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Will lectures be replaced?
Think of a college physics class, and you’re probably conjuring images of a lecture hall filled with restless students and one very accomplished professor lecturing at the front of the room. Whether you were passing notes in the back of the class or paying rapt attention to his wisdom, lectures probably featured prominently in your college education.
A new study has some bad news for veteran professors: your lectures suck.
At least, they do if the goal is teaching. A traditional lecture can’t compete with a hands-on approach involving in-class quizzes, small discussions and electronic media. The study found that college students learned more from inexperienced graduate assistants using the hands-on method than they did from long-tenured professors.
How should parents get involved at school?
When we talk about school reform, we mostly speak of teachers and students. But what about the parents?
Research has shown that parental involvement leads to higher grades, test scores and graduation rates. Students with involved parents have better school attendance, higher self-esteem and are more motivated.
But what exactly does being involved entail? If you don’t know how to answer that, you aren’t alone. Many well-meaning parents don’t know what to do to help their kids in school. And beyond sending notes home encouraging mom and dad to “get involved,” educators aren’t exactly making this important aspect of education a priority.
But in Los Angeles, they are making strides on the parental involvement front. Almost every school in the Los Angeles Unified School District has a parent center. These centers are open for a few hours every day to provide advice, information and allow parents to keep tabs on their child’s progress. Their system isn’t perfect, but improvements are in the works.
Does this look dangerous to you?
Today, October 6, 2010, is International Walk to School Day.
In 1997, the Partnership for a Walkable America sponsored the very first National Walk Our Children to School Day. This was in Chicago and the event was modeled after a similar one in the United Kingdom. The point was to bring awareness of the need for walkable communities.
Today, the idea that walking to school is good for kids and communities has spread across the country with millions of students in all 50 states participating in International Walk to School Day. So, did your kid walk to school today? Continue reading »
As parents, we have a lot of power when it comes to getting our kids off the couch and out the front door. It can be as simple as turning off the television and shooing them out. They may complain at bit, but once they are out in the fresh air, they usually get with the program and enjoy themselves. But while we can insist on outdoor time when our children are home, there’s not much we can do when they are at school.
In many public schools, the amount of time devoted to recess has shrunk or, in some cases, disappeared completely. Students spend their entire days chained to their desks being taught to the test. And then come home with even more work to do. But according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation, if school administrators really want to get best out of their students, the should unchain them and give them some time in the great outdoors. Continue reading »
Back to school jitters are common, but what is your child really thinking about as she prepares for the big day? Maybe not what you think. While there may be some nervous feelings about new teachers and hitting the books, most kids feel pretty positive about going back to school. Continue reading »
While much of the back-so-school focus right now is on our children, they aren’t the only ones returning the classroom. Teachers are coming back too. And there are some things they would like to say to parents before that first bell rings.
In an article at CNN, Lisa Capretto asks 3rd grade teacher Stacey Nelson to spell it out for us. What do teachers want parents to know as we head back to the classroom? It boils down to three things: Respect the teacher, get involved and be organized. Continue reading »
With school just about to start, the anxiety is beginning to rise around here. Not my child’s, but mine. She’s all set with school supplies and new clothes and happily looking forward to the fourth grade. But I am already beginning to dread the commencement of the homework war.
Like a lot of kids, mine resents having to do school work at home. Not only does she regret the loss of what she feels should be leisure time, she claims to not even see the point of doing homework in the first place. Doesn’t she do enough work in school? Aren’t her good grades enough to exempt her from taking work home? Continue reading »
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