As a teacher, here in the U.S., my wife is required to report suspected cases of child abuse or endangerment. If she sees or hears something that indicates there could be a problem, she is obligated to contact child protective services. I'm okay with that -- sometimes, kids need protection even from their own family. In England, however, it seems the government wants to take that a step further -- by having teachers report potential terrorists to the police.
The plan extends the "in loco parentis" responsibilities of teachers to include keeping an eye out for pupils who consider violent extremism an option. Francis Gilbert, a teacher who would have to watch out for these disgruntled teenagers (are there really any other kind?), has written a critique of the idea noting that students, aware that their teachers might turn them in, would be afraid to say anything that might be considered anti-establishment.
The teenage years, especially, are a time when kids rebel against the status quo, looking for ways to solve the problems they see and improve society. From the Beatles to Romeo and Juliet, this is part of growing up, part of becoming the next generation. Setting teacher out to crush that is a very bad idea.
The Kansas City Academy offers kids in grades 6-12 foods like pizza with whole wheat crust, hormone-free cheese and organic toppings. What salad with that? Help yourself to greens and veggies grown in a nearby organic, pesticide-free garden.
The school is one of three in the Kansas City area participating in Bistro Kids' Farm 2 School program, which replaces your basic, high-fat cafeteria fare like cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets with natural, locally grown food, such as free-range meats.
Whats that? You're vegetarian, you say? Vegan, even? No worries, just ask the chef to prepare you a special, fresh meal that meets your dietary requirements.
Bistro Kids' owner, Kiersten Firquain, believes kids' dietary habits contribute to poor physical and mental health, and she isn't alone in that belief. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overweight kids has increased drastically in the past 20 years, which in turn has increased the number of kids with diabetes.
Schools have responded by trying to offer fresh-food alternatives, but are often stymied by cost. Those with high poverty rates suffer the most -- the federal government reimburses schools about $2.57 per free meal served, but most districts say an average meal costs $2.88.
Students who participate in free-lunch programs are often the ones most in need of a nutritional boost. I, for one, would be more than willing to put a few more bucks in my school-tax bill to help children in my neighborhood eat a healthier diet. How about you?
This week there was frost on the ground and the sky was strewn with wind-tattered clouds, V's of honking geese, and the last wayward monarchs heading toward
. At recess the kids would pause for a second, mid soccer game, to look up at the sky and yell LOOK! LOOK! Their faces full of wonder and glee.
It was the kind of weather that called us outdoors every day for an extra mid-morning recess.
Even though I'm theoretically sacrificing academic time by heading outdoors for a handful of minutes with my class, I find I mostly gain time because the children are less restless and more willing to settle down with a good chapter book or a math activity when their bodies have had some time to run outdoors. But I also like going outdoors with them because it gives me a chance to watch them interacting together in an unstructured way.
I keep noticing how uncertain they are in their play together without an adult intervening for them whenever something doesn't go their way.
I know. I've probably exhausted you with my posts about play and children, but it's my obsession. I can't let it go.
Last week, when a student at Trinity Lutheran School in Monroe, Michigan found she was missing $42, the principal of the school assumed the money must have been stolen. Determined to find the thief, principal John Hilken ordered teachers to strip-search a group of 7th grade girls.
According to one mom, this treatment was uncalled for and she and others have filed police complaints. "Some were taken down to their bra and panties and some had to pull their tops out and shake them," said Martha Feller, whose daughter was among the stripped and searched suspects. "They treat criminals like that, not 12-year-old innocent children," she said.
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In hindsight, principal Hilken realizes that perhaps this wasn't the best way to handle the situation. He has apologized, but some parents feel this isn't enough. Martha Feller's daughter is so upset about it that she hasn't returned to school since the incident. "I hope that they will take them out of that school and make them pay for what they did to the children," Feller says.
I remember an incident in third grade that made me not want to return to school. After complaining to my teacher about an itchy chest, she unbuttoned my top to have a look. Right there in front of the whole class, she opened my shirt wide and examined my body. The fact that all these years later I can still vividly recall that humiliation is a testament to just how mortifying it was. I agree with Feller and think the principal owes more than an apology to these girls. Maybe he should be strip-searched to see if his compassion and common sense can be located.
A team of scientists at Oxford University in England have identified a gene linked to dyslexia, a learning disability that often leads to reading and spelling difficulties. If not addressed early on, children can fall behind in literacy skills and spend the rest of their lives trying to catch up. With this new discovery, however, children may be able to get help in coping with the condition sooner.
