In Fight Against Dropouts, ‘The Meat Of The Sandwich Is Middle School’
In the battle to keep students in school, experts often target the ends of the educational spectrum: early childhood, when kids pick up basic skills, and high school, when most dropouts happen. But some are starting to look in a different direction – the middle.
“Really, the meat of the sandwich is middle school,” says Timothy Hise, the principal at Ann Richards Middle School in East Dallas. “And if we can make kids more successful at this level they’ll have those foundational skills and be prepared for higher level work in high school.”
Research shows Hise is on to something. The stats are dramatic:
- One in four Texas kids drops out.
- African Americans and Hispanics are roughly twice as likely to leave school without graduating than white students.
- Studies also show that if educators focus on problems in middle school - usually grades 6, 7, and 8 – more students graduate high school.
- If a student’s middle school attendance drops below 80 percent, or behaves badly, or fails a class, there’s a 75 percent chance that student will eventually drop out.
That last number comes from Kerri Briggs, director of education reform at the George W. Bush Institute. She’s more than a year into a multiyear, multischool project called Middle School Matters, designed to help educators find dropout solutions before high school. She says one solution is pairing adult mentors with middle school students.
Principal Tim Hise says that’s why every one of his nearly 1,000 middle school students has at least one adult role model. And he often looks outside the school for community mentors. As far away as a local golf course.
“And the kids, when they went, they were skeptical,” Hise says. “Most of them, if at all, never had any exposure or interest in golf. I was informed that when they came back they wanted to go on their own. They could partner up with the golf instructor. They teach them golf, but they teach them good character and sportsmanship at the same time.”
Sixth-grader Isaiah Smith is one of the kids who’d never played before.
“That’s what’s really fun, because I don't know how it might turn out,” he says.
Another technique that Hise’s school uses is the “advisory class.” Once a week, each teacher has a smaller class, 15 to 17 students.
“We discuss different things in that class, such as college-ready skills, and behaviors,” Hise says. “The more developmental assets, they have, the more likely they are to experience success in life.”
Principal Hise knows his kids face challenges. The new middle school principal runs a brand new campus, with lots of first-year teachers including many from Teach for America. He calls himself an old-school educator who’s wanted to teach middle school – just like his mom - since he was 5, But he also embraces modern education reforms championed by the Bush Institute.
“The conversation has to be about data,” Hise says. “We can talk about kids all day long. But the data typically doesn’t lie.”
And the data for his school is sobering: Ninety-nine percent of his students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Most are minorities. And his campus already starts “behind.” He says recent tests show his students fall 10 points below the district average, and Dallas Independent School District scores fall below the state average.
Hise says the challenge is huge. But he’s setting his sights high.
“Our goal is to move kids ahead two grade levels in reading in one year’s time,” he says.
Otherwise, Hise fears his kids won’t learn what they need to set that solid middle school foundation necessary to graduate high school.


Gordon in the News: last updated 10/24/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2008
Office of College Communications
WENHAM, MA-On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine men signed the U.S. Constitution and forever changed the direction of the nation. On Wednesday, September 17, 2008, thirty-two Gordon College students will read the document out loud--every word of it--as they gather for POL104 class, American National Politics.
Because Wednesday is formally U.S. Constitution Day, students around the country will likely be studying the content and context of the formative work. But Gordon Associate Professor of Political Studies and Ipswich resident, Dr. Paul Brink, says he'd hold the oral reading in his class anyway, even if the day wasn't marked as a holiday.
"My main goal is for students to know the Constitution, and to have read and heard it with some care at least once," Brink said. "Both the right and the left see it as the bedrock of American politics and both also appeal to it again and again. So students need to have more than a passing acquaintance with it."
Hearing the document out loud, though, isn't always easy. It can raise many questions and issues for political studies students who, like many citizens, know only passing references to the Constitution. As a result, Brink calls the oral reading, "a great discussion-starter. It leads us to ask questions like, 'Should we read the Bill of Rights? Should these amendments be considered part of the Constitution? Would you have signed the Constitution without the Bill of Rights?"
Brink said his students also wrestle over the phrase in Article 1, the famous "three fifths of other persons" description, which was included for both determining a state's number of representatives and for taxation purpose--identifying slaves as only 3/5 of a human being.
"That's a hard question for our global students today," Brink said. "And more comparative questions emerge as well: the UK doesn't have a written constitution, at least not in a single document, and yet the country apparently is a healthy democracy. So how important is this thing anyway?"
Many of these questions, Brink said, will eventually be discussed in his class throughout the semester, but not on Wednesday. He won't allow them to interrupt the reading on September 17th. Instead, thirty-two students will hear it in one sitting, and hear it in their own voices.
To request an interview or for additional information on please contact the Office of College Communications at Gordon College at 978.867.4752.
Gordon College is a Christian college of the liberal arts and sciences on Boston's North Shore. The college offers majors in 37 fields and has graduate programs in education and music education. Leading the way in Christian college merit, Gordon is nationally ranked for its excellence in academics and its role in character building. These achievements recognize Gordon as one of the nation's top Christian colleges.


Youth Art Month
Youth Art Month was founded by the Crayon, Water Color & Craft Institute, Inc., the predecessor of the Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc. (ACMI), in cooperation with the National Art Education Association, in 1961 and was initially called Children's Art Month. Its goal was to "emphasize the value of participating in art for all children." It was renamed Youth Art Month in 1969, to include secondary school students. In 1984, ACMI created the Council for Art Education, Inc. (CFAE) to oversee the annual observation of Youth Art Month. As of 2009, CFAE consisted of representatives of: ACMI, the National Art Education Association, "The SHIP" (a group of manufacturers of art materials), and the General Federation of Women's Clubs. The Craft & Hobby Association is also involved in Youth Art Month.
Youth Art Month is a month of promoting art and art education in the United States. It is observed in March, with thousands of American schools participating, often with the involvement of local art museums and civic organizations.
Office of Health Disparities & Health Equity
PO Box 95026
Lincoln, NE 68509-5026


In April at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that “the arts can no longer be treated as a frill.” Of course we in the arts community know that art education cultivates critical thinking and analysis skills. But business leaders are also realizing how urgent the need for increased arts education in our schools has become.
During “Arts Education and the Innovative Workforce,” our recent webinar in partnership with The Conference Board, telecom entrepreneur and Qualcomm co-founder Harvey White reinforced Duncan’s statement by stressing that if America’s workforce is to remain competitive on a global level, art education is indeed not a frill but an economic necessity. White quoted former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who stated that in the future, businesses will seek out employees that can “solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” The technical skills that students learn through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects are certainly necessary, and even align with arts education—after all the objective of engineering is to creatively solve problems using science and math. However, STEM alone cannot provide all of the critical analysis and creative problem solving skills that future business leaders will require to succeed in the global economy.
White also provided data demonstrating that America’s status as leading world innovator is slipping, and that Chinese parents understand the necessity of creative problem solving skills to innovation in the workplace, while American parents believe math and science education are they key ingredients in producing innovators. For this reason, White has endorsed the idea of adding an “A” for arts to STEM to create “STEAM” subjects that will provide students with the combination of technical AND creative skills the 21st century global workforce requires.
White’s assertions are backed up by data from Ready to Innovate (pdf, 629KB), The Conference Board, Americans for the Arts, and the American Association of School Administrators’ joint study investigating how businesses measure creativity and how the skills employers look for in new hires align with skills cultivated through art education. During the webinar, Americans for the Arts’ Vice President of Local Arts Advancement Randy Cohen connected Ready to Innovate findings with data from the National Arts Index linking arts education to higher SAT scores, even cutting across social and economic strata.
All of these factors add up to one bottom line: we need art education in our schools now if we want to the American workforce to remain competitive in the future. It’s not just arts advocates who are asking for STEAM; it’s employers like Harvey White who know first hand that STEM education alone will not cultivate the next generation of innovators. America’s position in the global economy depends on it.


A handful of websites and resources for Music Educators interested in leveraging education technology in the instructional process.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the opening concert of the 2010 tour for progressive rock music legends Yes. Motivated by the wonderful performances of these experienced and inspiring musicians, I decided that this week’s mid-week post would focus on Education Technology specific to Music Education. I poked around the Internet and found a handful of useful looking sites and resources focused on this topic, and I share and briefly summarize them below.
I’d love to hear from readers about similar resources, or intriguing Music Education Technology applications they might be aware of, so please share if you have something to offer. Thanks!
- Music Education Technology Network (http://musiceducationtechnology.ning.com/): This is a Ning based social network focused on technology as a tool in music education, started last August by Miikka Salavuo. Click here to read a post explaining the purpose/goals of the site.
- Strategies for Music Education (http://www.teachervision.fen.com/music/resource/5363.html): This page on the Teacher Vision web site has a great listing of “Technology Stategies” that focus on the National Standards for Music Education, and a good deal more.
- Technology Institute for Music Education (http://www.ti-me.org/): This is a site with some free resources, with more available through paid membership (ar $40/yr.). They have an annual Conference (this year’s is Feb 18-20 in NJP), they offer workshops, and they have a nice listing of publications and resources.
- Kelly’s Music & Computers – Using Technology in Music Education (http://kellysmusicandcomputers.com/education.htm): (First, allow me to clarify that this Kelly is not me!). Kelly’s Computers and Music appears to sell music education related technology, but the page I have shown here is a collection of articles that look like they may be informative to the music educator. The site also offers newsletters and other resources.
- Technology in Music Education Blog (http://techinmusiced.wordpress.com/): This blog by Christopher J. Russell has a bunch of articles about iPhone music ed apps and more. I thought it was worth a look.
As I mentioned above, if you know of other useful sites in this realm, please comment and let us know about them. In the meanwhile, click play for the video below of Yes playing Roundabout and turn up the volume!


