, Viet Nam would improve the quality of higher education by building high-quality universities, strengthening international co-operation in tertiary education and stepping up scientific research at universities, he added.
According to Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, Viet Nam attaches importance to scientific and technological co-operation with Austria, reflected by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on scientific and technological co-operation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research in late 2011.
The MoU affirms the two ministries' commitment to creating a mechanism to encourage co-operation between the Vietnamese and Austrian scientific and technological communities, especially between universities and research institutes.
At the forum, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research officially launched a programme to support bilateral research co-operation between Viet Nam and Austria in the 2012-2025 period.
Under the programme, the two countries' scientific communities will receive financial support to boost joint research co-operation activities and train scientists in the three priority areas of network security, intelligent transport and renewable energy.
During the event, six MoAs were also inked between leading universities of Viet Nam and Austria.
On the same day, Austrian President Heinz Fischer met with Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Le Hoang Quan, who expressed his belief that the visit would boost multifaceted co-operation between Austria and Viet Nam and between Austria and HCM City in particular.
Read more at http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/politics-laws/225531/vn-austria-boost-tertiary-education.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Sunday, June 17, 2012
How Can Teachers Create a Learner Centered Environment?
How Can Teachers Create a Learner Centered Environment?
As a classroom teacher, does the idea of a learner centered environment sound new to you?
The Alliance for Excellent Education recently released Culture Shift: Teaching in a Learner-Centered Environment Powered By Digital Learning.
The report advocates that a culture shift to a learner centered classroom environment is needed to prepare students to meet the challenges and demands of a global economy, that:
1) Learning needs to be rigorous and based on college and career-ready expectations.
2) Learning is personalized.
3) Learning is collaborative, relevant, and applied.
4) Learning is flexible, taking place anytime, anywhere.
This insightful report confirms and expands on what many teachers know are challenges in classrooms. I was fortunate to be part of an Alliance for Excellent Education panel that discussed the transformations needed in teaching in order to create this culture shift.
Then, a few days later at the Content in Context conference, presented by the Association of Educational Publishers and Association of American Publishers School Division, I had the opportunity to join a panel of publishers as an educator representative to discuss Organizing for the Future: Making the Learner the Focus of Your Business where we talked about the importance and challenges of creating products to support a learner-centered future.
From an educator perspective, we all welcome the emerging discussions on how publishers can support teachers in creating learner-centered classrooms.
And, if it involves meaningful integration of technology, so much the better!
Here are my take-aways from both events:
1) Effective teachers have always created a learner centered environment.
How do you survive teaching a group of students with learning disabilities and others with emotional disabilities? Hint: Know them as individuals, understand their strengths, needs, and learning styles, and be able to differentiate the ways they learn grade level content.
Create this learner-centered environment, one builds a learning community and manages behaviors of the class.
Fail to do so......watch the chaos unfold!!!
In other words, effective teachers with students with diverse socio-cultural and learning needs have always been learner centered.
Perhaps, the concept of learner centered environment actually originated in the one-room school house- where the teachers had students of different ages learning different content.
On the other hand, when discussing a culture shift, more is needed to scale this philosophy....
2) We need meaningful publisher and teacher collaboration
With the wide availability of multimedia and other resources on the Internet, the focus on the textbook as the sole source for information is decreasing. Many teachers supplement the textbook with additional resources to meet the needs of students.
In the emerging era of flipped classrooms, Khan Academy, iTunes U, You Tube, and other on-demand Internet resources that empower students to learn outside of the classroom, publishers will need to collaborate more with teachers to be able to create more relevant and meaningful products to support teachers.
This collaboration is essential in meeting the needs of an ever-increasing student diversity within the context of classrooms with higher and more rigorous standards.
At the same time, publishers have also experienced challenges with providing resources for teachers due to differences in state standards and the thousands of school districts, each with their own procurement timelines and adoption cycles.
Hopefully, the adoption of the Common Core Standards will facilitate the development of closer publisher and teacher collaboration to create more meaningful and relevant resources for students.
3) Learner centered environments will require technology.
How can a paper based textbook compete with dynamic, interactive, and on-demand digital resources?
It can't.
When I taught high school English literature at an elite private high school, the (general education) students did fine with the grade level textbook. But, in my 8th grade public school (special education) classroom where the reading levels of students ranged from 3rd to 6th grade, trying to learn 8th grade content with a textbook that had a reading level ranging from 8th to 9th grade was challenging.
My students needed, what the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards describes as, multiple paths to knowledge- being able to have a variety of resources that meets the learning needs of each student in order to access the grade level content.
As I shared at the panel, what we need is a "device" that can present the grade level content, but has features that can change the reading level of the text as appropriate for the student, integrate video and other appropriate multimedia content, and interactive simulations. The content should be updated regularly and have assessment features.
Soon, there will be Apps for that.
Paper doesn't cut it. A learner centered environment requires technology.
4) New roles are needed for the teacher profession.
The Alliance for Excellent Education report highlighted new professional responsibilities and roles for teachers:
a) Teachers as Facilitator of Learning
b) User of Data and Assessments
c) Collaborator, Contributor, and Coach with Peers
d) Curriculum Adapter and Designer
The teaching profession will also need to adapt in order to sustain these transformations. Since these roles require additional skills and knowledge, the teaching profession will need to better understand how to develop and support these differentiated roles to establish a professional culture with multiple levels of expertise and skill sets.
5) Transparency in classrooms will drive the change.
Will the public demand this cultural shift in teaching and learning?
During the Alliance panel discussion, Peggy Brookins, a National Board Certified Teacher and Director of the Engineering and Management Institute of Technology of Forest High School in Florida, and Erin Frew, Principal of New Tech West High School in Ohio showed videos of student activities that exemplify the potential of a learner centered environment.
Videos of student activities and projects in learner centered classrooms need to become viral. The public should demand that their children do similar activities at their school.
Schools should feature the types of learning that goes on in classrooms. Transparency can restore a healthy balance of relevant instruction and meaningful assessment, to "turn around" the narrowing of curriculum and learning associated with the test prep era.
Then ALL teachers, publishers, and other stakeholders can make that culture wide shift to create that learner centered environment that prepares All students for the future.
Read more at http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/leading_from_the_classroom/2012/06/how_can_teachers_create_a_learner_centered_environment.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LeadingFromTheClassroom+%28Leading+From+the+Classroom%29
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
As a classroom teacher, does the idea of a learner centered environment sound new to you?
