Planning: Advice on preparation of weekly notes,
monthly progress records and termly/ yearly schemes. Advice
on the teaching of all subjects on the primary school curriculum,
aims, methodologies, strands etc.
1 - Advice on how to deal with colleagues, parents,
2 - Advice on how to deal with a range of difficult
situations that can arise within a classroom.
3 - Classroom management, discipline and organization.
4 - Advice on how to deal with special needs
5 - Advice on how to work with a special needs
assistant or some other professional in your classroom.
6 - Advice on how to deal with multi- disciplinary
team including psychologists, inspectors, speech therapists
7 - Whole School Evaluation (WSE) and spot checks
8 - Drawing up of a school plan for a primary
school to include all curricular areas and policy areas.
1998 Education Act
2002 Education Welfare Act
2004 Epsen Act
10 - Help teacher create a template for producing
individual education plans
11 - Coping with Special needs children in a
mainstream school: precision teaching, discrete trial teaching,
differentiation, individual teaching.
Children First Guidelines
Stay Safe and Walk Tall programs
Advice on all aspects of a
child's Primary School Education.
Starting primary school.
How to deal with difficult situations that
may arise in school from time to time, e.g: bullying, discipline.
Educational Disadvantage and entitlements of
parents under the scheme, e.g: book grants, back to school
School Completion Programme.
Homework clubs, golf, horse-riding, swimming all provided
for under the scheme. Summer camps free available through
Advice and testing in all subject areas. Identifying
weakness especially in numeracy and literacy.
Grinds in all subject areas where children are
Advice in dealing with Board of Management, principal
and teachers when there are difficulties.
Advice on all areas of Special needs including
Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, Downs Syndrome, Hyperactivity,
Emotional and Behavioral Disturbance. Links with child's school
to tackle areas of difficulty.
Transition to secondary school: choice of school
and choice of subject areas to best meet the needs of the
Leisure time activities for children.
How to deal with parents own stress.
Preparation of trained teachers for interview
for teaching positions.
Preparation of teachers for interview for the
post of principal teacher.
Preparation of teachers for interview for post
of responsibility within a school. Interview techniques, questions
Preparation of students for interview for post
graduate course in teaching with a big emphasis on Irish.
Preparation of principal teacher for the task
of interviewing personnel within a school; teachers, special
needs assistants, secretaries, caretakers etc.
Preparation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs)
for interview for a post within a primary school.
I.e: Children with Specific
Learning difficulties as a result of autism, Downs Syndrome,
Behavioral Disturbance, Emotional Disturbance or other complex
Advice for parents and teachers with children
affected by profound learning difficulties, moderate learning
difficulties or mild learning difficulties.
Advice on school placement.
How the special educational curriculum guidelines
and the mainstream guidelines can be put together to achieve
deserved outcomes and produce a broad and balanced curriculum
to meet the Special Educational Needs of the Child.
Advice on Individual Educational Plans
(IEPs) for special needs children. IEP should include academic
objectives, self-care objectives, social objectives, communication
objectives, speech therapy objectives, occupational therapy
objectives, behavioral objectives and child protection objectives.
Advice on above for parents, teachers, and other interested
partners in the educational system.
ABA- Applied Behavioral Analysis
Discipline for Learning
Shaping complex behavior etc.
Low Incidence Hours
Special needs assistant support
Parent, teacher and child entitlements with regard to the
above under 1998 Education Act and 2004 Epsen Act.
When one is dealing as a teacher, as a parent
or as student with a range of different personalities daily
conflicts arise. As an educational provider with over 33 years
experience I give advice on how to handle conflict. I am a
trained professional mediator with a mediation qualification.
Different approaches to conflict and how
to resolve it:
The idea is to train people how best to handle conflict for
the good of the whole school community.
Preparation For Primary Schools:
John now provides interview preparation for primary
Read more about John Hand Principal on RateMyTeachers.com
For more information on any of the above


The NWT Literacy Council is a not-for-profit organization that promotes and supports literacy development in all the official languages of the Northwest Territories.
Literacy levels are an issue in the north—more than 50% of NWT residents do not have the literacy skills they need for everyday living. Literacy and health are closely linked. When people think about the links between them, they tend to think about the difficulty people may have reading instructions on medicines. But the connections between literacy and health go well beyond a person’s ability to read. A recent report on the health of Canadians shows that people with low literacy skills are more likely than those with higher literacy skills to be unemployed, poorer, have poorer health and die earlier1.____________________________
1 Health Canada, Towards a Healthy Future: Second Report on the Health of Canadians
|Previous||Table of Contents||Next|


- Albert Einstein: Image and Impact - Read about the life of the man behind the theory of relativity.
- Atom - The Harnessed Atom - Discover the different states and forms of energy and where energy comes from. Find out how the way we live is tied to our energy supply. (PDF)
- Discovery of the Electron - One hundred years ago, amidst glowing glass tubes and the hum of electricity, the British physicist J.J. Thomson was venturing into the interior of the atom.
- EurekAlert! Science News and Resources for Kids - The EurekAlert! Science for Kids Portal is a central, online source for kid-friendly news and resources.
- Fermilab For Students - Fermilab is home to the world's most powerful accelerator, the Tevatron. Learn how scientists use Fermilab's resources to explore the most basic particles and forces of nature.
- Science Facts - Get the answers to life's most interesting questions through scientific inquiry; it will introduce you to the Library of Congress' rich collections in science and technology.
- Walk Through Time - Provides information on ancient calendars, early clocks, revolution in timekeeping, the "Atomic Age" and more.


The purpose of serving preschool children under Title I is to provide high-quality early childhood experiences that can help children in Title I schools and programs have the foundation to meet academic standards and experience success throughout elementary and secondary school.
Technical Assistance and Support for Title I Schools
- Training for preschool practitioners to learn how to apply scientifically research-based practices in their classrooms;
- Workshops for parents to learn the scientifically research-based practices that may be used in the home to help ensure that their child enters kindergarten with the foundational skills necessary to succeed;
- Disseminating information through publications, conferences, and other events;
- Coordinating Title I efforts with Department of Early Child Care and Learning;
- Monitoring programs to ensure that Title I preschool is meeting program goals; and
- Encouraging the use of mentoring relationships between effective preschools and those that are struggling.
Four Components of Family Literacy
- Early Childhood Education
- Adult Education
- Parent and Child Interactive Literacy Activities
- Parenting Education


(Last Updated on : 28/06/2011)
Adult education in India is the process to provide education to the adult and aged people who, somehow, had failed to receive the elementary education during their childhood. The effort of providing adult education in India has been in existence for the past several years, as it is one of the most important things in building an educated nation. Unless the adults realize the importance of education they would never understand the need to educate their progeny. Education is one of the stepping stones for building a strong nation. Hence adult education is promoted on a large scale in the Indian sub continent.
Adult education in India is mainly provided at night schools. These are situated in almost all the Indian cities
and villages. The provision for imparting education has been made at night because most of the people are engaged during the day. Apart from the night schools, the Government of India
had also set up some libraries so that the adults can study more to become educated, not just literate. Adult education is included among the most important responsibilities of the Government, as the eradication of illiteracy has been one of the major national concerns of the Government of India since independence. The government launched the programme of Social Education, under the Community Development Programme in 1952, as part of the first Five Year Plan. In the recent times, the government has launched the programme called National Literacy Mission (NLM) for spreading adult education in India.
A large number of initiatives have been taken so far for providing adult education in India. Machinery comprising male and female Social Education Organisers at grass-roots level and a Chief Social Education organiser has been created, apart from the Social Education Organizers' Training Centres (SEOTCs). The government has also established model community centres, rural libraries, Janata Colleges, youth clubs, mahila mandals and folk schools, for spreading adult education. The Council for Rural Higher Education was established and a Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) on Social Education was also constituted in 1956. The government also started a National Fundamental Education Centre for providing high-level training facilities to the adults.
: The main objects of this programme are literacy, extension, general education and social consciousness. It was in the period 1951-1956.
Gram Shikshan Mohim
: This movement was started in the year 1959 in Maharashtra
. This programme was launched on an experimental basis into 25 districts of the state. The duration of the movement was very short as there was not any systematic setting due to which there was large scale relapse of neo-literates into illiterate.
Farmer's functional literacy project
: This project was accelerated as part of the Green Revolution with the objective of making farmers functionally literate in high yielding cultivation areas.
: This programme is initiated through the Central Board of Workers' Education and its institutes. However, the steps under this scheme could not be linked to the literacy schemes/projects being funded under the departments of Education of the states or by the Govt. of India.
Non formal education for youth
: In the starting of the fifth plan an educational system for the age group of 15-25 was launched. It was a significant even in the history of Indian education.
Besides these, several other programmes were also introduced by Indian Government
Education commission was a significant event which highly prioritised the step to remove illiteracy. The functional literacy of adult women project was started in the year 1975-1976. This scheme targeted at illiterate adult women to acquire functional skills along with literacy, to promote better awareness of health, hygiene, child-care practices and to bring about attitudinal changes.
A massive programme of Adult Education called the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) for removal of illiteracy in the 15-35 age group was introduced by the Government of India on 2nd October, 1978. The aim of this programme was to educate 100 million adults within a time frame of five years.
The states in India also took up centre based projects under the state plan funds on the lines of RFLPs.
However, apart from the Indian government, a large number of NGOs have also been working to spread adult education in India and they have indeed done a great job so far.


