3rd Grade: Need for Teacher Assistance Beyond That Typically Provided in General Education 3rd Grade Classrooms for Language and Literacy Development by Former Preschool Special Education Services
The more integrated the preschool special education service, the less extra assistance was required from general education teachers on 3rd grade language and literacy tasks.
Students not classified until school age have needs for assistance very much like those of students formerly served in preschool special class programs.
|Related Services Only||SEIT Services Only||Related Services and SEIT||Special Class in Integrated Setting||Special Class Program||No Preschool Services|
|No Extra Assistance Required||0.49||0.38||0.17||0.31||0.25||0.25|
|Requires Periodic Assistance||0.29||0.38||0.49||0.31||0.24||0.26|
|Requires Frequent Assistance||0.11||0.23||0.29||0.27||0.34||0.29|
|Requires Continuous Assistance||0.12||0||0.06||0.11||0.17||0.2|
Preliminary summary of findings
Source: independent research by MGT of America, Inc.
NYSED VESID, DVJ
Oct. 3, 2007


The Effectiveness of Reading Intervention Programs and RTI Reading Interventions
Reading Intervention is a way to provide proven help to struggling readers. The earlier the intervention takes place the better, but students of any age can benefit from effective reading intervention programs. A great deal of research has been conducted to find the most effective types of reading intervention. While there has been evidence that several different approaches can be effective, the clear conclusion was that when the issues were a deficiency in decoding strategies and phonemic awareness, the prescribed remediation was explicit, sequential, multi-sensory phonics instruction.
There are a few consistent characteristics of successful reading interventions:
- Research based methods are employed
- Students receive individualized instruction
- Students are given sufficient practice
- Students are given guided reading practice in controlled and expository text
- Teachers receive explicit and continued training
- Ongoing assessment directs instruction
- Instruction is fast paced and students experience success early on
Click on of the links above to see how Reading Horizons meets these qualifications. Click here to go to detailed Response to Intervention (RTI interventions) information and see how Reading Horizons works in all three tiers.
Reading Intervention Programs Articles:
Effectiveness of Phonics for an Intensive Remedial Program
Research results of Reading Horizons used as an intensive remediation for a six week summer program. Learn more >


Can drawing — sound, honest representation of the world as the eye sees it, not tricks with the pencil or a few "effects" — be learned from a book? One of the most gifted draftsmen, who is also one of the greatest art critics and theorists of all time, answers that question with a decided "Yes." He is John Ruskin, the author of this book, a classic in art education as well as a highly effective text for the student and amateur today.
The work is in three parts, cast in the form of letters to a student, successively covering "First Practice," "Sketching from Nature," and "Colour and Composition." Starting with the bare fundamentals (what kind of drawing pen to buy; shading a square evenly), and using the extremely practical method of exercises which the student performs from the very first, Ruskin instructs, advises, guides, counsels, and anticipates problems with sensitivity. The exercises become more difficult, developing greater and greater skills until Ruskin feels his reader is ready for watercolors and finally composition, which he treats in detail as to the laws of principality, repetition, continuity, curvature, radiation, contrast, interchange, consistency, and harmony. All along the way, Ruskin explains, in plain, clear language, the artistic and craftsmanlike reasons
behind his practical advice — underlying which, of course, is Ruskin's brilliant philosophy of honest, naturally observed art which has so much affected our aesthetic.
Three full-page plates and 48 woodcuts and diagrams (the latter from drawings by the author) show the student what the text describes. An appendix devotes many pages to the art works which may be studied with profit.
Reprint from The Works of John Ruskin, the Library Edition, 1904.


MANILA, Philippines - In line with its efforts to include every learner in school whether they are able or differently-abled, the Department of Education (DepEd) is encouraging officials in public elementary and secondary schools to conduct activities to support the weeklong celebration of National Intellectual Disability Week.
With the theme "Developing Survival Skills Among Children with Intellectual Disabilities, the celebration- which runs from February 13 to 19 - is pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1485 entitled "National Mental Retardation Week" and part of the observance of the Philippine Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2003-2012) as outlined in Presidential Proclamation No. 240.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro, through DepEd Memorandum No. 14 series of 2012, released to all bureau and regional directors, schools division / city superintendents and heads of public elementary and secondary schools, encouraged all school officials especially those with Special Education (SPED) programs to conduct activities to support the celebration.
"We encourage institutionalizing day camp activities for children with intellectual disability for the development of skills towards survival and coping mechanisms of the present times," Luistro said in his memo.
Other suggested activities include conducting advocacy campaign in radio, television, and print media featuring children and youth with intellectual disability as child advocates; conducting dialogues with parents, service providers, and stakeholders relevant to the theme of the celebration; and conducting regional/division-wide trainings/conferences for parents, school administrators, and other government and non-government organizations (NGOs), and service providers to improve and enhance the quality of existing collaboration.
"We also encourage holding cultural shows, sports fest, photo and work exhibits, film showing featuring the latest educational interventions and other activities which will showcase the potential capabilities and youth with intellectual disabilities," Luistro said.
However, he reminded school officials that "all activities to be undertaken should not disrupt regular classes nor compromise their supervision." He added that "all activities that are community-based should be conducted during Saturdays and Sundays of the week."
Luistro said the DepEd National Capital Region (NCR) in coordination with the Special Education (SPED) Unit, Elementary Education Division (EED), SPED-BEE, the Philippine Association for the Retarded (PAR), Jaycees Capitol, Inc. (JCI)-Quezon City, Manila Water (MW) and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) will also sponsor the Annual Camp Pag-Ibig at Balara Filter Plant, Quezon City on February 18-19.