The Alliance for Excellent Education recently released Culture Shift: Teaching in a Learner-Centered Environment Powered By Digital Learning.
The report advocates that a culture shift to a learner centered classroom environment is needed to prepare students to meet the challenges and demands of a global economy, that:
1) Learning needs to be rigorous and based on college and career-ready expectations.
2) Learning is personalized.
3) Learning is collaborative, relevant, and applied.
4) Learning is flexible, taking place anytime, anywhere.
This insightful report confirms and expands on what many teachers know are challenges in classrooms. I was fortunate to be part of an Alliance for Excellent Education panel that discussed the transformations needed in teaching in order to create this culture shift.
Then, a few days later at the Content in Context conference, presented by the Association of Educational Publishers and Association of American Publishers School Division, I had the opportunity to join a panel of publishers as an educator representative to discuss Organizing for the Future: Making the Learner the Focus of Your Business where we talked about the importance and challenges of creating products to support a learner-centered future.
From an educator perspective, we all welcome the emerging discussions on how publishers can support teachers in creating learner-centered classrooms.
And, if it involves meaningful integration of technology, so much the better!
Here are my take-aways from both events:
1) Effective teachers have always created a learner centered environment.
How do you survive teaching a group of students with learning disabilities and others with emotional disabilities? Hint: Know them as individuals, understand their strengths, needs, and learning styles, and be able to differentiate the ways they learn grade level content.
Create this learner-centered environment, one builds a learning community and manages behaviors of the class.
Fail to do so......watch the chaos unfold!!!
In other words, effective teachers with students with diverse socio-cultural and learning needs have always been learner centered.
Perhaps, the concept of learner centered environment actually originated in the one-room school house- where the teachers had students of different ages learning different content.
On the other hand, when discussing a culture shift, more is needed to scale this philosophy....
2) We need meaningful publisher and teacher collaboration
With the wide availability of multimedia and other resources on the Internet, the focus on the textbook as the sole source for information is decreasing. Many teachers supplement the textbook with additional resources to meet the needs of students.
In the emerging era of flipped classrooms, Khan Academy, iTunes U, You Tube, and other on-demand Internet resources that empower students to learn outside of the classroom, publishers will need to collaborate more with teachers to be able to create more relevant and meaningful products to support teachers.
This collaboration is essential in meeting the needs of an ever-increasing student diversity within the context of classrooms with higher and more rigorous standards.
At the same time, publishers have also experienced challenges with providing resources for teachers due to differences in state standards and the thousands of school districts, each with their own procurement timelines and adoption cycles.
Hopefully, the adoption of the Common Core Standards will facilitate the development of closer publisher and teacher collaboration to create more meaningful and relevant resources for students.
3) Learner centered environments will require technology.
How can a paper based textbook compete with dynamic, interactive, and on-demand digital resources?
It can't.
When I taught high school English literature at an elite private high school, the (general education) students did fine with the grade level textbook. But, in my 8th grade public school (special education) classroom where the reading levels of students ranged from 3rd to 6th grade, trying to learn 8th grade content with a textbook that had a reading level ranging from 8th to 9th grade was challenging.
My students needed, what the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards describes as, multiple paths to knowledge- being able to have a variety of resources that meets the learning needs of each student in order to access the grade level content.
As I shared at the panel, what we need is a "device" that can present the grade level content, but has features that can change the reading level of the text as appropriate for the student, integrate video and other appropriate multimedia content, and interactive simulations. The content should be updated regularly and have assessment features.
Soon, there will be Apps for that.
Paper doesn't cut it. A learner centered environment requires technology.
4) New roles are needed for the teacher profession.
The Alliance for Excellent Education report highlighted new professional responsibilities and roles for teachers:
a) Teachers as Facilitator of Learning
b) User of Data and Assessments
c) Collaborator, Contributor, and Coach with Peers
d) Curriculum Adapter and Designer
The teaching profession will also need to adapt in order to sustain these transformations. Since these roles require additional skills and knowledge, the teaching profession will need to better understand how to develop and support these differentiated roles to establish a professional culture with multiple levels of expertise and skill sets.
5) Transparency in classrooms will drive the change.
Will the public demand this cultural shift in teaching and learning?
During the Alliance panel discussion, Peggy Brookins, a National Board Certified Teacher and Director of the Engineering and Management Institute of Technology of Forest High School in Florida, and Erin Frew, Principal of New Tech West High School in Ohio showed videos of student activities that exemplify the potential of a learner centered environment.
Videos of student activities and projects in learner centered classrooms need to become viral. The public should demand that their children do similar activities at their school.
Schools should feature the types of learning that goes on in classrooms. Transparency can restore a healthy balance of relevant instruction and meaningful assessment, to "turn around" the narrowing of curriculum and learning associated with the test prep era.
Then ALL teachers, publishers, and other stakeholders can make that culture wide shift to create that learner centered environment that prepares All students for the future.
Read more at http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/leading_from_the_classroom/2012/06/how_can_teachers_create_a_learner_centered_environment.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LeadingFromTheClassroom+%28Leading+From+the+Classroom%29
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Friday, May 25, 2012
Education a Priority for Vietnam’s Youth
Education a Priority for Vietnam’s Youth.
Hanoi (Asia News) – Education for young Vietnamese is getting worse. A survey among high school students in Ho Chi Minh City shows that 32.2 per cent are disrespectful towards teachers, 38.8 per cent uses foul language often and 53.6 per cent does it sometimes.
Another survey indicates that from 2005 to the present the number of students involved in antisocial behaviour increased in both frequency and gravity. The rise in sexual abuse is another aspect of the broader moral decline among young people.
In 2011 alone, 1386 minors were sexually abused by adults, that is 11.8 per cent more than in 2010. Of these, 51 were killed, 427 raped, 495 forced to have intercourse with adults and 128 intentionally injured. Many children and teenagers have also become the victims of human trafficking through the border with China, Thailand and Cambodia.
AsiaNews spoke with Prof Hoà ng Tuy, 84, who recently won the first Constantin Caratheodory Prize established by the International Society of Global Optimisation. He is very concerned about the state of education in Vietnam.
“Education is an urgent matter. Our life increasingly needs an overall reform of education if we do not want our country to remain backward . . . . Shortcomings in and harm to education have accumulated and reached an extreme level. We can no longer tolerate them. Now a total overhaul of education is the first order of business. Reality requires us to change the current state of education.”