4th Grade Teacher: Job Duties & Career Information
Learn about a career as a 4th grade teacher. Read the job description, duties, education requirements, salary and employment outlook to decide if this is the right career for you.
Like all elementary school teachers, 4th grade teachers' primary goal is to help students learn in core educational subjects, such as math, science, reading/vocabulary, social studies and the arts. Duties of a 4th grade teacher include grading assignments, administering standardized tests, establishing and enforcing behavioral expectations, conducting parent conferences and collaborating with other teachers.
Teachers at the 4th grade level must have a bachelor's degree in order to teach, although many states do not require that the degree be in education or elementary education as long as additional qualification requirements are met. A bachelor's degree program in education includes field training and/or student teaching. Courses in an education program may cover child psychology, family social science, literature, classroom management and U.S. history. Some 4th grade teachers choose to earn a master's degree in education, which takes an additional two years.
Elementary school teachers working in a public school must be licensed by the state, but those at private schools may not need one. Public elementary school teachers in all states must hold a bachelor's degree and complete a teacher preparation program in order to qualify for licensure. Once a teacher has been licensed, his or her credential must be maintained; usually licensing requirements may be satisfied by continuing education courses. Many states also require a general teaching certification exam. National certification may be acquired through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS); potential instructors should check their state licensing requirements to ensure that NBPTS certification is accepted in their area (www.nbpts.org).
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that successful 4th grade teachers need to have these traits:
- Creativity, communication abilities and instructional skills, since they work to develop innovative lesson plans and activities
- Ability to relate to students and help them grow academically
- Patience, understanding and adaptability when working with pupils
- Bilingual skills are often beneficial
- Physical endurance, since work involves long days on one's feet
Employment and Salary Outlook
According to the BLS, the job outlook for elementary school teachers was average; the field was expected to grow about 17% from 2010-2020. Enrollment of students was expected to increase in the coming years, especially in the Southwest. The BLS also reported that the median annual salary for all elementary school teachers was $53,400 in May 2012.
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Summary: This bestselling book provides indispensable tools and strategies for explicit, systematic phonics instruction in K-3. Teachers learn effective ways to build students' decoding skills by teaching letter-sound relationships, blending, word building, multisyllabic decoding, fluency, and more. The volume is packed with engaging classroom activities, many specific examples, and research-based explanations. It offers a complete phonics assessment and clear guidelines for ...show moresequencing instruction to give every student a strong foundation for reading. More than 30 reproducible forms and word lists are included in the appendices; the companion website features a wealth of supplemental teaching resources.
New to This Edition
*Six additional chapters covering key topics, including assessment, phonemic awareness, orthography, and automaticity.
*A complete phonics assessment with administering and scoring guidelines.
*Companion website with rich supplemental resources, including word/syllable cards, assessment tools, and illustrated stories featuring target words, which teachers can project or print for classroom use.
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For all the parents hoping that classical music CDs and music classes will give their kids an intellectual leg up, Harvard researchers have some bad news: Mozart won’t boost your IQ.
Two studies published today in the journal PLOS ONE bust the myth. In the first, researchers reviewed dozens of studies, and found just one that used randomized trials and showed a positive link between music and IQ. Even then, the effect was so tiny — 2.7 points on an IQ test after one year of music lessons — that it barely registered as statistically significant.
“More than 80 percent of American adults think that music improves children’s grades or intelligence,” said researcher Samuel Mehr, a Harvard Graduate School of Education doctoral student. “Even in the scientific community, there’s a general belief that music is important for these extrinsic reasons — but there is very little evidence supporting the idea that music classes enhance children’s cognitive development.”
Next, Mehr conducted his own research, teaching music and visual art classes to 4-year-olds.
“We wanted to test the effects of the type of music education that actually happens in the real world, and we wanted to study the effect in young children, so we implemented a parent-child music enrichment program with preschoolers,” Mehr said. “The goal is to encourage musical play between parents and children in a classroom environment, which gives parents a strong repertoire of musical activities they can continue to use at home with their kids.”
Mehr then tested the kids in four specific areas of cognition, which is designed to pick up subtle cognitive benefits better than a general IQ test. The tests showed no evidence that the musical training had affected intelligence.
But don’t pull your kid out of Suzuki violin just yet: Mehr argues there are plenty of other benefits to music education.
“We don’t teach kids Shakespeare because we think it will help them do better on the SATs, we do it because we believe Shakespeare is important,” he said. “Music says something about what it means to be human, and it would be crazy not to teach this to our children.”


Public education in this country is struggling as is health care. But from a historical perspective, they are headed in opposite directions. Our state mandated public schools in our constitution.
ARTICLE IX SECTION 1.LEGISLATURE TO ESTABLISH SYSTEM OF FREE SCHOOLS. The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.
Most elementary education in our country has been funded with tax dollars. Until the 1950’s most health care was private pay, then the work-based health insurance benefit took hold, then Medicare and Medicaid happened in the 1960’s and now health care is >50% government funded. But I wonder if the principles are the same.
In health care economics I was taught that you could look at three competing aspects to the system: Access, Cost, and Quality. Better quality will cost more. If we increase access (or choice, an aspect of access) then cost goes up. If we lower cost, both access and quality will suffer. You can’t have it all, low cost, high quality and unlimited access.
Charter schools increase choice for parents and students. In principle, I support this. Our town has excellent charter schools that are thriving and popular. You need to understand that charter schools are publicly funded. They get tax dollars from the district where they are based. But funding this choice is a problem. Let me explain. We recently passed a bill to remove the cap on charter schools in the state. By removing the cap our state will be eligible for more federal education grants. We can only have 6 new charter schools per year in the state and only 1 per district. The sponsor passed out a handout to show that the costs of charter schools were comparable to regular schools. I immediately went to my town:
Moscow School District $4300 Elementary State Revenues per Average Daily Attendance(what the state pays to the district for an elementary kid to be taught each year.)
Charter A $5600
Charter B $6300
So the larger Moscow District School gets paid less per student then the smaller charter schools. I can understand this. There are economies of scale. The most expensive school in the state( a rural public school) gets $19k/ student, but they only have six kids.
Remember, the money for the two charter schools in Moscow comes from the Moscow School District budget. Each kid that moves from the main school to the charter takes with her more than she was getting to cover her costs in the district. So the money shifts from the district to the charters. We have more choice and it costs more overall.
And we haven’t even covered the cost of facilities. Charter schools can’t run a bond election to build a school but the district schools do. And the district will have to keep the heat on and fix the roof even if the classrooms are only half full. I believe this school choice route is going to cost us all more. And here we are embracing choice in a time when we are restricting budgets. I think we need to be honest with ourselves about this. We sure haven’t had an honest discussion about what we want in healthcare. Honest discussions are tough.


NEW Early Childhood & Elementary Education Degree
The Department of Inclusive Childhood Education announces a new major in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. Learn More
NEW Nazareth College Teaching Fellows Program
The Department of Inclusive Childhood announces a new initiative leading to Professional Certification in Inclusive Childhood Education. Learn More
News & Events
- Interview: Dr. Shanna Jamanis
Listen to Dr. Shanna Jamanis, assistant professor of inclusive childhood education, talk to WXXI radio's Bob Smith about autism advocacy.
Welcome to the Department of Inclusive Childhood Education. As leaders in preparing inclusive early childhood and childhood educators, we work to empower our teacher candidates to construct and implement meaningful and research-based professional practices that transform them, their learners, their communities, and their profession.
We understand that inclusion is not just education for students with special needs; we define inclusive education as a multi-faceted process by which every student is nurtured in his/her growth toward the pursuit of a meaningful life. To meet this, we offer a variety of inclusive teacher education programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Our programs prepare teachers for general education settings, inclusive education settings, and self-contained special education settings at the pre-school, elementary and middle school levels.
Dr. Shanna Jamanis, Chair
Department of Inclusive Childhood Education
- B.A./B.S. in Early Childhood & Elementary Education
Nazareth’s unique multiple certification program prepares candidates to apply for teacher certification in four different areas of general and special education, which leads to better preparation for the classroom and more employment options.
- M.S.Ed. in Inclusive Early Childhood Education
The program gives students the knowledge, understanding and skills to develop environments and learning experiences that support the physical, social, cognitive and emotional development of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and primary aged children.
- M.S.Ed. in Inclusive Childhood Education
Students will work in programs that are grounded in theories about child development, inclusive education, differentiated instruction, backward design and education for social change.
- Gifted and Talented Extension
This program focuses on deepening teachers' understandings of students with gifts and talents and designing curriculum and differentiated learning experiences in the context of school organization and community.


