Education is Your Business

Making history matter

Steve's thoughts on teaching U.S. history in a standards-driven environment, as posted on the This Week in Education blog today:

When I think about successful content area teaching, I think about three things: (1) The teacher’s passion for and knowledge of the subject; (2) Making things relevant to kids and their lives today; and (3) Giving kids choices to pursue their own unique interests.

Standards, of course, take a bite out of all three – especially in an area like US History.

Most history classes these days are taught via textbook. I have observed this many times and been victim to it myself on several occasions. Personally, I can’t teach from a book at all; spoils my concentration and gets in the way of my rapport with students. But sometimes that’s all they give me to work with. So what do I do? Close the book, put it down, and try to start with whatever might be rattling around in my brain. And if there’s nothing in there on the day’s topic? I resort to inquiry method techniques and we start making lists of meaningful questions. At least then, we may be able to get something out of the textbook by using it as a reference. (Most of the time, however, most textbooks can’t answer the questions kids most want to know.)

The thing I’m most conscious of as I teach history is my own knowledge of and passion for the topic. Without these, my teaching suffers. I hope not too much; and I do have a nice bag of technical tricks up my sleeve to get around my deficiencies. But nothing beats actually knowing the material and having a personal connection to it that you can sell to your kids.

Again, standards can really take the air out of a teacher’s enthusiasm for their favorite topics.

How President-Elect Obama can start fixing education

Steve and I offer suggestions to help President-Elect Obama begin the arduous task of turning our schools back into institutions that actually help students achieve in this week's Carrboro Citizen:

Eight great ideas for the Obama administration

Essay Contest for High School Students

New America Foundation Essay Contest Highlights the Need for Increased Focus on America's Children National Contest Urges Students to Provide Solutions to Better the Lives of America's Children FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 The New America Foundation's Workforce and Family Program is announcing a contest for high school seniors to provide their views on the best way to improve the lives of America's young people.   New America will be offering $2,500 to the student who best answers the question, "You have just been elected the President of the United States. What is the most important thing you will do to improve the lives of America's children?" This is the second year of the contest, which is now offered nationally after running in Washington, DC during its initial year.   "In a Presidential election year such as this one, we are all listening intently to what the candidates have to say about the future. This contest provides a unique opportunity for students to articulate their hopes for improving children's lives," stated David Gray, Director of the Workforce and Family Program. "It is the student's opportunity to tell parents, teachers, and Washington policymakers what America's priorities should be."    The contest is open to all public and private high school seniors. Essays must be no longer than 600 words and must also be accompanied by the Official Entry Form (available at the link below). The Official Entry Form must be signed by the student, a parent or guardian, and a teacher from the entrant's school certifying that this is an original essay. New America is now accepting entries and the deadline for submission is February 20, 2009.   The top 25 essays as chosen by New America staff will receive recognition as semi-finalists. Ten finalists will receive special recognition. The winning essay will be selected from the finalists by a panel of distinguished judges based on clarity of thought, creativity, practicality, potential to improve the lives of children and potential to draw attention to policies that help young people. The winner will be announced in June 2009 and will receive a $2,500 prize. The winner's essay will be published and distributed by the New America Foundation.   For complete contest guidelines and rules, as well as the Official Entry Form, please visit New America's website: www.newamerica.net/programs/workforce_and_family/essay_contest.   Additional Information: Essay Rules: http://www.newamerica.net/programs/workforce_and_family/essay_contest   About the Workforce and Family Program: http://www.newamerica.net/programs/workforce_and_family   The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.  Headquartered in Washington D.C., New America also has offices in California.   Media Contact: Erin Drankoski New America Foundation Cell: 202-997-8727 Drankoski@newamerica.net

Study Finds Time Stolen From Other Subjects for Math, Reading

A new report, highlighted in Education Week and Edutopia, shows that students are getting more instructional time in math and reading -- at the expense of other subjects. Now, I'm all for spending more time learning, but I think things like social studies and art and music are important, too. And, honestly, I think this is just another Band-Aid solution to a hemorrhagic problem.

Having more time to learn foundational skills like literacy and math will only create meaningful improvement in student achievement if the quality of instruction is high. More time with ineffective teachers isn't going to help anyone.

This is why I'm a strong advocate of raising teacher quality before we focus on structural reforms like scheduling, etc. We're only going to get better-prepared students if they have better-prepared teachers.

ACTION ITEMS:

1. Check at your school to see how time spent on math and reading compares with other core subjects like writing, science, and social studies.
2. Keep track of how often kids get time in PE, music, and art.
3. Ask for research to support the amount time given to reading and math.
4. Make sure writing is being taught as its own subject within Language Arts and not just as an adjunct to reading or other subjects across the curriculum.
5. Read an analysis of the report released this week by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington-based research group.
6. Read our op-ed piece on the problem of structural reform.

The Case for Education

Hope For the Future Lies in People Who Make Time to Educate and Inform

by Margot Carmichael Lester

A couple weeks ago, columnist Gwynne Dyer wrote a great column called, "Is Saddam the Next Stalin?" It’s fascinating.

And it speaks to something that has been eating at my craw for a while now. I've noticed an alarming lack of context among many people discussing the war. Hell, there's an alarming lack of context among many people RUNNING the war. It appears that decisions are being made, stances taken and actions executed with little or no regard for long-standing allegiances and alliances, world history, or religious or cultural understanding/tolerance.