When the educational level of a country reaches such a low level, it becomes imperative for society to wake up, the professor said, from ordinary citizens to its leaders.
“An enlightened education must begin with a true democratic spirit and determination to build a clean, just and civilised society, and train its leadership in view of this,” he said. “Today, the moral decline and unlawful behaviour by young people should alarm families, schools and universities. The sense of morality among young generations is going down.”
A decline in academic ethics as well as lying and dishonesty among public officials are among the reasons for this trend, the scholar noted. They affect young people in particular. On the other hand, university education appears to be the key to ensure an overall higher quality education, but for decades, policies in this area have been inadequate, touching the lives of millions of students.
“Education must be at the top of the nation’s priority list. The role of education is important and affects the country’s survival. It is the foundation of society and helps maintain and develop values.”
It is a social good and as such, “the government should create the conditions that allow religions and the Vietnamese people to participate in the education of younger generations. We need a healthy social environment free of corruption, respectful of human dignity, freedom of religion and human rights for all.”
Read more at http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Education,-a-priority-for-Vietnam%E2%80%99s-youth-23813.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Hanoi (Asia News) – Education for young Vietnamese is getting worse. A survey among high school students in Ho Chi Minh City shows that 32.2 per cent are disrespectful towards teachers, 38.8 per cent uses foul language often and 53.6 per cent does it sometimes.
Another survey indicates that from 2005 to the present the number of students involved in antisocial behaviour increased in both frequency and gravity. The rise in sexual abuse is another aspect of the broader moral decline among young people.
In 2011 alone, 1386 minors were sexually abused by adults, that is 11.8 per cent more than in 2010. Of these, 51 were killed, 427 raped, 495 forced to have intercourse with adults and 128 intentionally injured. Many children and teenagers have also become the victims of human trafficking through the border with China, Thailand and Cambodia.
AsiaNews spoke with Prof Hoà ng Tuy, 84, who recently won the first Constantin Caratheodory Prize established by the International Society of Global Optimisation. He is very concerned about the state of education in Vietnam.
“Education is an urgent matter. Our life increasingly needs an overall reform of education if we do not want our country to remain backward . . . . Shortcomings in and harm to education have accumulated and reached an extreme level. We can no longer tolerate them. Now a total overhaul of education is the first order of business. Reality requires us to change the current state of education.”
When the educational level of a country reaches such a low level, it becomes imperative for society to wake up, the professor said, from ordinary citizens to its leaders.
“An enlightened education must begin with a true democratic spirit and determination to build a clean, just and civilised society, and train its leadership in view of this,” he said. “Today, the moral decline and unlawful behaviour by young people should alarm families, schools and universities. The sense of morality among young generations is going down.”
A decline in academic ethics as well as lying and dishonesty among public officials are among the reasons for this trend, the scholar noted. They affect young people in particular. On the other hand, university education appears to be the key to ensure an overall higher quality education, but for decades, policies in this area have been inadequate, touching the lives of millions of students.
“Education must be at the top of the nation’s priority list. The role of education is important and affects the country’s survival. It is the foundation of society and helps maintain and develop values.”
It is a social good and as such, “the government should create the conditions that allow religions and the Vietnamese people to participate in the education of younger generations. We need a healthy social environment free of corruption, respectful of human dignity, freedom of religion and human rights for all.”
Read more at http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Education,-a-priority-for-Vietnam%E2%80%99s-youth-23813.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Friday, April 20, 2012
Where Teachers Are Replaceable Widgets, Education Suffers
Where Teachers Are Replaceable Widgets, Education Suffers.
We have become convinced that in our nation's struggling urban schools, teachers and would-be education reformers are battling through a hurricane that shows no signs of abating. We call this hurricane "churn."
Churn is a remarkable instability among school personnel that makes it nearly impossible to build a professional community or develop long-term relationships with students. It happens when teachers are treated like interchangeable parts who can be moved around cavalierly to plug a hole in a school schedule. It happens when administrators repeatedly order teachers to switch to a different grade, teach a different subject, or move to a different school.
We recently tried to test an idea for improving the middle school science curriculum through a multiyear randomized controlled trial in a big-city public school system. But the constant stream of teachers leaving the classes we were studying made it nearly impossible to get reliable results. After just one year, 42 percent of the teachers in 92 schools who began participating in our study had left it to take other positions within and outside the schools. The instability was about the same in both the intervention group...
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/04/27porter.h31.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
We have become convinced that in our nation's struggling urban schools, teachers and would-be education reformers are battling through a hurricane that shows no signs of abating. We call this hurricane "churn."
Churn is a remarkable instability among school personnel that makes it nearly impossible to build a professional community or develop long-term relationships with students. It happens when teachers are treated like interchangeable parts who can be moved around cavalierly to plug a hole in a school schedule. It happens when administrators repeatedly order teachers to switch to a different grade, teach a different subject, or move to a different school.
We recently tried to test an idea for improving the middle school science curriculum through a multiyear randomized controlled trial in a big-city public school system. But the constant stream of teachers leaving the classes we were studying made it nearly impossible to get reliable results. After just one year, 42 percent of the teachers in 92 schools who began participating in our study had left it to take other positions within and outside the schools. The instability was about the same in both the intervention group...
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/04/27porter.h31.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Teachers Who Meditate are More Compassionate
Teachers who meditate are more compassionate.
Washington: School teachers who went through an intensive meditation programme were less edgy or stressed, and more compassionate towards others, according to a new finding.
Previous research has linked meditation to positive changes in blood pressure, metabolism and pain, but less is known about the specific emotional changes that result from the practice.
The new study by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), was tasked with creating new techniques to minimize destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behaviour.
"The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behaviour," said Margaret Kemeny, director of the Health Psychology Program at California, who led the study.
"The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture," added Kemeny, according to an UCSF statement.
Altogether, 82 female schoolteachers aged between 25 and 60 years participated. Teachers were chosen because their work is stressful and meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives.
The study arose from a meeting 2,000 between Buddhist scholars, behavioural scientists and emotion experts at the home of the Dalai Lama.
There, the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman, emeritus professor at the UCSF and world expert in emotions, pondered the topic of emotions, leading the Dalai Lama to pose a question: "In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions?"