Unlike the French Impressionists, there was really no formal group that called themselves “American Impressionists”; this is a label writers have applied to American painters who adopted elements of Impressionist style and technique to their work.
There was however, “The Ten American Painters”, a group of painters from New York and Boston who withdrew from the Society of American Artists in protest of that group’s commercialism and restrictive styles, and devoted themselves to new styles of painting, largely influenced by French Impressionism. The group includes John Henry Twatchman, Edmund Charles Tarbell, William Merritt Chase and J. Alden Weir, among others.
One of the founding members of that group, and along with Tarbell and Chase, one of the most important of the painters referred to as “American Impressionists”, was Massachusetts painter Childe Hassam (pronounced “child HASS-em”).
Hassam started as an illustrator and worked primarily in watercolor. He went to Paris in search of a formal art education (as was common for American artists at the time) and studied oil painting at the Académie Julian. He later discounted that teaching but returned from Paris dramatically impressed (if you’ll excuse the expression) with the daring new style of those radical upstarts from the Salon de Refusés, the Impressionists.
His own work showed that influence in many ways, there are numerous paintings of flower gardens bursting with dabs of pure color, street scenes with finely dressed gentry awash in dappled sun and landscapes blanketed in brightly lit snow. But he also diverged in may ways from the Impressionist path.
His work would often dwell on themes of rain-drenched streets, late day sun and misty twilight, more in keeping with the muted whispers of Whistler’s nocturnes than the mid-day kaleidoscopic dazzle of Monet. He would break his color into rough chunks and patches, very different from the individual dabs of “pure color” favored by Impressionist theory, and explore the rich darks of room interiors, like his fellow member of “The Ten”, Edmund Tarbell.
Hassam was also a superb etcher, again more akin to Whistler than the Impressionists. There are excellent examples of his work in major museums in the US, particularly, as you might expect, on the East Coast.
Like the French Impressionists, the American Impressionists are popular subjects for publishers and there are numerous books on Hassam and his explorations of brilliant color and subtle light.


This Ministry of Education report summarises the findings of a project on how different tertiary education organisations teach literacy, language and numeracy skills as part of their programmes. Includes cases studies from five institutions: a wānanga, a polytechnic, two private training establishments, and an industry training organisation.
This Ministry of Education research aimed to provide greater understanding of the potential of e-learning for adult literacy, language and numeracy. It investigates how e-learning can be employed as a means of reaching greater numbers of adult learners and how to better meet their learning needs.
Write Now focuses on the act of writing as a means of working through academic problems with the aim of fostering confident writers. It collaborates with students and staff to develop effective writing and assessment practice within the disciplines. Write Now initiatives are underpinned by research into their effectiveness.
A set of resources for tutors and students. Advice about developing the skills of storytelling and their transfer to disciplines such as education, media, marketing, leisure and tourism. Lists of stories to use and develop. Web links to e-stories.


At one time music was a common element of the curriculum of American schools. Music education was more than just learning an appreciation of the musical arts, but was also considered a pathway to a career in a rewarding trade. Since operating a musical instrument requires as much training as running a machine lathe, it is not unusual to find a photograph like this one of the Technical High School Orchestra of Springfield, Massachusetts.
What is unusual is to find three young women of color seated in this orchestra of 22 young men and women. Most photographs from before 1910 show boys and girls in separate musical ensembles. This began to change in the 1920s when more school groups had a mixture of sexes, but sadly that was not the case with race, as segregation was the norm for almost all schools in the United States until the late 1960s. These three African-American violinists from Massachusetts give us a very rare example of school integration that contradicts our perception of the long era of separate but equal.
|Springfield Technical High School Orchestra 1916|
This picture comes from the Springfield Tech 1916 yearbook The Oriole, which I found on the web, and it shows a smaller school orchestra of 10 boys seated on the same steps. The two older men are the faculty supervisors: John F. Ahearn and Clifton O. Page. The man on the left was faculty advisor for other school groups in the yearbook where he is identified as Mr. Page, so the man on the right, who is the same man standing at the center back row in the first photo must be John F. Ahearn. I think he is wearing the same double breasted suit too.
|Springfield Technical High School Orchestra 1930|
By 1930 the yearbook changed its name to the more formidable Tech Tigers and the Tech Orchestra of 30 musicians has posed once again on the school steps. Mr. Ahearn is listed as the faulty director but he is not in this photo. But the bass drum is, showing a little wear on the drum head.
Though there are no African-Americans in the orchestra now, the school was not segregated and there were a few black teenagers in photos of other school activities. Since the first photograph is surely after 1916 but before 1930, I would place it around 1918-28 and based on the clothing fashions, probably closer to 1916 than 1930.
|Springfield Technical High School Band 1930|
In 1930 the Springfield Tech High also had a band and according to the description they are wearing their new uniforms. Note the cymbals and snare drum that hide the word orchestra on that same bass drum. This looks like a band that played mostly in the stands for athletic games, as with only 15 musicians they would not make much of a parade unit.
|Springfield Technical High School 1905|
This architectural drawing of the Springfield Technical High School is from a book published in 1905 - Springfield present and prospective: the city of homes, by Eugene Clarence Gardner. The school was developed from new ideas in the 1880s of giving working-class children training in manual skills and trades. In the 1890s Springfield decided to expand this into an education in various industrial arts and sciences. In 1905 the construction of the Technical High School was almost finished and the new facilities were designed for about 900 students. There was a forge and foundry, a large woodworking shop, and top floor classrooms for physics and chemistry labs.
|Springfield Technical High School Entrance 1930|
The school purposefully included educational programs for girls as they anticipated a need for better vocational training for young women. In 1905, several years before women's suffrage, this seems especially progressive. A good description of the history of the Springfield Technical High School can be found at the website Exploring Western Massachusetts which provided these next contemporary photos of the school.
|Springfield Technical High School 2010|
The Technical High School closed in 1986 and until recently was fenced and shuttered. In 2011 demolition began for the construction of a new city data center on the same site.
|Springfield Technical High School 2010|
Only a few years after these young musicians posed for their photo with Mr. Ahearn, the golden era of theater orchestras accompanying silent movies would end. Then radio broadcasts and phonograph records would diminish the need for live musicians even more. And in the real world of show business, few women, white or black, would ever find musical work playing next to men for another 60 years.
I don't know if they saved the ornate stone entrance where so many students had posed for their class pictures. But at least one photo of this doorway preserves a moment when music kept a small light burning for equality.
UPDATE: The Elliot St. facade of the Technical High School has been preserved and incorporated into the new construction. Unfortunately Google Streetview cameras have not driven past the school since 2007.
This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where it's all technical talk this weekend.


Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Visual Arts
Use the Internet to teach visual arts and refine students' critical thinking skills! This book is based on the Discipline-Based Art Education program, a proven art instruction program that teaches everything from the creative process and art history to criticism and aesthetics. An abundance of primary source Web sites and background information is offered. The main focus of the book is western art history and painting, but examples of sculpture, drawings, prints, and architecture are included, along with a chapter on diversity.
Part I provides background material. A brief history of art education is presented, followed by a review of the components of design elements and principles. The book describes using the Internet as a primary source by identifying and evaluating websites. Part II follows the program through the main historical periods, from prehistoric and ancient Middle Eastern art, through the Renaissance, through the 20th century. A bibliography and index are included.
350 pages; ISBN 9780313078279
, or download in
Title: Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Visual Arts
Author: Pamela Eyerdam


