Let a cow-pass be your guide
There’s good news for those lost in vast pastures with no sense of direction.
Let a cow be your compass.
You’ll know this if you’ve already read today’s issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Some German and Czech researchers found that most cows align to the north and south, seemingly drawn to magnetic poles.
Ummm, give me a minute to call cowpies on this study. I grew up on a dairy farm, and our cows didn’t seem to have a directional preference. Maybe they were directionally challenged. Maybe they were rebels.
I even called a relative to make sure I hadn’t missed something in my bovine-bound past. Nope, as usual, the cattle were facing any which way.
I hope no one is lost out there.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Do you know math well enough to teach the third grade?
Do you know math well enough to teach the third grade? Deborah Ball, dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, posed this question to about 30 education reporters, myself included, at a recent workshop in New York.
38 / 4 = 9.5, Ball said. Write four distinctly different word problems that correspond to this division expression, representing different interpretations of the meaning of division, and with different possible numerical answers, depending on the context.
So how do you ask a kid to solve 38 / 4 and get a different answer?
This was a word problem I came up with: Johnny helps his mom sort the family’s laundry. There are 38 pieces of laundry and they are making four piles. How many items will be left if all the piles have an equal number of clothes? (The answer is 2 — I asked for the remainder.)
Ball and University of Georgia professor Jeremy Kilpatrick used the example as a springboard for a discussion about conflict over how to teach math and what it takes to teach it successfully. The Evansville Courier & Press had a compelling story on the issue last month, focusing on moms who aren’t happy with “new math” curriculums and who are giving their children a second math lesson at home in the evenings.
I’d like to know your thoughts. Is this a conflict at your school? In general, what do you think of changing methods of teaching? And if you’re a teacher, how do you learn to teach something an entirely different way than you learned it in the first place?
Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter
School supplies shopping can be educational
Shopping for school supplies can be more than an errand, it can be a great learning experience for your child.
Parenting expert Michele Borba recommends having your child help you make a list of supplies, then look for store flyers to find the best deals. Younger children that can’t write can cut out photos of the supplies they want.
Together you can make a budget with your child, and then hit the store to gather the goodies. Borba said allowing your child to pay for the items (using a gift card or your credit card) also can help teach them financial responsibility.
Borba also recommends that families stock up on supplies that are real bargains. Sure you may only need five notebooks, but if they are 5-cents each, why not buy 50?
What advice do you have for buying school supplies? E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com or comment here.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Will Q-W-E-R-T replace A-B-C?
Crayons? Check.
Lunchbox with hidden note from Mommy? Check.
Pink Backpack? Check.
Notebook computer able to run Windows, Word and Webkins? Ummm…. not yet. After all, my child is only 5.
So I didn’t get her a computer this year — nor was I asked to. But there could be a time when elementary school children tote laptops to school as easily as they now pack lovenotes and lunchables.
Already, many high school students rely on laptops to keep up in class, and you’d never dream of sending a college student to campus without a computer.
What do you think? Will old-fashioned “paper” notebooks become a relic someday?
Comment here or e-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Txt Me Ur Homwrk
A school district in southern Mississippi has banned teachers from texting or communicating with students through Internet social network sites such as MySpace.
Lamar County school board members say casual contact between teachers and students is unprofessional.
What do you think? Is this a good policy, or do you think these methods of communications are OK? How do you think teachers and students should communicate in this high-tech era?
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
In another teacher’s words
In my last blog post I shared an e-mail from a teacher. Today I’ll share another.
Pam Blevins of Moore schools, who is also the regional museum educator for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote to tell me about eight Oklahoma teachers who attended a regional workshop in Flagstaff, Ariz., last month.
The workshop was geared to teachers who had previously attended programs at the national memorial museum — but Blevins said more could have been eligible to go.