The Kentucky Read to Achieve (KY RTA) Program was created under Senate Bill 19 in 2005 with the goal of supporting schools in implementing a reading diagnostic and intervention program to address the needs of struggling readers. More specifically, the KY RTA program was designed to identify and provide intensive reading and intervention programs to struggling readers within primary grades (K-3).
There is flexibility in the intervention programs from which participating schools may choose, but several aspects of program implementation are required and therefore common across participating schools.
- Schools must provide a highly trained reading intervention teacher.
- Selected early reading intervention programs must offer short-term, intensive instruction in essential skills necessary for reading proficiency.
- Teachers must also participate in a variety of required professional development activities.
The Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (CCLD) was charged with creating and implementing a comprehensive research agenda to evaluate the impact of intervention programs on student achievement in reading for RTA participants. MGT of America was contracted by CCLD to conduct the comprehensive evaluation study during the 2009-2010 academic year.
The purpose of this report is to provide the background, methodology, and impact data for the 2009-2010 implementation of the KY RTA project. The report is organized as follows:
- Chapter 1.0 provides background and the conceptual framework for the study.
- Chapter 2.0 provides details on the methodology used for this study, including sample selection, protocol development, procedures, data collection, and design and analysis.
- Chapter 3.0 summarizes the methods and findings for the case studies and cross-case analysis.
- Chapter 4.0 details the stakeholder perceptual findings related to KY RTA program and intervention implementation effectiveness perceptual findings.
- Chapter 5.0 summarizes the impact of the RTA program and its common interventions on student reading achievement outcomes.
- Chapter 6.0 describes expenditures and the impact of program expenditures on student reading performance.
- Chapter 7.0 provides a discussion of the findings and reflections on future evaluation of the KY RTA study.
RTA Yearly Reports


Ways We Can Help
The stakes are high. Throughout school districts today, administrators, curriculum specialists and teachers are being held accountable for test scores in individual schools and across districts.
Teachers, especially at the elementary level, need to understand their state standards along with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. They need a good foundation of STEM knowledge. They need to know how to teach STEM concepts successfully and how to integrate them into an already packed curriculum. They need to practice and build confidence in STEM areas.
Assessing school or district needs
The challenge for central administrators is to develop and implement strategies that ensure elementary teachers in their district are well prepared to impart STEM knowledge to their students. Our science and education experts at the National Center for STEM Elementary Education are here to help. We have a wealth of experience in both urban and suburban schools and with diverse student populations.
First we listen. We can conduct a formal needs assessment or start with one that you have already administered. We can help you map your district curriculum to state standards and identify the gaps.
Professional development for teachers
Armed with information about where the district is today and where it needs to go, we will design targeted in-service workshops and/or graduate-level teacher preparation programs that will move you and your teachers toward becoming competent and confident STEM teachers. STEM Center faculty can join your teachers in their classrooms, serving as mentors and continuing to build confidence over time.
We also can help you build a cadre of STEM teacher-leaders who support new teachers or those who may not have attended workshops.
The Center has a number of graduate-level STEM certificate options for elementary classroom teachers, including one specifically for Montessori teachers. Our certificates help teachers renew and refresh their STEM teaching skills and remain competitive in the marketplace.
More information for educators
To start a conversation about STEM programs for your school or district, email firstname.lastname@example.org.


Universalisation of elementary education : a study of District Primary Education Programme from South India
- Babu, J. Ravindra (Jala Ravindra Babu)
- Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Pub., 2009.
- Physical description
- xii, 143 p. ; 22 cm.
LC94 .I4 B32 2009
- Unknown LC94 .I4 B32 2009
- Includes bibliographical references (p. -137).
- Publisher's Summary
- The success of the primary education system has a direct bearing on the upper primary, non-formal and adult and continuing education sectors; an efficient primary education system is expected to contribute significantly to total literacy: an appropriate rise in literacy levels improves the functioning of other systems of education. Effective delivery of primary education contributes to bettering India's HDI (Human Development Index), including our standing in the Human Development Index evolved by UNDP. This volume is a study of the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in one of the states of South India. It is a piece of policy evaluation research expected to contribute to the ongoing discussion of policy processes in primary schools. It specifically questions to what extent objectives such as access, retention, quality and equality are achieved by the implementation of the DPEP. Figures from before and after the implementation of the DPEP show a significant increase in enrolment levels in primary schools all over the state. Thus, the major impact of DPEP implementation is seen in enhanced access to primary schools. The study shows that the DPEP implementation succeeded in attaining the objective of equality. This can be observed from gender equality in dropout rates at various primary grades. The DPEP seems to have achieved only moderate success in meeting the objective of retention of students. The DPEP does not seem to have approached the quality objective very seriously.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Publication date
- by J. Ravindra Babu.


Reto Rossetti (11 April 1909 – 20 September 1994) was a poet and an Esperantist professor. He was Italian-Swiss and retained his nationality, although he lived all his life in Britain. His professional career as a teacher in art colleges culminated as Head of the art education department at Bristol university. His elder brother was Cezaro Rossetti, author of Kredu min, sinjorino! (Believe me, Ma'am!). He died at Gosport.
With his brother, Cezaro Rossetti (Caesar) he wrote and illustrated 'The Moc Gonnogal' - a collection of poems written as a spoof on the work of the Scottish poet William McGonnogal.
His other works are: Mestizo de l' Mondo (Mestizo of the World), a collection of poems; El la Maniko (Out of my Sleeve); and Pinta krajono (Sharp Pencil), a collection of novellas. His main translation is Otelo (Othello) by Shakespeare. Rossetti did many translations from English poetry. He was the editor and main collaborator on the Angla Antologio.
Original in Esperanto
- Oazo (poetry collection in Kvaropo (1952))
- Mestizo de l' Mondo
- El la maniko (a collection of novellas, 1955)
- Pinta krajono (a collection of poems, 1959)
The first version of this article is a translation from the corresponding article in the Esperanto Wikipedia.
- (in Esperanto) Short biography.
- (in Esperanto) Sperto saĝon akrigas. A review of the Rossetti brothers by Baldur Ragnarsson, originally published in Juna Amiko.


Johann Bernhard Basedow
Basedow, Johann Bernhard (yōhänˈ bĕrnˈhärt bäˈzədō) [key], 1723–90, German educator, b. Hamburg, educated in Hamburg and at the Univ. of Leipzig. Later he taught in Denmark (1753) and Germany (1761) but became involved in controversies aroused by his unorthodox religious writings. In 1774 his Elementarwerk was published with funds raised by popular subscription, and Basedow opened at Dessau a school called the Philanthropinum, where the methods of elementary education outlined in this text were employed. Drawing upon the writings of Comenius, Locke, and Rousseau, Basedow emphasized realistic teaching and introduced nature study, physical education, and manual training. He resigned in 1778 because of disagreements with his staff, and the school closed in 1793. His reforms were widely influential, however, and similar institutions were established throughout Germany and Switzerland.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Education: Biographies


Connecting Families to What Is Happening in Schools
NCTE INBOX 9-24-13
In classrooms, faculty lounges, and schools across the country, conversations are taking place about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and what it means to be college- and career-ready. As educators in the midst of these shifts in our own practices, it is also important to think about how these changes are being communicated to families. What is essential to share?
It seems best to keep it simple. Better yet, our challenge is to show not tell as we involve families in the literacy learning happenings within our schools on an ongoing basis.
Here's a group of educators that didn't need to tell families about the importance of reading and writing more complex texts across the disciplines because they are showing it:
- Meet first-grade teacher, Jane Fung. She made notebooking a regular part of her instructional practices. These notebooks will become a treasured part of each child's school career long after first grade.
- Julie Wollman, a ReadWriteThink.org and NCTE author, shows us how to get started with family message journals as a means for students to write to an authentic audience about their learning.
- Because the ways we teach writing are often quite different from the ways most of our students' parents learned to write, it is important to think about productive ways to get families involved as strong allies for excellent writing instruction. The authors of "Inviting Parents In: Expanding Our Community Base to Support Writing" describe workshops and other methods for getting parents productively involved in their children’s literacy development.
- Watch as a parent who is in a Community of Practice with teachers shares what it means to learn, talk, and design activities as a full CoP member with teachers.
When many of our students' families think about supporting children as readers, the images in their minds are limited to books. Again our challenge is to make sure they are seeing a wide variety of texts. Interested in learning from others studying these same topics?
Join us at NCTE's Annual Convention where educators are sharing their work on:
- Consider following the Westminster 50 Family Engagement Partnership Group as they embark with the goal of partnering with families around academic goals.
- Listen to this On Demand recording of a virtual practice exchange among groups interested in strengthening the connection between in-school and out-of-school literacies with families as partners.
Join us over at ReadWriteThink.org on the Parent & Afterschool Resources site for engaging ways to introduce children to reading or to encourage teens to write. Need some age-appropriate book suggestions or rainy day activities? These materials are your answer—all of them created by experts to be fun, educational, and easy to use outside of school.
What role do parents play in your school?
Sign up now for an RSS feed of each week's INBOX Ideas!


