Six Trends Improving K-12 Learning Experiences
In this age of technology and innovation, the K-12 classroom is continually evolving in order to adapt to the times. It's important that teachers keep up-to-date with the latest helpful technology for their students and that parents understand the ramifications of that technology, too.
Here are six major classroom trends that are impacting the K-12 learning process:
1. BYOD: This movement which embraces mobile technology through the devices that students already own has already gained momentum in many districts across the country, and it is rapidly moving towards mass adoption. Places like Chesapeake Public Schools are already allowed to use privately owned electronic devices to access the wireless network on the school system's filtered Internet. In Chesapeake, as in the other public and private schools where BYOD policies exist, students must sign a responsibility form that says they will only use the mobile device for academic enrichment while on school property. Students who bring their own devices into the classroom eliminate the initial costs and are also already comfortable with the technology. The downside of course is that not all students can readily afford such technology, but look for schools to develop technology financial assistance programs for families to help offset the full cost and maintenance of school-owned devices.
2. Customized learning experiences: Self-initiated and self-directed learning experiences are based upon individual needs, preferences and abilities of students who are then the masters of their own success. The traditional way to look at learning is through teachers creating and assigning all work for students in a one-size-fits-all approach.
On the flip side, customized learning has the ability to incorporate a variety of resources, such as virtual learning, to aid in the learning process while making it a way for teachers to moderate one-on-one learning experiences in practical ways. I think that the idea of handing control to students is hypothetically frightening to some educators and administrators but once they've actually tried it on a small scale, personalized learning actually looks more attractive from an adult's perspective.
3. Online learning: Virtual learning is certainly not new to the K-12 scene, but its increasing popularity can't be ignored. It used to be that online learning was associated only with distance learning, or students who went through the academic process off of school grounds. Today, online learning is more segmented and often just one part of a more traditional learning experience. Virtual learning is no longer all or nothing; it has become mainstream and will continue to transform in-classroom learning.
4. Early education emphasis: Optional preschool is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Research shows that students who start the formal education experience, even one year earlier than Kindergarten, fare better long term in their academic careers. Thirty eight states offer free, voluntary preschool learning programs and nearly 1.6 million low-income families receive assistance from the federal Child Care Development Fund to pursue early childhood education. That fund is just one portion of President Obama's $75 billion plan to expand early childhood learning in order to give American students a stronger foundation going into Kindergarten. I expect that in the next decade, our terminology will change from K-12 to PK-12 when we talk about student benchmarks.
5. Outdoor/environmental learning: In short, more schools are looking for ways to get students and teachers outside. We are in an era of experiential learning, so environmental education fits the bill for many students. Lessons in this field teach children an appreciation of the earth and of its resources that the human population is quickly depleting. A better, hands-on understanding of nature also helps with science comprehension and gives students practical learning experiences.
Research has also found that teaching outside, even for short stints, improves student attitudes, attendance and overall health. In many schools teachers have always had the freedom to take students outside if they deemed it lesson-appropriate.
6. Strengthening STEM education: A greater focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning has been a "trend" for at least the better part of a decade. Specifically, teachers are looking for innovative ways to deliver STEM material (mobile technology is just one way, virtual science labs are another) and more stringent benchmarks are being created at the local, state and federal level. It is no longer enough for American students to just get by in comparison to each other in STEM subjects; global competition is proving that students in the U.S. need more focus in these subjects to lead the worldwide marketplace as adults.
As you can see, K-12 classrooms are not at all static, but will continue to incorporate cutting-edge technology and socially relevant practices into the curriculum. Understanding and supporting this technology is vital to advancing K-12 students to the next level of their educational success.
If you would like to invite Dr. Lynch to speak or serve as a panelist at an upcoming event, please email him at [email protected].


M.S. in Teaching
Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education
College of Education
Color; Fifth grade (Education); Mathematics--Study and teaching (Elementary)
Elementary Education and Teaching
The purpose of this study was to determine if fifth grade students who were exposed to colorful symbols and numbers during mathematics instruction would have significantly higher achievement than those students who were taught without the use of colorful symbols and numbers. The sample used in this investigation consisted of two heterogeneous fifth grade mathematics classes. Students in both groups were given pretests on the multiplication and division of fractions. After the pre-test the subjects that comprised the experimental group received a three week treatment. The subjects that comprised the control group were taught the same lessons, yet not exposed to colorful symbols and numbers during this instruction. Post-test were then given to the experimental group and the control group. The t-test for independent samples was used to find any statistical significance between pre-test and post-test scores. At α =. 05, it was found that the null hypothesis used in the research could not be rejected. There was no significant difference in achievement between the students exposed to the use of color as a visual aid and those who were not. Many limitations could have hindered the resultant data. Future research of the effectiveness of color as a visual aid in mathematics instruction is recommended.
Valinote, Jennifer L., "The effect of color as a visual aid in mathematics instruction" (2002). Theses and Dissertations. 1525.


For young students learning, or even struggling, to play an instrument, one music educator believes beginners should never be graded with an F for failure.
“Students eventually will get a little bit addicted to some level of improvement (through practice),” said Wendy Muston, a musician, music education advocate and board member with the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis.
“And they will grow to like the feedback,” said the speaker at Monday’s annual meeting of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic at YES Cinema downtown. “They don’t get an F on any test. We simply teach them to keep going. It’s perseverance. It’s optimism.”
Muston, a part-time private music teacher, also is principal harpist with the Philharmonic and the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, and second harpist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She has performed or toured with major music acts such as the Moody Blues, Tony Bennett and Josh Groban.
Story continues below gallery
She began playing the harp in her hometown of Council Bluffs, Iowa, after the school district placed a harp in every school in the late 1960s.
With the Philharmonic dedicating more than 20 percent of its $817,000 annual budget to music education, Muston could be viewed as preaching to the choir.
That includes David Bowden, the Philharmonic music director who regularly speaks to groups and organizations about how early music involvement makes young people better students and boosts their confidence.
But Muston added new twists to the message from her recent personal experience and reading background.
She highlighted poverty as one of the biggest current challenges affecting public education. In fact, she said science journalist’s Paul Tough’s latest book, “Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why” shows that the “fight or flight” stress on students raised in poverty actually can alter a person’s DNA chemistry in the brain.
She mentioned that the Lawrence Township school district spent a half million dollars on musical instruments last year “so all of our children can have access to music education. They need that instrument to practice.
“But if I (as a parent) can’t afford enough food over the weekend for my child, then I certainly don’t have what it takes to … rent an instrument.”
Playing a musical instrument requires every major right and left brain function — logic, language, imagination, plus elements of science and math — listed by most brain experts, Muston said.
“And that’s not to mention the emotional and spiritual joy you experience when performing,” Muston said. “Children who play music at a young age have a stronger connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
“And that helps enhance their intellectual and emotional skills.”
Before finishing, Muston praised the Philharmonic’s educational programs, including the newest — the preschool-oriented First Steps In Music — for especially reaching economically disadvantaged youngsters.
Regarding music education, Margaret Powers, the Philharmonic’s executive director, praised Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. music teachers for their efforts with local students, and facilities such as local churches for making rehearsal space available.
One additional perspective on arts education and the arts in general came from Philharmonic board president Peter King. He quoted the late Cummins Inc. executive and philanthropist J. Irwin Miller as saying, “The arts are maybe the most civilizing influence among us” by “giving expression to truth.”
The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic on Monday:
- Praised Bob and Helen Haddad for gifting the orchestra’s current office space, ensuring the organization of a permanent home.
- Recognized retiring board members Mary Allard and Terry Trautman.
- Introduced the 2016-17 officers as Peter King, president; Mark Pillar, immediate past president; Barry Turner, vice president; Therese Copeland, secretary; and Joe Smith, treasurer.
- Introduced new board members Dale Guse, Tracy Haddad and Jerry Pennington.