Q: On a recent episode of the TV show Cake Boss, the bakery created a special cake to honor the winner of a spelling bee. It was iced in yellow with black trim, and was topped by a stylized statuette of a honey-producing insect. Does the word “bee” here really have something to do with the insect?
A: Yes, there is a connection. That busy and very sociable insect inspired the American term for the contest—“spelling bee.”
The “bee” part of the term is an “allusion to the social character of the insect,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
The term “bee” for a gathering devoted to some special purpose originated in the US in the 18th century, the OED says.
The dictionary defines this sense of “bee” as “a meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their number; e.g. as is done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get in each other’s harvests in succession.”
The term is “usually preceded by a word defining the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee,
raising-bee, etc.,” the editors write.
The OED’s earliest citation for this use of “bee” is from a 1769 issue of the Boston Gazette: “Last Thursday about twenty young Ladies met at the house of Mr. L. on purpose for a Spinning Match; (or what is called in the Country a Bee).”
And in his History of New York (1849), Diedrich Knickerbocker (a k a Washington Irving) wrote: “Now were instituted quilting bees and husking bees and other rural assemblages.”
It’s this use of “bee,” the OED says, that gave us the extended sense of “a gathering or meeting for some object; esp.
spelling-bee, a party assembled to compete in the spelling of words.”
The OED’s first published reference for the actual term “spelling bee” is credited to an Englishman, Sir John Lubbock, who was a friend of Darwin and an advocate of spelling reform.
In an 1876 essay on elementary education, Lubbock wrote in the Contemporary Review: “He may be able to parse any sentence, he may be invincible at a spelling-bee; but if you have given him no intellectual tastes, your school has to him been all but useless.” [We’ve expanded the OED’s citation here to provide some context.]
The Scripps National Spelling Bee website says: “Spelling bee is apparently an American term. It first appeared in print in 1875, but it seems certain that the word was used orally for several years before that.”
The earliest published reference we’ve found for “spelling bee” is from the April 1850 issue of The Knickerbocker, a monthly literary magazine in New York City. A description of such a contest is introduced this way:
“Those who have attended a ‘spelling-bee’—and what reader who ever went to a district-school in the country but has attended them?—will call to mind a familiar and pleasant scene while perusing the annexed extract.”
As for the name of the insect, it’s been part of the language since before the year 1000. In Old English, it was beo, and it has cousins in other Germanic languages.
Check out our books about the English language


Aula Magica (Magical Classroom) gives jobs to young people 16 to 24 years old in Guatemala. Entrepreneurial and community-minded kids are licensed to use pre-recorded interactive programs to teach children in remote areas not served by the Guatemalan government, in their native languages. It trains and pays these community facilitators to guide children in program activities, developing kids' cognitive, language and social skills, preparing them to attend and successfully complete primary school
What is the issue, problem, or challenge?
Early childhood learning is crucial to later educational attainment, but in many rural areas the Guatemalan government does not provide preschool. Children there enter primary school ill-prepared and run a high risk of early failure: while nearly 60% of Guatemalan kids fail to complete primary school, the rate for rural indigenous children, whose first language may not be Spanish, is even higher. At least 30% fail the first grade, when many drop out, severely limiting their future opportunities.
How will this project solve this problem?
This project helps overcome geographic isolation and lack of educational resources by delivering audio programs in indigenous languages. Low-tech, low-cost and culturally sensitive, it trains and pays literate community youth to lead children in fun, interactive group learning sessions and activities.
Potential Long Term Impact
Providing programs to underserved indigenous areas will help stem the tide of failure in primary school by preparing children to learn. Training community youth to be program facilitators will create jobs for them and raise awareness of early childhood learning among parents. Longer term, early learning can have a significant positive impact on children's future opportunities and livelihoods as adults. Aula Magica plans to roll out the program in 10 communities over the next 2 years.
Total Funding Received to Date: $6,960
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $3,540
Total Funding Goal: $10,500


First Friends is a fun two-level beginner's course that develops vocabulary, practises phonics, and teaches family values.
First Friends makes children's first year of learning English motivating and fun.
A regular unit cycle and engaging support resources help you create a positive learning environment where children can develop confidence, build vocabulary skills, and practise phonics.
The carefully researched phonics programme gives you lessons that are ideal for children who don't use the Roman alphabet.
Use Little Friends to extend First Friends to a three-level course.
- Class Book with Audio CD
- Teacher's Book
- Teacher's Resource Pack
- Activity Book
- Class Audio CD
- optional Numbers Book
- Very regular unit cycle
- Systematic and fun phonics instruction
- Regular reviews
- Values taught through stories in a family setting
- Plenty of pen-to-paper practice
- Lots of engaging resources - a unique alphabet poster, story posters and iTools
- Student's Audio CD with songs, chants, and stories
We all know that kindergarten is such a key year - it shapes children's attitudes to learning and English for years to come. You are also teaching something incredibly important - reading.
First Friends is here to help. The phonics progression is very important, and has been designed especially for children who do not use the Roman alphabet. The pacing and order of the letters has all been carefully researched.
The handy alphabet, at the top of every phonics page, highlights the letter you're studying so learners can see their progress, and all the letters are taught in upper and lower case.
But that's not all - the catchy phonics chants, colourful alphabet poster and interactive digital material make your lessons even more motivating and fun, ensuring happy learners.
Parents will also appreciate the Audio CD with songs, chants, and stories to practise at home.
So, with a reliable structure, rich resources, and a successful methodology, First Friends is the ideal course for you. Try it, and you'll soon see why it's first for English and first for fun!
Student audio CD with songs, stories, and chants to sing and practise at home.
Parents' page on the website contains activities and tips to help you to get involved in your child's learning.
Monthly activities on the website provide new ideas for lessons.
Susan Iannuzzi is an expert in early literacy. She has been a Kindergarten teacher and Department of State and Ministry advisor in Egypt for 8 years.


Education and wage differentials in the Philippines
In the Philippines, an important part of income inequality is associated with the wage difference between the less educated and the better educated. The majority of the least educated are employed in low-paid services jobs and the agricultural sector. Tertiary education is to a large extent a prerequisite for high-paid occupations. Using the Labor Force Survey 2003-2007, this paper examines disparities in human capital endowment, returns to education, and the role of education in wage differentials in the Philippines. The empirical results show that returns to education monotonically increase - workers with elementary education, secondary education, and tertiary education earn 10 percent, 40 percent, and 100 percent more than those with no education. The results also show that education is the single most important factor that contributes to wage differentials. At the national level, education accounts for about 30 percent of the difference in wages. It accounts for a higher percentage of the difference for female workers (37 percent) than male workers (24 percent). There are also differences across regions and sectors. As an economy develops, the demand for skills increases. In the Philippines, efforts to improve education to increase the supply of highly educated people are important not only for long-term growth, but also for helping to translate growth into more equal opportunities for the children of the current generation.
|Date of creation:||01 Nov 2009|
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Phone: (202) 477-1234
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
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By third-grade, kids who aren’t on track with reading are more likely to drop out. Locally, United Way of Central Indiana’s ReadUP students scored 37 percent higher on reading comprehension tests than their peers.
Connecting volunteer readers and tutors with children who need help most.
ReadUP matches volunteers with local child care providers and schools to help kids get on track — and stay on track — with grade-level literacy. Through ReadUP, volunteer tutors help third, fourth and fifth-graders reach grade-level literacy and pass the English Language Arts portion of the ISTEP.
Current ReadUP tutors: Recommit for the 2015-16 school year
For most Central Indiana children, caring adults are the difference between academic success and failure. Just one hour a week is all it takes to impact the life of a child. Can you spare an hour?
ReadUP Corps members are trained to provide struggling readers in first and second grade with individualized literacy interventions to help build phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills.
ReadUP volunteer readers read aloud to small or whole groups of preschool children, helping these kids begin their literacy development.


Teachers’ Internet use in class and lab
- 25% use the Internet daily to educate students.
- 5% said they never use the Internet in the classroom and another 5% said it was not available to them.
- No teachers use YouTube daily, but 16% use it weekly. And 17% use other video streaming weekly.
- 5% use Facebook or Twitter in the classroom at least monthly.
- Teachers rarely use Skype or other video conferencing. About 3% use it monthly.
- During a typical class period, 45% of teachers said they spent no time online, and 59% said their students spent no time online.
- Teachers reported that their schools block Internet content, including educational sites such as Spanish language learning, and music education. Some said many sites are blocked unless there is a request to unblock them.
- Of Rockbridge County teachers, 82% said YouTube was blocked, Lexington, 36%, and Buena Vista, 23%.
- Unblocking content was moderately difficult to impossible for 78% of Rockbridge County, 58% of BV, and 46% of Lexington teachers.
Teachers’ Internet use in general
- 25% use email to communicate with students.
- 6% use Facebook to communicate with students.
- Nearly every teacher has Internet access at home (96%).
- Two-thirds have used the Internet 15 years or longer and spend between 1-3 hours online daily.
- The majority spend half of their online time doing teaching-related activities (planning, grading, instruction).
Teachers’ technology use in class and lab
- Nearly half use a computer daily in the classroom or lab to educate students.
Teachers’ attitudes toward technology and the Internet
- The higher they rated their own skill, the more they believed the Internet and technology improved student learning. Rockbridge County teachers were most likely to agree that using Internet/technology in the classroom improves student learning, followed by Lexington, and Buena Vista.
- More than half of Lexington teachers agreed (moderately to strongly) that their students know more about the Internet and technology than they do. About one fourth of Rockbridge County, and just under a third of Buena Vista teachers agreed.
- Speed ratings: In all three school systems, the majority of teachers rated the Internet speed in their classrooms and labs as average to very slow.
- Reliability ratings: The majority in Rockbridge County and Lexington said their classroom or lab Internet was average to very unreliable. But in BV, the majority rated the Internet as moderately or very reliable.
Skills (teacher self-assessment)Note that green and brown lines show higher skill ratings. Light orange means never used.
Training and support
- The majority of teachers agreed (moderately to strongly) their technical support staff was helpful--85 percent of Rockbridge County, 70 percent of Buena Vista, and 67 percent of Lexington teachers.
- The level of technology and Internet training among the teachers was similar among school districts, at 11-20 hours. But, those with less training used Internet/technology significantly less in the classroom.
Washington and Lee University Associate Professor Claudette Artwick supervised the Teachers, Internet, & Technology Survey. Students in her Communication Research Methods course designed the survey. It was administered online in March 2012 to all teachers in Rockbridge County, Lexington, and Buena Vista school districts. A total of 77 teachers participated, for a 20 percent completion rate. Special thanks to the school district superintendents for their assistance in distributing the email invitations to participate in the study, and to the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for funding the gift card incentives for participants.