Drawing is an important part of literacy development. Observe as children draw together and you often see and hear them telling stories as they draw, adding occasional letters, and reading their drawings. When the environment is set up so children can have access to materials plus time to make choices and explore processes, it is common for children to spend a long time on their drawings or cover a whole page with writing. Maehr (1989) says that young children may consider their drawings to be actual writing. If asked to 'read' their marks, children can give a clear message or story. Older children may recognize that drawing is an illustrative form of communication, but still continue to use it as writing. Let's look at some more similarities:
The following are some activity ideas that help children make the drawing/literacy connection:
Have Clipboard-Will Travel:
Small clipboards can be made for each child, using an 8" x 11" piece of heavy cardboard as a base. Secure a clip to the cardboard to hold several pieces of blank paper. If interesting artifacts, such as a collection of leaves, pine cones, or pebbles are on display in the science area, encourage children to take their clipboards with some drawing/writing tools over to make study drawings. Children can also take their clipboards on walks or on field trips to make field drawings and words of what they hear and see. Children can draw pictures and/or write down sounds or sights they encounter. After the walk or field trip, children can share their information with adults and peers.
Create a Book:
Children's experiences at home, in class, or on field trips add to their learning. Talking, drawing, and writing about the experiences fosters emergent literacy development. After a field trip or other shared learning experience, tell the children that you are going to help them make a book about it. Offer several sheets of paper and invite children to draw pictures of their experiences. Ask children open-ended questions, such as "Tell me about this part of our trip to the train station. What was happening in this picture." Listen as children describe each picture and, on a separate sheet of paper, write down the words exactly as the child says them. These pages can go into the book next to the appropriate picture. Ask each child to help you put the pictures and words in the right order, according to what happened first, next, and last during the trip. Children can create a cover from poster board or colorful construction paper. Ask children to draw on and title their cover then write their name. Bind all pages together inside the cover, then place it in the reading area so the child can share it with the other children. Children can also make a group experience book, each child drawing a different part of the experience. At one of the Expressive Arts Outreach sites children became authors of a group classroom book (Potter & Schoon). Each child had a page with his or her photograph, name, self portrait drawing, and emergent writing. Children had great fun reading their book to one another.
Dual Platform CD Software Alternatives:
The Amazing Writing Machine (Broderbund) lets a child create a journal or book on the computer and then print in out. In this program children can both draw, paint, use stamps, and write on each page.
Kid Pix Studio (Broderbund) is a children's drawing and painting program. Children can also stamp letters or use the type option to write. The drawings can be saved and placed in a slide show or printed out to create a book.
Disney's Magic Artist (Disney) and IBM's Crayola Make a Masterpiece (IBM Inc.) both have many drawing and painting options. Children can choose to draw or write, collect their work in a portfolio, show a slide show, and print out to create a book.
HyperStudio (Knowledge Adventure) is another way children can create a book about their learning experiences in the home, in the classroom and on field trips.
The Expressive Arts Outreach Project replication site staff have tried some of these ideas in their early childhood classrooms, using adaptive grips on marking tools when needed. They are finding important connections between drawing and literacy development. I hope you will too.
Chard, S. (August 9, 1999). Engaging children in drawing. Workshop held at Wild Life Prairie Park, IL: Best Practices, Inc.
Maehr, J. (1989). Right! Young children can write! Extensions: Newsletter of the High/Scope Curriculum, 4, 3, 1-4.
Potter, J., & Schoon, S. (1998). Classroom activities. ArtExpress: All around the sites, 3, 4, 1.


Teaching is a demanding profession. The average teacher, regardless of his or her assignment, overcomes many obstacles throughout the school year. With that said, teaching within an economically disadvantaged neighborhood school is physically, mentally and emotionally draining. For better or worse, teaching within a low socio-economic status (SES) neighborhood school is bittersweet.
Teaching within a low SES neighborhood school, at times, is a bitter experience. Without a doubt, the academic gap is quite daunting. In fact, it’s alarming to realize the lack of certain academic foundational skills, such as reading comprehension, specifically at the secondary level. It’s enough for one to question the justification for any social promotion policy.
Another bitter pill to swallow is the propensity for student misbehavior. Not surprisingly, disruptive behavior is a result of academic frustrations. However, putting academics aside, students also grapple with personal tribulations throughout the school year. Despite these harsh realities, a teacher must simultaneously differentiate instruction, provide emotional support, issue rewards and consequences, and, even, document “concerning” behaviors, on a daily basis. Without question, this cycle is physically, mentally and emotionally taxing.
So, is teaching within a low SES neighborhood school worth the bitter experience?
Well, there are plenty of “sweet” moments, throughout the school year, to last a teacher’s lifetime. In fact, one of the best moments a teacher experiences is when a student’s “light bulb” turns on. As a teacher, watching students experience academic success is always rewarding. These “light bulb” moments, often times, occur throughout the school day. These moments provide a teacher with more than enough motivation to endure the “daily grind.”
But it doesn’t stop here.
Academic success often reduces student misconduct. Believe it or not, students have a behavior “light bulb” too! Whenever both light bulbs are “on,” genuine trust, between a student and teacher, develops. As a result, the teacher finds him or herself wearing the “proud parent” hat, which, by far, is one of the most rewarding “hats” to wear.
So, yes, teaching within an economically disadvantaged neighborhood school is definitely not for the faint of heart. This teaching assignment will test your mettle and resolve. Undoubtedly, you’ll experience a fair amount of highs and lows throughout the school year. However, if don’t mind partaking from the bittersweet tree, then this particular teaching assignment is waiting for you.


Music surfaces frequently in the great Nature vs. Nurture debate: Why can someone be a virtuoso pianist yet their neighbour be a musical duffer? Does the answer lie in genes or upbringing?
In a study published on Tuesday that compared hundreds of individuals, scientists said the first step towards answering the question may lie in DNA—in several genes that detect and interpret sounds.
Researchers took blood samples from 767 people from 76 families, ranging in age from seven to 94 years. Some families had a strong musical tradition, boasting several professional players.
The scientists unravelled the genetic code from the samples and carried out a comparison between the volunteers, looking for variants in their DNA.
They also asked the volunteers to do three musical tests. The guinea pigs were asked to distinguish between notes that had slightly different tones and durations, and to identify sequences of notes that were subtly different from each other.
Among those who performed well in these tests, the big standout was tiny but significant differences in several genes located on Chromosome 4 which help determine how we hear and perceive sound.
One variant lies on a gene called GATA2, which is important for the hair cells in the inner ear. The delicate fibres on these cells move in response to different frequencies and transmit a signal through the auditory nerve to the brain.
Another telltale variant was found in a gene called PCDH7, which plays an important role in a part of the brain called the amygdala—believed to be the driver for how we transform sounds into patterns.
These are only a few of what is likely to be a bigger gene haul, but in any case DNA goes only part-way to explaining musical ability, the authors said.
According to a common theory, musical aptitude has a "primary" component—the physical ability to distinguish tones and sequences—and this is a prerequisite to a "secondary" component, the skill to play, which is dependent on one's culture and environment.
"Musical aptitude is a complex behavioural trait," the paper said, stressing that their experiments "account for only a part" of it.
"Environmental factors, such as the childhood musical environment, the example set by parents and siblings, and music education affect musical abilities," it added.
Their study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, did not look at musical creativity—the ability to compose.
More information: The study (A genome-wide linkage and association study of musical aptitude identifies genetic loci containing variants related to inner-ear development and neurocognitive functions) was published in Molecular Psychiatry on 24 February 2014.


Millennium Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Targets for 2005 and 2015: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
Two-thirds of illiterates are women, and the rate of employment among women is two-thirds that of men. The proportion of seats in parliaments held by women is increasing, reaching about one third in Argentina, Mozambique and South Africa.
This picture was taken in the suburbs of Monrovia, Liberia. I see it as guardian angel taking care of a small boy…. The empowerment and the education of girls is one the most essential step for a country to develop. Quality education remains a distant dream for millions of children across the globe. 121 million children, the majority of them girls, are being denied this fundamental right.
That is why United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his groundbreaking address to the Millennium Assembly reminded us that there can be no significant or sustainable transformation in societies—and no lasting reduction in global poverty—until girls receive the basic quality education they deserve—and take their rightful place as equal partners in development.
Education can put women on the path to economic and social empowerment. Educated women tend to marry later, have fewer children and are more likely to understand what they must do to protect themselves and their families against various odds.
Education helps women become better informed about how to prevent HIV infections. It empowers them to defend themselves in potentially dangerous situations. Indeed, it has been shown that denying a girl access to quality education increases her vulnerability to abuse, exploitation and disease. Girls, more than boys, are at greater risk of such abuse when they are not in school. A classroom not only provides a safe haven for girls, it can instil in them a sense of their own power, and hope for the future.
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS MILLENIUM GOAL EXHIBITION PLEASE VISIT MY JOURNAL [link]
All proceeds from sales of pictures will go to the art education project of Art in All of Us (WWW.ARTINALLOFUS.ORG) and/or trusted partner in third world countries


Children in England are getting a 'deficient' primary education, according to a report released today by the Cambridge Primary Review.
According to the report, primary schoolchildren are having far too much of their time and attention focused on 'unimportant' matters such as reading, writing and mathematics, and that as a result too many children are leaving primary school with excessive literacy and numeracy skills.
Professor Sandy Wetwipe, of the Cambridge Primary Review, said, "our argument is that children's educations, and subsequently their lives, are impoverished by receiving an education that is so fundamentally deficient".
Professor Wetwipe has recommended a radical reshape of the primary education system, including:
- Reduction of writing tutoring to 1 hour per week;
- Reading list to be reduced to 'Heat Magazine' and 'MySpace';
- Introduction of 'citizenship training', including education on the best way to handle the PR demands of a pre-teen pregnancy;
- Instruction on the benefits system, and mathematics tutoring to focus on calculating entitlement;
- Diversity training, including the best way to wear and detonate a suicide belt;
- History lessons covering the innovations and marvels of New Labour since 1997.


The Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) Survey: Age and Literacy
This report is the fourth in a series of four that investigate the initial results of the ALL survey. It presents an overview of New Zealanders’ skills in relation to age, and any changes since 1996.
Author(s): Paul Satherley and Elliot Lawes, Research Division, Ministry of Education.
Date Published: August 2008
Please consider the environment before printing the contents of this report.
Age Cohorts continued This section examines these questions:
- Do the differences in the distributions of literacy skill between men and women change with age?
- Are the relationships between skill-level, age and gender the same for different skills?
Prose literacy, age and gender
The distributions of prose literacy skill by age group and gender are shown in Figure 12.
|On average, women have higher prose literacy skills than men over all age groups.|
Figure 12: Prose literacy, age and gender, ALL only
Figure 12 shows that for all age groups (except 55−65-year-olds), women had higher overall prose literacy skills than men (and for 16−24-year-olds and 35−44-year-olds these skills were substantially higher). Among 55−65-year-olds, women and men had approximately the same overall prose literacy skills.
Figure 12 also shows that the differences in overall prose literacy skill between men and women result from, in most age groups, women having larger percentages at level 3 than men, and smaller percentages at level 1.
Document literacy, age and gender
The distributions of document literacy skill by age group and gender are shown in Figure 13.
|On average, men and women have similar document literacy over all ages, with 16−24-year-old women performing slightly better than men, and 45−65-year-old men performing slightly better than women. |
Figure 13: Document literacy, age and gender, ALL only
Figure 13 shows that among 16−24-year-olds, women had substantially higher overall document literacy skills than men; among 25−34 and 35−44-year-olds women and men had approximately the same document literacy skills; and among 45−54 and 55−65 year-olds men had substantially higher document literacy skills than women.
Numeracy, age and gender
The distributions of numeracy skill by age group and gender are shown in Figure 14.
|On average, men perform better than women in numeracy skills over all age groups.|
Figure 14: Numeracy, age and gender, ALL only
Figure 14 shows that for all age groups men had substantially higher overall numeracy skills than women. Across all age groups, this results from men having substantially higher percentages at level 4 or 5, and for 25−65-year-olds lower percentages at level 1. For all age groups (except 55−65-year-olds), men and women had roughly the same percentages at level 3; among 55−65-year-olds the percentage of men at level 3 was substantially higher than that of women.
Problem-solving, age and gender
The distributions of problem-solving skill by age group and gender are shown in Figure 15.
|On average, the performance of men and women is very similar in problem-solving skills over all ages. |
Figure 15: Problem-solving, age and gender, ALL only
Figure 15 shows that in contrast with the other skill domains, only among 55−65-year-olds was there a difference in overall problem-solving skill between the genders (where men had higher skills than women).
Downloads / Links
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Authentic learning is a relatively new term that describes learning through applying knowledge in real-life contexts and situations. In a recent article in the Journal of Authentic Learning, Audrey Rule of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego tries to answer the question she is most often asked: What do you mean by authentic learning?
Four components are repeatedly found in authentic learning, reports Rule, who did a content analysis of 45 journal articles that faculty members in the School of Education at SUNY-Oswego submitted as examples of authentic learning in their disciplines.
“Although the term authentic learning is broad and has not been applied to a specific instructional model, these four components are found repeatedly, suggesting that they are an integral part of authentic learning experiences,” Rule writes.
The four themes supporting authentic learning are:
1. An activity that involves real-world problems and that mimics the work of professionals; the activity involves presentation of findings to audiences beyond the classroom.
2. Use of open-ended inquiry, thinking skills and metacognition.
3. Students engage in discourse and social learning in a community of learners.
4. Students direct their own learning in project work.
One component of authentic learning is that it targets a real problem and that students’ engagement holds the possibility of having an impact outside the classroom, Rule says. “This audience beyond the classroom changes the problem from an ‘exercise’ to something more important, allowing students to become emotional stakeholders in the problem,” she writes.
In science, for example, this may be accomplished when students collect water quality data from local streams. Model lessons that address authentic learning in social studies could include students’ analysis of primary documents related to the Pledge of Allegiance. In developing literacy, reading resources could be connected to real life with bus schedules, maps, diaries and interviews with people.
Inquiry and thinking skills
For authentic learning, students must exercise higher levels of thinking, according to this analysis. For example, science teaching should reflect the scientific process of knowledge construction. Learning in mathematics should occur through discovery, inquiry and induction. Instead of math problems that require that students merely apply a known procedure, authentic mathematical tasks require solvers to use different representations in their solutions and to work with realistic and complex mathematical data. In art education, students can use thinking skills to deconstruct visual and textual information in media ads.
Discourse in a community of learners
A community of learners can be a group of learners working together to unravel a problem or refer to the community setting in which the project is based. Science investigations should link students to scientists through data sharing, critiquing, and direct communication. Multiculturalism can be brought to the classroom by exploring numbers in other languages, symbols of ancient societies and games of skill and chance from around the world.
For authentic learning, problems must have a personal frame of reference and be open-ended, according to this article. “This cannot happen without student choice in defining the problem and selecting the path of its solution,” Rule writes. In the field of health promotion and wellness, for example, educators provide information so that individuals may make informed choices.
Choice also occurs when students make their own interpretations of literature and art. “Research related to effective instructional practice emphasizes the need for greater personalization and individualization of instruction because learning is an individual experience,” the article states. Instruction can be personalized by allowing the learner to choose from the rich variety of pathways.
Apprenticeships also provide important opportunities for students to interact with the wider community and reflect upon their experiences, the article states. The author invites readers to examine their reading and learning situations to identify more ways that authentic learning is implemented.
“Editorial: The Components of Authentic Learning” by Audrey Rule, Journal of Authentic Learning Volume 3, Number 1, August 2006, Pp. 1-10.
Published in ERN January 2007 Volume 20 Number 1


Result for: geometry grade 3
||Recommend this on Google|
GeometryUnit Grade3 Kelly - Lynn Oliver ECS 311. 10 2012.
eps10.uregina.wikispaces.net/file/view/kelly oliver, grade 3 geometry.pdf
Math in a Nutshell Geometry Grades5-6 Description: Thanks to this comprehensive kit, area, volume, the language of geometry and 3 kinds of symmetry are no longe.
vvsschools.org/webpages/lmeyers/files/geometry grade 3 mp3.ppt
Unit 6: Geometry 8/22/2013 3:29:07PM Adapted from UbD Framework Supporting Standards Additional Standards Page 1 Approximate Time Frame: 1-2 weeks.
Grade 3 Geometry and Spatial Sense Teachers Notes.
Grade 3 Geometry and Spatial Sense.
swisd.net/hip/hip_units/3rd grade math/module 8 geometry 3-dimensional.pdf
8/22/2013 3:40:58PM Adapted fromUbD Framework Supporting Standards Additional Standards Page 1 Approximate Time Frame:2-3 weeks Connections to Previous.
Page 26 10 square units 12 square units 15 square units.
iservices.measuredprogress.org/.../naa instructional materials - geometry - grade 3 student response booklet.pdf
swisd.net/hip/hip_units/fov1-00041ca7/module 8 geometry 3-dimensional.pdf
rd Grade Geometry: Angles and Triangles Taught at Moffitt Elementary Jessica George Elementary Education Abstract This curriculum unit includes.
Name: Knowledge What units can be used to measure volume: What units can be used to measure capacity: What is volume What is a formula.
8/22/2013 3:41:05PM Adapted fromUbD Framework Supporting Standards Additional Standards Page 1 Approximate Time Frame: 2-3 weeks Connections to Previous.
Mr. Wieckhorst 7th Grade Mathematics Test Outline: Geometry and Probability Test Date: 3/12/13 Test Format: 10 Questions, scored out of 50 points All Short.
Date Geometry Warm-Up 1 Point, Ray, Line, Line Segment Test Readiness: 5MG 2. 1 Review: 5MG 2. 1 Show your work. What.
acoe.k12.ca.us/.../slzusd grade 5 geometry cst review 3-08.doc
Reporting Category: Measurement and Geometry Reporting Category: Measurement and Geometry Reporting Category: Geometry Reporting Category: Probability and Statistics Reporting.
pwcsmath.com/sol/released items/elem/grade 3 test-transp.doc
cfisd.net/.../grade 3 taks reference booklet-number-patterns-geometry.pdf


8 Activities For Improving Fine Motor Skills
|June 9, 2013||Posted by Luschka under 1 - 2, 2 - 3 years, 3 - 4 years, By Age, Fine Motor Skills, Hand-Eye Coordination, Physical Development|
For three years now, I’ve not posted on things that I assume everyone else would assume to be boring.
Then a few days ago I was speaking to a mother about fine motor skills and how her daughter’s were under developed. We spoke for a while about what fine motor skills were and what you can do to encourage their development.
We do loads of little activities specifically aimed at fine motor skill development, while having fun, so I thought I’d share a few from the last 12 or so months with you.
If you don’t know what fine motor skills are, they are the small movements that occur in the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, toes, lips and tongue. They are the smaller actions that occur such as picking up objects between the thumb and finger, using a pencil to write carefully, holding a fork and using it to eat, and other small muscle tasks that we all do every day.
Activities that use, promote and enhance them involve picking, up, putting in and pouring.
Here are a few:
Ice cream sticks in a narrow bottle neck. My 14 month old loves this one.
Picking up small objects, like stones. Arrange from large to small or dark to light. (Keep an eye on smaller children so they don’t swallow them. )
Pour pompoms from cup to cup.
Pick them up and sort them by colour or size.
Stickers are perfect for fine motor skills. Picking the sticky backing from the foam bit.
Coloured rice. It’s all fun, but the clean up is where the pincer grip really comes into its own.
Threading is great. It requires concentration, and has the reward of ‘jewelery’ at the end.