Read It Once Again Benefits Children in Blended Early Childhood Classrooms
Teachers in blended classrooms have unique curriculum requirements. They must provide activities to meet the needs of typically developing children as well as providing appropriate experiences for children with special needs. Combining Read It Once Again’s Level 1 and Level 2 literary curriculum units will meet the needs of all the children in your classroom. Level 2 units are based on the same storybook as the Level 1 unit. Many of the graphics used in Level 2 are identical to those used in Level 1. The overall structure, parent letters and assessment format are the same. This makes for a seamless transition between Level 1 and Level 2 units. Each unit contains over 100 different activities. Combining Level 1 and Level 2 units allows teachers to meet the needs of the children who require the most basic foundational skills while at the same time addressing the concepts necessary for those who are planning to enter kindergarten.
Our Level 1 activities reinforce basic fundamental concepts and are systematically offered in a variety of literacy based lessons throughout every unit and in each domain. Young children learn best when the environment and teaching strategies are solidly predictable with elements of creativity and exploration woven into each day. Read It Once Again uniquely provides a flexible structure that promotes creativity and exploration.
Read It Once Again Level 2 units concentrate on a higher level of foundational skills. Our Level 2 units combined with our Level 1 units ensure that the young child will have a solid knowledge of foundational skills and be prepared for success in the kindergarten setting.
Most of the concepts in our activities are offered in multiple levels of difficulty. This allows teacher to work on a particular skill individually or in a small group setting with children functioning at different levels. Every child has the opportunity to be successful which promotes a “can-do” attitude and fosters positive self-esteem.
Language skills are embedded into all of the domains in both Level 1 and Level 2 Units. Read It Once Again ensures that your children will be constantly immersed into a language rich environment.
Which units would you recommend for my blended classroom? We suggest using a combination of Level 1 and Level 2 units. You may want to use Level 1 units at the beginning of the school year for all of your children as they enter your program. This will allow you to introduce or assess basic foundational skills. Activities in Level 2 units can be introduced with those children who are ready to comprehend higher levels of learning. Click here to see our Level 1 Skills and Concepts matrix. Click here to view our Level 2 Skills and Concepts matrix. Read It Once Again offers units for 30 different storybook titles. That ensures teachers will have a three year rotation of units so that children who stay with your program for multiple years do not need to repeat a unit or story. We suggest choosing our Package 6 deal. Package 6 includes nine units for the price of eight. It allows you to mix and match any of our Level 1 and Level 2 units. Click here for more Package 6 Information. We also offer a “Doubles Discount.” This allows you to purchase any Level 1 and Level 2 unit of the same title for only $90. Click here to order.


Using Window Clings for Literacy
Here's how to do it...
#1: Grab a few sheets of window clings from Target or Michael's....they are predictably on sale after each holiday and can be saved for next year.
#2: Act as an assistant to your child - peel off what they want you to and help arrange things if needed.
#3: You might have to help your youngster get started by asking if they can imagine a story about the ladybugs, or if the caterpillar has a name, etc.
#4: Sit back and let the storytelling begin! Try to listen more than talk...I know it's hard.
#5: Good readers have lots of vocabulary in their bag of tricks and they only learn them by hearing and using the words. Try to find some words to describe their picture that they may not have heard frequently.
#6: If you have an older child, they get a kick out of it when you grab your laptop and write down their story in a word document then print it out for them to color. It helps them see themselves as writers and storytellers.
#7: Share any connections you can make. Ours gave us an opportunity to listen to a song because the ladybugs reminded me of the "Ladybug Picnic" song from Sesame Street. We pulled it up on the web and enjoyed that song together, too. I tell you all of this because sometimes a teeny thing that you do can really help your child's literacy development. So don't discount those little things you do. You may not know how much they can be helpful or how one more phrase to guide them into telling a story can help. For little teeny ones, it doesn't have to be a whole story either. Just interacting with you and saying the main words and describing the colors would be great!
If you're interested, here's part of the story my five-year-old son came up with on his own. Pretty funny!
"The three ladybugs are two sisters and a brother. The sister got her hair cut. The caterpillar comes to join them. They're having a race to the bell pepper. Whoever touches it first gets to eat it and then they have a feast. This window is their home. There are hundreds of flowers. And they only eat this kind of flower, so they gather it up before night because that's their dinner. So they ate some of those, too. One of the butterflies sisters flew by. Not the brothers, because they came last. They're usually late in the story. Because this is a story of ladybugs that I'm telling you. One of the sisters swooped by and ate the flower because she flew by a flower. The butterfly won and Mr. Caterpillar had to turn around to get it. He was long enough to grab it from here except the butterfly was faster so he grabbed it first. Then a small breeze came. And then one of the other butterfly sisters showed up. And she told them it was almost time for them to go because it was almost dinner time. She was the one that had the longest antennaes.Then the brother came along and said "What's Happening?" and then the sister ladybug said, "We're having a big party and you missed the feast though!" and then he said "What feast?" and then they said, "We had a picnic out front of the ladybug's house. And then one of the other brother butterflies came. But then it was starting to rain and it was time to go. Everybody said goodbye and they lived happily ever after. The End."


When I grow up, I’m going to be a scientist, sports star, teacher, astronaut, fireman, doctor, dinosaur … I want to be a superhero who will help people. At Blackfriars, we aim to instill in our boys the confidence to be all that but more importantly, to first have the confidence to be themselves.
The Blackfriars’ Primary School provides a nurturing, student-centred learning environment for the critical years of a child’s educational, emotional, physical and social development.
The Primary School buildings offer large learning spaces for active boys who need space to move, think and do. Framing a safe and sun-sheltered play area, the classrooms have an abundance of natural light, contemporary teaching equipment and access to laptop computers and smartboards in the classrooms. Class sizes are maintained to ensure our teachers can focus on individual student needs and employ strategies and educational models that motivate each boy to succeed in his own way.
The formal curriculum for Primary School is based on the Australian Curriculum, which focuses on building strong literacy, numeracy and technological skills. The Blackfriars Primary School curriculum complements this by concurrently nurturing a child’s social interaction skills; skills that contribute to self-confidence, courage and respect for the environment and the community, reflecting our Dominican ethos and values.
Primary School students are also offered specialised subjects including Art, Music, Japanese and Physical Education with additional teacher support available in areas such as Learning Enrichment, Literacy, Numeracy and English as a Second Language.
Specialist Teaching and Support


Giving your child the best in life is something we all aspire to do; best home, best food, best upbringing, best education. It’s easy to provide all of these things with a little elbow grease and a lot of dedication and time, but when it comes to education, the costs can really add up.
It starts early with educational toys; talking games, blinking lights, expensive apps, and flash cards that all promise to help prepare your children for a brighter future. The jury is out on whether or not children actually gain any advantage when it comes to these types of toys. You don’t fancy toys – many studies have shown that simple toys help children with spatial awareness, early mathematic skills, counting, pre-literacy, and emotional regulation.
So, here’s how to figure out what’s really educational and/or useful, and our suggestions for how to get the biggest bang for your buck.
How do you decide?
First things first, pick toys of quality construction. You’re not going to get a lot of learning done with toys that break with regular use. A toy should be made with good quality fastenings, and have a bit of weight to it. If it lights up, talks, or needs batteries, leave it on the shelf. Toys that give feedback not only take away from your child’s imagination, they becoming unbelievably annoying about 10 minutes after you open the package.
Puzzle it out
Puzzles help developing minds with pre-literacy skills as well as spatial awareness. The area in the brain responsible for helping you recognize which shapes fit where is the same area of the brain responsible for distinguishing between similarly shaped letters, such as b and d, p and q, a and o.
Puzzles also come in a variety of sizes and difficulties, making them a great skill-building toy for years to come. A simple puzzle is a great beginner item because your child can complete it in a variety of ways.
Having fun with a sensory board
Many children are sensory learners, which means that their brains absorb more information when they are able to touch, smell, and experience an idea or concept. With a simple sensory board, children are able to practice letters, numbers, and other fine motor skills with the added sensation of feeling the sand or salt as well as watching the shape of the sand or salt change as they run their fingers through it. A sensory board can be purchased or made at home with a small crate and some fine grain salt.
Don’t forget the abacus!
The workhorse of the educational toy aisle, an abacus is a child’s best friend when it comes to counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. You will be hard pressed to find a simpler toy that can achieve the workload of the abacus.
Start small – play a simple game with the abacus. When it’s your turn, you say a number, such as 42, and the child “makes” it or shows it on the abacus. Then the child says a number for you and you show it on the abacus. Continue taking turns like this. Increase the challenge when your child is ready.
Another method is to choose (for example) 6 beads on one wire and 8 on the next one. You can show how the 5 and 5 on those two wires makes 10, and some are left over. The possibilities are endless — an abacus is yet another toy that will grow with your child.
Providing your child with educational toys doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. A rock thrown across a pond, a doll lovingly cared for, even cutting fruit for a Sunday breakfast are all wonderful learning opportunities for children that build foundational skills to last a lifetime. Enjoying time together is the most important thing for your child, everything else will fall into place with time and practice.