Changes in Teacher Profession in Finland during the War Years 1939-1945
Uusiautti, Satu, Paksuniemi, Merja, Määttä, Kaarina, Review of European Studies
What happened in the Finnish society affected Finnish teacher training significantly. Teacher training was seen as the means and channel of influencing the whole nation. This study makes an interesting example of how macro level processes and procedures influence on a singular profession and how it was performed in practice. Simultaneously, it functions as an example of a national importance of professions. This study focused on teacher training during the war years in Finland and the change that took place in teacher training and consequently in teacher profession. This was a historical research aiming at drawing as a picture of the contemporary reality in the light of various data: archival sources and former student teachers' (N=9) interviews and memoirs who were student teachers of the teacher training college of Tornio during the Second World War. As results, a practical description of the change is described and discussed. What makes teachers' profession interesting, is that teachers were seen the professional educators of the whole nation, the future workforce, and by setting the example, they educated families, too. How the national purposes influenced teacher training and the contents of teachers' professionalism are discussed.
Keywords: Finland, patriotism, teacher training, teacher's profession, Second World War, education
Since the establishment of teacher training colleges starting from the 1860s, Finnish teacher training was considered the seedbed for Christian-nationalist education. It would continue the ideology of Herbart-Zillerism adopted from Germany by Uno Cygnaeus, the father of Finnish elementary education (Cygnaeus, 1910; Halila, 1949; Herbart, 1806; Ziller, 1857; Ziller, 1876). Teachers' were considered exemplary people for the whole nation and therefore their work was not just seen something one does but adopting certain kind of a role and identity (see Rousmaniere, 1994; Sumara & Luce-Kapler, 1996). The Finnish teacher training colleges were based on the educational trend of Herbart-Zillerism that emphasized the teacher's moral-Christian character and being (Halila, 1949; Heikkinen, 1995; Hyyrö 2006; Isosaari, 1961; Kuikka, 1978; Nurmi, 1964, 1979, 1995). This was the socio-cultural, historical, and institutional context that constructed teachers' professional identity (see also Korthagen, 2004; Zembylas, 2003) at the beginning of the Finnish teacher training.
In practice, teachers' suitability to act as model citizens was carefully assessed already in the student selection (Paksuniemi & Määttä, 2011a). Strict entrance tests started from sending written applications to the college teaching staff. A carefully-selected group of applicants were invited to the second step where the best applicants based on the minister's and doctor's statements were selected for the actual entrance test. In the last phase of student selection applicants had to show their skills in different school subjects and they were interviewed by teacher educators. Usually, the elementary school teacher training lasted for two years. Teacher students studied the didactics and pedagogy, regionalism, math, and health education, and arts including playing and singing, handicrafts, gymnastics, games and sports. Teaching practicums lasted about 2-3 weeks at a time and took place in the spring semester of the second study year. Teaching practicum was an important phase of studies (Paksuniemi, 2009; Paksuniemi & Määttä, 2011b).
What happened in the Finnish society affected Finnish teacher training significantly. Finland had gained independency in 1917. During the Second World War, Finland fought twice against the Soviet Union but remained an independent democracy in Western Europe (Anttonen, 1998; Satka, 1995). Teacher training was seen as the means and channel of influencing the whole nation. Therefore, this study makes an interesting example of how macro level processes and procedures influence on a singular profession and how it is performed in practice (e. …


In a sunny studio on the second floor of the Lawrence Arts Center, a dozen or so kids are huddled around two tables, drawing, cutting, taping and tracing.
Lawrence cut-paper artist Angie Pickman leads students through making their own tessellations, which they will soon finish by drawing whatever they’re inspired to draw inside the repeated forms.
“I’m making a lion,” 5-year-old Quentin Mitchell announces, using markers to outline a green body, then pink arms. “Look at my lion!”
Whether they realize it or not, the children at the arts center’s Art Space Camp are using art to learn science skills — even though school’s out for the day.
The camps, offered on no-school days such as those reserved for parent-teacher conferences or teacher planning, aim to give parents who work during the day an educational, purposeful and fun alternative to taking the day off or trying to get a baby sitter, said the arts center’s curator of education, Laurie McLane-Higginson.
McLane-Higginson said art and science are natural pairings.
For each camp day, the arts center chooses a curriculum that brings together a key element of art and a science concept. She said activities aim to foster skills kids need, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and innovation.
“Of course, kids learn better when they’re not only learning visually but kinetically,” McLane-Higginson said. “And sometimes if it didn’t make sense seeing it on paper, it’s going to make sense if you’re doing it with your body.”
McLane-Higginson said the integrated science and art curriculum meets national art education and science standards.
The recent session with the tessellations was titled “Evolution Revolution.” Art principles were symmetry and pattern; the science concepts were biology, metamorphosis and mathematics.
The goal was to have students put the concepts of symmetry and pattern to use creating handmade animation devices such as zoetropes and flip-books, and to learn about art-based mathematical patterns and designs such as M.C. Escher’s tessellation drawings.
This fall’s five Art Space Camp days, including “Evolution Revolution,” included visits to the Kansas University Natural History Museum.
“We got to see lots of things, like dinosaur bones, and we studied things like camouflage,” said Two Roads O’Leary, 6, who was making tessellations across the table from Quentin.
Two Roads said she especially liked drawing and that, at least in her opinion, the Art Space Camps were more fun than regular school.
Enrollment is now open for spring sessions, the first of which is, “Mission Impossible: Valentine Secret Codes and Cards.”
In that session, kids will employ the art concepts of pattern and variation to help learn mathematical sequences. Activities will include printmaking, dance and choreography.
Jenny Skillman enrolled her sons, 5-year-old Elliot and 7-year-old Ben, in all the Art Space Camps this fall.
“If you can’t take a vacation day every time there’s a no-school day, you have to find an alternative,” said Skillman, who, along with her husband, works full time.
Skillman said she liked how the Art Space Camps fostered her sons’ artistic abilities but provided more structure than a traditional art class alone.
“They are both really creative little guys,” she said. “They love art, they love to draw. I like that the classes at the arts center incorporate science and math, and other things, into the creative curriculum.”


By Christine Horowitz
One Laptop per Child Facilitator, Walter G. Byers Academy
The methods of teaching reading and writing have changed very little over the past decade.Proven pedagogy such as guided reading circles, modeled writing sessions and read alouds continue to dominate classroom literacy time, and for good reason. They are highly effective tools that increase student achievement. Why, then, do we want to ‘mess things up’ with the integration of technology when it hasn’t been a necessary component to literacy success in the past?
The answer is twofold. First, recent studies have shown that literacy goal achievement is further increased when using available technologies (Rose) and, second, the XO laptops ensure each and every student has the technology available – 100% of the time.
The blended literacy model adopted and being implemented by Project L.I.F.T. schools and the One Laptop per Child program bring a natural, effective partnership in the classroom that can boost literacy goals for students in grades one through four. The XO laptops ensure that the technology component is continuously available to every child so that the methods outlined below are possible. As an added bonus, the partnership will also increase digital and media literacy skills that are so necessary for our students to be college and career ready.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE XO IN A BALANCED LITERACY PROGRAM GUIDED READING
The XO is an excellent tool that can engage students in independent reading practice while the teacher is working with a small group or reader.
-Have students use the XO to access online, leveled reading support programs
-Students can use the Speak Activity to sound out difficult words for themselves
Using the XO as a ‘spoken book’ can offer read aloud opportunities beyond a teacher’s capacity that are more individualized to student level and interest. Free online read aloud sites provide teachers and students with engaging readings dictated by skilled orators.
www.barnesandnoble.com (choose KIDS and ONLINE STORYTIME)
PARTNER and SHARED READING
The Get Books Activity allows the student to access thousands of free books in rich text, PDF or HTML formats. Further, teachers can access and/or load leveled books on the XO machine.
Students can perform shared readings while text displays on each XO laptop. Students can toggle between the story and the Speak Activity in order to have difficult words sounded out for them or they can access Wikipedia Activity to investigate topics that they read about. ESL students can use the Words Activity to translate newly learned words from/to English and multiple languages.
MODELED AND GUIDED WRITING
Teachers can use the built in ‘ad-hoc’ network to connect with students and guide writing instruction. They can also share writing assignments in real-time and several students can collaborate on a single document, including creating graphic organizers together.
Beyond Activities-based guidance, students can use the XO to share writings via the Internet. Studies support the idea that providing a wider audience for writers (i.e. blogs, wikis) encourages students to be more conscientious writers. Also, blogging, creating web pages and other forms of digital media give students real-world experiences in which to write upon and the potential for large amounts of feedback from a varied audience (The Journal).
The XO is a useful tool for early elementary students as it supports phonics instruction. Students can type in letters, letter blends and words and hear them repeated back, even changing the speed of playback, if necessary. Spelling and vocabulary can be reinforced through a variety of Activities, including a concentration-like game and those that reinforce individual letter sounds and blends.
Using the powerful little XO machine for literacy in the classroom is a natural fit that can take every student to a new level of learning literacy. Add in the important 21st century skills of collaboration and digital media literacy and a teacher can have a hugely successful literacy program that fully engages every student with the learning process.
Rose, David. “The Role of Technology in the Guided Reading Classroom.” Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, Inc., Oct. 2004. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.
“The Journal.” Content Delivery in the ‘Blogosphere’ –. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.