The University of Michigan employs an admissions process that openly and unapologetically benefits minorities. Opponents decry the policy as a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Bill of Rights (drawing specific attention to the Equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment). As one school administrator put it, "It's evil. It's not meant to be evil, but it's fundamentally wrong in a good society. That's what we always believed. Treat the races without discriminating on the basis of skin color." By contrast, proponents defend the policy on the grounds that it increases ethnic diversity, thus creating a more conducive learning environment.
In April 2003, the Supreme Court will decide which side is right - or at least constitutionally correct. On this decision, the future of affirmative action turns.
In the meantime, the battle continues to be fought on op-ed pages across the country. Sensible people everywhere agree that it is unacceptable to segregate our learning institutions along racial lines. The evidence is also pretty compelling that removing racial quotas causes ethnic enrollment to decrease in major universities. So, how do we best achieve diversity in higher education, without disregarding the equal protection and principles of equality afforded by the Bill of Rights?
Perhaps a good place to start would be to attack the problem not at college enrollment centers, but at the grade-school level where poor, urban students - mostly of color - are lagging behind the rest of the country. According to the 2000 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, 63 percent of black, inner-city fourth-graders and 58 percent of urban Hispanic fourth-graders are unable to demonstrate a "basic" proficiency in reading. Another recent study released by the Manhattan Institute and The Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), found that 44 percent of African-American students and 46 percent of Latino students drop out of high school, compared to just 22 percent of white students.
This is plainly a matter of social conditioning. After all, our social roles are carefully taught to us. A poor, minority child is stuck in an overcrowded class. All around him he sees the crude and vulgar testaments to urban life - gang symbols spray painted on the school walls, metal detectors, violence. Academic failure is accepted, customary. Through observation, he will learn that this is normal. He will adapt accordingly. There is a logical progression. A lack of elementary education equals a lack of higher education for America's poor black and Hispanic populations. That, in turn, equals a racial achievement gap that spawns ugly stereotypes about how minorities are lazy and unintelligent.
Such are the disastrous consequences of trapping low-income families, mostly of color, in educational systems without meaningful options.
You want to achieve diversity in higher education? Then break the cycle of conditioning at the grade-school level. Rather than focusing on the admission process for institutions of higher learning, we need to make sure that the elementary education system offers solutions. That means breaking apart those conditions that con young minorities into feeling trapped, despondent and without a future. We need to direct these efforts at disadvantaged elementary students because the sad fact is that, by the time most poor, urban students reach high school, their sense of future possibilities has already been ripped to shreds. Most of all, we need to consider the public education system in poor urban neighborhoods as something other than unalterable. That means embracing true change of the school voucher variety, rather than simply pushing a few students through college doors because of the color of their skin.
Accomplish this, and the result might just be - dare we dream - an education system that increases diversity in higher education, without violating the Constitution and without presuming that all blacks are victims. We may even be able to move beyond those initial steps of the civil rights movement.


On Tuesday, February 22nd several of the Birmingham Public Libraries young patrons participated in Art Kids, an art program geared to enhance literacy development.
Students were introduces to the materials and tools used in Asian Brush Art Painting. They looked at various Asian art works in brush and ink painting and learned that different strokes create different shades, shapes, textures, and appearances. They also learned that Asian artwork, unlike Western artwork, emphasizes the aesthetic, simplicity, and beauty of using simple materials to create complex artworks.
Students learned the basics of creating ink from the ink stone or tempura paint and the basics of brush strokes, as demonstrated by Farrah Ferguson, the instructor. After practicing the strokes, the students created their own artwork.
Art Kids believes that children are better prepared and more motivated when any aspect of the arts is incorporated with literacy learning. They provide children tools to better communicate their ideas, tap into their creativity and imagination, and obtain a better grasp and appreciation of stories. It is through these experiences that children are allowed to create, communicate, and relate to the stories and each other across cultural and socioeconomic barriers.
Instructor, Farrah Ferguson is an outreach storyteller and a staff member of the Birmingham Public Library, based in the Springville Road Library. She has worked with children and youth for almost 15 years, using drama and art for character-building projects.
This was an Arts After School program funded by a Birmingham Board of Education At Risk Grant.
Our next Arts After School program will be a school theater program by Ms. Cass on Monday, April 11th at 3:30pm.


From the mid-1930s to early 1940s, the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) distributed thousands of transcription discs to hundreds of radio stations around the United States, including WNYC.
The WPA sponsored many New York City-based music groups who performed regularly on WNYC during the Depression, including the WNYC Concert Orchestra, the Amsterdam String Ensemble, The Manhattan Chorus, The Municipal Dance Orchestra, the Morningside String Trio, the Waverly Brass Band, the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Juanita Hall's Negro Melody Singers and the New York Civic Orchestra (whose 1939 recording of Tchaikovsky's elegy from his Serenade for Strings can be seen at left).
In fact, in 1936, about half of WNYC's broadcast hours were underwritten by the Federal Music Project (FMP), with an average month accounting for 135 broadcasts. By the end of 1940, the New York City WPA Music Program reported it had provided nearly 1,100 hours of WNYC broadcasts that year. WNYC's Assistant Director Seymour N. Siegel wrote: "If the Federal Music Project has helped the City Station by supplying a substantial sustaining musical basis, WNYC in turn has unquestionably brought infinitely larger audiences than could ever be crowded into a concert hall. In the program of educating the listening public to the appreciation of the higher type of music, WNYC has done its part."
The WPA FMP and subsequent WPA Music Program were also platforms for discussions about music, music education and the premieres of new works. In 1939, composer Roy Harris presented 30 illustrated lectures entitled Let's Make Music, under the auspices of the WPA Composers' Forum Laboratory. The series, which dealt with the fundamentals of composition, were broadcast by WNYC and attracted wide attention with an added enrollment of more than 1,300 active participants who received mimeographed copies of the lessons so that their study could be continued at home.
That same year WNYC's World's Fair studio played host to a Composers' Forum concert and a composers roundtable. During WNYC's second annual American Music Festival in 1941, the WPA program assisted with an orchestra of 100 musicians drawn from the WNYC Concert and New York Civic Orchestras. Among the composer-led works was Philip James' satirical suite Station WGZBX, and the world premiere of Morton Gould's Spiritual for String, Choir and Orchestra. Deems Taylor conducted his composition The Highwayman, with Richard Hale singing baritone. With the United States' entry into World War II, WPA funds were cut significantly and came to an end by June, 1943.
Broadcast on WNYC today in:
1925: Dr. Gladwyn Kingsley Noble discusses "voices of the night." Noble was the head of the herpetology department at the American Museum of Natural History. He was the author of many books, among them, The Pectoral Girdle of the Brachycephalic Frogs.
1939: Municipal court judge Dorothy Kenyon talks about "women in the law." Kenyon, a feminist and political activist, began her career doing legal research for the Versailles treaty, supported the labor movement, battled prostitution, served on UN commissions, championed women's rights, fought Senator Joseph McCarthy, and pressed for civil rights.
1943: In this episode of the Great Americans series we hear The Story of Marian Anderson.
1953: New York Governor Thomas Dewey accuses New York City Mayor Impellitteri of proposing unsound fiscal programs.
1964: Josephine Baker talks about her adopted children at the Overseas Press Club.
2005:The Grammy-winning South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo performs live for The Leonard Lopate Show. Then, Grover Crisp tells us about restoring Sam Peckinpah’s first large-scale Western, Major Dundee. Stephen Chow mixes comedy and martial arts in his latest film, Kung Fu Hustle.


