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Maria Mahon

Initiative Focuses on Early Learning Programs - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • A result is that poor children, even many who have access to government-financed early care or learning programs, tend to enter kindergarten less prepared for school than those with wealthier parents.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      I was especially struck by this line when I thought back to Ch. 5 in Mathison - Defining the Social Studies Curriculum. It lists the goals of Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The first thing listed is "All children in America will start school ready to learn". The reality is that not all students start school ready to learn or at least at the same place. As this newspaper article acknowledges, many poor children enter less prepared for school than those with wealthier parents and this is, in some cases, despite some having access to learning programs. Would an influx of new funds from such a bill create a more organized and directed early learning strategy? And if so, I wonder how educators can really help parents take advantage of the available services.
  • ; a plan for reaching out to parents;
    • Maria Mahon
       
      I think a plan for reaching out to parenst will be a crucial step in making this worthwhile. Communities need to provide the structures that would enable to parents to take advantage of these options and that might include adult education or parenting classes, too.
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    This article provides a look at a bill that proposes to raise the quality of early learning and care programs that serve children from brith through age 5.
jbdrury

Putney Student Travel Homepage - 0 views

    • jbdrury
       
      descriptions of the leadership/teaching postions they offer
    • jbdrury
       
      I know a lot of schools have community service requirements for their students; this would be a unique way of fulfilling them. I still have to stress that I think the tuition rates are MUCH too high. $5000 to volunteer for a month in India - I did the same on my own for about $400
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    This is a travel education service that provides study abroad and volunteer opportunities for high school students, as well as summer leadership opportunities for adults/teachers. I have a few friends that took leadership positions and found it rewarding - too be honest I don't know how many people could afford the tuition though - yikes!
Laura Wood

FBI Youth - Home - 0 views

    • Laura Wood
       
      So clearly the coolest link on this webpage is the "History" link. This will link you to the history of the FBI which is interesting in and of itself BUT also contains some links to primary documents. For example there is a link in 1966 called "six civil rights activists murdered" that takes you to the FBI file of the murder investigation. It might be really neat to have students look at this file and look at other accounts of this incident to understand how police/FBI officers interact with communities and crime. There's another neat account under June 1933 of the Kansas City Massacre!
    • Laura Wood
       
      The "FBI Investigates" tab is a little like the spy museum. It takes you through two cases, what happened and how investigators solved the crime. For any CSI - philes this might be some great info.
    • Laura Wood
       
      "FBI Adventures" is a little not as cool as I'd hoped. While they do give brief snapshots of country profiles, students don't get to actually investigate anything on their own. What they Could do is begin to see how even crime is globalized and how countries now have to work together to protect citizens - an interesting angle on globalization/global studies.
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    • Laura Wood
       
      The "SA Challenge" is tragically lame. It's basically a cyber scavenger hunt to find the answers to questions about the website. Then you self check. If you find all the answers you get to be the director of the FBI - at least that's what the website says. Lame.
    • Laura Wood
       
      Again, "Games" are tragically low tech and pretty lame. Word hunt, etc.
    • Laura Wood
       
      "A day in the life" would be good for any students who were thinking about becoming FBI agents. Always good to give students career choices.
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    FBI's youth website. Probably designed to entice kids to want to be in, support and trust the FBI. Some very cool stuff (no lesson plans). Check out the super rad "History" link!
Erin Power

Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Mo... - 1 views

    • Joellen Kriss
       
      What a conundrum this is...
  • People want support from Washington but not interference. They want accountability but not oversight. They want national leadership but not at the expense of local control.
  • And now that I'm here I'm even more convinced that the best solutions begin with parents and teachers working together in the home and the classroom.
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  • Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded.
  • And many parents just view it as a toxic brand that isn't helping children learn.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      I like how he/his speech writers recognize here that schooling is something that belongs to the states. It seems like he's saying that the federal government is just stepping in for a moment, until things start going well.
  • Until states develop better assessments—which we will support and fund through Race to the Top—we must rely on standardized tests to monitor progress—but this is an important area for reform and an important conversation to have.
  • it places too much emphasis on absolute test scores rather than student growth—and it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      SUPER DUPER BINGO! NCLB encourages hig TESTING standards, but not LEARNING standards!! Good for you Arne (that's what he wants his staff to call him...in case you didn't know.)
  • NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when, in fact, they are not.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      This is one of the issues in my practicum schools and one of the big debates there right now.
  • We don't believe that local educators need a prescription for success. But they do need a common definition of success—focused on student achievement, high school graduation and success and attainment in college.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      ...because the goals are and always have been, decent, but the means, are and always have been, bad (to keep it clean.)
  • In my view, we should be tight on the goals—with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers—but we should be loose on the means for meeting those goals.
  • They are simply not ready for college-level work when they leave high school.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      But do they really?
  • Before we do, however, we want to hear from you. We want your input.
  • We don't need another study. We must stop simply admiring the problem. We need action.
  • And so the work of reauthorizing ESEA begins in states and districts across America—among educators and policy makers, parents and community leaders. This work is as urgent as it is important.
  • And yet we are still waiting for the day when every child in America has a high quality education that prepares him or her for the future.
  • Our shared goals are clear: higher quality schools; improved student achievement; more students going to college; closing the achievement gap; and more opportunities for children to learn and succeed.
  • Let's build a law that respects the honored, noble status of educators—who should be valued as skilled professionals rather than mere practitioners and compensated accordingly.
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    Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's speech at the Monthly Stakeholders meeting this past week. It's a part of a series of town hall style meetings that the secretary is holding with those who have a stake in the policy they will be shaping: teachers, parents and others. The speech is interesting mostly because, what he's calling for sounds great to me, but I wonder if there's any possibility of anything this reasonable ever happening. Secretary Duncan seems like an ok guy (didn't know he is a former superintendent) but I still wonder what the next big thing is going to turn out to be and how/if it's going to help.
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    The Duncan speech we were talking about in class
Laura Wood