An integrated language arts approach to literacy development that brings early childhood perspectives on how children learn, together with explicit teaching of literacy skills and strategies teachers need to make it all work.
Pre-service and in-service teachers get a wealth of valuable information for making children active participants in the process of literacy development with this integrated approach to language arts. The book encourages teaching reading, writing, listening, thinking, and viewing at the same time, using each skill to develop the others, and discusses both constructivist problem-solving teaching and more explicit systematic instruction.
Through both theoretical and research-based rationales, plus extensive practical applications, renowned author Lesley Mandel Morrow presents literacy development as an active process between children and adults to create meaning and real purpose–and helps pre- and in-service teachers grasp the scope and complexity of early literacy development. This comprehensive, balanced approach to literacy teaching and learning covers oral language development, word study, phonological awareness, phonics, comprehension, listening and writing. The reader is provided with a complete picture of early literacy development.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Foundations of Early Literacy Development: Surveying the Past to the Present
Chapter 2 Assessment in Early Literacy: A Guide for Designing Instruction
Chapter 3 Literacy and Diversity: Meeting Needs of Children with Special Concerns
Chapter 4 Language and Vocabulary Development
Chapter 5 Strategies to Figure Out Words: Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, and Phonics
Chapter 6 Developing Comprehension of Text and Concepts about Books
Chapter 7 Writing, Spelling, and Literacy Development
Chapter 8 Motivating Reading and Writing Using Old and New Literacies
Chapter 9 Organizing and Managing the Literacy Program
Chapter 10 Family Literacy Partnerships: Home and School Working Together
APPENDIX A Children’s Literature
APPENDIX B Integrated Language Arts Thematic Unit: Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds
APPENDIX C Quality Television Programs with Associated Children’s Books
APPENDIX D Technology Resources
APPENDIX E Professional Associations and Related Journals Dealing with Early Literacy
APPENDIX F Suggestions for Instructors
Children’s Literature Bibliography
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Follow these 10 LSAT Reading Comprehension tips during your LSAT prep to increase your LSAT reading comprehension speed, accuracy, and overall score.
LSAT Reading Comprehension Tips
- Read the RC passage first. Don’t read the questions first.
- Try and read the RC passage in about 3 minutes.
- When reading the RC passage, underline key words/phrases:
- List items (e.g., “1st”, “2nd”, “3rd”)
- Technical terms (especially those that are unfamiliar to you)
- Phrases indicating a shift in Point-of-View (e.g., “advocates argue”; “proponents believe”; “But”; “However”; “Nevertheless”)
- Other words indicating that important information follows: “According to…”; “Furthermore”; “For these reasons”; and other obvious indicators “Importantly…”, “Primarily…”, etc.
- Don’t get stuck reading a difficult sentence or paragraph over and over. Just try and understand it as well as you can, and refer back to it if a question regarding it appears.
- If you quickly realize that an entire passage is going to be particularly difficult, consider saving tough RC passages for the end of the section rather than burning through time. If you run into a particularly difficult reading comprehension passage, don’t let it have a negative impact on the remainder of your RC section. Crush out the ones that you are more comfortable with, then return to the difficult RC passage at the end of your time. The same thing goes for individual questions.
- Learn what passage topics you have trouble with (e.g., scientific, economic, history, etc.). Save those passages containing tough topics until the end of the section.
- When reading a passage, put yourself in the position of the author. How does the author feel about the subject matter? What position does the author take? Is the author’s point-of-view favorable? critical? neutral? What is the main point that the author is attempting to express? Does the author agree with proponents or critics? Specifically, what points does the author most strongly support/reject? You’ll find that many questions relate to these points.
- Each paragraph will generally have a specific function within the LSAT reading comprehension passage. Understand how each paragraph functions, and how the overall passage is organized.
- Flip through each passage and note the number of questions per passage. All else equal, work on passages with the greatest number of questions first, and the fewest number of questions last.
- To end this list of LSAT Reading Comprehension tips, I recommend working through The LSAT Reading Comprehension Bible and plenty of real LSAT preptests, following the tips outlined in this LSAT Reading Comp tip list. Drill. Review. Then drill some more.
- The LSAT Reading Comprehension Bible
- How to Improve your LSAT Reading Comprehension Score
- The Best LSAT Reading Comprehension Strategies


“With a concrete focus on leadership and leadership issues, the editors have created a book that expands the notion of inclusion well beyond special education, offering a framework or lens for creating schools that operate from a position that views all students in a strength-based manner.”
—George Theoharis, Syracuse University
This important book expands the notion of inclusion well beyond special education to include English language learners, students with refugee status, LGBTQ children, poor children, and other underrepresented populations. Employing real-world vignettes and up-to-date research findings, this hands-on resource provides strategies that school leaders can employ to improve teaching and learning in their school or classroom. Contributors offer a wide variety of perspectives from the fields of testing and assessment, early education, elementary education, special education, educational leadership, and reading.
- A multidimensional framework for how school systems can adopt effective inclusive leadership practices.
- Lessons learned from discrete subgroups of students who are often marginalized by the focus on standards-based accountability.
- An exploration of the role of data with implications for systemic decision-making.
- Research-based practices and assessment tools for the classroom.
- Engaging vignettes from diverse classrooms and schools.
Contributors: Rebecca Burns • Thomas Crisp • Jennifer Menon Mariano • Jody Lynn McBrien • Tary L. Wallace • Julia M. White • G. Pat Wilson
Phyllis Jones is an associate professor in the department of Special Education at the University of South Florida. Janice R. Fauske is a professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of South Florida, Sarasota. Judy F. Carr is co-director of the Center for Curriculum Renewal, Sarasota, Florida and a consultant to schools, districts, state agencies, and other educational organizations with a focus on leadership development and coaching.


Early Childhood - Research - National Early Literacy Panel
The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was convened in 2002 to conduct a synthesis of the scientific research on the development of early literacy skills in children ages zero to five. The National Institute for Literacy (Institute) funded the panel's work in consultation with the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Head Start in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), working closely with the Institute, coordinated NELP's work in the completion of the synthesis.
The panel's primary purpose was to synthesize research to contribute to decisions in educational policy and practice that affect early literacy development and to determine how teachers and families could support young children's language and literacy development. In addition, this evidence would be a key factor in the creation of literacy-specific materials for parents and teachers and staff development for early childhood educators and family-literacy practitioners.
Members of the NELP panel included experts in literacy and early childhood education:
- Dr. Timothy Shanahan (panel chair), Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Director of the UIC Center for Literacy.
- Anne E. Cunningham, Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Director of the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education at the University of California, Berkeley.
- Kathy Escamilla, Professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado and affiliated with the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado.
- Janet E. Fischel, Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Director of Pediatric Medical Evaluation, Director of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Director of the Stony Brook Reading and Language Laboratory, and Associate Director of the Pediatric Residency Training Program.
- Susan Landry, Michael Matthew Knight Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Chief of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics, and Director of the Children's Learning Institute (formerly, the Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education [CIRCLE]) in the Department of Pediatrics.
- Christopher J. Lonigan, Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University and Associate Director of the Florida Center for Reading Research.
- Victoria J. Molfese, professor and Ashland/Nystrand Chair in Early Childhood Education, at the University of Louisville; and Director of the University's Early Childhood Research Center.
- Chris Schatschneider, Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and Associate Director of the Florida Center for Reading Research.
- Dorothy S. Strickland, Professor of Reading and Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education at Rutgers University.
Questions Addressed by the National Early Literacy Panel
To identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children's early literacy skills, the NELP posed four questions:
- What are the skills and abilities of young children (age birth through five years or kindergarten) that predict later reading, writing, or spelling outcomes?
- Which programs, interventions, and other instructional approaches or procedures have contributed to or inhibited gains in children's skills and abilities that are linked to later
outcomes in reading, writing, or spelling?
- What environments and settings have contributed to or inhibited gains in children's skills and abilities that are linked to later outcomes in reading, writing, or spelling?
- What child characteristics have contributed to or inhibited gains in children's skills and abilities that are linked to later outcomes in reading, writing, or spelling?
National Early Literacy Panel Methodology
NELP adopted a methodology that allowed for the identification and selection of published
studies relevant to the panel's questions, a coding system that allowed for the combination and comparison of studies, and an appropriate method of statistical analysis. Electronic searches were conducted using PsycINFO and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and these were supplemented with hand searches of major research journals, reference checks of past literature reviews, and nominations from leading experts in the field of early literacy.
These search procedures yielded more than 8,000 potential articles that were screened to determine their relevance to the research questions and their consistency with all selection criteria established by the panel. This led to the identification of approximately 500 research articles that were used in the meta-analyses conducted by the panel. The meta-analyses summarized both correlational data showing the relationships between children's early abilities and skills and later literacy development and experimental data that showed the impact of instructional interventions on children's learning.