Read more at http://www.indiaedunews.net/in-focus/March_2012/Teachers_who_meditate_are_more_compassionate_15453/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Washington: School teachers who went through an intensive meditation programme were less edgy or stressed, and more compassionate towards others, according to a new finding.
Previous research has linked meditation to positive changes in blood pressure, metabolism and pain, but less is known about the specific emotional changes that result from the practice.
The new study by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), was tasked with creating new techniques to minimize destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behaviour.
"The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behaviour," said Margaret Kemeny, director of the Health Psychology Program at California, who led the study.
"The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture," added Kemeny, according to an UCSF statement.
Altogether, 82 female schoolteachers aged between 25 and 60 years participated. Teachers were chosen because their work is stressful and meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives.
The study arose from a meeting 2,000 between Buddhist scholars, behavioural scientists and emotion experts at the home of the Dalai Lama.
There, the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman, emeritus professor at the UCSF and world expert in emotions, pondered the topic of emotions, leading the Dalai Lama to pose a question: "In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions?"
Read more at http://www.indiaedunews.net/in-focus/March_2012/Teachers_who_meditate_are_more_compassionate_15453/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Monday, April 16, 2012
India to Help Vietnamese Teachers in English Training.
India to help Vietnamese teachers in English training.
Vietnam will be sending teachers to India for English training, besides sourcing English teachers from India, according to the ministry of human resource development. The objective behind the entire exercise will be to prepare 20,000 English teachers in Vietnam over the next few years.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan Thursday presented the proposal to union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.
According to secretary (school education), the Central Board of School Education could provide the necessary training in India, through its Sahodaya School network.
English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U) Hyderabad as well as Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have also agreed to cooperate with Vietnamese institutions.
EFL-U acting Vice Chancellor Amritavalli suggested that the university could prepare 300 master trainers over three years in two batches of 50 Vietnamese teachers every year. University could also send some experts to Vietnam.
India will also aid Vietnam in curriculum development. This cooperation would include the offering of Indian studies in Vietnam and Vietnam studies in India.
Read more at http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/India_to_help_Vietnamese_teachers_in_English_training_15456/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Vietnam will be sending teachers to India for English training, besides sourcing English teachers from India, according to the ministry of human resource development. The objective behind the entire exercise will be to prepare 20,000 English teachers in Vietnam over the next few years.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan Thursday presented the proposal to union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.
According to secretary (school education), the Central Board of School Education could provide the necessary training in India, through its Sahodaya School network.
English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U) Hyderabad as well as Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have also agreed to cooperate with Vietnamese institutions.
EFL-U acting Vice Chancellor Amritavalli suggested that the university could prepare 300 master trainers over three years in two batches of 50 Vietnamese teachers every year. University could also send some experts to Vietnam.
India will also aid Vietnam in curriculum development. This cooperation would include the offering of Indian studies in Vietnam and Vietnam studies in India.
Read more at http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/India_to_help_Vietnamese_teachers_in_English_training_15456/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Monday, March 12, 2012
Jobs for Former Teachers Abroad: the Appeal of being a “Retired” Educator Overseas
Jobs for Former Teachers Abroad: the Appeal of being a “Retired” Educator Overseas.
Whether you’re a former teacher or recently retired from the teaching field, the excitement of traveling to foreign countries and being immersed in a new culture can be a tempting prospect for many individuals. No matter if you are looking for the adventure of a lifetime or you simply miss the thrill of being a teacher, when it comes to jobs for former teachers and retired teaching professionals, LanguageCorps can point you to some amazing opportunities.
Here are a few of the biggest reasons why so many educators are looking to teach English abroad:
Being a teacher or professor in the United States can be a very stressful and demanding career. If you decide to teach English abroad, the workload is a lot more manageable as you are only teaching one subject and schedules are very flexible. International education jobs are generally a lot less high-stress than teaching jobs in the American educational system.
If you have always dreamed of traveling, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Get paid to live in the country of your choice; you can teach English in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. With the flexibility of your teaching schedule, you are free to travel and explore new countries during your down time.
Former teachers already have the training and experience needed to teach English abroad. After obtaining a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate, you will be more than prepared to take on the adventure of being an educator overseas.
With the high demand for teaching professionals to teach English abroad, job security is generally not an issue. The availability of paid teaching positions remains high in all of our international locations. Have the freedom to choose your schedule, teaching location, and contract.
LanguageCorps teachers have the satisfaction of knowing that they are making a difference in the lives of their students and the economies of their host countries.
Teaching English abroad is a life-altering experience and a great way to learn about a new culture, meet new people, travel and explore!
Read more at http://www.languagecorps.com/blog/jobs-for-former-teachers-abroad-the-appeal-of-being-a-retired-educator-overseas/#more-343
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Whether you’re a former teacher or recently retired from the teaching field, the excitement of traveling to foreign countries and being immersed in a new culture can be a tempting prospect for many individuals. No matter if you are looking for the adventure of a lifetime or you simply miss the thrill of being a teacher, when it comes to jobs for former teachers and retired teaching professionals, LanguageCorps can point you to some amazing opportunities.
Here are a few of the biggest reasons why so many educators are looking to teach English abroad:
Being a teacher or professor in the United States can be a very stressful and demanding career. If you decide to teach English abroad, the workload is a lot more manageable as you are only teaching one subject and schedules are very flexible. International education jobs are generally a lot less high-stress than teaching jobs in the American educational system.
If you have always dreamed of traveling, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Get paid to live in the country of your choice; you can teach English in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. With the flexibility of your teaching schedule, you are free to travel and explore new countries during your down time.
Former teachers already have the training and experience needed to teach English abroad. After obtaining a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate, you will be more than prepared to take on the adventure of being an educator overseas.
With the high demand for teaching professionals to teach English abroad, job security is generally not an issue. The availability of paid teaching positions remains high in all of our international locations. Have the freedom to choose your schedule, teaching location, and contract.
LanguageCorps teachers have the satisfaction of knowing that they are making a difference in the lives of their students and the economies of their host countries.
Teaching English abroad is a life-altering experience and a great way to learn about a new culture, meet new people, travel and explore!
Read more at http://www.languagecorps.com/blog/jobs-for-former-teachers-abroad-the-appeal-of-being-a-retired-educator-overseas/#more-343
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Teachers Must Be Trained Living Skills
Teachers must be trained living skills.