Peace Media - 0 views

    • Laura Wood
       
      For "educators, students, organizations, and the community of practitioners working in the conflict management field" To "access multimedia materials that support conflict analysis and prevention, conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation." Very political
    • Laura Wood
       
      Again, I would strongly caution you to try out games and media first. The Darfur and UNHCR games are extremely violent.
    • Laura Wood
       
      Search by Keyword, Country, Region, Type of Resource, Subject, and/or Language
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    • Laura Wood
       
      The amount of info can get quickly overwhelming so I recommend searching for what you are particularly interested in. For example there are teaching guides for tons of movies and documentaries.
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    Compiled database of games, radio programs, teaching materials, etc about global peace. Some of the content is rather graphic and all should be screened for appropriate audiences. Info on Darfur, refugees, education in various countries. Etc.
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    Compiled database of games, radio programs, teaching materials, etc about global peace. Some of the content is rather graphic and all should be screened for appropriate audiences.
Lindsay Andreas

Op-Ed Columnist - The Uneducated American - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Until now, the results of educational neglect have been gradual — a slow-motion erosion of America’s relative position. But things are about to get much worse, as the economic crisis — its effects exacerbated by the penny-wise, pound-foolish behavior that passes for “fiscal responsibility” in Washington — deals a severe blow to education across the board.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      The gradual decline of funding priority for education may not be immediately felt but I think the effects later down the road could be bad. I think we take education very much for granted.
  • But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      I wonder who he is talking about specifically with this statement? European countries? I wonder how much of an impact in that is because many of them have free higher education, or at least highly subsidized. But then again their tax rates are outrageous. The great thing about our system is that we have a lot of choices, so it's hard to compare in many ways too.
  • For example, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported on the plight of California’s community college students. For generations, talented students from less affluent families have used those colleges as a stepping stone to the state’s public universities. But in the face of the state’s budget crisis those universities have been forced to slam the door on this year’s potential transfer students. One result, almost surely, will be lifetime damage to many students’ prospects — and a large, gratuitous waste of human potential.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      I think this is a very interesting example, it always seems to be a question of equity or choice.
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  • Beyond that, we need to wake up and realize that one of the keys to our nation’s historic success is now a wasting asset. Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      "Not a wasting asset" is so on point. I think it is hard for policy makers to realize that results are not instant. It is a hard balance, to look like you are making gains quickly or willing to wait for systematic change.
Lindsay Andreas

More Teachers Turning to Sign Language to Manage Classrooms - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

  • how to manage children's urgent requests, in the middle of the most carefully planned lessons, for permission to sharpen pencils, get drinks of water or visit the bathroom.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      I have to be honest, my students do get kind of annoying with this stuff but you can't not let them go to the bathroom, I like that this maintains control but still gives kids independence.
  • "Sign language is the ultimate multitasker's tool," she said. "It lets you tend half the class's bodily needs at the same time you're helping a small group learn."
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      In these times of standards and high-stakes testing, they want us to accomplish so much, this just might be a simple way of gaining a little edge in more fluid instruction time and I think it is worth trying out.
  • Signing has long been a tool for teachers to help special education students develop language skills, and for years it has been offered in area high schools as a second language. Now its use as a management tool appears to be on the rise.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      A teacher could also use it as an opportunity to talk a little bit about deaf culture, which I think is really important. One of my good friends is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adult) and it is a very passionate and strong community.
Laura Wood