We weren’t (able) to get in touch with many of the Belfer and Belfer II participants in Oklahoma as their email addresses and/or phone numbers were inaccurate. There are currently close to 100 participants in Oklahoma as well as 5 Museum Teacher Fellows in Oklahoma. We would like to get in touch with as many as possible in preparation for another regional conference as well as a gathering in Oklahoma. They may contact me at pblevins@hotmail.com, putting Belfer as the subject.
Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of those who went to Arizona.
From left: Nancy Pettus, Tulsa; Naomi Poindexter, Tulsa; Melinda Parks, Oklahoma City; Pam Blevins, Moore; Debra Hatler, Ketchum; Rhonda Snow, Moore; Kimberly Derby, Owasso; LouAnn Jones, Enid.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
A glimpse behind the reporter’s screen
One way I get story ideas is by reading education news from across the country and thinking about local implications.
But instead of visiting news sites for the papers in Washington, Boston, Atlanta and other cities individually, I get them all through RSS feeds via my Google Reader.
This blog also has an RSS feed you can subscribe to by entering this URL in your reader of choice: http://Blog.newsok.com/educationstation/feed (or click the “subscribe” button on the right-hand side of the homepage).
Also, here are some education blogs I check in on. Neither I nor The Oklahoman endorse any of the opinions expressed on the following pages.
Blogs by newspaper reporters:
Dallas ISD, Dallas Morning News
Get Schooled, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gradebook, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
Get on the Bus, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
Meranda Writes, (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal & Courier
Organization-based blogs:
Education Election, Education Writers Association
Flypaper, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Roy’s Account, Oklahoma Education Association
There are also many blogs targeting particular interests at Education Week.
In the spirit of sharing, please use the comments section to share any education-related sites you like, and what you like or would like to see improved on the Education Station.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
A rosy picture
More than 400 schools and libraries in Oklahoma are each receiving 40 large, high-quality reproductions of historically important American artworks.
They’ll also get a book full of information and ideas on how to integrate the art into the study of other subjects, plus access to additional lesson plans online.
Oklahoma’s 424 locations are among more than 26,000 schools and libraries nationwide taking part in Picturing America, a free initiative headed by the National Endowment for the Humanities to promote American history and culture.
Applications to receive the materials next year will be available again from Aug. 4 through Oct. 31 at this site.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Ups and downs
The nonprofit Center for Education Policy released a national report today studying the effect of NCLB: Has it really helped?
Researchers found that they couldn’t tell whether the No Child Left Behind Act has indeed left fewer children behind. But what the law did give the researchers was more data because of the required testing and reporting.
Here’s what that data showed about Oklahoma.
-The percent of all students proficient in reading and math saw a moderate-to-large gain all levels — except middle school reading — from 2002 to 2007. The percent of middle school students proficient in reading saw a slight gain.
-In reading, the achievement gap narrowed between blacks and whites, Hispanics and whites, and American Indians and whites on all grade levels except for high school Hispanics. There was no change in the gap between high school Hispanic and white students in reading.
-In math, the gap narrowed between whites and the other racial groups on elementary and middle school levels, but widened across all racial groups at the high school level.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Extra chocolate sauce, hold the whipped cream
Creativity is an essential part of life, producer David Kennard told me in a video interview Monday for a story about his documentary work in Oklahoma.
I particularly liked his analogy about creativity to ice cream, because who doesn’t like anything involving ice cream?
Here’s what Kennard had to say (or, listen to Kennard’s quote here):
“Sometimes people think about creativity, it’s like dessert after the meal — you know, we do all the serious stuff and everything else and then if you’ve got still room for a little ice cream with a little chocolate sauce on top, that’s creativity. …
“No. Wrong. It is fundamental to our survival as an individual, as a family, as a community, as a city, … as a state, … as a nation, as a species, as a planet.”
I consider myself a creative person, but I’ll admit I can be hesitant to step outside of the proverbial box.
Then there are people like my brother, who, I believe, isn’t aware there’s a box in the first place. I guess that puts him on the higher end of the creativity spectrum.
Still, creativity is a great thing, especially if it comes with a little chocolate sauce on top.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