Phonics Games Online
The internet abounds with literacy activities for kids, with a wide variety of phonics games online. These games offer a great resource for parents and teachers to supplement the reading instruction that kids are already receiving at school. Playing phonics games online can help your child learn how words are made up of individual sounds, known as phonemes. This will help develop their phonemic awareness – a fundamental skill for all reading beginners.
It’s important that skills gained from phonics games online are also developed within a wider learning framework where they can be applied, reinforced, and understood in a myriad of contexts. It is therefore a very effective learning strategy to couple phonics games with the reading of actual books, so that your child can apply their phonics skills to practical reading, as well as discover new words – words that they can learn to read by identifying its constituent letters and sounds – a key skill learnt from phonics games online.
Phonics games online are therefore a fantastic resource to build the most basic skills of an early reader. Not only do they develop a child’s phonemic awareness, but they are fun and easy to play. Kids learn most effectively when having fun, so playing phonics games online that feature colourful animations, characters, sounds and songs, are a great way to keep them interested and keen to learn more.
Some websites featuring phonics games
The BBC Schools http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/literacy.shtml website has a range of literacy activities for children from age 4-11, including phonics games.
ABC Reading Eggs http://readingeggs.com.au/ offers a comprehensive reading program that features systematic, synthetic phonics instruction within a suite of literacy activities that focus on the five key literacy skill areas: phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
Starfall http://www.starfall.com/ offers a range of free literacy activities for children. The aim of Starfall is to teach kids how to read using phonics. The activities are most appropriate for children from preschool to year two.
Phonics Play http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/index.htm offers some phonics activities for children, as well as some phonics ideas for parents and teachers.
Phonics Hero http://www.phonicshero.com/public/ has a range of online phonics games for kids which kids can play after parents sign up to the site.
Things to keep in mind when choosing online phonics activities
While phonics instruction is essential for kids learning to read, it is only one of the five interrelated core literacy areas that contribute to early reading development, the others being phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Any emphasis placed over and above one of these areas will detract from the whole. So while phonics games online may capture the interest of your child, it’s important that they don't monopolise their complete focus, and that they learn phonics interdependently with the other aforementioned literacy areas.
ABC Reading Eggs offers a complete reading program that uses a wide variety of effective, research-based learning activities within a framework of lessons and rewards that keep young readers motivated and enthusiastic about learning how to read. Reading Eggs teaches all five of the key literacy skill to young readers, and helps kids excel at reading. Reading Eggs offers a synthetic phonics approach for young readers, framed within a larger literacy program that builds all the fundamental literacy necessary for your child to become a fluent reader.
This program is Brilliant!!! It keeps my students motivated (hard to do with special needs students) and allows them to achieve success immediately. I would thoroughly recommend this program to all Primary School teachers. Andrew Johnson, South Bunbury Education Support Centre
My daughter loves Reading Eggs! She is so excited by the progress she has made through the site. She enjoys the games and is learning so much. I highly recommend it. It is great for learning phonics and letter sounds. The games are fun and educational. We will continue to use Reading Eggs until she is reading on her own! Alycia A
Phonics Activities from Sadlier-Oxford Publishers http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/student.cfm
Starfall Phonics Puzzle Activities http://www.starfall.com/n/n-info/puzzles.htm?n=downloadcenter
Phonics Match Game http://www.cookie.com/kids/games/phonic-match.html
The Importance of Reading to Children http://trevorcairney.blogspot.com.au/2009/01/importance-of-reading-to-with-your.html


Teachers get creative
In multiple workshops on the second floor of the Sorensen Center, teachers and education majors were taught by other educators about ways they have implemented arts into lessons within their classrooms.
In an Elementary Drama focus workshop, teachers were taught to pantomime folktales to music and narraration.
Workshop instructor Joe Rogan, previous theatre specialist at Glendale Middle School and Wasatch Elementary, explained that by incorporating music and movement to tell a story “theatre can be used as a tool to teach other subjects.”
This is also true for integrating dance into the curriculum at William Penn Elementary, where Jana Shumay said she teaches dance involving all core subjects including science, math and social studies.
According to Shumay, the integrated arts curriculum “is all about getting kids out of their seats and letting them learn in a different avenue.”
Her school’s program allows every student from kindergarten to sixth grade the opportunity to dance once a week for 40 minutes.
Through the program, she and other teachers at her school have seen a greater push for creating and independent thinking.
“They’re not just doing rote learning or copying their neighbor, but they’re trying to create and problem-solve,” Shumay said. “It helps them retain information. Retention is huge. When I integrate dance with science, even six months later they remember it a lot better than if a week later if they just sat there and heard a lecture.”
For Nancy Kertamus, a conference attendee and teacher at Daybreak Elementary in South Jordan, using the arts to teach core subjects has made a noticeable difference in average test scores compared to last year’s students.
“I had a 15-point jump in CRT scores in science because I put dance and music into my curriculum,” Kertamus said. She said the increase from 78 percent to 93 percent worked “because my kids were moving, they paid attention better.”
In Rogan’s concluding remarks of the Dramatizing Literature workshop, she said teaching art as an integrated subject is not only effective, but essential to its survival.
“If [in the school system], there are theatre teachers teaching just for the sake of theatre, eventually theatre will cease to exist in schools,” Rogan said.
Kertamus said this is partially due to people thinking art and music are goofy. She is saddened because this attitude causes them to remove the subjects.”
Incorporating more art and music activities didn’t take any additional funds. Kertamus simply had to get creative.
“I didn’t have to buy anything,” Kertamus said. “Everything I did was with supplies I already had, and I didn’t spend any of my own money, which is hard because you only get about $150,000 a year for 24 kids and it doesn’t go very far.”
Regardless of the challenges, Brianna Frederick, junior elementary education major, was excited to attend the conference to learn from other teachers in hopes to “change kids lives and so that they can understand that they can actually succeed, even if they are told they can’t.”


A commentary on assessment practices in music education at primary level in England: are there lessons to learn from the past?
Stakelum, M. (2010) A commentary on assessment practices in music education at primary level in England: are there lessons to learn from the past? In: Music education within the context of socio-cultural changes: proceedings of the 18th EAS congress. Muzik Egyitimi Yayinlari, Turkey, pp. 443-450.
Full text not archived in this repository.
Abbs, P. (ed).1987. Living Powers: the Arts in Education. London: The Falmer Press. Abbs, P. 1994. The Educational Imperative: a Defence of Socratic and Aesthetic Learning. London: The Falmer Press. Bentley, A. 1966. Measures of Musical Abilities. London: Harrap & Co Ltd. Booth Davies, J. 1978. The Psychology of Music. London: Hutchinson. Boyle, J. and Radocy, R. 1987. Measurement and Evaluation of Musical Experiences. New York: Schirmer. Colwell, R. 1969-1970. Music Achievement Tests. Urbana, Illinois. Durrant, C. and Welch, G. 1995.Making Sense of Music: Foundations for Music Education. Cassell Education. Gordon, E. 1971. Iowa Tests of Music Literacy. Iowa City: The University of Iowa. Hoskyns, J. 1992. ‘Music Education and a European dimension’. British Journal of Music Education 9: 97-102. Kemp, A. (1987). ‘Information – The United Kingdom Council for Music Education and Training: its formation, development and future role’. British Journal of Music Education 4 (1) 81-89. Mills, J. (1991). ‘Assessing musical performance musically’, Educational Studies 17 (2) Central Advisory Council for Education (England). 1967. The Plowden Report. Children and their Primary Schools. Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Schools Council Working Paper 1973. Survey of the Recent State of Music in Primary Schools; the First Report from the Schools Council Project – Music Education of Young Children. Unpublished report. University of Reading Seashore, C.E., Lewis, D. and J. Saetveit. 1939, 1960. Seashore measures of musical talents. New York: The Psychological Corporation. Shuter-Dyson, R. & Gabriel, C. 1981. The Psychology of Musical Ability. London: Methuen. Sloboda, J.2005. Exploring the Musical Mind; Cognition, Emotion, Ability, Function. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Spruce, G. (ed). 1996 Teaching Music. Open University Press Sternberg, R.(ed).1999 Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge University Press. Swanwick, K. 1999. Teaching music musically. London: Routledge. Wing, H. D. 1961. Wing Standardised Tests of Musical Intelligence. Windsor, England: NFER Publishing Company. www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary. (Retrieved 26 June 2010)


Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life: Teacher Guidebook for GDI Publications
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Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life: Teacher Guidebook for GDI Publications |
Wilfred Burton |
Métis, Lesson Plans, Education, Resource, Literature, GDI, Burton, Wilfred, Children, Guide |
Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life is a guidebook for teachers to support the children’s literature published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI). The guidebook supports teaching about the Métis and utilize strategies that foster and promote literacy development (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing).
The stories used in this guidebook are written and illustrated by Métis authors and illustrators.
Each story brings traditional and contemporary Métis culture to life. They honour the past
and present. Métis children often see themselves in these publications. Non-Métis students
will see and connect with the universal themes and relate them to their own lives while
learning about Métis culture. Most importantly, this resource is about engaging readers in the
history and traditions of Métis culture through literature.
Métis children’s literature is found in classrooms, and in school libraries and public libraries all
across Canada. Teachers use the books in various ways to bring awareness of the culture
and teach outcomes. However, teachers are not always an “insider” in the culture, and
often search for ideas on how to incorporate Métis content into their practice. There is a
desire by teachers to be more inclusive, but they may not know how. This resource assists
teachers in being culturally responsive while at the same time allowing them to teach
If you are printing this resource, we recommend printing on one side only. This way, you will have room to make notes on the lessons to fit your particular class.
To download this resource, right-click the link above and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As", and then select the folder on your computer where you would like to save the file.
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September 11, 2013 |
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As a child in Spain, Picasso showed exceptional artistic gifts that were recognized by his father, a professor of drawing. After encountering contemporary art in Barcelona, Picasso moved to Paris and soon made his mark as a daring innovator. Compulsively creative, he developed the concept of Cubism, which challenged not only current styles but also notions of realism. Picasso surrounded himself with writers, admirers, lovers, and dealers, and by the 1920s had emerged as one of the most famous artists in the western world. His later work ranged from near-abstraction to returns to figuration and often involved pictorial “dialogues” with his great forebears.
Born in Paris, Degas had a conventional art education based on traditional techniques and subject matter. In his late twenties he began painting city life, and he soon become a leading figure in the Impressionist group. His work was innovative and experimental, and he was criticized at the time for his candid scenes of popular entertainment, such as ballets and nightclubs. Though Degas could be severe in his judgments, he was loyal to close friends and generous to younger artists. In his later years, when Picasso first visited Paris, Degas was becoming more reclusive while his drawing, painting, and sculpture achieved an expressive breadth that was dramatically revealed after his death.
Commitments to equity evidence and action explicit decisionmaking about continue reading zyprexa tablets price had continued to show the fickleness of the fortunes of war.