What Kids Can Do - 4 views

  • stay informed
    • Laura Wood
       
      From the website: "Based in Providence, R.I., What Kids Can Do (WKCD) is a national nonprofit founded in January 2001 by an educator and journalist . . . they felt an urgent need to promote perceptions of young people as valued resources, not problems, and to advocate for learning that engages students as knowledge creators and not simply test takers. Just as urgent, they believed, was the need to bring youth voices to policy debates about school, society, and world affairs. Using the Internet, print, and broadcast media, WKCD presses before the broadest audience possible a dual message: the power of what young people can accomplish when given the opportunities and supports they need and what they can contribute when we take their voices and ideas seriously. The youth who concern WKCD most are those marginalized by poverty, race, and language. On this website, WKCD presents young people's lives, learning, and work, and their partnerships with adults both in and out of school. Our community of readers stretches from youth organizers in some of this country's toughest urban areas to policy makers at the national level. We believe that a good story well told crosses geographies, generations, class and race, and position. Our publishing arm, Next Generation Press, honors the power of youth as social documenters, knowledge creators, and advisors to educators, peers, and parents. WKCD is a grant maker, too, collaborating with youth on multimedia, curricula, and research that expand current views of what constitutes challenging learning and achievement. Starting in 2006, WKCD began working with youth worldwide. WKCD has become an international leader in bringing the promise of young people to the attention of the adults whose encouragement can make all the difference."
  • Youth in Policy: Civics2
    • Laura Wood
       
      Here they have collected various articles about how youth around the country and around the globe have been actively involved in policy making and shaping. This may be great to get teachers and students started thinking about project ideas or to inspire students (and teachers!) that students really can make a difference.
  • Want to bring public attentionto your work? WKCD invitessubmissions from youth andeducators worldwide.
    • Laura Wood
       
      ARG! My diigo isn't working at all. Very frustrating. I have to highlight stuff four times and then add the comments in on this page. Technology is not my friend this week.
    • Laura Wood
       
      So if you do a rad civics project with your students, students can then write an article about what they did and send it in to WKCD. They will then put it up on this cite and your students will have something to be uber proud of. This is another reason to make sure you photo document rad projects.
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    • Laura Wood
       
      Similarly, one of the links on this page is to news articles from around the country where kids are making a difference. A teacher might assign students to check out some of the ways that students are getting things done and getting noticed in order to inspire kids, get their creative juices flowing, etc.
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    Articles on what kids in the US have done politically, with pictures! Collected by a journalist and an educator.
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    This is the organization run by the author of "Fires in the High School Bathroom." As the only permanent staff are journalists and web designers (and the staff is tiny!). I believe they just collect and make available student stories (as well as apparently offering grants!) rather than actually participating or spearheading any projects themselves. They do publish works every so often - I believe collections of the things students have done.
Maria Mahon

Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates
    • Maria Mahon
       
      These statistics are really shocking - 1 in 10 dropouts in jail compared to 1 in 35 high school graduates.
  • The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Not that financial cost is everything or reveals the true extent of the effects this problem has on a community, but this is a large sum of money.
  • Again, the statistics were worse for young African-American dropouts, whose unemployment rate last year was 69 percent, compared with 54 percent for whites and 47 percent for Hispanics
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  • Young female dropouts were nine times more likely to have become single mothers than young women who went on to earn college degrees, the report said, citing census data for 2006 and 2007.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Young women were nine times more likely to have become single mothers... also a staggering number when you think of the extra challenges they will face in life.
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    In light of all the recent discussions about DC schools and dropout rates, I found this article to be particularly relevant and upsetting. According to the study, about 1 in 10 male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention (compared with 1 in 35 high school graduates).
Maria Mahon

How Arlington National Cemetery Came to Be | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine - 2 views

  • In correspondence, her husband referred to the place as "our dear home," the spot "where my attachments are more strongly placed than at any other place in the world."
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Finding some direct quotes from figures like Robert E. Lee that shows his link to Arlington could be an interesting way to express the struggle between loyalties to nation, state, land, etc.
  • Orton Williams was not only Mary Lee's cousin and a suitor of her daughter Agnes but also private secretary to General in Chief Winfield Scott of the Union Army.
  • Orton Williams was not only Mary Lee's cousin and a suitor of her daughter Agnes but also private secretary to General in Chief Winfield Scott of the Union Army.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Mary Lee received a warning from her cousin/a suitor of her daughter... who was also a private secretary to a general in the Union Army.... this underscores how complex relationships were at this time and how families were torn apart.
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  • A sprawling Freedmen's Village of 1,500 sprang to life on the estate, complete with new frame houses, schools, churches and farmlands on which former slaves grew food for the Union's war effort.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      The Freedmen's Village is also an important part of Arlington's history.... a rich cultural community sprung up here.
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    This article provides a great hisory of something in our own backyard here in DC - Arlington National Cemetery and its history in the Washington family and as the home of Robert E. Lee. Studying this could be a way to link the Civil War to the area.
Laura Wood

Civic Voices - Welcome - 3 views

  •  
    So this site has a survey that students from different countries around the world have taken about citizenship. You can sign up for free as a teacher and there are two different projects. 1. Survey - See what your students think are the most important responsibilities of citizenship and how they compare to students in other places around the world. There is also a reflective essay assignment for students if you like. 2. Memory Bank - Students record stories of civic engagement from around their own neighborhoods and upload them to the site. Currently there are none up. But yours could be the first!
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