Today’s students are preparing for a future where strong literacy and critical thinking skills will be essential. That’s why, with improving student outcomes in mind, PreK-12 literacy leaders are augmenting their literacy strategies and action plans. They’re doing their best to ensure every student has equal, effective access to a top-quality, comprehensive literacy curriculum.
ELA curriculum development and instruction continuously improve student results. Holistic literacy instruction, performance assessment, and professional expertise are helping districts reach their literacy goals and objectives.
Watch to learn how together we can ensure that the path to literacy is open to all, because literacy opens doors and changes lives.
Partner with us to move towards your literacy goals by implementing three personalized instruction and adaptive learning strategies:
Advance curriculum development, leverage proven instructional resources, and accelerate achievement.
Improve diagnostics, assessment, and student performance.
Build teacher capacity by offering professional learning.
Originally broadcast by Education Week, this webinar provides some top strategies and principles for developing your unique, holistic PreK-12 literacy curriculum. Discover strategies for curriculum development, assessment, and professional learning, and explore three proven principles around core, intervention, and supplemental literacy curricula, designed for your literacy improvement plans.
How does your PreK-12 literacy plan stack up? Compare it with the seven attributes of a high-impact curriculum strategy. View our eBook to discover ways to further advance your high-quality literacy instruction through the seven Rs that ensure the development of an effective literacy curriculum.
Check out all the program-based resources at your disposal.
An effective school-wide literacy plan guides action on many levels and can help students’ bolster their reading, writing, and thinking skills. A comprehensive literacy strategy focuses on five key areas:
Explore what is means to be an active, engaged reader, and the literacy skills students need to develop active reading habits- in this blog learn how students can take ownership of literacy development by becoming a resourceful reader.Read More


How do the school teach and support children with SEND?
A variety of methods may be used to teach and support students who have additional needs. Access to learning based provision is generally based on lack of progress and working below age related expectations (ARE). The SENDCo co-ordinates the allocation of support for students with additional needs. Where general support is allocated to a group with a number of students with additional needs the class teacher will direct the support on a lesson by lesson basis.
- In core subjects students are ability grouped based on both literacy and numeracy skills. Groups where students struggle to acquire skills are kept as small as possible. There is frequently access to an additional adult who, under class teacher direction, may work with small groups or individuals who are identified as having additional educational needs.
- A small number of students in Y7 and Y8 , all identified with additional needs, may be part of an Intervention group, focusing primarily on reading, literacy and numeracy skills delivered by the Intervention Team. This may regularly involve 1:1 or paired work sessions
- Some students identified with additional needs may be withdrawn for 1:1 or small group reading intervention work
- Some students identified with behaviour or particular social needs may be supported through the PACE (alternative curriculum provision) group for part or all of their curriculum provision. This may be for different periods of time as students work towards reintegrating back to mainstream provision
- Students with statements or EHC plans may undertake some bespoke intervention to meet the needs and objectives outlined in their plan. This work is likely to be 1:1 or in pairs or small groups.


The saying that small reforms may be the worst enemies of great ones
In what sense true
Illustration in the Elementary Education Act
Wisdom of social patience
The considerations which apply to political practice do not apply to
our own lives
Nor to the publication of social opinions
The amount of conscience in a community
Evil of attenuating this element
New side of the discussion
Is earnestness of conviction fatal to concession of liberty to others?
Two propositions at the base of an affirmative answer
Earnestness of conviction consistent with sense of liability to error
Belief in one’s own infallibility does not necessarily lead to
The contrary notion due to juristic analogies in social discussion
Connection between the doctrine of liberty and social evolution
The timid compromisers superfluous apprehension
Material limits to the effect of moral speculation
Illustration from the history of Slavery
Illustration from French history
Practical influence of a faith in the self-protecting quality of a
Note to page 242.
The Doctrine of Liberty
The design of the following essay is to consider, in a short and direct way, some of the limits that are set by sound reason to the practice of the various arts of accommodation, economy, management, conformity, or compromise. The right of thinking freely and acting independently, of using our minds without excessive awe of authority, and shaping our lives without unquestioning obedience to custom, is now a finally accepted principle in some sense or other with every school of thought that has the smallest chance of commanding the future. Under what circumstances does the exercise and vindication of the right, thus conceded in theory, become a positive duty in practice? If the majority are bound to tolerate dissent from the ruling opinions and beliefs, under what conditions and within what limitations is the dissentient imperatively bound to avail himself of this toleration? How far, and in what way, ought respect either for immediate practical convenience, or for current prejudices, to weigh against respect for truth? For how much is it well that the individual should allow the feelings and convictions of the many to count, when he comes to shape, to express, and to act upon his own feelings and convictions? Are we only to be permitted to defend general principles, on condition that we draw no practical inferences from them? Is every other idea to yield precedence and empire to existing circumstances, and is the immediate and universal workableness of a policy to be the main test of its intrinsic fitness?


Findings from the research, published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), suggest that when teaching assistants are used to support specific pupils in small groups or through structured interventions, they can be effective at improving children’s attainment.
According to the EEF, a charity set up by the Sutton Trust, the six published reports, based on trials with 6,800 pupils at 238 schools, represent a ‘major new source’ of independent evidence to help schools narrow the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils.
Among the reports is an evaluation of Catch up Numeracy, a scheme of one-to-one maths support for pupils aged six to 11 delivered by teaching assistants. The programme of twice-weekly sessions was trialled with 324 pupils in 54 schools over 30 weeks.
Researchers compared three groups of pupils, one in which children continued with normal lessons, one in which children participated in the Catch up Numeracy scheme and the other where children were given one-to-one attention.
They found that children in the group who participated in the Catch up Numeracy scheme and those in the group that received one-to-one intervention showed ‘significant gains in learning’. According to the research, these children made an average of three and four months additional progress respectively, compared to continuing with normal lessons.
Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said, ‘These evaluations represent the first step in building a secure evidence base for schools to draw upon to improve results for their poorest pupils. In the past many schools have struggled to train and support teaching assistants in ways that benefit children, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These studies suggest some promising ways to change that.
The GMB union has welcomed the research, which it says shows what everyone working in education already knows, that teaching assistants do add value.
Avril Chambers, national officer for school staff at the union GMB, said, 'Teaching assistants perform a vast range of tasks that involve supporting learning and the development of school students, often including working with those students with the most challenging needs.
'GMB has always maintained that when teaching assistants are deployed correctly i.e. are given tasks that they have been trained to execute, match their skillsets, and are delivered in an environment where other school staff work collaboratively with them, the positive impact on achievement is high.
'We have been campaigning for years for teaching assistants’ value to be acknowledged. Our recent petition has tens of thousands of signatures, from parents, teachers and school leaders all whom passionately believe teaching assistants are a vital integral part of the modern education system, rather than a 'mums' army' as Michael Gove so insultingly sees them - based on the back of a couple of out of date, poorly structured pieces of research.'
She added, 'Michael Gove is renowned for his citing research evidence when it suits his agenda. GMB will be making sure he and the DfE can’t ignore this comprehensive study by the respected Education Endowment Foundation. GMB strongly recommend that Mr Gove think again before trying to get rid of teaching assistants from the education system.'
Deborah Lawson, general secretary of Voice the union, said, 'We have always known that, with their role and purpose clearly defined, and with the appropriate ongoing training and support, teaching assistants can improve literacy and numeracy skills.'
She added, 'A team approach is needed. Appropriate training and support should be made available so that school leaders and teachers know how best to use and deploy trained teaching assistants to ensure maximum impact in the classroom, supporting pupil learning and achievement whilst freeing teachers to teach.
'Parents and headteachers value the individual attention that teaching assistants give to children. The conclusion to be drawn from this research is that the value of teaching assistants is clear, especially at a time when budgets are tight.'
- The six reports, published by the Endowment Education Foundation, will help to inform the Sutton Trust-EEF Toolkit, a summary of educational research, which covers 34 topics and summarises research from over 10,000 studies.