March is Youth Art Month, an annual observance that emphasizes the value of art education for all children. Chattanooga children's art expert Lynda Pritchett said it's a great time to nurture children's creativity through art and other activities that inspire innovation, resourcefulness and originality.
Ms. Pritchett, executive director of KidzArt in Hixson, an after school art enrichment program for kids of all ages, said, "As children experiment and test new waters, they learn and grow and develop their creativity which is beneficial in all areas of their lives.
Ms. Pritchett offers the following tips to nurture the creative side in your children:
1. Reduce the Stress Factor - Provide a quiet area where your child can go to decompress after the school day. “Have art materials and simple household items available in a workspace area away from the TV or noisy siblings where your child can relax by doing an easy art activity,” said Ms. Pritchett.
2. “Blank Book” Drawing– Each day put an interesting object next to a notebook with empty pages for your child to draw in. Make it a surprise. For example, ask him or her to draw: shells, a small new toy, a miniature household item, an interesting flower, a feather or fossil. Provide at least two different mediums for experimentation such as colored pencils and oil pastels.
3. Decrease Media Overload- Turn off the computer, video games and television and engage kids in active play. "Physical play such as sports and outdoor play or mental stimulation like board or card games promote kids' natural creativity and is a great alternative to the passive time spent with their electronics," said Ms. Pritchett.
4. Ask Open-Ended Questions- Pose questions to your children that start with who, what, where, when and how to encourage their creativity and critical thinking skills.
5. Engage the “Right Brain”- Allow children to exercise their right brain after a day of left-brain school academics. Right brain activity is stimulated by new events or activities, drawing with different colors, shapes and sizes, playing dress-up, dancing or listening to music.
6. Use All the Senses- Improve your kids' use of their imaginations by encouraging them to use all five senses. "Ask children to close their eyes and listen to the sounds around them. See which they can easily identify and which are more challenging," said Ms. Pritchett. Encourage kids to identify new smells (both pleasant and otherwise) when you encounter them.
7. Allow Mistakes. Children often fear ridicule from their peers or parents if they make a "mistake". Unfortunately this same fear inhibits higher order thinking: creative problem solving. "Allowing your child to experiment with art also allows them to take a risk and try something new. This is the creative process and the skill will serve them well in all academic areas," said Ms. Pritchett.
For information on how to foster creativity and celebrate Youth Art Month in the Chattanooga area, contact Lynda Pritchett at (423) 847-6880 or visit http://www.kidzarttn.com.


This resource is designed "to help educators develop coteaching strategies to ensure student achievement." The first two introductory chapters cover collaboration and reading instruction. The majority of the book offers collaborative teaching strategies and detailed lesson plans written for the emerging, advancing, or advanced reader. Boxed figures of relevant information are also included throughout. A helpful glossary, list of resources, and index conclude the work. All elementary teacher-librarians, regardless of years of experience, will find much useful information in this book, which is supplemented with material found on a page within the ALA Web site, including printable graphic organizers, bookmarks, charts, and rubrics. Glantz, Shelley
Research shows that collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians improves overall effectiveness in increasing students reading comprehension. Standardized testing and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) add urgency to the issue.
Time-strapped educators wonder whether partnering with teacher-librarians will realistically improve students scores. Drawing on cutting edge research in instructional strategies, Moreillon, a veteran teacher-librarian, offers a clear, rigorous roadmap to the task of teaching reading comprehension in a proven collaborative process.
Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension is packed with practical applications to
# Streamline the co-teaching lesson-planning process
# Encourage collaboration with a flexible design and delivery framework
# Strengthen partnering techniques to improve reading comprehension
# Address three levels of literacy development
# Identify seven strategies that students use to read for meaning
# Connect with research-driven teaching practices that incorporate library programs
# Increase reading scores and lower the student-teacher ratios using proven collaborative approaches
The seven strategies for enhancing reading comprehension, each with graphic organizers and three sample lesson plans, include: providing background knowledge; visualizing; questioning; predicting; determining main ideas; utilizing fix-up strategies; and synthesizing.
In a national drive to improve test scores and build a nation of readers, these are proven teamwork tools to accomplish both goals.
About the Author
Judi Moreillon, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University in Denton. She teaches courses in school librarianship, including Librarians as Instructional Partners. During a 13-year career as a school librarian, she collaborated with classroom teachers, specialists, and principals to integrate literature, information literacy, and technology tools into the classroom curriculum.
- Paperback: 170 pages
- Publisher: Amer Library Assn Editions (January 30, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780838909294
- ISBN-13: 978-0838909294
- ASIN: 0838909299
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches


A Sample Literacy Process Interview Protocol
Literacy process interviews are informal assessments designed to gauge how readers and writers think about their work as they are engaged in it. Participants’ responses aren't scored, but are used to guide program educators as they teach different literacy skills and strategies.
Use the sample literacy process interview questions below as a guide as you develop specific questions framed for the particular reading and writing activities your students are engaged in. For example, questions might revolve around what a reader did when encountering an unknown word. Such questions provides the program educator with a valuable insight not only about the type of vocabulary that might challenge adolescent readers in the program, but also about the particular strategies a given reader might know for dealing with unknown or difficult words.
- What are you doing/working on?
- I see that you’re doing some reading/writing as part of this activity. What are you reading/writing right now?
- Why are you reading/writing?
- Do you have to read/write in order to participate in this activity?
- What would happen if you didn’t read this?
- What do you do if you don’t know how to read a word or if you read something and it doesn’t make sense?
- What would happen if you didn’t write this?
- Do you ever worry about whether what you write will make sense to the person who reads it later?
- What part of this text are you reading?
- Why are you reading it?
- What are you thinking about as you read?
- What do you like about this text?
- Are there any parts that you don’t understand?
- What did you/are you doing when you come to parts you don’t understand?
- Are there any words that you don’t understand?
- What did you/are you doing when you come to words you don’t understand?
- Here, read this part aloud for me. (STOP AFTER 2 SENTENCES.) Can you explain to me what that part was about?
- What does it have to do with what you’re reading? Did you learn something about this in class already?
- Why do you think you’re reading this?
- Have you ever read about anything like that before?
- Does this remind you of anything?
Writing a Text
- What are you writing?
- Why are you writing it?
- What are you thinking about as you write it?
- Do you like what you’ve written so far? OR Do you think that what you’ve written fulfills the requirements you’ve been given?
- Have you had any problems while you’ve been working on this piece?
- Who do you think will end up reading this, if anyone?
- What do you think they’ll think of it?
Moje, E. and Tysvaer, N. (2009). Adolescent literacy development in out-of-school time: A practitioner's guidebook. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York. Adapted with permission from Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Bebel, Ferdinand August
BEBEL, bā'bĕl, Ferdinand August, German Socialist leader: b. Deutz-Koeln 22 Feb. 1840; d. Passugg, Switzerland, 14 Aug. 1913. The son of a Prussian-Pole who was a noncommissioned officer in the Prussian infantry, Bebel was born in military barracks and apprenticed as a boy to a wood-turner. Like most German workmen at that time, he traveled extensively in search of work. At Salzburg, where he lived for some time, he joined a Roman Catholic workmen's club. When in Tyrol in 1859 he volunteered for service in the war against Italy, but was rejected; and in his own country he was rejected likewise as physically unfit for the army. In 1860 he settled in Leipzig as a master turner, making horn buttons, and speedily drifted into the political movements which were then beginning, but as a radical, not a socialist. He fell under the influence of Wilhelm Liebknecht (d. 1900), in 1864, and was converted to the doctrines of Marx (q.v.). In 1867 he was returned to the North German Parliament, and two years later helped to found the German Social Democratic party. In 1870 he spoke in Parliament against the continuance of the war with France and subsequently denounced the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. He was arrested for high treason, but acquitted; in 1872, however, he was again prosecuted and sentenced to two years' confinement in a fortress, and this and other terms of imprisonment enabled him to make up for his lack of elementary education. He remained a member of the Reichstag from 1871 till his death, except during 1881-83. In 1874 he took a partner and founded a small button factory, for which he acted as drummer, but in 1889 he gave up his business to devote himself wholly to politics, and from the death of Liebknecht he had been the head of the party, succeeding him also in the editorial chair of Vorwaerts, the often-suppressed socialist organ. Bebel was not a pure pacifist; he admitted that military service was a civic duty. In later years his socialism became more modern. He was unlike the typical demagogue, being small, slight and nervous, but he had an admirable voice and was an exceptionally logical and incisive orator. Besides his autobiography he wrote ‘Our Aims’ (1874); ‘The German Peasant War’ (1876); ‘The Life and Theories of Charles Fourier’ (1888); ‘Women and Socialism: The Christian Point of View in the Woman Question’ (1893).


