SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

It’s getting easier in the big easy

Click here to watch the trailor for a documentary film about the educational experiment going on in New Orleans post-Katrina. Because the storm wiped out the city’s terrible public education system, the authorities were able to start afresh. The result is a city of mostly charter schools, which were nimble enough to get up and running much faster than the lumbering public school system. And the kids are doing better! Does anyone know if “The Experiment” is airing in Canada?

Music to my ears

The Juillard School and Connections Education are launching high-quality online music education courses for K-12. 

“The first courses to be offered by Juilliard eLearning in the 2012–13 school year include Elementary, Middle and High School Music, and will be constructed around and aligned to the National Standards. In subsequent years, courses such as music theory, music history, drama history, or dance history, may expand the Juilliard eLearning offerings. Synchronous virtual music instruction courses and virtual ‘master classes’ are also being considered.”  H/T AMP

Read it aloud and don’t weep

Just a quickie post today - a reminder of the importance of reading aloud to children, especially good-quality literature. William F. Russell’s book is an excellent starting place, and the link has more ideas down the right-hand side. Even after kids can read themselves, it’s very beneficial if parents continue to read to them - of course, the material should be more advanced than what the children can read themselves. There are all kinds of benefits - increased vocabulary and general knowledge, introduction to good writing and the classics, and the enjoyment of a special time together. Kids love these sessions and look forward to them. And here’s a list of children’s classic books. 

Read it and weep

Well, American Educator (the newsletter of the American Federation of Teachers) has really hit it out of the park this issue. All of the articles are of interest, but I especially draw your attention to the top two: Putting Students on the Path to Learning (which clearly explains why step-by-step instruction with full explanation works best) and Principles of Instruction (which explicitly lays out how good instruction is done). If all educators read these two articles and acted on them, within five years our children would be learning at least twice as much. 

Sunday at the Movies (Religion and Babies)

Here’s another great presentation by Hans Rosling. It’s not, strictly speaking, on the education beat, but Rosling’s use of graphic displays could surely be considered educational. And it’s an excellent example of how to give a great speech! YouTube link

The unusual suspect

Have you ever noticed the constant stories in the media about kids who are doing better in school because ....  the schools are giving them nutritious meals  —-  the students are exercising vigorously—-  the students are exposed to music programs  —-  the schools are getting more money  —-  and the list goes on. Here’s a typical article along these lines, in this case saying that kids will do better in school if more use is made of technology. Of course, there is likely some value in most of these initiatives, but the unfortunate reality is that the boost is usually pretty slight.

By way of contrast, have you ever noticed a story about an initiative that has the potential to realize a very significant boost in children’s learning, namely the use of better teaching methods and materials? Not likely!

No such thing as a healthy lunch

The Ontario government has taken a big interest in what children eat when they’re at school, such that cafeterias are forbidden to serve junk food, pop is no longer allowed in vending machines, and even pizza days and bake sales are highly regulated. The author of this opinion piece says that the result is that most kids have taken their business elsewhere.

It turns out it’s really, really hard to regulate people’s behaviour. At least that’s what the Russians learned when they tried to impose Communism on their citizens. You can build walls and terrorize people with secret police and ration goods, but people still find ingenious ways to do what they want - as opposed to what the government wants them to do.

The best an intelligent government can do is incentivize the behaviour it wants - by tweaking tax policies, for example. But a more fundamental question is - should a government be trying to control its citizens’ diets? What about making them wear bicycle helmets? Preventing them from using dandelion killer on their lawns? Forcing all employees to take sexual harrassment training? Forbidding people from smoking in cars with children present or talking on a cellphone while driving? Not letting corner stores sell beer?

I’m just asking.

Now it’s math’s turn

School systems have started to pay attention to reading skills over the past decade: now it’s time to pay attention to math skills.  The latest study in a series of studies that looks at math ability of Ontario college students calls for action at the elementary level.  The York - Seneca Institute for Mathematics, Science and Technology has just released their final report and concludes that a large portion of students are lacking in fundamental math skills that are taught in the 6th grade.  Other findings:

 67.6% of students achieved good grades (A, B or C) in first-semester college mathematics, while 32.4% were considered to be “at risk” (having received a D or F or having withdrawn from the course). This percentage (of good grades) represents very little change from the previous two years.
 Of the Very Recent Ontario Graduates - those who have taken the most recently revised mathematics curriculum in secondary school - 61.6% of the males and 68.7% of the females achieved good grades.
 Second Career students achieved better than other students: 80.0% of males and 84.5% of females achieved good grades.
 Graduates of French-language school boards attend English- and French-language colleges in approximately equal numbers; the mathematics achievement of students attending French-language colleges has increased since last year while that of students attending English-language colleges has shown very little change.
 Older students, particularly females, achieve significantly better than younger students: for example, 77.6% of males and 85.5% of females aged 30-39 obtained good grades.

The report recommends a provincial numeracy strategy be developed and, among other things, a Grade 10 numeracy test similar to the existing literacy test, a numeracy test for teacher candidates, and better instructional materials to support the teaching of numeracy.  The report found that basic math skils (order of operations, fractions, decimals, percertages, ratio, and algebra) were concepts and skills that are introduced the grades 6 - 8 curriculum, yet one in four college students are being taught them in college prep (remedial?) math courses.

What I found interesting, but not surprising, is that older students (in their 40’s and 50’s) performed better than students who just graduated from high school and that women did better than men.  WISE Math founder and U. of Winnipeg professor, Anna Stokke, would say the problem starts way back earlier in the primary grades:

       If they don’t know their math facts, she says, they won’t be able to do fractions, which means they won’t be able to handle algebra, which means calculus is out, which means they can’t be engineers, doctors, pharmacists, economists, programmers, or any discipline that requires math, including skilled tradeswork. But one thing they can become? Teachers, who can go through the system with minimal math training and arrive in class expected to inspire children to create and conceptualize their own mathematical knowledge—and relying on a new set of parents to fill the gap. “This is a never-ending cycle of innumeracy,” says Stokke. “And we have an obligation to speak up for the kids.”  (Macleans March 19, 2012)

And so says SQE.

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P.S.  SQE’s Stairway to Math is a good way to get extra practice in those skills for your young students. 

Bedtime for ‘b’/‘d’ confusion

Here’s an excellent tip for parents and teachers with students who confuse the letters ‘b’ and ‘d’. Tell them to go to bed! 

To whom do children belong - their parents or the state?

I don’t pretend to know the rights and wrongs of Sweden’s Domenic Johansson case, and here’s a link to an article which doesn’t pretend to be objective, but I do know that when I google the case I can’t find anything on the other side. What apparently happened was that almost two years ago the Swedish government swooped down on the Johansson family and seized their then-seven-year-old son Domenic because he was being homeschooled. And the Swedish government still won’t give him back to his parents.

I’m pretty sure most people will agree that the only reasonable grounds for separating a young child from his or her parents is neglect or abuse - which homeschooling clearly isn’t. According to the linked-to article, however, the Swedish government’s actions are a manifestation of its adherence to the Platonic philosophy whereby children are the property of the state and their education is the responsibility of the state. The Platonic view is in sharp contrast to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with its Article 30, Clause 3 declaration: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”.

So which approach is better? Or can there be a middle ground? If so, what is it? H/T AMP