Yoga Teacher Training Forum
Yoga Instructors: Would you like to network with fellow teachers worldwide? Here is a resource to find answers for every possible question regarding continuing education, improving your classes, student safety and much more.
April 27, 2015
Padmasana ( Lotus) is often identified as the centerpiece for Hatha yoga. It is one of the classic poses, and almost recognized by everyone even those who don't know much of yoga. Though it is classified as an advanced yoga posture, it could be done with ease by many children. This pose is often used for meditation. Some might find it a bit difficult to do this yoga (mostly beginners). People who had a knee injury should consult a guru before giving it a shot.
Steps: Get in to Dandasana (The staff pose). Relax your thigh muscles, make sure your tail bone is pointing outside and slightly concave. Now bend the right knee and bring the right foot over the left thigh (A word of caution, don't wear slippery trousers) close to the hip region. The bottom surface of your feet should face up. Once this becomes stable, bend the left knee and bring your left foot over the right thigh close to the high region. The center portion should look like the letter 'X'. The bottom surface of the left foot should face up.
Rest both your arms on the respective knee. Take long breath and close your eyes. You can stay in this pose for 2 to 10 minutes (There are people who can sit in this pose for hours together, as this is considered to be one of the most comfortable yoga poses). There are hundreds of yogasanas derived from padmasana, one such is Yogamudrasana, which is very important to raise the kundalini. With arms behind your back, bend forward to touch the floor with your nose and forehead. While doing so, your sit bones should not rise from the floor. The chest should rest on your lap.
Benefits of Lotus posture: It opens up the hips, increases flexibility, increases focus and concentration and strengthens the knee joints and ankle joints.
April 27, 2015
How to Teach Yoga to Children of all Ages
Yoga makes adults stronger, calmer, and more focused, so it makes sense they would want to pass these benefits on to their children. Yoga is a wonderful activity for the youngsters, but there are things to remember when introducing kids to yoga.
Always make sure you are approaching the practice from an age-appropriate standpoint. There are techniques to engage specific age groups safely and wisely, while keeping it fun.
Postpartum/Babies: Baby yoga is a calming and bonding activity for mom and baby. It is a very gentle series of stretching and massage movements in tune with soothing music or chanting.
Toddlers: Mixing yoga and toddlers has its challenges, but can also be rewarding and fun. Do not expect toddlers to hold poses for longer than 30 seconds. Yoga is fun for this age group when turned into a game like a trip through the jungle. A simple game of follow the leader while engaging in easy poses like lion or a child-friendly frog pose can bring smiles and giggles to these young ones. Also, make sure these kids don't have full tummies before beginning, and keep class time to about twenty minutes.
Grade School: The longer attention span of grade school children enables them to hold poses over a minute and learn simple sequences. They are usually open to engaging in specific breathing and relaxation techniques. You still need to make it fun for them by breaking the class down into easily digestible segments.
Tween/Teen: This age group wants to be heard. It's a good idea to ask them for suggestions or ideas about what they want to achieve from the class. A five-minute question and answer session before the class, which allows them to provide input will make them feel more involved with the practice.
Special Needs: Research is emerging that shows autistic children can benefit from a yoga practice. Often children with autism show delays in motor skill development and yoga strengthens muscles and improves balance and coordination. Autistic children will also benefit from the calming aspect of yoga. The first step to remember when engaging an autistic child in yoga is to take the time to develop a bond, and establish trust with the child.
Children's yoga is one of the fastest growing specialty fields in the yoga community. The primary keys to success are keeping the children engaged, while creating a safe, low-pressure, age appropriate environment.
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These are 6 rubrics that on 1 page each list all of the Common Core standards RL3.1-10 on one page and RIT3.1-10 on another that is excellent for conferencing and to see growth in the standards over time. This also includes each of the 7 reading foundational skills standards. I use these all the time for doing reading conferences with my students and I use the notes section for noting any goals I create with the student to work on for the next time we conference. Each standard is listed along with a 1, 2, 3 or 4 grade on the side that can be circled. These can be used for English Language Arts or Spanish Dual Language/ Dual Immersion classrooms as the CCSS are the same.
-2 English rubrics that contain all reading, phonics, and fluency standards
-2 English rubrics that contain all reading, phonics, and fluency standards ALONG WITH THE SPANISH AUGMENTATIONS
-2 Spanish rubrics that contain all reading, phonics, and fluency standards ALONG WITH THE SPANISH AUGMENTATIONS
If you enjoy this resource, please review it! This will help me make more resources. If you have any questions, I will reply within 24 hours.
You May Also Like:
1st Grade Common Core Reading Standards RubricsDual Language Reading Resource using CAFE and Sentence Starters
Dual Language Literacy Center Charts
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How many times a week do you get a song stuck in your head and find yourself unable to shake it? From almost the beginning of our (seven year; is that possible?) homeschooling experience, I’ve used memory CD’s from Audio Memory to do just that: help drill basic geography, grammar, math, and history facts into my children’s minds by getting songs, well, stuck in their heads.
Geography Songs started the whole thing for us. They’re brilliant. Thirty-three catchy (no really, they are) tunes give your children (and you) no choice but to memorize countries that comprise the different regions of the world—the British Isles, southern Europe, southeast Asia, Scandinavia, to name a few—as well as the continents, the oceans, and the planets in our solar system.
You have to listen to them to understand.
Eastern Europe is one of my favorites:
Poland, Latvia, Hun-ga-ry
These are the countries of Eastern Europe: E-U-R-O-P-E
Here’s an old–very, very, very old—peek at my (then very wittle) girls performing this song. They’re more interested in wigging out and performing an improvisational dance routine than enunciating the song lyrics, but you can get a sense of how easy it is for kids to grasp the songs:
In the second part of the video, we’d switched to Grammar Songs which is another jewel.
“I’m running, jumping, singing
That’s because I am a verb.
I’m hopping, dancing, ringing
That’s because I am a verb.
I’m coming, going, hitting, throwing
Humming, rowing, sitting, blowing, riding, hiding, gliding, sliding – because I’m a verb.
I’m a verb, verb, verb! I’m an action word.
So put me where the action is ’cause I’m an action word.”
The songs are perfect for the Grammar Stage—otherwise known as the first of the three stages of the trivium in the classical education model. In layman’s terms, the grammar stage (roughly, the earlier elementary years) is a time to inundate children with facts, words, and information. The idea is to lay the foundation for more in-depth learning later on; if they’ve already been taught—and have memorized—in what region of the world Estonia resides, when they get older they can begin to study more about Estonia itself: the culture, the history, the people, the politics. (The same concept holds true with introducing young kids to pared-down versions of Shakespeare or Homer: if they grasp the characters and plots at a young age, then when they get older, they can read the original versions and dive more into the language, the intricacies of the plot, the complexity of the characters, etc.)
(We’ll cover the trivium in another post.)
Back to the Audio Memory Songs: there’s also History Songs, which covers American history from 1492 to 1991; Math Songs, which drills basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts into young minds, States and Capitals Songs, and Bible Songs.
Plenty of earworm opportunities!
Audio Memory Songs are available on CD through many retailers (Amazon has them all), and the songs/albums are available on iTunes for immediate download.
They’ve really stood the test of time in our house…and if nothing else, my children (and their mother) will forever know that Estonia, Latvia, and Slovenia are considered countries of eastern Europe.
I just love this elementary education I’m receiving.


This power point is simple, fun, interactive and printable. It allows students to follow along as words fly and land on lined paper; then get highlighted and underlined as they do the same! The set up allows for students to copy in their notebooks what they see on the screen. After the initial lesson, there is a prompt for students to discuss in groups to brainstorm as many words as they can that follow the phonics rule. Culminating in a large list of words.
Phonics & Spelling 2nd Houghton Mifflin, Theme 1
Common Core 2nd CCSS Reading: Foundational Skills 3


What differences are there, if any, between different types of phonics? Is one kind of phonics more effective than another? How do they compare? The chart below will help you decide.
There are three main types of phonics: analytic, embedded and synthetic. A fourth type, analogy phonics, is a subtype of analytic phonics. Of these, analytic or embedded phonics are taught with the whole word method of teaching reading and synthetic phonics is taught within a phonics based reading program. The most effective type of phonics program is systematic synthetic phonics which teaches children how to decode words step-by-step. Good reading programs include this type of phonics instruction.


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I’m very excited by a project designed by a Patricia Martin, a friend and colleague. The project engaged parents as literacy partners with their children. It included opportunities for parents to reflect on their learning and reading experiences with their children. Pat documented the entire project in a book, published using print on demand technology. For more information on how you and your students can publish your own books visit our website Read > Think > Write > Publish
Pat describes the project:
“The increased attention to high-stakes testing and charter schools should re-emphasize the need for public schools to engage parents, as well as, students in the daily classroom learning experiences. Of course, it’s not the Parent Association, room mother, field trip chaperon who needs a nudge to be involved in school activities. Disengaged parents may be new to a school district, occupied with child-rearing responsibilities, isolated by culture or language or a victim of negative school experiences. Some districts have found successful methods for reaching out to the disengaged parent.
The Parent Project is one district’s response to the growing absence of parent involvement. Based on the work of James Vopat, The Parent Project – A Workshop Approach to Parent Involvement, the district created a planning team that included several parents to plan and implement a series of parent workshops. During each workshop the parent leaders and teachers coached targeted parents to become partners in their child’s literacy development.
The workshops were planned to include fun, learning and reflection. As much as possible, the parents experienced learning much as their child would in the classroom. Parents were given the opportunity to practice each session’s learning with their child through carefully designed take-home activities. The next session began with a sharing of parental insights during these practice activities. Parents and teachers captured their experience in a personal journal.
Additional characteristics of the Vopat model build a sense of community and shared commitment among the participants.
• Family meal with teachers and administrators before each workshop
• Child care for all children during the workshop
• Transportation to the workshops
The final product, beyond a published book, was evident. The five original teachers elected to remain on the CORE team and five additional teachers volunteered to join the CORE team for the next training session. Three-fourths of the parents elected to form a Parent Alumni Group to continue the workshop experience. Half of those parents also volunteered to serve as Parent Leaders with the next set of parents. Parents “graduates” of The Parent Project are volunteering in classrooms because they believe that they are an integral part of the educational scene.”