It is the first year that MOET decided schools have to operate classes to teach living skills preparation program for the academic year 2010-2011.
It is the first year that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) decided schools have to operate classes to teach living skills preparation program for the academic year 2010-2011; however, it requires teachers to be trained with educational methodologies and certain knowledge.
Most schools lack professional teachers to take charge in such classes, so head teachers are assigned to do the job. There hasn’t in fact been a training course for teachers of these classes, especially young teachers.
Teachers in charge of such classes need to be trained to teach living skills, MOET has therefore launched a training course for over 700 teachers from 23 southern provinces in the beginning of the year. Some teachers said it is easy that schools offer extracurricular classes but MOET should verify the role of teachers and effective teaching methodologies.
Headmistress of Tran Khai Nguyen high-school, Nguyen Thi Yen Trinh, said MOET and the Department of Education and Training have just ordered schools t teach life skills among the students, but they didn’t give detailed plan. According to Ms. Trinh, young instructors themselves lack living skills; they are thus confused to bring living skills to the classroom and deal with complicated situation.
Managing board of Tran Khai Nguyen high-school has just invited several experts to provide teaching methodology training to head teachers.
After the course, literature teacher Dinh Thi My Hanh said through the course, teachers could design a lesson in which provide life skills to pupils. Meanwhile, teacher Bui Thi Ngoc Thoan, head teacher of class 11A2 said the training made teachers confident to offer extracurricular classes even in one hour through some forms like dramas, poetry or songs. During the classes, the students were taught to combine presentation and teamwork in different topics.
MOET has issued five documents to teach living skills through teaching subjects literature, biology, geography, lessons for citizenship education or outside lessons. However, students felt bored to receive life skills through main subjects but they showed their enthusiasm to learn living skills under other forms. Tran Khai Nguyen high-school’s 10 grader Dong Thuc said he learned how to resolve contradiction through discussion with friends after watching a drama in class.
Another problem has risen when implementing living skill teaching plan, which is financial problem. According to Tran Khac Huy from the Department of Education and Training, private owned institutes are eager to hold training courses to teachers and students meanwhile public schools are not due to financial difficulties.
Moreover, state-run facilities neglected to provide living skill class but focus on raising graduate number for maintaining its achievements.
Psychologist Vo Van Nam said teachers play an important role in training ethic and behavior of students, especially living skills.
Violence escalated among students and even among teachers who had insulting words to learners. Teachers also lack of living skills.
Mr. Nam said living skills can gradually develop through learning, apprehending and experiencing life. Accordingly schools and the education sector should work out long-term plans to each instructors.
Read more at http://www.vnnnews.net/teachers-must-be-trained-living-skills
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
3RH2YNS4D2C4
It is the first year that MOET decided schools have to operate classes to teach living skills preparation program for the academic year 2010-2011.
It is the first year that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) decided schools have to operate classes to teach living skills preparation program for the academic year 2010-2011; however, it requires teachers to be trained with educational methodologies and certain knowledge.
Most schools lack professional teachers to take charge in such classes, so head teachers are assigned to do the job. There hasn’t in fact been a training course for teachers of these classes, especially young teachers.
Teachers in charge of such classes need to be trained to teach living skills, MOET has therefore launched a training course for over 700 teachers from 23 southern provinces in the beginning of the year. Some teachers said it is easy that schools offer extracurricular classes but MOET should verify the role of teachers and effective teaching methodologies.
Headmistress of Tran Khai Nguyen high-school, Nguyen Thi Yen Trinh, said MOET and the Department of Education and Training have just ordered schools t teach life skills among the students, but they didn’t give detailed plan. According to Ms. Trinh, young instructors themselves lack living skills; they are thus confused to bring living skills to the classroom and deal with complicated situation.
Managing board of Tran Khai Nguyen high-school has just invited several experts to provide teaching methodology training to head teachers.
After the course, literature teacher Dinh Thi My Hanh said through the course, teachers could design a lesson in which provide life skills to pupils. Meanwhile, teacher Bui Thi Ngoc Thoan, head teacher of class 11A2 said the training made teachers confident to offer extracurricular classes even in one hour through some forms like dramas, poetry or songs. During the classes, the students were taught to combine presentation and teamwork in different topics.
MOET has issued five documents to teach living skills through teaching subjects literature, biology, geography, lessons for citizenship education or outside lessons. However, students felt bored to receive life skills through main subjects but they showed their enthusiasm to learn living skills under other forms. Tran Khai Nguyen high-school’s 10 grader Dong Thuc said he learned how to resolve contradiction through discussion with friends after watching a drama in class.
Another problem has risen when implementing living skill teaching plan, which is financial problem. According to Tran Khac Huy from the Department of Education and Training, private owned institutes are eager to hold training courses to teachers and students meanwhile public schools are not due to financial difficulties.
Moreover, state-run facilities neglected to provide living skill class but focus on raising graduate number for maintaining its achievements.
Psychologist Vo Van Nam said teachers play an important role in training ethic and behavior of students, especially living skills.
Violence escalated among students and even among teachers who had insulting words to learners. Teachers also lack of living skills.
Mr. Nam said living skills can gradually develop through learning, apprehending and experiencing life. Accordingly schools and the education sector should work out long-term plans to each instructors.
Read more at http://www.vnnnews.net/teachers-must-be-trained-living-skills
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
3RH2YNS4D2C4
Saturday, March 3, 2012
County Teachers Receive Grants to Travel Abroad
County teachers receive grants to travel abroad.
NEWARK -- Katelyn Kochheiser, a special education teacher at Cherry Valley Elementary School, will visit Cambodia for the second time this summer.
The first-year teacher found out Wednesday she received a $2,500 grant to travel to the country and teach during the summer. She is one of three teachers in the county to receive a Tibbie Leslie Travel Grant from the Licking County Foundation this year.
The grants were set up by a former teacher who grew up in Newark -- Elizabeth Randolph "Tibbie" Leslie -- and taught physical education at Withrow High School in Cincinnati for 30 years. She established the Tibbie Leslie Fund through the Licking County Foundation after her death in 1995.
Five teachers applied for the grant this year, Licking County Foundation Director Connie Hawk said. Kochheiser, Newark High School teacher Bet Brown and Watkins Memorial High School teacher Allison Jenison won the grants, which were awarded based solely on an application.
It's "not only how they're going to inspire their students, but how it's going to help them professionally," Hawk said. "(For) many of our teachers, it's the first time they've traveled abroad."