Timeline of Nigerian History
9000 BCE Late Stone Age evidence of indigenous habitation in Iwo Eleru rock shelter in southwestern Nigeria.
600 BCE Evidence of iron technology used by Nok civilization, near present day Abuja.
1000-1500 CE Foundation of centralized states such as Kanem, Borno, Benin, Ife, Oyo, and the Hausa city states
1100-1400 CE Introduction of Islam into savanna and Sahelian states of northern Nigeria
1804 Usman dan Fodio flees Gobir and then declares jihad against the Hausa rulers of Gobir. This war will eventually lead to the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria. The Caliphate spread Islam beyond the ruling classes to common people to a greater extent than had previously existed.
1807 British abolition of the slave trade. Although the trade in slaves continues from southern Nigerian ports for another forty years, trade in palm oil and other forms of “legitimate” commerce expand rapidly from this point.
1833 Final collapse of the Oyo empire, which marks the beginning of sixty years of instability and war among Yoruba states in the southwest.
1846 The Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries establish a mission in Abeokuta; from this point Christianity begins to spread rapidly in southern Nigeria for the first time. A new elite emerges in the south, educated in European mission schools and sharing many European cultural attributes.
1861 The British make Lagos a Crown Colony, the beginning of the British colonization of Nigeria.
1885 Establishment of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in southeastern Nigeria, renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893.
1886 Formation of the Royal Niger Company (RNC) which monopolizes trade in the Niger basin until the revocation of its charter in 1900. In the same year, a peace treaty is signed, ending the prolonged war among Yoruba-speaking peoples of the southwest.
1887 King Ja Ja of Opobo exiled to the West Indies for abrogation of Treaty of Protection which guaranteed the British free trade in his realm.
1892 British attack on the Ijebu
1893 Establishment by the British of a Protectorate over the Yoruba.
1894 Revolt of the people of Brass against the Royal Niger Company. In the same year, Nana, the Itsekiri governor of the river Benin, is deposed and deported for hindering British access to interior markets
1897 Name “Nigeria” officially adopted.
1898-1909 Ekumeku underground resistance movement fights against the RNC and British colonial rule.
1900 Creation of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
1902 The Aro Expedition begins as part of the British effort to “pacify” the hinterlands of eastern Nigeria.
1903 British forces conquer the Sokoto Caliphate and kill the Sultan
1908 Protests in Lagos against the water rate, fueled by the reporting of Nigerian journalists such as Herbert Macaulay, often dubbed the “father of Nigerian nationalism.” Macaulay and other journalists use newspapers to report on and critique the performance of the colonial government.
1914 Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates.
1914-1918 Nigerian troops aid the British cause in the First World War
1920 Foundation of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA)
1923 Establishment of the Clifford Constitution allowing for elected representation for Nigerians in the governance of Nigeria for the first time. Aina Onabolu (1882-1963) fights the colonial administration to introduce art education into the secondary curriculum in Lagos. (See: Nigerian Lives: Aina Onabolu)
1925 Foundation of the West African Students’ Union (WASU)
1929 The “Women’s War”, or Aba Riots, a major protest against colonial taxation and British indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria.
1936 Foundation of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) a political organization of young nationalists in the Lagos area
1944 Nnamdi Azikiwe founds the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (later Nigerian Citizens) which quickly becomes an influential political party pushing for independence for Nigeria from British colonial rule. In the same year Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti founds the Abeokuta Ladies’ Club, later renamed the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) to lobby against the injustices of colonial indirect rule.
1945 Nigerian labor unions organize a General Strike bringing work and business to a standstill. The strike precipitates important economic changes in the form of the first Ten Year Plan, adopted later the same year.
1948 Establishment of the first Nigerian university in Ibadan
To be continued


Global task force calls for action to ensure the world’s children are learning
As the debate intensifies over the post-2015 global development agenda, a new report from the Learning Metrics Task Force lays out a framework to put learning on the agenda and to track learning among the world’s children and youth in order to achieve quality education for all.
The new report, Toward Universal Learning: Recommendations from the Learning Metrics Task Force, presents key indicators to track learning at the global level and monitor progress in foundational skills, such as literacy and numeracy.
The report also calls for new global indicators including a “learning for all” indicator that would combine measures of education access, completion and reading into one statistic.
“Learning serves as the foundation for all of the priorities in the run-up to 2015 -- from better livelihoods to climate change. So it is critical to identify a clear set of indicators that can be tracked globally in order to monitor progress and hold ourselves to account in improving the learning outcomes and opportunities of all children and youth,” says UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
“As highlighted by the task force, data alone will not solve the problem. But reliable data does empower us to better target policies and resources required to deliver on the promise of education," she added.
Jointly released by the UIS and the Centre for Universal Learning at Brookings, the report is based on recommendations from technical working groups and input from broad global consultations.
To learn more, visit www.brookings.edu/learningmetrics.


|Sadashi Inuzuka, assistant professor of art, watches a piece of clay grow into art under the hands of Liz Erlewine, a junior in the School of Art and Design. Through his programs for visually impaired children, funded by the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and the Center for Japanese Studies, Inuzuka has taken the art of ceramics to blind children both in the United States and in Japan. It is an ideal material for the blind or visually impaired to work with, Inuzuka says about clay. This physical connection with clay is so often why my studentsand Ihave been drawn to work with ceramics in the first place. Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services|
Clay is perfectly suited for personal expression through touch, Inuzuka says, and it is an ideal material for the blind or visually impaired to work with. This physical connection with clay is so often why my studentsand Ihave been drawn to work with ceramics in the first place. I believe that much could be learned and gained by bringing our students together with children who are visually impaired to work with clay.
To bring about this connection of people and clay, Inuzuka has developed Many Ways of Seeing: Outreach Teaching for the Visually Impaired, a program he believes will offer U-M students opportunities to make an important difference in their communities, and give them a heightened understanding of the creative medium of clay. Many Ways of Seeing introduces undergraduate and graduate students to methods of teaching art to the blind and visually impaired, and prepares them to teach in an outreach community setting. Students learn through experience the expressive potential of art, their social responsibilities as artists, and to make connections with communities outside their own.
A pilot project funded by the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) led to a series of presentations and workshops at U-M with Hohei Nishimura, a Japanese educator who works with blind children. Since that time, under Inuzuka, the project has continued to grow. A recent grant from the U-M Center for Japanese Studies allowed Inuzuka to travel to Japan for further study in art education for the visually impaired and the special ceramic techniques used in that education.
Clay is the main medium used in Many Ways of Seeing. The project is coordinated through the ceramics area of the School of Art and Design. Students conduct workshops for children and adults at educational institutions throughout Michigan. The students are encouraged to volunteer or work in an outreach setting, such as the Michigan School for the Blind Summer Camp, and throughout the year in other local programs in libraries and schools. A School of Art and Design graduate student, herself visually impaired, assisted in one of the workshops held last spring.
I am confident students are learning a tremendous amount by working with children and adults with little or no vision, says Inuzuka. Such experiences will encourage a sensitivity toward other ways of perception and expression. This sensitivity will make them stronger artists, future educators and contributing members of society.
Many Ways of Seeing counts among its collaborators the Upshaw Institute for the Blind and is supported in part by funding from Arts of Citizenship program.


About two and a half billion years ago, the Earth finally cooled down enough for it to snow for the first time. Most of the time since then, the Earth has been warm enough that it didn't snow at all. But from time to time, the Earth becomes cooler, entering an Ice Age. We are in one of these Ice Ages now, though not at the coldest part of an Ice Age, and so it snows sometimes, in some places, but not as much as it would in the coldest part of an Ice Age.
Snowflakes, because they are made of ice, are really
Snow usually falls either in the winter (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere) or in the summer (if you are in the Southern Hemisphere) or on top of high mountains, where snow often lasts all year round. Near the Equator, it doesn't snow at all.
To find out more about weather, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Learn by Doing - Clouds
More about clouds
More about Thunderstorms
More about Weather
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History for Kids home page


The Amount and Effect of Recreational Reading in Selected Fifth Grade Classes
Date of Award
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Reading and Language Arts
William D. Sheldon
Elementary education, Accessibility, Recommendation, Reading achievement, Vocabulary, Reading comprehension
Education | Reading and Language
In this investigation, the recreational reading of 190 fifth grade children in suburban schools was studies. Children were trained to record all books read outside of school. Certain conditions were controlled to foster honesty and accuracy in the children's records of their readings. The purposes of the investigation were a) to collect data concerning the amount of reading done by the children, b) to observe the effects of two factors --- accessibility and recommendation -- upon the number of books read by the children, and c) to determine whether the number of books could be shown to be correlated with gain in reading achievement test scores in vocabulary comprehension.
Surface provides description only. Full text is available to ProQuest subscribers. Ask your Librarian for assistance.
Bissett, Donald J., "The Amount and Effect of Recreational Reading in Selected Fifth Grade Classes" (1969). Reading and Language Arts - Dissertations. Paper 18.


