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Kenneth O'Regan

Lesson Plan: Historical Perspectives: Coming Home from War. PBS Teachers - Resources Fo... - 0 views

    • Kenneth O'Regan
       
      The homecoming experiences of soldiers in World War II, Vietnam, and our current wars are very reflective and telling of national attitudes toward each respective war/conflict. This can help students put these events into a larger historical context.
    • Kenneth O'Regan
       
      The phrase "Support the Troops" was everywhere a few years ago. Its usage has disappeared a little bit now, but what it really means is still very open for interpretation.
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    As another tough topic to tackle in the high school social studies classroom, this multimedia-based PBS lesson plan aims to help students grades 9-12 understand the difficulties encountered by US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Television, internet, and many other factors have changed the way we view war and receive our veterans. The lesson plan examines the conditions faced by troops returning from not just Iraq and Afghanistan today, but also from Vietnam and World War II. Like the other collection of lesson plans I posted earlier, this is material that can be a little bit emotional, especially for students who have a family or friend connection to veterans.
veronica pitts

Discovery Education - 0 views

  • Whether you're a newbie feeling IN OVER YOUR HEAD or a veteran teacher IN A RUT, you'll find ideas and plans to keep you energized.
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    I joined this group as a prospective social science teacher in my second year of graduate studies. I wanted to share this with others who may have joined for the same reason!
Lauren Olson

The Vietnam War: A Soldier's Experience - 0 views

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    An honest and (sometimes) brutal look at soldiers' lives during the Vietnam War. There is a haunting collection of war photography and an overview of the war itself. It should be noted that this site is highly biased with a Western sphere of knowledge and should be used with that understanding. Note: pictures on this site may not be used due to copyright law.
Alan Edwards

Eager Students Fall Prey to Apartheid's Legacy - 1 views

  • KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — Seniors here at Kwamfundo high school sang freedom songs and protested outside the staff room last year because their accounting teacher chronically failed to show up for class. With looming national examinations that would determine whether they were bound for a university or joblessness, they demanded a replacement.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      In the black townships of South Africa, many public schools do not meet the students' high expectations of career or college preparation. This article describes how students have worked for justice: protesting (at times violently) and teaching themselves lessons when teachers fail to show for work.
  • Here in the Western Cape, only 2 out of 1,000 sixth graders in predominantly black schools passed a mathematics test at grade level in 2005, compared with almost 2 out of 3 children in schools once reserved for whites that are now integrated, but generally in more affluent neighborhoods.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      Apartheid is alive and well in South Africa's education system.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The author relies on interviews with current teachers, students, and administrators in South Africa. She also cites data and perspectives from the Development Bank of South Africa. In her piece she examines the current situation in a single township, then ties the issue to the entire nation.
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    • Alan Edwards
       
      The author works to briefly explain how the schools were intentionally segregated in order to continue the subjugation of blacks and colored people. In the wake of N. Mandela's election, she explores how corruption and unequal distribution of resources has contributed to the education system's condition today.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The crisis in South Africa is a reminder of the horrible education inequalities between the rich and poor, the white and the black. The student responses to their situation is at times inspirational as well as disheartening. For older students, this article could be used to encourage student involvement in dialogue with decision-makers of the school. Schools need to be responsive to the positive needs of its student body.
  • KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — Seniors here at Kwamfundo high school sang freedom songs and protested outside the staff room last year because their accounting teacher chronically failed to show up for class. With looming national examinations that would determine whether they were bound for a university or joblessness, they demanded a replacement.
  • Post-apartheid South Africa is at grave risk of producing what one veteran commentator has called another lost generation, entrenching the racial and class divide rather than bridging it. Half the students never make it to 12th grade.
  • But South Africa’s schools also have problems for which history cannot be blamed, including teacher absenteeism, researchers say. And then when teachers are in school, they spend too little time on instruction. A survey found that they taught for a little over three hours a day, rather than the five expected
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    NYT's Celia Dugger examines the quality of education for South Africa's majority black population. 15 years after the election of Nelson Mandela and the official end to apartheid, the nation's school system remains a bastion of inequality.
Erin Power

Teacher turns 'crazy idea' into new school - CNN.com - 1 views

  • Kim Ursetta
  • Denver, Colorado'
  • want to start a new kind of school," she said, a union-sponsored public school led by teachers, not a principal
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  • We've been doing schools the same way in this nation for 150 years, so if we don't step up, then nothing is going to change
  • bility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation's children from receiving the best education possible.
  • A board-certified, 16-year teaching veteran, Ursetta, 38, believes the lack of teacher flex
  • Although they follow school board-approved curriculum and standards, instructors can easily rearrange lessons to "make better sense for the kids" -- making better connections between different subject matter, Ursetta said.
  • The lack of quality school leadership is a big reason that experienced teachers leave their schools,
  • Race to the Top also aims to give a boost to charter schools -- special public schools that are given more independence in order to encourage innovation.
  • To qualify for Race to the Top, the rules call on states to create "data systems" linking student success with teacher performance.
  • National Education Association
  • members fear it opens the door to measuring teacher performance by how students score on tests.
  • "What we're really against is using a single [student ] test on a single day" to assess teacher performance, said NEA Executive Director John Wilson. "What we're more accepting of are multiple indicators," and teacher performance "observed in classroom should count as the major part of evaluation."
  • many teachers are reacting coolly to Race to the Top because they "feel like it's too much like No Child Left Behind and are looking for something different.
  • Dubbed Race to the Top, the program is essentially a contest pitting states against each other to win a share of $4.35 billion in grant money from congressional stimulus legislation.
    • Erin Power
       