Third Grade Common Core Assessments
Have you heard the news? Core Common Standards has released a new set of workbooks to go along with the Common Core Standards Workbook series released last year. These ones don’t focus on activities and worksheets, though. These ones are all about giving you the tools you need to assess student success in each standard. Each 100+ page volume contains at least one assessment for all standards in third grade. Check out your copy of Third Grade Common Core Assessments today! They are available on USB or pdf via download.
These materials are covered in this workbook:
ELA: Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text, Reading Foundational Skills, Language, Writing, Speaking & Listening
MATH: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Numbers and Operations in Base Ten, Numbers and Operations – Fractions, Geometry, Measurement and Data
Assessments, Common Core Assessments, Common Core Quizzes, Common Core Standards Assessments, Common Core Tests, third grade, third grade common core, common core assessments for third grade


By Natalia Kucirkova (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Teresa Cremin (The Open University), UK
Children’s apps started as a Digital Wild West, with minimal guidance on how to develop, choose and use them. Thousands were advertised as ‘educational’ and often the most popular ones focused on children’s literacy development from a skills based perspective.
Recently, The UK National Literacy Trust launched “Literacy Apps”, an online guide for teachers and parents looking for the best children’s apps that support reading for pleasure. The guide is for children aged 0-5 years and is the only online guide in the UK that is research-based. The Literacy Apps guide complements US app curation sites such as Common Sense Media and Children’s Technology review and guides based on parents’ and teachers’ own reviews and ratings (Moms with Apps and Teachers with Apps). It targets reading for pleasure and invites feedback and ratings submitted from the user community, this means it is both expert- led and community-led.
The criteria for evaluating the apps were adopted from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between the Open University and BookTrust in 2015 and a related research study, which identified six key features of digital books that support children’s reading for pleasure, namely: affective, shared, sustained, creative, personalised and interactive engagement. These six critical forms of engagement form the criteria which are also used by UK teachers who participate in the judging process of the UK Literacy Association’s Children’s Digital Book Award, the only app award judged entirely by the profession for the profession.
Three of these features- affective, creative and personalised- are particularly salient for teachers who are keen to support reading for pleasure in their classrooms. Such reading is in essence child-chosen and child-directed, intrinsically motivated and choice-led. It involves young people in making meaning and offers sufficient satisfaction to prompt them to return for more. The meaning and pleasure children find in this process was explored in a project led by Cremin and documented in the recently published, award-winning book Researching Literacy Lives. The project explored how teachers can develop their knowledge of children’s everyday literacy practices in order to build on their practices and preferences in the classroom.
The project found that initially teachers were often ‘digitally blind’ in that they had to be helped to notice the presence of digital media in children’s homes and to see these not as home distractions but as part of literacy. It may have been that the teachers’ own conceptions of literacy were book-bound and print related, so for example when a five year old was texting on their mother’s phone, or an older child was searching online for ‘cheats’ for a computer game, their engagement and the skills they used in these contexts were not recognised as being ‘valid’ or relevant to literacy in school. Over time, however, as they shared the data gathered in children’s homes, the teachers’ conceptions of 21st century literacy widened and they began to value the marked digital competencies of the young. They came to recognise the power in children’s personal, affective and creative engagement in texts, and that textual diversity in school is key.
The Literacy Apps guide taps into ongoing conversations with teachers about the value of digital books for children’s emerging literacy and with the general public about the importance of digital reading in children’s lives. Through conversations around digital books, teachers and parents can scaffold children’s personal responses to them, enabling children to make critical life-to text and text-to life connections.


An exhibition of more than 100 dolls in native dress from 60 different countries around the globe opens April 9th in the Temporary Exhibit Gallery of the Museum of Cultural and Natural History at Central Michigan University.
The exhibition is composed of a selection from over 300 dolls recently acquired from the estate of Barbara Bissot. Dr. Bissot taught at CMU from 1962 to 1992, first as a fourth grade at the university lab school and then in the elementary education department of the School of Education. Dr. Bissot took an overseas trip nearly every year between 1974 and 2006, seeking out hand-made dolls crafted by local artisans wherever she went. True to her values as an educator, Bissot purchased dolls, not as playthings, but to typify local traditions, be ethnically true and representative of the country.
The dolls' clothing provides evidence of local cultural traditions as well as textile technologies and style. Many of the dolls present everyday wear while others present the clothing worn for special events or holidays, both religious and secular. Many of the dolls are clothed in costumes representing national traditions, regional or social identity or local occupations. Some are "character dolls" illustrating traditional stories or folktales.>
Examining these dolls from around the world, museum visitors will learn first-hand of the variety of ways humans express their diverse values and common experiences through something we all understand, clothing.
In addition to the display of dolls, Beyond Barbie includes a children's educational activity room, a website and special tours.


As of late, many parents have contacted me about starting their toddlers and preschoolers (think 18 months to four years) in some kind of music class. As formal lessons may be much for a very young child to take on, group classes and a consistent exposure to music and music education in the home will spark the interest of the child in music. Check out my recommendations below to make music an everyday part of your child’s education.
Active versus Passive Music Listening. Passive listening includes having background music on during playtime or listening to the radio while in the car. This type of musical exposure is nice, but is not creating lasting neural connections in your young child’s brain. By incorporating movement: clapping, dancing, singing along, marching, or something similar, your child is remembering not just the fun they had while actively listening to music, but also the way music made them feel. They can replicate those feelings again when given the chance to express themselves through music.
Daily Activities Sing-Alongs. There is a reason why we have an Alphabet Song, Old MacDonald, and B-I-N-G-O. By learning how to spell, count, and make animal sounds through music, there is a higher chance that the young child will remember these concepts. The Alphabet Song in particular is set to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, another important children’s song that incorporates hand motions. As a parent of a toddler, I try to sing to my child at regular times throughout the day. At morning wake up, I sing, “It’s a Beautiful Day,” a simple tune I made up to prepare him for the day. But after singing it nearly every day for the last 18 months of his life, he has started to sing with me!
Movement and Music. Research has proven that incorporating movement into music for young children is remarkable for literacy, learning, and language skills. One of the leading providers of early childhood music education is Kindermusik, a tried and true method to begin a child’s music education. Their curriculum is developmentally-based, and each age from young infant to preschool is sure to enjoy the active and fun learning atmosphere that Kindermusik provides. Find the location nearest you here.
Parent and Child Parallel Learning. It is not unheard of for a parent to enroll in music lessons, just to give their very young child the exposure to music on a daily basis. For those parents who have pianos or guitars already in the home, consider enrolling in lessons, and make time to practice in front of your child. Sit them at the piano with you while you are playing, and explain simple concepts to them, like forte and piano, or high notes versus low notes. These concepts will be forged into their developing brains, so when it is time to enroll them into formal lessons around age 5, they will be ahead of the curve.
Sound Off: How did early exposure cultivate a love of music for you? What is your earliest musical memory?


The Visual Arts
Young children greatly benefit from opportunities to express themselves in non- verbal forms so they are able to develop emotional health. Our Visual Arts program includes: Appreciation, Interpretation, Presentation, Courageous Expression, Two and Three-dimensional Artforms; Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Textiles, etc
|Objectives of the Visual Arts
- Promote life-long learning skills
- Foster personal reflection on the creative process
- Appreciate those in our local and global community who contribute in unique ways
- Analyse historical context in our society
- Develop exploration and experimentation of ideas and media
- Communicate ideas through a variety of Media
- Engender personal responsibility
- Celebrate achievement
- Recognise the Creator God as the source of creativity
- Know that a personal relationship with the Creator God can be experienced and that understanding of life can be expressed through Art works
At Maranatha, we recognise the growing influence of Asia and its importance to Australia. Thus, we seek to prepare students with some of the communication and language skills needed for the ‘Asian Century’.
Primary Mandarin students practise vocabulary and common sentences around the tops of family, school, animals, travel and recreation.
Along the way, they explore Chinese culture and learn to recognise several Chinese characters.
PERFORMING ARTS (MUSIC)
The aim of the Music program is to acknowledge God as the Creator and Giver of the gift of music. Music theory, history and aural training is taught from a Biblical perspective. Students are involved in a range of learning activities which develop music appreciation skills. In the early years, students are engaged in listening, singing, movement to music and keeping the beat.
Regular school productions are a feature across the school.
All children participate in PE and sport. It is a positive and enjoyable experience as we offer a variety of non-competitive activities as well as the more traditional games, skill enhancing opportunities and Interschool sporting programs. This makes the Physical Education Program appealing to a broad selection of children of varying ability levels. The emphasis is placed on the children having fun, improving their own personal abilities and developing them to their fullest potential.
Children who combine a balanced diet with regular activity are often happier, healthier and more ready to learn. Not only is it beneficial to a child’s physical well-being, physical activity also has numerous substantial benefits in terms of social interaction, mental alertness and motor skill development.
Prep to Year 5 students take part in an intensive swimming program. Lessons assist in developing water safety strategies and enhance technique.
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Throughout the Primary school, students have the opportunity to use technology in a variety of ways. There is explicit teaching in the Computer Laboratory. The use of technology is being progressively integrated and incorporated across most subject areas. Students have access to laptops in classrooms, Interactive Whiteboards and other technology such as digital cameras and iPads.
A variety of skills are taught, computer competencies are developed and programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint are taught at specific year levels. Our Junior School students are taught Cyber Safety through a variety of programs such as Hector’s World and Skooville.