The Purpose of Montessori Education
(See video below)
"One test of the correctness of educational procedure
is the happiness of the child."
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that
no human being is educated by another person. She must do it herself or it will never be done.
A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours and years she spends in the classroom because she is motivated from
within by a natural curiosity and love for knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal of early childhood education should
not be to fill the child with facts from a preselected course of studies, but rather to cultivate her own natural desire to learn
The Montessori Method is a system of education that is both a philosophy of child growth and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on the child’s
developmental needs, exposure to materials, and experiences through which to develop intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities.
Children need adults to expose them to the possibilities of life, but children themselves must direct their response to those possibilities. The premises of Montessori education are:
- Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.
- The child possesses unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from his or her environment that are unlike those of the adult both in quality and capacity.
- The foundational years of growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
- The child has a deep love and need for purposeful work. He or she works, however, not as an adult for profit and completion of a job, but for the sake of the activity itself. It is the activity that accomplishes the most important goal of the child: the development of him or herself, inclusive of mental, physical, and psychological powers.
- The Montessori student is supported as he/she moves from the concrete learning of the early childhood experience to more abstract learning experiences of the elementary years.
- Montessori elementary education deepens the connections between experience and knowledge, resulting in the child’s broader understanding of the world and fostering a curiosity that results in a true love of learning. The Montessori approach encourages self-discipline, self-knowledge, independence, academic skills, problem solving ability, and a passion for learning.
In the Montessori classroom this objective is approached in two ways:
first, by allowing each child to experience the excitement of learning by her own choice rather than by being forced; and second, by helping her to perfect all her natural
tools for learning, so that
her ability will be at a maximum in future learning situation. The Montessori materials have this dual long-range purpose in addition to their
immediate purpose of giving specific information to the child.
Dr. Montessori always emphasized that the hand is the chief teacher of the child
. In order to learn there must be concentration, and the best way a
child can concentrate is by fixing his attention on some task he is performing with his hands. (The adult habit of doodling is a remnant of this practice.).
All the equipment in a Montessori classroom allows the child to reinforce his casual impressions by inviting him to use his hands for learning.
Over eighty years of experience have provided Dr. Montessori's theory that a
young child can learn to read, write and calculate in the same natural way that he learns to walk and talk. In Montessori classroom the equipment invites him to do this at his own
periods of interest and readiness.
Parents should understand that a Montessori school is neither a baby-sitting service nor a play school that prepares a child for traditional kindergarten. Rather, it is a unique cycle of
learning designed to take advantage of the child sensitive years between three and six, when she can absorb information from
an enriched environment. A child who acquires the basic skills of reading and arithmetic in this natural way has the advantage of beginning her education without drudgery,
boredom or discouragement. By pursuing her individual interest in a Montessori classroom, she gains an early enthusiasm for learning, which is the
key to her becoming a truly educated person.
The habits and skills which a child develops in a Montessori class are good for a lifetime. They will help him to work more efficiently,
to observe more carefully and to concentrate more effectively, no matter where he goes. If he is in a stimulating environment, whether at home or at school, his self-
education-- which is the only real education-- will continue.


Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin (June 28, 1816, Moscow – January 25, 1912, Simeiz near Yalta) was Minister of War (1861–81) and the last Field Marshal of Imperial Russia (1898). He was responsible for sweeping military reforms that changed the face of the Russian army in the 1860s and 1870s.
Milyutin graduated from the Moscow University School in 1833 and Nicholas Military Academy in 1836. Unlike his brother Nikolai Milyutin, who chose to pursue a career in civil administration, Dmitry volunteered to take part in the Caucasian War (1839–45). After sustaining a grave wound, he returned to the military academy to deliver lectures as a professor.
In the following years, Milyutin earned a considerable reputation as a brilliant scholar. He emphasized the scientific value of military statistics and authored the first comprehensive study of the subject, which earned him the Demidov Prize for 1847. Milyutin regarded Suvorov as a model for military commanders and the Italian campaign of 1799 as the pinnacle of his career, elaborating these views in a detailed account of the campaign, published in five volumes in 1852 and 1853.
Capitalizing on his knowledge, Milyutin analyzed the causes of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War and framed some radical proposals for military reforms. His ideas were approved by Alexander II, who appointed Milyutin to the post of Minister of War in 1861. Several years earlier, Milyutin had taken part in the capture of Shamil, thus helping bring the prolonged Caucasian War to an end.
Minister of War
Milyutin was Minister of War from 16 May 1861 to 21 May 1881. The military reforms carried on during Milyutin's long tenure resulted in the levy system being introduced to Russia and military districts being created across the country. Military service was declared compulsory to all males aged 20. The system of military education was also reformed, and elementary education was made available to all the draftees. Milyutin's reforms are regarded as a milestone in the history of Russia: they dispensed with the military recruitment and professional army introduced by Peter the Great and created the Russian army such as it continued into the 21st century until Anatoliy Serdyukov announced military reforms to end in 2020. (See: 2008 Russian military reform) Up to Dmitry Milyutin's reforms in 1874 Russian Army had no constant barracks and was billeted in dugouts and shacks. The success of his reforms was demonstrated during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). Milyutin's subtle leadership made itself felt during the peak of the conflict when the Russians failed three times in a row to take Pleven and many experts advised them to retreat. Milyutin promptly ordered the siege to be continued in a more orderly manner which brought the war to a victorious end. At the close of the war, Milyutin set up a commission in order to investigate faulty supply of provisions and other problems that had surfaced during the siege. In recognition of his services, he was made a count and received all the Russian orders, including the Order of Saint Andrew.
After the Congress of Berlin, Milyutin actually succeeded the ailing Chancellor Gorchakov as the leader of the imperial foreign policy. Alexander II's assassination in 1881 rendered his position precarious, however. After Konstantin Pobedonostsev, intent on reversing the liberal innovations of the previous reign, emerged as the most powerful policy-maker, Milyutin resigned his office. In 1898, when the 80th anniversary of Alexander II was celebrated, he was promoted Field Marshal, the first man to receive this honour for many years and the last in the history of the Russian Empire.
- Wiesław Caban, Losy żołnierzy powstania listopadowego wcielonych do armii carskiej, w: Przegląd Historyczny, t. XCI, z. 2, s. 245.
His memoirs have been reprinted. The early years in a volume published by Oriental Research Partners (Newtonville, Mass) in 1978 with an new useful introduction by Prof. Bruce Lincoln. A three volume set of memoirs of his later years was published by Rossiiski arkhiv (Moscow 1999-2006)Pp. 525, 557, 730.


Want to dazzle students or teachers with a demo about space exploration? NASA has a small team of aerospace education specialists who travel to schools, museums, universities and public events to teach concepts in math, science and engineering. These educators have backgrounds in teaching and cover different geographical regions of the U.S.
Sandra Kaszynski, JPL's road warrior, taught elementary education for 10 years in Orange County, Calif., and co-managed an afterschool science program that served about 200 students per session. Now her days are much calmer. She drives long distances to arrive at unfamiliar schools, lugs awkward props, improvises in front of small crowds if there is a technical glitch and overall thoroughly enjoys herself.
Sandra visits schools and other facilities that are in the greater Los Angeles area.
A Typical Teacher Workshop
Most of Sandra's visits are geared to teacher workshops. The topics she covers run the gamut from mission-related events to demonstrating a Mars mission educational game to running a lunar certification class. Workshop leaders may request topics they would like to have presented.
No special equipment is required for a visit.
A Classroom Visit
Although Sandra's main mission is to provide staff development for teachers, she is also available to make presentations to students. Since she tries to visit an entire grade level, her visit usually takes the whole day, and in some cases two days. Due to the bell schedule at schools, you can expect three classes to get a visit in a single day. Please note, she does not participate in school assemblies.
Schools may suggest topics they would like covered in a presentation. Sandra can also give suggestions. One of her favorite activities is comparing images from Mars to those of Earth to discuss similar and not-so-similar terrain.
Visits are not limited to schools alone. Sandra visits museums, universities and even science fairs.
Book a Visit
You can request a visit through this online form: http://aesp.psu.edu/svc/req/NewRequest.cfm .
Please allow one month between the time you make your request and the event itself. More information about NASA's aerospace education program can be found on their Web site at http://aesp.psu.edu/ .