Education News and Notes
By Anat Tour, math teacher and children’s author/illustrator
October 8, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--Often when we imagine the month of October, witches, goblins and pumpkins come to mind. Now imagine cabbages! The Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program offers a unique curriculum for 3rd grade students to get involved in the love of gardening and raise their environmental consciousness. Think these are small cabbages? Think again! The biggest cabbage grown weighed in at 65 pounds. Read more about these oversized, giant cabbages in this month.
In addition, here are my picks for this month’s top stories of interest to local students, teachers, and parents.
• The Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program
• State Board President Mike Kirst Applauds The Enactment Of Legislation To Improve Common Core Standards Implementation Efforts
• 10 Ways To Listen More, Talk Less. Teach More
• Applying Algebra To Real Life
• Five Buzzwords You’re Likely to Hear in Education This School Year
• Studies Find Payoff in ‘Personalizing’ Algebra
• Chess Can Be a Learning Tool
• Storytelling Isn’t Just For Bedtime
• Strengthening American Competitiveness and Creating Opportunity for the Next Generation
• California governor signs bills to make textbooks lighter on wallets and backpacks
The Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program
The Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program is a wonderful way to engage children’s interest in agriculture, while teaching them not only the basics of gardening but the importance of our food systems and of growing our own," said Stan Cope, President of Bonnie Plants.
"This unique, innovative program exposes children to agriculture and demonstrates, through hands-on experience, where food comes from.
Read More:
http://bonniecabbageprogram.com/about/
State Board President Mike Kirst Applauds The Enactment of Legislation to Improve Common Core Standards Implementation Efforts
Governor Brown announced the enactment of SB 1200. This law marks a critical step forward in California's efforts to implement the Common Core Standards and to ensure Algebra is accessible to every student.
The Common Core State Standards are nationally and internationally standards that establish a set of guidelines that students should master at each grade level.
Read More:
http://highlandnews.net/articles/2012/09/30/news/schools/doc5064f23568dc...
10 Ways To Listen More, Talk Less. Teach More.
"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." Doug Larson
Read More:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-ways-to-listen-more-talk-l...
Applying Algebra To Real Life
This summer, the political scientist Andrew Hacker’s New York Times Op-Ed essay “Is Algebra Necessary?” set off a national debate on mathematics education. Here is how the essay begins:
A typical American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t.
Read More:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/n-ways-to-apply-algebra-wit...
Five Buzzwords You’re Likely to Hear in Education This School Year
Education, like any other profession, has a language all its own. We’ve compiled a short list of some of the words and phrases you are likely to come across this academic year. It’s by no means all-inclusive, and some of these terms are not new, but it gives you a sense of some of education’s priorities as we start a new school year.
Read More:
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/26/five-buzzwords-youre-li...
Studies Find Payoff in ‘Personalizing’ Algebra
It can be hard to determine what really makes a subject relevant to individual children in the classroom. An ongoing series of studies at Southern Methodist University suggests learning students’ interests upfront and incorporating them into lessons can get struggling students to try harder and substantially improve their performance in Algebra.
Read More:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/09/26/05personalize_ep.h32.html?t...
Chess Can Be a Learning Tool
The next time President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are sitting together discussing education reform, I hope that it will be across the table from one of my elementary or middle school students. If so, there will inevitably be a chessboard between them, and I am certain my students will win every match.
Read More:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/09/26/05el.h32.html?tkn=MXCCF8OUj...
Storytelling Isn’t Just For Bedtime
This youtube video discusses why effective marketing, especially in education, starts with a good story. They describe the elements of a valuable story, and then how to use the story in sales, face to face marketing, press, blogs, websites, and social media marketing.
Read More:
http://academicbiz.typepad.com/piloted/2012/09/stor.html
Strengthening American Competitiveness and Creating Opportunity for the Next Generation
The United States faces a growing economic challenge – a substantial and increasing shortage of individuals with the skills needed to fill the new jobs the private sector is creating. Throughout the nation and in a wide range of industries, there is an urgent demand for workers trained in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — yet there are not enough people with the necessary skills to meet that demand.
Read More:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2012/09/27/st...
California governor signs bills to make textbooks lighter on wallets and backpacks
The younger generations may one day never need to lug around heavy and expensive textbooks for their classes, Tecca reports. California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills yesterday that will fund the creation of 50 open source digital textbooks and will launch the California Open Source Digital Library to host them. The law could help bring down the ballooning expenses of college for students and their families.
Read More:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/10/01/california-governor-signs-bills-to...