Brown's trip -- which she is taking in March during her spring break -- will take her to Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. It will be her first time overseas.
"My plan is to visit a local high school in Madrid and explore their likes and differences to a school like Newark High," said Brown, a family and consumer sciences teacher.
She also is looking forward to experiencing the culture in Spain, from education to food.
"I want to look at whether they teach any classes like this," Brown said. "They go to the market every day. They don't have big one-stop grocery shops."
Kochheiser will be using her grant to help teach children in Cambodia through the Asian Hope International School. She taught there this past summer between graduating from Miami University and starting at Newark.
"They just take in kids who might not be able to afford school," Kochheiser said.
She also hopes to set up a pen pal system between her Newark and Cambodian students. She teaches special education at Cherry Valley Elementary.
"I thought it'd be really cool to get the kids here involved with them," she said.
Jenison, a 10th grade English and high school developmental reading teacher, will travel to various locations in England. She hopes to make William Shakespeare's plays more relatable to her students, according to a foundation news release.
Each year, Hawk surprises the grant recipients in their classrooms during a school day.
Brown said she thought she might get a letter about the grant and didn't know what to think when her school's principals and Hawk walked into her room Monday.
"When they walked in, I had no idea why they were here," she said. "They really caught me by surprise. I was very touched that they made a big deal about it."
Seth Roy can be reached at (740) 328-8547 or sroy@newarkadvocate.com.
Read more at http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20120301/NEWS01/203010340/County-teachers-receive-grants-travel-abroad
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
NEWARK -- Katelyn Kochheiser, a special education teacher at Cherry Valley Elementary School, will visit Cambodia for the second time this summer.
The first-year teacher found out Wednesday she received a $2,500 grant to travel to the country and teach during the summer. She is one of three teachers in the county to receive a Tibbie Leslie Travel Grant from the Licking County Foundation this year.
The grants were set up by a former teacher who grew up in Newark -- Elizabeth Randolph "Tibbie" Leslie -- and taught physical education at Withrow High School in Cincinnati for 30 years. She established the Tibbie Leslie Fund through the Licking County Foundation after her death in 1995.
Five teachers applied for the grant this year, Licking County Foundation Director Connie Hawk said. Kochheiser, Newark High School teacher Bet Brown and Watkins Memorial High School teacher Allison Jenison won the grants, which were awarded based solely on an application.
It's "not only how they're going to inspire their students, but how it's going to help them professionally," Hawk said. "(For) many of our teachers, it's the first time they've traveled abroad."
Brown's trip -- which she is taking in March during her spring break -- will take her to Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. It will be her first time overseas.
"My plan is to visit a local high school in Madrid and explore their likes and differences to a school like Newark High," said Brown, a family and consumer sciences teacher.
She also is looking forward to experiencing the culture in Spain, from education to food.
"I want to look at whether they teach any classes like this," Brown said. "They go to the market every day. They don't have big one-stop grocery shops."
Kochheiser will be using her grant to help teach children in Cambodia through the Asian Hope International School. She taught there this past summer between graduating from Miami University and starting at Newark.
"They just take in kids who might not be able to afford school," Kochheiser said.
She also hopes to set up a pen pal system between her Newark and Cambodian students. She teaches special education at Cherry Valley Elementary.
"I thought it'd be really cool to get the kids here involved with them," she said.
Jenison, a 10th grade English and high school developmental reading teacher, will travel to various locations in England. She hopes to make William Shakespeare's plays more relatable to her students, according to a foundation news release.
Each year, Hawk surprises the grant recipients in their classrooms during a school day.
Brown said she thought she might get a letter about the grant and didn't know what to think when her school's principals and Hawk walked into her room Monday.
"When they walked in, I had no idea why they were here," she said. "They really caught me by surprise. I was very touched that they made a big deal about it."
Seth Roy can be reached at (740) 328-8547 or sroy@newarkadvocate.com.
Read more at http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20120301/NEWS01/203010340/County-teachers-receive-grants-travel-abroad
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Thursday, January 26, 2012
eCheating Students Find High Tech Ways to Deceive Teachers
eCheating: Students find high-tech ways to deceive teachers.
Everything's going digital these days — including cheating.
As students gain access to sophisticated gadgets both at school and at home, educators are on the lookout for new kinds of cheating. From digitally inserting answers into soft drink labels to texting each other test answers and photos of exams, kids are finding new ways to get ahead when they haven't studied.
YouTube alone has dozens of videos that lay out step-by-step instructions: One three-minute segment shows how to digitally scan the wrapper of a soft drink bottle, then use photo editing software to erase the nutrition information and replace it with test answers or handy formulas. The video has gotten nearly 7 million hits.
STORY: N.Y. students surrender in exam scandal
"There's an epidemic of cheating," says Robert Bramucci, vice chancellor for technology and learning services at South Orange Community College District in Mission Viejo, Calif. "We're not catching them. We're not even sure it's going on."
Several security-related companies, such as Spycheatstuff.com, will even overnight-mail a kit that turns a cellphone or iPod into a hands-free personal cheating device, featuring tiny wireless earbuds, that allows a test-taker to discreetly "phone a friend" during a test and get answers remotely without putting down the pencil.
One Toronto firm named ExamEar shut down its website after authorities investigated how it was selling $300 Bluetooth devices to desperate exam candidates.
Common Sense Media, a non-profit advocacy group, finds that more than 35% of teens ages 13 to 17 with cellphones have used the devices to cheat. More than half (52%) admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet, and many don't consider it a big deal. For instance, only 41% say storing notes on a cellphone to access during a test is a "serious offense." Nearly one in four (23%) don't think it's cheating at all.
But authorities are increasingly getting tough on cheating. Police in Nassau County, N.Y., on Long Island, this fall arrested 20 teens at five public and private schools in an SAT cheating ring. Five are accused of taking SAT and ACT tests for other students, who paid up to $3,600 for the service, authorities say.
An Orange County, Calif., student pleaded guilty in March to stealing Advanced Placement tests and altering college transcripts. Prosecutors say Omar Shahid Khan, 21, pilfered a teacher's password for the school's grading system by installing spyware on school computers.
In a 2007 case, two students in China used the wireless devices to cheat on an English exam but had to be hospitalized afterward to have the tiny earbuds removed, according to China Daily.