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Natural Hazards and Disasters
Meredith Denton-Hedrick, Austin Community College
This course provides a survey of earth sciences through an examination of natural hazards. Consumers, voters, and decision-makers need to understand the impact of these hazards, how the hazards are changing due to ...
Subject: Geoscience:Geology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire: Introductory Earth Science
Karen G. Havholm, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Earth Science (GEOL 106) is an introductory science course offered by the Geology department at UW-Eau Claire, with enrollment limited to Elementary Education majors. Earth Science is a field and lab based course ...
Earth Systems Science
Kim Hannula, Fort Lewis College
Our Earth Systems Science course is a fairly traditional lecture-style earth science survey course, designed to fulfill a Natural Environment requirement from a defunct general education program. The lab section ...
Geologic Field Excursion
Suki Smaglik, Central Wyoming College
Field excursions will be taken to study the geology of specific areas such as the Black Hills, Central Colorado, Death Valley, Colorado Plateau, Hawaii, Central America, or others. Topics will include rock types, ...
Online Physical Geology for Educators 710 (graduate level)
Ann Holmes, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Graduate level Physical Geology for Educators Course description: Earth's internal structure, plate tectonics, the rock cycle, weathering and earth materials, natural resources, geochemical cycles and the ...
Physical Geology (The Earth)
Chris Condit, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
This is a Physical Geology course aimed at science majors. The intent is to give you an understanding of the processes that produce the planet on which we live. The weekly three-hour lab lab includes five field ...
Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
Darrell Henry, Louisiana State University
This is a junior-level igneous and metamorphic petrology course that is meant to give students practical and theoretical backgrounds for identifying, classifying and interpreting igneous and metamorphic rocks, ...
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology:Metamorphic Rocks, Geoscience:Geology:Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Geoscience, :Geology:Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology:Igneous Rocks
Perry Samson, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
This course provides an introduction to the physics of extreme weather events. We examine solar eruptions, ice ages, climate change, monsoons, El Niño, hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, thunderstorms, ...
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards
Natural Disasters and Earth Resources
Mathieu Richaud, California State University-Fresno
Processes and materials that produce the different geologic resources and hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides). Plate tectonic theory. Emphasizes the relationship between geology and humans.
Subject: Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Geoscience:Geology, Oceanography:Marine Resources, Environmental Science:Sustainability, Oceans and Coastal Resources, Mineral Resources, Forest Resources, Energy
Introduction to Remote Sensing
Michelle Kinzel, Oregon State University
This course introduces students to the basics of remote sensing, characteristics of remote sensors, and remote sensing applications in academic disciplines and professional industries. Emphasis is placed on image ...


Inclusive Music Education: Teaching Music to Children with Special Needs
“I’m teaching a child with special needs. What does that mean?” This course will increase your knowledge of how to deliver appropriate, differentiated music instruction to students with a disability. Content will include an introduction to special education laws and terms, a basic overview of specific disabilities, and an explanation of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and how music educators can be a part of that process. Examples and strategies will shed light on how to collaborate with special education teachers and paraprofessionals, classroom and behavior management for the inclusive classroom, and most importantly, practical examples of how to accommodate and modify music instruction for students with disabilities in the inclusive classroom. Teacher-directed presentations, teacher modeling, journaling, small and large-group discussions, student presentations, and group activities will all be used throughout this course.
Instructor: Giovanna Davila
Giovanna Davila teaches Kindergarten-6th grade general music at Thomas Jefferson in Milan, Illinois. Giovanna received her Bachelors of Arts in Music Education from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, and a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Western Illinois University. She has a wide range of experience having taught every grade level in a variety of areas: general music, choir, and band. Giovanna has also taught children from different socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, and ability levels. Giovanna was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Iowa, preparing pre-service educators how to incorporate music in the elementary classroom. Giovanna’s greatest joy is teaching elementary music and engaging all of her students in making music. Throughout her ten years of teaching experience, Giovanna has learned to adapt and modify her instruction to best meet her students’ needs. Giovanna has completed Kodaly Level I and Orff Schulwerk Levels I and II, and uses both techniques in her classroom. Currently, Giovanna is pursuing a doctorate in music education while teaching and making music with elementary children.
6703 Inclusive Music Education: Teaching Music to Children with Special Needs
1 graduate credit for 2 sessions
Location: VCM Room 100
Tuition is due in full with registration
Saturday, February 9, 8:00am-3:45pm
Saturday, March 9, 8:00am-3:45pm


1849 – He was born this year in in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Burbank grew up on a farm and received only an elementary education.
1870 – His father died this year, and he used his small inheritance to buy a 17-acre (69,000 m²) plot of land near Lunenburg.
1872 – He developed the Burbank potato, this year until 1874.
1875 – He sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 and used the money to travel to Santa Rosa, California. He established a greenhouse, nursery, and experimental fields that he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants.
1880 – He married twice to Helen Coleman in this year.
1893 – He published a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties, entitled called New Creations in Fruits and Flowers.
1896 – He divorced his wife this year.
1907 – He published an “essay on childrearing,” called The Training of the Human Plant.
1916 – He married Elizabeth Waters in this year.
1921 – During his career, Burbank wrote, or co-wrote, several books on his methods and results, including his eight-volume How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man.
1926 – He suffered a heart attack and became ill with gastrointestinal complications. He died on April 11 of this year. He was at aged 77 and was buried at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.
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Human Rights Day: The 30 Points Of Dignity
10 December, 2012
Moving From Charity To Dignity - Free from fear and free from want.
Summary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Recognizing the humanity of the other as our own
Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal.
Article 2 Everyone is entitled to the same human rights without
discrimination of any kind.
Article 3 Everyone has the human right to life, liberty, and security.
Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.
Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6 Everyone has the human right to be recognized everywhere as a
person before the law
Article 7 Everyone is equal before the law and has the human right to equal
protection of the law.
Article 8 Everyone has the human right to a remedy if their human rights are
Article 9 No one shall be arrested, detained, or exiled arbitrarily.
Article 10 Everyone has the human right to a fair trial.
Article 11 Everyone has the human right to be presumed innocent until proven
Article 12 Everyone has the human right to privacy and family life.
Article 13 Everyone has the human right to freedom of movement and residence
within the state, to leave any country and to return to one's country.
Article 14 Everyone has the human right to seek asylum from persecution.
Article 15 Everyone has the human right to a nationality.
Article 16 All adults have the human right to marry and found a family.
Women and men have equal human rights to marry, within marriage, and at its dissolution.
Article 17 Everyone has the human right to own property.
Article 18 Everyone has the human right to freedom of thought, conscience
Article 19 Everyone has the human right to freedom of opinion and
Article 20 Everyone has the human right to peaceful assembly and
Article 21 Everyone has the human right to take part in government of one's
country directly or through free and fair elections and access to the public
Article 22 Everyone has the human right to social security and to the
realization of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for dignity.
Article 23 Everyone has the human right to work, to just conditions of work,
to protection against
unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to sufficient pay to ensure a
dignified existence for one's self and one's family, and the human right to join a
Article 24 Everyone has the human right to rest and leisure.
Article 25 Everyone has the human right to a standard of living adequate for
health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social
Article 26 Everyone has the human right to education including free and
compulsory elementary education and human rights education.
Article 27 Everyone has the human right to participate freely in the
cultural life and to share in scientific progress, as well as
to protection of their artistic, literary or scientific
Article 28 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which
these rights can be realized fully.
Article 29 Everyone has duties to the community.
Article 30 None of the human rights in this Declaration can be used to
justify violating another human right.
--Human rights are Universal, Indivisible, Interconnected and interrelated
--With equality and without discrimination for all women and men, youth and
--Democracy as a delivery system of human rights
--All must know, own, organize, plan and act guided by human rights as a way
Prepared by : firstname.lastname@example.org www.pdhre.org,
PDHRE, People’s movement for Human Rights Learning
People's Movement for Human Rights Learning
526 West 111th Street, Suite 4E
New York, NY 10025 USA
Tel: 1-212-749-3156 * Fax: 1-212-666-6325
Award winning website: http://www.pdhre.org/
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KALAMAZOO—The creator of an innovative museum containing a large collection of racist artifacts will address teaching tolerance in a visit this week to Western Michigan University.
Dr. David Pilgrim, vice president for diversity and inclusion at Ferris State University, will speak at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in 2008 Richmond Center for Visual Arts. His presentation, free and open to the public, is titled "Using Objects of Intolerance to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice: The Case of the Jim Crow Museum."
In his talk, Pilgrim, founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, will discuss the museum's mission and its strategy of using historical and contemporary racially demeaning artifacts to teach about race, race relations and racism. Audience members are warned that the presentation contains images some may find offensive. Pilgrim also will conduct a workshop for WMU Frostic School of Art students and will be honored by the Kalamazoo Black Arts and Cultural Center.
Pilgrim, an applied sociologist, is one of the country's leading experts on issues relating to multiculturalism, diversity and race relations. His research has shown that racism can be objectively studied and creatively assailed. The museum contains a 7,000-piece collection of racist artifacts and uses objects of intolerance to teach tolerance. His writings, many found at ferris.edu/jimcrow, are used by scholars, students and civil rights workers to better understand historical and contemporary racism.
The museum will be profiled in an upcoming PBS documentary, while Pilgrim has been interviewed by NPR, Time, the BBC and dozens of newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. In 2004, Pilgrim produced with Clayton Rye a documentary on the museum. The film won several awards and was described by Los Angeles film critic, Marc Haefele, as a "grisly low-key masterpiece."
Pilgrim's visit is supported through the generosity of the Gwen Frostic School of Art, the WMU Art Education Program, the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations and the Kalamazoo Black Arts and Cultural Center.