"On average," notes Dr. Silvia Paracchini, of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford, "people carrying this common genetic variant tended to perform poorly on tests of reading ability. However, it is important to note that this is only true for reading ability and not for IQ, so it doesn't appear to be connected to cognitive impairment." In other words, dyslexia does not affect intelligence, just the ability to process certain types of information.
It's estimated that about fifteen percent of the people in the UK carry the gene, so it seems to me that identifying it and being able to check for it is a very good thing.
Three years ago, Lindsay Burke didn't know about abusive relationships and it cost her her life. She was killed by her boyfriend who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Lindsay Burke may not have recognized the signs or known what to do, but other teens will, thanks to a new law that bears her name.
The Lindsay Ann Burke Act requires that the topic of dating violence be a part of the health courses in all public middle and high schools. "You teach sex ed, you teach `don't do drugs,' you teach `don't drink,' you should also be teaching `don't be a victim of domestic violence,'" said Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch who helped get the act passed by the legislature.
"If this could happen to her, this could happen to anyone," said Lindsay's mother, Ann Burke. Burke and her husband, Chris, started the campaign to pass the new law. Texas also has a requirement to include awareness of dating violence and several other states encourage it, but Rhode Island's law goes the furthest, requiring the subject be taught annually from seventh grade through twelfth.
Personally, I can't imagine anyone who wants to be considered human hurting another, especially one they care about, but I know it happens. I'd also like to think my kids will be strong enough -- physically and mentally -- to not permit such treatment. I also know, however, that strength is worthless without training, so I'm all in favor of this. I hope that when my kids get to middle school, this will be a part of their classes too.
According to the Times, one in five teachers in the UK would like to be able to use corporal punishment in the classroom. Children's behaviour, they say, has deteriorated so much that they feel the need to hit the children. "There is justification ... for bringing back corporal punishment, if only as a deterrent." claims Ravi Kasinathan, a primary teacher. "I believe some children just don't respond to the current sanctions."
"Children's behaviour is absolutely outrageous in the majority of schools," says supply teacher Judith Cookson. "There are too many anger management people and their ilk who give children the idea that it is their right to flounce out of lessons for time out because they have problems with their temper. They should be caned instead." So I guess the idea is that if a kid is having issues with anger, instead of teaching them to remove themselves from the situation and calm down, they should just hit.
There are times, believe me, when I feel like whipping my kids but that doesn't mean I should. Whether it's in spite of my parents using corporal punishment or because of it, I simply don't think hitting kids will solve anything or set a good example.
Show and tell at school is great. Kids love it because it is a chance for them to bring something personal from home and show it off to all their classmates. Choosing just what to bring for show and tell can be difficult, but favorite toys and vacation souvenirs are always good ideas. But if you are looking for bad ideas of what to bring for show and tell, look no further than this mom in Stevensville, Montana. She brought a dead bat to her kid's elementary school. And if that wasn't bad enough, that bat was dead because it had rabies.
Now, I don't know if it was really show and tell day for her two kids at Stevensville Elementary, but she did more than show and tell about it anyway. She allowed the students in one kindergarten class and four fifth grade classes to actually handle the dead creature.
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According to Superintendent Kent Kultgen, her bad idea was well thought out. She presented the bat along with "good information" and even brought hand sanitizer for the kids to use after touching it. Maybe she thought this would be a really cool Halloween-related presentation, but clearly it was not. Although the risk of contracting rabies from touching the bat is fairly small, the school is taking no chances. About 90 kids are now receiving rabies shots just in case they came in contact with the bat's saliva.
Those shots could end up costing over $70,000, which will be paid for by the school's liability insurance. As bad as that is, the worst pain will be felt by the students themselves. Over the next few weeks, they will undergo a series of six shots to ensure that they are not infected with a potentially fatal neurological virus. Way to go, mom.
Teachers Unions are passing out thousands of Obama buttons and encouraging their members to wear them in school despite being told not to by the Department of Education. While teachers continue to wear their buttons, unions are fighting back on the grounds of free speech.
"It's not teaching kids to vote for Obama; rather, it's showing them the democratic process in action," says a button-wearing Brooklyn social-studies teacher.
"Let's make Obama Blue Day a day of Action! Barack the vote! There are people out there not yet registered. You teach some of them. Others, including our members, remain on the fence!"