Question: Recently my 4 year old likes to sing songs in his own language. For example he will sing to the tune of “Old McDonald’s” like this “balama bila pilaps papa banaha…..” which is more like babbling. He knows how to sing with the correct words but he does not want. Does this means anything? He was a late speaker; he started speaking when he was 3 years old.
Answer: Language and speech delay do not necessarily work in tandem. A child could be cognitively developed in the language aspects but lack the adequate physical development to utter it in speech. Hence, creating their own personal language and expressing it through songs and for some children, through writing, is perfectly normal as they understand that language is used to communicate meaning and feelings. They are simply representing that in a form that they feel comfortable and confident with at that particular point in time.
Constant reminders and providing good models of the spoken language can help to alleviate the issues of mispronunciation to some extent. Children do outgrow any difficulties in pronunciation rather quickly. However, if you do have further concerns, I would suggest that you see a qualified speech therapist to seek for more advice.
LEAP Schoolhouse has an ‘Ask and Learn’ section every Thursday. If you have any questions regarding language or literacy development, feel free to drop your questions in the comment box below, or post them on LEAP SchoolHouse Facebook page.
In this Ask The Expert section, we asked Esther Lim, CEO and Founder of LEAP SchoolHouse, about language and literacy development in children. Born and educated in Singapore, she holds a Master Degree in Education (NTU/NIE), Bachelor Degree in Arts (NTU), Diploma in Marketing – Top student for the year 2000 (Chartered Institute of Marketing). Esther has more than 10 years of teaching experience and has taught widely in both Secondary and Primary schools. She was also involved in curriculum planning and development work for the primary unit at MOE for several years. Esther has also conducted workshops and talks for educators, locally and overseas. Besides all the above credentials, Esther is also a mother of three children.
For more info, visit leapschoolhouse.com.sg
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We’re keeping an eye on things as we move towards the end of the year! Most notably, we’re keeping a close eye on our caterpillars, which have grown a lot this past week. See below for more…
As of Friday morning a number of them had assumed the “J-position,” which indicates that they are about to enter the chrysalis phase. Above, you can see one them in this position, and note the growth from the tiny little things we showed you last week. There is a lot of excitement for them to emerge.
Another of the things we keep a close eye on is the children’s language and literacy development. Children learn to identify the different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, articles, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions) that make up sentences using a specific set of symbols that are tied to the Montessori Grammar Box material. Understanding how sentences are constructed is a big step in learning to gain control over language.
With such control over language, students can embark upon writing stories about what interests them — taking the opportunity to engage in valuable practice and learning experiences in a context that is enjoyable, even if it is a story about the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Please leave hockey-related commentary below).
Developing language and literacy skills also gives children the skills needed to perform research projects on topics that interest them, and to present them to their peers. In the background, you can see the project presentation we showed you last week. The end of the term is the time when many projects are finished up and presented.
It’s not all readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic though. Sometimes we need to find our Montessori guides to help us get the knots out of our shoelaces!
Remember, we are off on our end-of-year sleepover campout at Crieff Hills next Thursday and Friday. Please see last week’s update for details.


The goal of the Brevard Public Schools' English Language Arts (ELA) Program is to integrate instruction of reading, writing, grammar, and speaking & listening in order to develop and refine students' literacy.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for grades K-6 Florida Journeys Common Core is the district adopted English Language Arts textbook series. This program addresses all of the standards related to reading, writing, grammar, and speaking & listening. The instruction is systematic, balanced, and research-based, building success with every lesson that is introduced and reinforced. Foundational skills are built from kindergarten forward. Deep comprehension tasks include discussion about texts and writing in response to texts. The series provides quality texts, balancing literature and informational reading opportunities for students. Support for differentiated instruction is included.
Writing instruction in the Florida Journeys Common Core includes lessons on how to improve students' abilities in the writing process and in responding to what they have read. The standards-based curriculum follows a progression from kindergarten to sixth grade that develops writers who use the craft to learn, think, and communicate across the disciplines, stressing the linkage between writing and reading. These lessons follow a logical sequence to build students' confidence and skill. The qualities of writing are identified through the instruction of Six Traits (Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Fluency, and Conventions) and are applied through process writing (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing). This instruction is designed to produce mastery of oral and written communication.
The Spelling component for grades 1-6 of the Florida Journeys Common Core program will be used as the district adopted spelling curriculum. This component creates a connection to reading in using words that reflect the vocabulary, word study (etymology, morphology, and syllable types), and phonics components of the grade level texts.
Grammar is addressed in Florida Journeys Common Core via embedded lesson relating to writing. The authentic texts included in the textbook provide quality language for study of appropriate grammar and usage in a mentor text method.
In addition to the resources available in Florida Journeys Common Core, district-created documents are available for additional instruction in literacy.


Analyst, Skills Beyond Schools Division, Directorate for Education
While this is certainly true, the problem is by no means limited to poorer countries. Indeed, even in countries at the forefront of the developed world and consistently at the top of the PISA rankings, skills shortages can plague the economy.
Two such countries are Australia and Canada.
The Canadian Council on Learning says there is a clear “gap between the demand for workers with strong literacy and numeracy skills and the supply of Canadians who possess them.” They point out that the growth in the information communication technology industries, coupled with the reduced demand for unskilled workers due to foreign outsourcing, has only served to intensify the need for skilled workers. The question is why there is such a gap when Canadian teenagers do so well on tests such as PISA's. The answer, they posit, lies in the failure of adults to keep up with the “demands of the emerging knowledge society and information economy”. In other words, lifelong learning is as essential to a strong economy as successful schools (as can be seen in the OECD’s Education at a Glance statistics on adult participation in education and learning, job-related training is comparatively low in Canada).
Australian companies are also hard hit by the skills gap. The Australian Institute of Management recently released a study that found 82% of organisations admit to a skills shortage in their workplace, with middle management lacking particularly in leadership and technical skills.
Brian Schmidt, Australia's 2011 Nobel Prize winner for Physics, feels that a key problem is the lack of skilled teachers, particularly in maths and science. He points to the OECD’s Education at a Glance statistics on teacher salaries, which indicates that there tends to be a correlation between well paid teachers and students that excel.
The country's mining industry is suffering, in Mr Schmidt's opinion, from a direct consequence of this. He says that the industry's lack of highly trained engineers threatens the resource boom currently under way in Australia. He relates how the chair of the mining company BHP Billiton told him the biggest problem his company faces is finding highly skilled employees competent in mathematics.
The consequences could be dire for Australia. BHP Billiton predicts that the mining industry alone will require an additional 150 000 workers over the next five years.
Furthermore, Chris Evans, Australia's Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills, estimates that Australia will need over 2 million additional workers by 2015 with higher vocational education and training (VET) qualifications. To meet this challenge, Australia drew up ambitious plans just last year to improve its existing VET system (which, as Learning for Jobs: OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training shows, is already quite strong) by investing up to €15 billion by 2020.
In Latin America, an altogether different region of the world, the economic pain from the skills gap – evocatively known in Spanish as “la brecha”, or the breach – is also acutely felt. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), youth unemployment has increased across Latin America more than any other region in the world, and this can be directly attributed to young people lacking the skills required by the labour market. Not surprising when time and time again the research shows that poor skills go hand in hand with economic hardship.
In a study released earlier this month, the IDB stated that the youth in Latin America have a long way to go in developing the “interpersonal skills the market requires, such as responsibility, communication and creativity”. Its research shows that the majority of young workers across the region have informal jobs and lack social benefits.
One thing that is common to all these countries is that children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are disadvantaged when it comes to foundation skills in reading, mathematics and science (see OECD’s Education at a Glance statistics on equality in educational outcomes and opportunities). However, countries with the very best scores in PISA tend to have schools that are more inclusive. In other words, students can score well regardless of their socio-economic background. This in turn benefits the economy and society as a whole.
For if knowledge and skills are the global currency of the 21st century, countries will do well to stock up on their reserves. They can do so by encouraging people to learn, enticing skilled people to enter their countries, encouraging people to use and build their skills at work, retaining skilled people, matching skills to demand, and finally increasing the demand for high-level skills. That goes for economic heavyweights and flyweights alike.
Interested in learning more? Watch out for the OECD Skills Strategy, coming in May 2012, where we will lay the land for bridging the skills gap, turning brain drain into brain exchange, coping with ageing societies and declining skills pools and more.
OECD Skills Strategy
Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Photo credit: © olly / Shutterstock