"This is about the pressures that kids are feeling in school," says Jill Madenberg, a Great Neck, N.Y., college consultant. "The pressure to do well, the pressure to get into a good college."
She says cheating like the kind seen in Long Island isn't isolated. "It's literally all over the country — it's an epidemic of sorts."
A former high school guidance counselor, Madenberg says that perhaps the only positive aspect of the Long Island SAT scandal is that it will begin a discussion on the pressures kids feel. "There's no question that people are beginning to look at that," she says.
Digital devices haven't necessarily made cheating happen more often, experts say. They've just make it harder to detect.
"The naïve folk belief is that cheating never used to be a problem," Bramucci says. "It's always been a problem."
Problems like detecting cheating boil down to what Nobel Laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls "cognitive bias." If teachers can't see it happening in front of them, they're unlikely to believe it's happening and so they're less likely to try to prevent it. But Bramucci says educators "are lousy detectors at cheating."
To prove his point, a few years ago he brought in a group of students to take a mock test and instructed them to cheat in a handful of different ways, all under the gaze of South Orange professors, who watched and took notes.
"They didn't even get a third of the ways people were cheating, even when they knew they were cheating and it was happening right before their eyes," Bramucci says.
Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-12-15/cheating-school-cellphone-electronics/51976698/1
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Everything's going digital these days — including cheating.
As students gain access to sophisticated gadgets both at school and at home, educators are on the lookout for new kinds of cheating. From digitally inserting answers into soft drink labels to texting each other test answers and photos of exams, kids are finding new ways to get ahead when they haven't studied.
YouTube alone has dozens of videos that lay out step-by-step instructions: One three-minute segment shows how to digitally scan the wrapper of a soft drink bottle, then use photo editing software to erase the nutrition information and replace it with test answers or handy formulas. The video has gotten nearly 7 million hits.
STORY: N.Y. students surrender in exam scandal
"There's an epidemic of cheating," says Robert Bramucci, vice chancellor for technology and learning services at South Orange Community College District in Mission Viejo, Calif. "We're not catching them. We're not even sure it's going on."
Several security-related companies, such as Spycheatstuff.com, will even overnight-mail a kit that turns a cellphone or iPod into a hands-free personal cheating device, featuring tiny wireless earbuds, that allows a test-taker to discreetly "phone a friend" during a test and get answers remotely without putting down the pencil.
One Toronto firm named ExamEar shut down its website after authorities investigated how it was selling $300 Bluetooth devices to desperate exam candidates.
Common Sense Media, a non-profit advocacy group, finds that more than 35% of teens ages 13 to 17 with cellphones have used the devices to cheat. More than half (52%) admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet, and many don't consider it a big deal. For instance, only 41% say storing notes on a cellphone to access during a test is a "serious offense." Nearly one in four (23%) don't think it's cheating at all.
But authorities are increasingly getting tough on cheating. Police in Nassau County, N.Y., on Long Island, this fall arrested 20 teens at five public and private schools in an SAT cheating ring. Five are accused of taking SAT and ACT tests for other students, who paid up to $3,600 for the service, authorities say.
An Orange County, Calif., student pleaded guilty in March to stealing Advanced Placement tests and altering college transcripts. Prosecutors say Omar Shahid Khan, 21, pilfered a teacher's password for the school's grading system by installing spyware on school computers.
In a 2007 case, two students in China used the wireless devices to cheat on an English exam but had to be hospitalized afterward to have the tiny earbuds removed, according to China Daily.
"This is about the pressures that kids are feeling in school," says Jill Madenberg, a Great Neck, N.Y., college consultant. "The pressure to do well, the pressure to get into a good college."
She says cheating like the kind seen in Long Island isn't isolated. "It's literally all over the country — it's an epidemic of sorts."
A former high school guidance counselor, Madenberg says that perhaps the only positive aspect of the Long Island SAT scandal is that it will begin a discussion on the pressures kids feel. "There's no question that people are beginning to look at that," she says.
Digital devices haven't necessarily made cheating happen more often, experts say. They've just make it harder to detect.
"The naïve folk belief is that cheating never used to be a problem," Bramucci says. "It's always been a problem."
Problems like detecting cheating boil down to what Nobel Laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls "cognitive bias." If teachers can't see it happening in front of them, they're unlikely to believe it's happening and so they're less likely to try to prevent it. But Bramucci says educators "are lousy detectors at cheating."
To prove his point, a few years ago he brought in a group of students to take a mock test and instructed them to cheat in a handful of different ways, all under the gaze of South Orange professors, who watched and took notes.
"They didn't even get a third of the ways people were cheating, even when they knew they were cheating and it was happening right before their eyes," Bramucci says.
Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-12-15/cheating-school-cellphone-electronics/51976698/1
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Saturday, December 10, 2011
10 Million Teachers Influencing Students
Intel Teach: 10 Million Teachers Influencing 300 Million Students.
Intel corporation is well known for their forays into educational development and assisting with the ongoing battle between educators, the educated and dwindling school budgets around the world. With their latest campaign, the Intel Teach Program is focused on integrating technology into traditional classroom learning. Intel is not doing this through backing up large trucks full of computers to schools, but rather they are taking a much more personal approach.
Through the Intel Teach professional development program, Intel has gotten hands on with 10 millions teachers to seamlessly work technology into their lesson plans. The goal is to help improve problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills within their students little growing brains.
Read more at http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/09/intel-teach-10-million-teachers-influencing-300-million-students/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Intel corporation is well known for their forays into educational development and assisting with the ongoing battle between educators, the educated and dwindling school budgets around the world. With their latest campaign, the Intel Teach Program is focused on integrating technology into traditional classroom learning. Intel is not doing this through backing up large trucks full of computers to schools, but rather they are taking a much more personal approach.
Through the Intel Teach professional development program, Intel has gotten hands on with 10 millions teachers to seamlessly work technology into their lesson plans. The goal is to help improve problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills within their students little growing brains.
Read more at http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/09/intel-teach-10-million-teachers-influencing-300-million-students/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Friday, December 9, 2011
LanguageCorps Teachers Making a Difference Abroad
LanguageCorps Asia Teachers Making a Difference Abroad.
In addition to teaching abroad, many of our Teachers give back to their new communities by volunteering, fund raising and more. From time to time we have profiled their efforts.