      I think this is an interesting concept that we (as future teachers) should consider. Most of the teachers I've spoken to feel that schooling is not done the most efficient or successful way. Why not consider other options? The thing I love most about this article is that this school came about someone, Ursetta, simply thinking that way - what could other options be? Then Ursetta looked at the steps she had to make and brought it into actuality.
    • Erin Power
       
      This source relies on interviews and studies conducted by CNN. A teacher could use this site to remember to be inventive in their approach to administration. This is valuable to social studies teachers so they constantly keep rethinking and questioning how to teach
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    This article talks about a Colorado school which has gotten rid of administrators and is run solely by teachers
Alan Edwards

Battle Lines: Letter's from American Wars - 0 views

    • Alan Edwards
       
      This website was created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Their collection includes thousands of letters written during wars of military service. It is an active site, and they ask people to send in war letters to expand to the collection.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      As people get older and they come across old letters in the attic, hopefully they will want to contribute their personal correspondence for a greater public understanding of war.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      I think this would be a great activity during the study of any war. It would also make for a great activity on Veteran's Day. Using Joellen's SOAPS (speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject) analytical tool, students could examine different letters.
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    • Alan Edwards
       
      The site is asking for people to submit war letters, a reflection of a commitment to keeping the project active.
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    The Gilder Lehrman Institute created this site on letters written during war. You can view copies of original letters written by soldiers, generals, presidents, and family members during conflicts from the Revolution to the Persian Gulf War. But wait, there's more: actors read the letters aloud while you read along. They have organized the letters by five different themes: Enlisting, Comforts of Home, Love, Combat, and The End of War. Each theme includes letters from all different eras of US history.
Joellen Kriss

Education chief calls for teacher prep overhaul - Yahoo! News - 1 views

  • The Obama administration is calling for an overhaul of college programs that prepare teachers, saying they are cash cows that do a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the classroom.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Anre Duncan scores in my book once again! He's getting his information from young TEACHERS who've gone through teacher schools!
  • Duncan said he has talked to hundreds of great young teachers while serving as Chicago schools chief and later as President Barack Obama's schools chief. The teachers have two complaints about education schools, he said.
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  • most of them say they did not get the hands-on teacher training about managing the classroom that they needed, especially for high-needs students
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      These are both interesting points. I think the AU program does a lot to give you hands-on training but the second point, is true. We get told a lot about the data and everything, but never really what it means to us and what we can do with it.
  • second, they say there were not taught how to use data to improve instruction and boost student learning
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Teacher schools make money, but the money they make is spent on different areas of the college...interesting.
  • Their large enrollment and low overhead makes education schools cash cows for their universities
  • profits have been diverted to smaller, more prestigious graduate departments such as physics and have not been spent on research and training for would-be teachers
  • most states and school districts don't link the performance of teachers to their education schools to identify which programs prepare their teachers and which don't
  • administration is using stimulus dollars to reward states that tie student achievement data to the education schools where their teachers had credentials
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      We might get jobs after all everyone!!
  • A third of veteran teachers and principals are Baby Boomers who are poised to retire, which could create a milllion new teaching positions in the next four years, according to the Department of Education.
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    This article is about a speech Arne Duncan gave about the reevaluation of teacher programs in the country. Every time I read something else he's said or written, I like Arne Duncan more. He knows his stuff from a practical standpoint and goes where it matters to get his information: right to teachers and students. This article is small but pretty interesting.
Alan Edwards

Op-Ed Columnist - More Schools, Not Troops - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Dispatching more troops to Afghanistan would be a monumental bet and probably a bad one, most likely a waste of lives and resources that might simply empower the Taliban. In particular, one of the most compelling ar
    • Alan Edwards
       
      I botched this quote up with the highlighter, but the jist is that instead of considering deploying 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Obama should consider building 40,000 more schools in Afghanistan.
  • guments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off:
  • guments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off: For the cost o
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  • a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there.
  • Matthew P. Hoh, an American military veteran who was the top civilian officer in Zabul Province, resigned over Afghan policy, as The Washington Post reported this week. Mr. Hoh argues that our military presence is feeding the insurgency, not quelling it.
  • Education isn’t a panacea, and no policy in Afghanistan is a sure bet. But all in all, the evidence suggests that education can help foster a virtuous cycle that promotes stability and moderation.
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    The author mentions the book "Three Cups of Tea." It is a really awesome book. I own it, if anyone wants to borrow it.
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