Introducing el Sistema and the CMEA position paper crafted to clarify connections between CMEA and El Sistema projects existing in Canada
Dr. Mary Kennedy, MAL, CMEA December, 2012
In writing this preface to the position paper, I have taken the liberty to quote from Dr. Jonathan Govias’ (2011) article on el Sistema, published in Canadian Music Educator, 53(1), 21-23.
In the following excerpt, Govias describes el Sistema programme, which originated under the leadership of Dr. Abreu in Venezuela: In the most prosaic of terms, el Sistema is a national after school music education program offering classical music ensemble experiences for individuals from ages 3-30. The supporting theoretical model is organized around five fundamental principles, the distinct guiding characteristics which can be identified consistently across the 180-plus music schools (also known as núcleos) collectively serving more than 300,000 children. (p. 21) Govias continues by naming and explaining the five fundamental principles of el Sistema:
1. Social Change: The primary objective is social transformation through the pursuit of musical excellence. One happens through the other, and neither is prioritized at the expense of the other.
2. Ensembles: The focus of el Sistema is the orchestra or choral experience.
3. Frequency: el Sistema ensembles meet multiple times every week over extended periods.
4. Accessibility: el Sistema programs are free, and are not selective in admission.
5. Connectivity: Every núcleo is linked at the urban, regional, and national levels, forming a cohesive network of services and opportunities for students across the country. (p. 21)
Knowledge about and interest in the el Sistema concept has spread to many countries outside Venezuela. Govias himself has participated in the development of national el Sistema initiatives in the UK and South Africa. Here in Canada, el Sistema-inspired programs exist in several jurisdictions, in the provinces of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, to name a few. It is likely that the interest in such programs will continue. It is for this reason that the CMEA, as the national umbrella group for music education in Canada, created a position paper on the phenomenon of el Sistema.
The photos are from the collection of Dr. Jonathan Govias, taken on a recent trip to Venezuela.


Why is music important in education? This might be the question that keeps on bothering you right now. Well, you have to know that music plays a very significant role in the overall development process of your child. This process involves 3 life aspects such as intellectually, emotionally and socially. It provides creative challenges, aesthetic appreciation and self-expression including self-discovery opportunities. These are some of those factors which show the essence of music in education.
Practical and Emotional Maturity
Music education promotes emotional maturity while the students learn setting and achieving their personal goals. Practical maturity can be gained through music as the students know the benefits brought by diligence practice and hard work. Self-assessment, time management and the capability to admit criticism & performance skills are the significant lessons that the students will learn through learning with music.
Music education helps the students with the necessary skills they should possess and it also promotes value which result to personal improvement like self-discipline, teamwork, practice, self-confidence and dedication. All of the values and attitude that show them are important so that the students will become successful in facing challenges in life.
These values are given by means of other disciplines which involves several ways. The value of music in education is that the students who love music can easily shift the habits they have learned to continue music to their academic subjects. Thus, the music in education is a very important component to meet a comprehensive education program.
Those children who are more interested to learn music with education are proven more capable to solve their problems in life. They become more efficient than other kids when it comes to analysis and critical thinking. Due to the fact that playing and learning music involves the use of the part of the human brain that is also used when it comes to mathematical thinking, music can aid in making the students better in mathematics.
The promotion of music in education provides the students with the interest which takes up extensive energy and time out of the classroom. The students are more encouraged to be involved in various extracurricular activities by means of through music which include competitions, sports and bands. Being occupied with some activities that are related to music helps keep the students away from negative things like taking alcohol and drugs.
Life and Success
The significance of music in education is the truth that it promotes a special type of discipline which contributes to characteristics and personal traits improvement. This will help the individuals to achieve success in all life aspects. Music helps in the development of the overall intelligence of a student that shifts to success in the academic subjects. It also opens the doors for cultural and social aspects. All of these will lead to success and happiness in life.
All of these would be the best explanation why music is important to education. It helps a student to achieve success in their education. Their skills are developed and music makes learning the academic subjects easy and enjoyable for every student who pays attention to music.


Western Community School District, Kinderhook, IL (August 2012 to Present)
- Provide art education instruction to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.
- Incorporate strong drawing skills and methods from early elementary classes through the advanced high school course.
- Focus on incorporating Charlotte Danielson effective teachings skills; as well as, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers by Stephen R. Covey.
- Design lessons to focus on the Illinois Common Core Standards.
- Design lessons that incorporate reading and writing throughout art lessons.
- Incorporate the history of art and the artists for students to understand the subject more thoroughly.
- Handle large classrooms of students and balance the different grade levels with patience, effective cooperation and communication.
Sacred-Heart Griffin High School, Springfield, IL (September 2009 to June 2011)
- Provided art education instruction to students 9th through 12th grade.
- Incorporated the six elements of art, art history, and art influenced projects into an Art I course.
- Incorporated all key factors from Art I into a more advanced approach for an Art II course.
- Incorporated art history, a variety of approached/methods, and a variety of tools to drawing in a Drawing course.
- Designed lessons to include the state standards, step by step guidelines, grading rubric and the objective for the lessons.
- Designed lessons to incorporated the elements of art, the methods taught, and the artists learned about.
- Volunteered for extracurricular activities (Mostaccioli Dinner and Fundraising event, Set and Lobby Design Director for the Spring Musicals, and Girls Kairos Retreat)
- Encouraged and entered students’ artwork in surrounding art shows.
West Prairie Middle School and Elementary School, Colchester, IL (March 2009 to May 2009)
- Provided art education instruction to students K-7th and 9th-12th grade.
- Incorporated more modern art techniques and introduced new unknown artists.
- Designed art lessons to enforce concepts learned in other subjects.
- Volunteered for extracurricular activities (Pennies for Patients, After school events (Art Club, Embellishment Parties), and involvement with the school Book Fair.
Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, FL (March 2006 to March 2009)
Student Teacher’s Aide
- Helped with grading and organization.
- Provided knowledge and information during teacher’s absence.
- Was able to observe teacher methods and practices for three years.
Bachelor of Art in Art Education – Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL


Jackson County Public Schools believes that literacy is one of the most important foundational skills for our students to build. We begin by focusing on early literacy development in kindergarten through third grade.
Students in all of our schools are assessed using the mCLASS: Reading 3D program. This program includes the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and the Text Reading Comprehension (TRC) assessments. These two assessments provide data about important reading skills all children should develop to become proficient readers:
- Hearing and using sounds in spoken words (phonemic awareness)
- Knowing the sounds of letters and sounding out written words
- Reading words in stories easily, quickly, and correctly
- Reading with comprehension, the big goal of reading
- Understanding and using a variety of words and learning new words


A Revolutionary Perspective on Childhood Development Theory
By Ann Harman, GCFP
For at least half a century, the prevailing idea of childhood development has been that the basic sequence of infant and child development, which includes learning to roll, reach, sit, creep, crawl, stand, and walk is genetically predetermined. The “normal” sequence, with only minor variations, is relatively consistent from one child to another. However, the dynamic systems approach developed by Esther Thelen brings an alternative viewpoint that challenges this established theory.
Part of the established theory is that developmental sequences are controlled by the maturation process of the brain. In this concept, there is a central controller in the brain (which has never been identified) that leads the infant through a process beginning with primitive reflexes. With maturation, the primitive reflexes are suppressed, and more mature movements develop.
One of these primitive reflexes is the stepping reflex. A young infant, when supported upright, makes stepping movements that appear to be a precursor to walking. This reflex disappears after about two months, supposedly due to the maturation of the brain.
Dr. Thelen, a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Indiana University, noticed that babies older than two months make kicking movements, while lying on their backs, that resemble the stepping reflex. She became curious and did an experiment of supporting the infant in a tub of water, so that gravity was less of a factor. The stepping reflex returned! Then she took infants who still had a stepping reflex, put weights on their legs, and saw that the stepping reflex was inhibited! She theorized that the stepping reflex was not inhibited by the maturation of the brain, but by the weight of the infant’s legs. (Babies double their weight within six months of birth, and a two-month old normally has a great deal of fat on the legs.) This was only one in a series of experiments done by Thelen and her colleagues that brought doubts to established theories of development.
Dr. Thelen also observed that the developmental sequences of children are more variable than was previously believed. Yet, almost all children arrive at certain milestones such as crawling, standing, and walking, although by way of different routes. She theorized that certain movements are “attractors”, but the paths to these attractors are variable. Children are drawn to these attractors, but each finds his or her own pathway through trial and error. In other words, the process depends more upon experimentation, curiosity, and learning than was previously thought.
Eventually, Dr. Thelen summarized the system by which children learn by the acronym EVASO:
V: Variations: Experiment with variations in moving.
A: Attend to how new systems self-organize.
S: Select patterns that are better
O: Optimize for functional effectiveness and movement quality.
When Dr. Thelen was exposed to the Feldenkrais Method® of movement education, she was astounded to find that this system not only used these principles of infant learning, but also applied them in a practical manner to adult education and rehabilitation, and was already well-established and developed! She undertook the four-year training to become a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner(cm). If it had not been for her untimely death from cancer, she would have retired from research to apply these principles in the context of a Feldenkrais® Practice.
When we think of early childhood learning, this is the period of life in which learning is faster than at any other time. A newborn has a very limited movement capacity, does not know language, and cannot even recognize what s/he sees or hears. Within a few years, the child learns to identify sights and sounds, walk, run, climb, and speak the native language. This is a truly amazing amount of learning that happens within a few years, and this rate of learning slows in later life. (In fact, past concepts of maturation have included the idea that maturity means having learned all that we need to know!)
Does this evoke your interest about how to learn better and faster? To learn by using curiosity, and to explore and choose elegant solutions? If so, consider studying the Feldenkrais Method.
Ann Harman is an osteopathic physician as well as a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner.


