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Maria Mahon

As School Budgets Tighten, Foreign Languages Fall Victim to Cuts - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • But such cuts have dismayed and frustrated some educators and parents, who say that children need more, not fewer, foreign language skills to compete in a global marketplace.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      I find this a difficult claim to deny, especially given the fact that global relations are becoming closer and closer due to changing technologies.
  • interactive software, made by Rosetta Stone, allows students to learn at their own pace.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Maybe it allows students to learn at their own pace, but I feel that having a teacher present would encourage more interaction and allow teachers to quickly pick up on areas of struggle.
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    As more and more schools and districts are faced with smaller budgets, some schools are phasing out foreign languags or turning to interactive technology programs to save money.
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    Yea, I totally agree with you on the priority of teaching languages at an early age with quality instructors. It's worth the extra cost.-alan
James Leslie

TCI Launches Ground-Breaking, Online Technology for Social Studies Teachers and Their S... - 0 views

  • TCI, a leading publisher of innovative K-12 social studies curriculum, recently launched TeachTCI and LearnTCI, online instructional technologies for teachers and students.
  • When teachers sign in to their TeachTCI account online, they have access to all the resources found in TCI's print materials, plus links to lesson-specific discussion groups that facilitate professional exchange, an assessment creator, and a Classroom Presenter tool that translates the printed lesson guide into a visual format that enables teachers to lead dynamic classroom activities.
  • "TeachTCI turns the countless hours I would usually spend on lesson planning and activity development into a one-stop, shopping-like experience for everything I need for class. The fact that it is online makes it easy for me access these resources from any computer and allows me to work as easily from home as from school," said Steve Innamarato, a social studies teacher at Central High School in Philadelphia.
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  • Making the content of both TeachTCI and LearnTCI web-based was a strategic decision by TCI. "We can ensure that our content remains cutting-edge," said TCI's founder and CEO, Bert Bower. "With print publishing, we weren't able to make updates as often because of long printing cycles. Updating digital content is a snap. Another advantage is that teachers can prepare and plan lessons from anywhere, and students can interact with their text at home, from the library, or anywhere they can get online."
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    This web site has information on an online teaching resource for teachers. The program allows teachers and students to work from anywhere via the internet.
jbdrury

School sports trying to navigate around Rosh Hashana - 0 views

    • jbdrury
       
      Rosh Hashanah technically never falls on a Friday by nature of the Jewish calendar, but with its start at sundown this complicates matters for extra-curricular sports
    • jbdrury
       
      Those who share my EDU 522 class will find this statement interesting, pertaining to this last Tuesday's conversation
  • "Obviously, everyone is welcome to have their religious freedom but I would think religious freedom is something an individual could address on an individual basis
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  • Newton said if the team is unable to compete, it would cut an important race out of his schedule,
  • I really didn't understand the intent of (the decision not allowing athletes to compete during the holiday) from the get-go," Strack said. "I think (the school district) got themselves into a bind by setting a policy that they probably didn't need, but then not wanting to backtrack on it."
    • jbdrury
       
      A common thread in discussions about "minority" holidays being recognized is the notion that we are being "overly PC" - little recognition as to the religious origins of winter and spring break
  • "Our teams are not competing [Friday and Saturday] because we would not want any our kids to miss opportunities to compete with the rest of the team," Robinson said.
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    This is a two-part posting relating to Rosh Hashana, which starts at sundown today (September 18th). It began as an attempt to find out which school districts officially recognize the holiday. Unfortunately in most searches I come up with a variety of disturbing, virulent comments about having to recognize "minority" holidays, etc.
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

Holiday sales could launch e-book readers as mass-market must-haves - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

  • Sales of electronic books jumped 68.4 percent last year and skyrocketed 177 percent to $96.6 million for the year through August, according to the Association of American Publishers. That's not counting the millions downloaded for free at public libraries, where e-books are fast becoming one of the most popular features. And Amazon has said that its e-book reader, the  Kindle, has become the best-selling product on its Web site.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      At the National Book Festival, they had an entire mobile unit pushing the e-book movement. If you have a DC Public library card, they have a lot of electronic options!
  • "To me, it's just inevitable," says Haber, who knew printed books were goners when people told him they liked to touch and feel them. "I heard the same thing from LPs and CDs. The mass market, they want convenience and experience."
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      Since our class is a certified green course, I thought this statement was rather appropriate.
  • Amazon executives have made near-instantaneous content a company goal. The latest Kindle, which began shipping last month, holds 1,500 titles and can wirelessly download books in 60 seconds. The company envisions a day when any book ever printed in any language can be downloaded in one minute.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      Talk about the great equalizer of the future! If this idea goes big and they can produce it for a more mass audience, this has unbelievable potential. You could potentially have access to so much information. The other thing that is slowly grabbing my attention is the fact that it would cut down on back problems. I had to carry around McKinley's AP US history book last week, and I just about died. If schools picked up on this technology they would just buy e-readers and no more carrying around 50 lbs + of textbooks. They would be more likely to read for homework if they didn't have to drag those beasts back and forth everyday.
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