Tis the season of thanks and giving, so we wanted to share a couple inspirational stories from abroad with you. We are pleased to report on the amazing work of two of our Teachers: one in Thailand and one in Vietnam. We hope that their stories will open your hearts and inspire you to support their efforts, or perhaps to give back to your community with some volunteer undertakings of your own.
Flooding in Thailand
We have all seen the heartbreaking news stories about the flooding in and around Bangkok this year. Thankfully, most of our teachers were not affected and have continued to teach....
Read more at http://www.languagecorps.com/blog/languagecorps-teachers-making-a-difference-abroad/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
In addition to teaching abroad, many of our Teachers give back to their new communities by volunteering, fund raising and more. From time to time we have profiled their efforts.
Tis the season of thanks and giving, so we wanted to share a couple inspirational stories from abroad with you. We are pleased to report on the amazing work of two of our Teachers: one in Thailand and one in Vietnam. We hope that their stories will open your hearts and inspire you to support their efforts, or perhaps to give back to your community with some volunteer undertakings of your own.
Flooding in Thailand
We have all seen the heartbreaking news stories about the flooding in and around Bangkok this year. Thankfully, most of our teachers were not affected and have continued to teach....
Read more at http://www.languagecorps.com/blog/languagecorps-teachers-making-a-difference-abroad/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Teacher's Passion Leads to Native Education Job
Teacher's passion leads to Native education job.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Yatibaey Evans, the new coordinator of the Alaska Native Education program, was in her last semester of pre-med classes at the University of Washington when a thesis project for her major, Comparative History of Ideas, prompted her to change her career path from medicine to education.
An Ahtna Athabascan, originally from Mentasta, Evans' thesis plan was to look into stereotypes that elementary students in grades 5 to 8 held of Native Americans.
"I was interested...
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/10/10/461192knativeeducator_ap.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Yatibaey Evans, the new coordinator of the Alaska Native Education program, was in her last semester of pre-med classes at the University of Washington when a thesis project for her major, Comparative History of Ideas, prompted her to change her career path from medicine to education.
An Ahtna Athabascan, originally from Mentasta, Evans' thesis plan was to look into stereotypes that elementary students in grades 5 to 8 held of Native Americans.
"I was interested...
Read more at http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/10/10/461192knativeeducator_ap.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Monday, October 31, 2011
Teachers Combat Summer “Brain Drain” as School Year Begins
Teachers Combat Summer “Brain Drain” as School Year Begins.
Some students, especially low-income students, have lost several months of educational progress over the summer.
Despite their fresh notebooks and a ready supply of sharpened pencils, many students didn’t start this new school year prepared to move ahead. Research shows that many of them, particularly low-income students, are starting school months behind where they were last spring, causing teachers to spend weeks of the new academic year going over content instead of tackling new material.
As Jeff Smink, Vice-president of Policy of the National Summer Learning Association, wrote recently in the New York Times, “The American ideal of lazy summers filled with fun has an unintended consequence: If students are not engaged in learning over the summer, they lose skills in math and reading...
Read more at http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/160512.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Some students, especially low-income students, have lost several months of educational progress over the summer.
Despite their fresh notebooks and a ready supply of sharpened pencils, many students didn’t start this new school year prepared to move ahead. Research shows that many of them, particularly low-income students, are starting school months behind where they were last spring, causing teachers to spend weeks of the new academic year going over content instead of tackling new material.
As Jeff Smink, Vice-president of Policy of the National Summer Learning Association, wrote recently in the New York Times, “The American ideal of lazy summers filled with fun has an unintended consequence: If students are not engaged in learning over the summer, they lose skills in math and reading...
Read more at http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/160512.html
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Why Great Teachers Quit & How to stop the Teacher Exodus.
Why Great Teachers Quit & How to stop the Teacher Exodus.
How much time have you spent on interview committees? Time when you could have been grading papers, contacting parents, or preparing for your next class? If you have been teaching for more than a few years, you’ve undoubtedly sat in on countless interview committees. That’s because too many of your most talented colleagues have quit teaching — some suddenly — many for preventable reasons. It’s likely that many of them were outstanding teachers, and our schools spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring new ones, only to repeat this cycle in a few short years. It’s a waste of money, time, and resources (all which we know are increasingly scarce).
Read more at http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/article-detail/articleid/1646/why-great-teachers-quit-how-to-stop-the-teacher-exodus.aspx
By Katy Farber
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
How much time have you spent on interview committees? Time when you could have been grading papers, contacting parents, or preparing for your next class? If you have been teaching for more than a few years, you’ve undoubtedly sat in on countless interview committees. That’s because too many of your most talented colleagues have quit teaching — some suddenly — many for preventable reasons. It’s likely that many of them were outstanding teachers, and our schools spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring new ones, only to repeat this cycle in a few short years. It’s a waste of money, time, and resources (all which we know are increasingly scarce).
Read more at http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/article-detail/articleid/1646/why-great-teachers-quit-how-to-stop-the-teacher-exodus.aspx
By Katy Farber
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Blending Teachers and e-Learning
Blending teachers and e-Learning.
The effectiveness of online learning to develop 21st century skills
According to the NCREL Synthesis of New Research on K-12 Online Learning, online learning is rapidly growing, expands educational options and provides equal opportunities for all learners. But just as important, the study proves that online learning is effective and that online learning can actually improve teaching. (“On average, students seem to perform equally well or better academically in online learning.”)
For example, it cites that “of those who reported teaching face-to-face while teaching online or subsequently, three in four reported a positive impact on their face-to-face teaching.” Similar results were also found in a recent 93 page report by SRI International for the Department of Education.
Read more at http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/article-detail/articleid/1676/blending-teachers-and-e-learning.aspx
By Vicki Cerda
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Blog search directory
The effectiveness of online learning to develop 21st century skills
According to the NCREL Synthesis of New Research on K-12 Online Learning, online learning is rapidly growing, expands educational options and provides equal opportunities for all learners. But just as important, the study proves that online learning is effective and that online learning can actually improve teaching. (“On average, students seem to perform equally well or better academically in online learning.”)
For example, it cites that “of those who reported teaching face-to-face while teaching online or subsequently, three in four reported a positive impact on their face-to-face teaching.” Similar results were also found in a recent 93 page report by SRI International for the Department of Education.
Read more at http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/article-detail/articleid/1676/blending-teachers-and-e-learning.aspx
By Vicki Cerda
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Blog search directory
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