To be clear, the e-mail asks that teachers wear blue shirts, not campaign shirts or any shirt containing candidate names or slogans. In response to criticism from both the state Republican Party and school parents, the president of the VEA said:
"The e-mail did not encourage teachers to talk with students about voting for any specific candidate, although it did suggest that teachers can encourage eligible students to register to vote. There is nothing wrong with encouraging students who are 18 years of age or older to register to vote."
As a parent, I am very concerned about this kind of activism in schools. There is a place for political discussions and even spirited debate in the classroom, but any debating and persuading should be between students, not students and teachers. The job of the teacher is to be an impartial moderator who is sensitive to young and impressionable pupils. Unfortunately,I have seen first hand the intimidation and even ridicule that students have endured at the hands of overtly partisan teachers.
Teachers Unions should not use our publicly funded schools or their position of authority for political activism of any kind. Parents, regardless of political affiliation, should be outraged and vigilant.
Today we changed the calendar in our classroom. A brand new month with all its possibilities. October, with it's red maple leaves, fat pumpkins and decidedly chilly weather. But while I look forward to October because it is the pinnacle of my favorite season, when the hills turn vermilion and yellow, and the first twinge of wood smoke is in the air, the children love it for a different reason entirely. Halloween.
For children, at least all children who attend mainstream public schools, Halloween is at the zenith of all things adored: fantasy, candy, mystery, and the possibility of being afraid but not too afraid. Already they've been talking about their costumes for weeks, and with the turning of the calendar, we've aquired a new classroom routine: counting down the days.
Today 29, tomorrow 28. And they're pestering me, "Can we have a Halloween party, PULEEEZE?"
As a teacher in a public school I've always sort of dragged my feet on this one. I've let the kids share their excitement, and swap stories about what they're planning to wear for the big night, but I've kind of tried to stay away from having a full blown party in our classroom... because, well, isn't it somehow blurring the separation of church and state?
Almost every year I've had at least one child whose family doesn't celebrate Halloween. And granted, in its current form, decidedly one of the least denominational holidays hyped by the media. Yet it is still a holiday with religious origins, and parents who don't celebrate the holiday have every right to expect that it won't be foisted on their kid at school-right?
Or maybe kids should just be allowed to be kids at school-regardless of what their parents believe? Perhaps they should be allowed to soak up their classmate's excitement and engage in a full-blown Halloween party with sticky popcorn balls and freaky costumes even if their parents don't let them dress up or engage in such activities at home. Forget the Day Of the Dead for a second. The only thing kids care about is the candy anyway. Right?
What do you think? Should kids be allowed to celebrate Halloween in school-or should schools skip such festivities all together?
I've written before about Katy Perry's song I Kissed A Girl and the general consensus seems to be that it is no big deal. The song is basically about a girl having a few drinks and losing her inhibitions. She kisses another girl at a party and likes it. That's pretty much it. But the song has lots of detractors, including officials at Van High School in North Texas.
Three girls at that school were temporarily relieved of their twirling duties as a consequence for playing that song at a pep rally. School administrators say the girls broke the student code of conduct and will have to sit out two football games and one pep rally as punishment.
One of the girls, Jordan Downey, thinks the school is overreacting. "It's a song," she said. "It's just like any other song." However, Downey admits that prior to the pep rally, school officials suggested that perhaps that song was not the best choice. "They told us that it probably won't be a very good a idea, and then we decided, like, it's not a big deal, we'll just run for it, no one's going to care," she said.
While some parents agree with the school's decision, the twirlers have found allies in the band members. They are wearing stickers that read "no twirlers, no band" and the entire drum line is threatening to boycott the games if the girls aren't allowed to perform.
This story reminds me of my own days as a twirler in school. I once performed a solo at a pep rally to Rick James' Super Freak. That song is way dirtier than I Kissed a Girl and nobody said a word about it. Maybe if James had been singing about a kinky boy instead of a girl, things might not have gone so well.
As a parent, you are your child's first teacher. You teach them about love, compassion, and trust. You offer them experiences that open up their world. You help them learn to walk, model how to talk, and give them a strong base for their future learning experiences.
And eventually (unless you homeschool, of course), you send them off to school, trusting another person to lead and share in your child's education. And these teachers, well, they throw open their classroom doors and, often, their hearts to welcome your learner, with a solitary goal -- to impart knowledge. Not just academic knowledge, though. They also want to teach your child to get along with others, to be a responsible citizen, to appreciate art and music, and to better themselves every day.