Suzuki Education, also known as the “Mother Tongue Approach,” is a teaching philosophy based on Dr. Shin’ichi Suzuki’s observation that all children speak their own language with ease and proficiency at a very young age. Instructors utilizing the Suzuki method believe that “musical ability” is not an inborn talent, but an ability which can be developed. Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability, just as all children develop the ability to speak their mother tongue.
- Lessons are scheduled with instructors through the Extension Division Office.
- Students may select lesson durations of 30–45 or 60 minutes
- Parents of young students should plan to attend private lessons. This is an important component of childhood music education


Thesis - Campus Access Only
Bachelor of Arts – Education
School or Department
Education – Elementary Education
Faculty Mentor Department
Disability and Equity in Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Health and Physical Education
Education has always played a role in society. As our society has grown more complex and topics, such as mental health or special education, become more taboo education is having to become more diverse in nature. Throughout the twentieth and now the twenty-first century, schools have been a public domain that students can receive services such as special education and extracurricular activities. With researchers more aware of the increase in mental health issues found in classrooms around the nation, another service is added to the plate of educators. How can we, as a society, continue to add programs that benefit students not only in health and well-being, but in academics as well? Are there educational programs that can aide in the successful implementation of services and academics?
Honors College Research Project
Hoggatt, Katrina E., "Mental Health and Public Education" (2016). Undergraduate Theses and Professional Papers. 119.
© Copyright 2016 Katrina E. Hoggatt


CHISHOLM, ARTHUR M., music teacher; b. 1856 in Great Village, N.S., eldest son of John William Chisholm, a farmer, and Rebecca Cassilda —; m. 31 May 1890 Jessie A. Lawson in Halifax, and they had a son and a daughter; d. there 21 Jan. 1902.
Arthur M. Chisholm suffered an accident in childhood which seriously damaged his eyes. The legend surrounding the incident is that, when he was having his eyes tested, “the Doctor being intoxicated, injected the wrong medication.” Despite his parents’ efforts to restore his vision, Chisholm subsequently became totally blind. At the age of 16 he entered the Halifax Asylum for the Blind. The only school in the Maritimes which provided education and training for near-blind and blind youths, the asylum had opened in 1871, thanks to a legacy from the merchant William Murdoch*. It taught pupils reading, writing, grammar, history, and other subjects and gave instruction in music and handicrafts. In the summer of 1879 Chisholm joined other pupils in a concert tour of Newfoundland and eastern Nova Scotia. The tour, one of several organized by the superintendent of the asylum, Charles Frederick Fraser*, to promote its work, was well received. A Truro newspaper commented that Chisholm’s performance on the piano was “a decided success, the pupils appearing to enjoy it as much as the audience.”
After his graduation the same year with a first-class diploma as an instructor of piano and organ, Chisholm taught in Halifax in order to pay for studies at a Berlin conservatory of music. In 1884 he travelled to Germany with his sister Emma, also a gifted musician, and Frank McLean, another graduate of the asylum. His playing “elicited the hearty e[n] iums” of his teachers “and was emphatically pronounced to be good.”
In 1886 Chisholm returned to Halifax and became a member of the music department of the School for the Blind, the former asylum. Fraser was anxious to maintain the reputation of the school “in the very front rank” of music education for the blind and to meet the competition from sighted music teachers, and Chisholm was an ideal choice as an instructor. He became head of the department in 1888 after Fraser withdrew from teaching, and he worked closely with Fraser and other teachers to develop the program, which featured instruction in piano- and organ-playing, notation, choral singing, and piano-tuning. In any year about 20 boys and girls were receiving lessons from Chisholm, who introduced new techniques in order to keep up with the times. Fraser praised him as “a most conscientious instructor,” and he built the department into a strong component of the school. He also apparently was organist for a brief period with First Baptist Church, which he and his wife attended. Chisholm remained at the school until he succumbed to heart disease in 1902. The school’s minutes described his enthusiasm as “an inspiration to his pupils” and lamented the loss of “a devoted and painstaking teacher.”
Halifax County Court of Probate (Halifax), Estate papers, no.5577. PANS, RG 14, ser.S, 162. Halifax Herald, 22 Jan. 1902: 4. Novascotian, 24 Jan. 1902: 7. D. W. Fogarty, “Education of the blind in the Atlantic provinces” (ma thesis, St Mary’s Univ., Halifax, 1960). Great Village history; commemorating the 40th anniversary of Great Village Women’s Institute, 1920–1960 ([Great Village, N.S.?, 1960]).


Look no further than Founding Fathers for supporting educationRoundup
tags: Education Founding Fathers
To quote Thomas Jefferson: ”If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
The Founding Fathers were unanimous on the subject of education and its vital role in assuring a truly democratic form of government. George Washington declared: ”The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail.”
Our country long has relied on and been devoted to its educational system as a source of public renewal. The first taxpayer-supported schools opened in Dorchester, Mass., in 1639. Over time, public schools replaced traditional family and church-schooled student bodies. By the mid-19th Century, elementary education had become compulsory and both private and public schools expanded. The first universities were set up as duplicates of Oxford and Cambridge in England, offering a limited liberal arts curriculum of Latin, mathematics, and philosophy.
From 1870 to 1930, college graduation rates grew from under 10,000 to over 120,000. Following World War II, the G.I. Bill helped to quadruple graduation rates from four-year colleges and propelled the U.S. into the post-atomic age. The Cold War, the growing civil rights movement, and the intensifying race to the moon continued to push educational needs to the forefront, and mentored an entire generation on the importance of knowledge.
I entered the first grade in 1965, the same year President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The law guaranteed federal funding to schools serving low-income populations measuring at least 40 percent of the student body. Initially targeted to improve resources and training to low-income schools, additional testing was also mandated in subsequent years as well as helping low-income school districts to invest in computer technology and operative curriculums. ...
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This just in from Mr. Matthias!
The Mathematics Department’s Engineering & Robotics I course introduces students to the fundamentals of the engineering process, robots and robotics sensors, and the computer programming skills required to make robots interact with the world.
This trimester’s students have learned how to make their robots move in a straight line for a specific distance and how to make their robots execute swing and point turns for a specific number of degrees. With these foundational skills under their belts, it is time for the students to show-off their knowledge and have their skills assessed!
In Engineering and Robotics I, major assessments rarely use traditional testing methods. Tests are called “Challenges” and present a three-dimensional environment in which the students’ robots must successfully negotiate a “test course” on the classroom’s Challenge Table. Challenges are scored based on how accurately the students’ robots accomplish their task on the Challenge Table and by the quality of the students’ computer programs.
Students are now working on the “Labyrinth Challenge” as their first major assessment. The Challenge’s goal is to have the robot move from the red start line (on the lower right) into the black and red goal box (upper center). Along the way, the robot must travel to each of the three red crosses. To achieve this goal requires the students’ robots to combine a series of highly accurate, straight-ahead movements with precise 90-degree point turns executed on each of the red crosses.
The following video shows the students practicing on the Challenge Table as they develop the computer programs.


Students who are taught reading comprehension strategies are more successful readers. While some students may eventually learn some of these strategies on their own, they can be taught quite effectively in the early elementary grades. Here are ten reading comprehension strategies from Ellin Keene’s book Assessing Comprehension Thinking Strategies to consider.
1. Think out loud. Good readers monitor their thinking while reading.
2. Use schema. Consciously connect the text to preexisting knowledge and experiences and consider how it helps their understanding of the text.
3. Inferring. Use experience and information from the text to draw conclusions, make connections, predictions, and form opinions.
4. Ask questions about the text before, during, and after reading.
5. Make decisions about what is important in the text (elements and themes). Be able to summarize the main points.
6. Set a purpose for reading to make it meaningful.
7. Monitor comprehension. Make sure students have strategies in place if they find the text too difficult.
8. Visualize what is being read. Make brain movies! Tune into the sensory and emotional images of the text to enhance the visualization. Use this information to help make inferences and draw conclusions.
9. Synthesizing and retelling. Keeping track of their impressions while reading and identifying the underlying meaning of the text. Connect the text to information from other sources. Extending that information beyond the text to form opinions and read critically.
10. Text structure. Understanding the elements of a story and how stories are put together helps students analyze and think critically about meaning.
Even learning just one or two of these metacognitive strategies has been shown to make a difference in reading performance. Which strategies do your students already use? Which ones will they learn next?