ParentDish is spending October giving back to the teachers who give so much to our children by participating in DonorsChoose. This incredible program gives teachers a chance to put their real needs out there, and gives donors a chance to give a gift toward the purchase of programs and materials in the school of their choice.
When it comes to online schooling, Florida is leading the way. The state already funds two online kindergarten through eighth grade schools as well as one that offers middle and high school courses. Last year, more than 57,000 students took advantage of the opportunity to take some of their classes through the Florida Virtual School, but very few opted to take all of their courses online. But with a new state law going into effect next year, more students will have the option to do just that - beginning in kindergarten.
The new law not only allows Florida school districts to create their own full-time online schools, it requires that they do so by the 2008-2009 school year. "The rest of the country will be watching to see how it goes," said Julie Young, president and chief executive officer of Florida Virtual School and a board member of the North American Council for Online Learning.
Some are concerned about private companies who sell online curriculum profiting from public education dollars and others worry about the financial implications of the law's reference to providing computers and Internet access to students 'when appropriate'. But what would concern me the most is the social impact on a child who never actually spends time in a classroom with other children.
While I do think online classes (as well as home-schooling) can be appropriate for some students some of the time, I have a hard time imagining an entire generation of children who never attend school. A brick-and-mortar school not only provides book-learning, but social learning as well. For many children, the classroom is where they practice and perfect their budding social skills - cooperation with others, listening quietly, following rules, sitting still. What becomes of all of that when the classroom is at home? Would you let your child be an exclusive online learner?
Soccer superstar David Beckham is set to launch a series of books aimed at getting kids to read through soccer. These days, Beckham is known as much for his celebrity lifestyle and products that carry his name as he is for his Euro football moves. In addition to fashion plate wife Posh and three sons, David lays claim to cologne among his other endeavors.
Beckham is not planning on writing the books, however, and will hire a ghostwriter to pen them. The books will be set in both London and his new home of Los Angeles and will focus on his soccer academies. My main question is whether or not there will be a character based on Posh!
Do you and your partner argue about educating your kid?
We do.
My husband taught elementary school for nine years, and he saw a lot of kids who couldn't count to 10 or spell their own names in first grade. I know that shaped his views, but we still differ when it comes to just how prepared our three-year-old daughter should be when she enters kindergarten.
My style of teaching is organic – pointing out the letters on a stop sign or counting lemons as we load them into the grocery cart. My husband is much more intense, wanting to sit down and actually teach our wiggly girl to read and write and count to 100.
I tend to believe that kids today are pushed way too hard to be at the first-grade level in preschool. When did you learn to read? I was six years old when I read my first chapter book – and that was considered "advanced" in 1976. And guess what? I turned out to be a professional writer.
Try telling that to my Ivy League-educated spouse. He was an early reader and excelled in music, and his educational career is culminating with his current position as a doctoral fellow. He says it isn't just desire to learn that's important. Parents, he says, have to set high expectations to create high achievers.
Parents are pushing their kids so hard that smart isn't even good enough. Now, if your child isn't "gifted," he or she might as well just give up and plan for a career in panhandling.
When did "average" (or heck, even "smart") become such a dirty word?
There are plenty of things you can do to enhance your child's natural talents -- foster a love for words by reading to them, show them how the world is ordered with numbers. But academic preschools and elementary-school tuition bills that rival those of elite universities? Not for me.
As a teacher, here in the U.S., my wife is required to report suspected cases of child abuse or endangerment. If she sees or hears something that indicates there could be a problem, she is obligated to contact child protective services. I'm okay with that -- sometimes, kids need protection even from their own family. In England, however, it seems the government wants to take that a step further -- by having teachers report potential terrorists to the police.
Chef-prepared vegan meals? Organic salad bar? Free-range meats?
Last week, when a student at Trinity Lutheran School in Monroe, Michigan found she was missing $42, the principal of the school assumed the money must have been stolen. Determined to find the thief, principal John Hilken ordered teachers to 
A team of scientists at Oxford University in England have 
Three years ago, Lindsay Burke didn't know about abusive relationships and it cost her her life. She was killed by her boyfriend who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Lindsay Burke may not have recognized the signs or known what to do, but other teens will, thanks to 
According to the Times, one in five teachers in the UK would like to be able to use 
I've written before about Katy Perry's song I Kissed A Girl and the general consensus seems to be that it is 
When it comes to online schooling, 
Soccer superstar David Beckham is set to launch a 
Do you and your partner argue about educating your kid?