Texting has become so popular that many have taken to calling today’s teens “generation text” With the proliferation of technology you realize how important it is to explore the effect of cell phone texting on learner literacy.
Texting refers to the use of abbreviations and other techniques to craft messages sent through the cell phone. This form of writing known as “Txtspk” does not follow standard grammar or spelling conventions. It is popular because of the wide use of cell phones and instant messaging (IM). In some developed countries there are several million texts that are sent daily.
For many years educators and parents have blamed texting for two ills: the corruption of language and a degradation in spelling. Teachers are even complaining about textisms creeping into schoolwork. This has led many to wonder if it is possible that texting can have any positive influence on learners’ language development.
Before you write off texting as a corruption of this generation it is important to realize that many studies have found that teens through their texting, blogging and emailing are reading and writing more than any other generation. The bottom line is that texting is not going to go away; so it has become crucial to explore the opportunities for cell phone-assisted literacy development, as well as understand the risks. More research will have to be done to consider the full impact of texting and literacy.
A recent study explored the relationship in 10- to 12-year-old children between the use of textisms and school literacy attainment. The researchers found no association between overall textism use and the children’s spelling scores. However there was a strong association between textism use and phonological awareness (for example, “2nite” sounds the same as “tonight”). This is because although spelled incorrectly in a conventional sense, many textisms are phonologically acceptable forms of written English. There are decades of research that have demonstrated a consistent association between different forms of phonological awareness and reading attainment.
Further research supports that sending frequent texts can actually help children to read and write because of the abbreviations that are used. Text style requires learners to write economically, inventively and playfully which are all good practice when learning to read and write. Some English teachers have even gone as far as to ban cell phones and texting believing there is a place for texting in the classroom. Below are some examples that teachers are using to incorporate texting into their teaching and classrooms-
- Teachers are having students translate text-heavy pieces, (for example a MySpace page), into Standard English. Or they are doing the reverse by having students translate passages from classic literature into text speak.
- One English teacher has asked her students to summarize in the form of text passages from Richard III to demonstrate succinctly their comprehension of the material.
- Teachers are using text as a means to communicate with their students. This allows teachers to discuss content with their students in the formal writing assignments. Because learners are communicating through so many channels these days, there is a need to educate them about writing for a particular audience: school writing is different to casual chat.
- When writing first drafts some educators are allowing the quick, free-flowing style of texting to spark their learners’ thinking processes. The students will then switch to standard language during editing and revising.
- Texting is crossing over into math and applied sciences as well as teachers in those areas use formal math problems based on the send rate and receive rate of texts. This type of creative problem solving appeals to today’s heavy digital technology generation of teens.


No Child Left Behinds Early Reading First grant program supports preschools and early childhood education providers, especially those who serve children from low-income families, so that the children they serve will arrive at kindergarten with the foundational skills necessary to become successful readers. The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the Sun Current (Richfield, MN) highlighting how children are benefiting from an Early Reading First grant:
"Preschool-age children in Richfield have been attending a camp inside a school building. A spiders web, a stuffed squirrel and other touches help provide the illusion of a woodsy getaway for young children participating in the Early Reading First Project. The project is intended to provide early education to children from low-income families or with a limited background in English. The initiative is run by the Bloomington/Richfield Family Center through a three-year, $3 million federal grant related to the No Child Left Behind Act.
"The project is designed to get children to recognize words and the names of common objects through a variety of interactive experiences. The camp setting was preceded by an occupational focus in which the young participants played the roles of secretaries, doctors and other job positions. In doing so, they learned words related to those professions, said Kay Miller, coordinator of the Richfield/Bloomington Family Center and director of the project.
"The kids will pick up those words like sponges, she said. Theyre doing fun, meaningful activities, that are instructional as well. Several stations around a classroom focus on various, everyday events and activities. Teachers try to interest the preschoolers in the stations and elicit questions about what they see, Miller said.
"By hearing and seeing words, the children quickly come to associate the words with their objects, something that is especially important for children learning English, she said. A printing center focuses on the letters and written words themselves and encourages children to spell words on a wall. Everything is focused on reading or literacy Miller said. Books are everywhere. There are labels on all the items.
"Sixty Bloomington and 30 Richfield 4-year-olds attend sessions at two classrooms in Richfield and four in Bloomington weekdays for 6 1/2 hours per day. The endeavor began in January and will continue into August in its first year in Richfield and Bloomington. The children will begin kindergarten in the fall. In the second and third years of the program, both 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds will participate with many of those children participating for two years.
"The No Child Left Behind Act provided a grant for the project, one of 30 nationwide funded this year, in order to determine whether an intense and high-quality educational opportunity would help close achievement gaps among some disadvantaged segments of students, Miller said."
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Family literacy offers a more innovative and proactive approach to literacy development. We open new windows of opportunity so that all Alberta families achieve what they imagine—improved education, jobs, and health.
In 2015 over 13,000 individuals were served by our programs, services, and training!
Early interactions with your children, like sharing books, talking, singing, or playing, help lay the foundation for early language and literacy – essential skills for success.
Parents will find specially tailored and curated activities ranging from reading, recipes, rhymes and games specifically designed to build strong reading, writing and literacy skills in their child, and have FUN doing it!
Should we develop Flit for Android? Take the short survey here
. . . is at the heart of all learning and families have a key role to play in developing and nurturing literacy through every stage of life.
The late, the Honourable Dr. Lois Hole,
Lieutenant Governor of Alberta
It’s never too early!
Children who begin life in a learning environment are more likely to succeed in school and in life and parents are their first teachers. Our programs provide parents with the tools they need to support their children’s early language and literacy development.
It’s never too late!
We also support adult learners on their literacy journey, building on strengths and meeting the individual needs of the learners.


- Carmen and Dave E.
“My daughter is a very shy child, but just after attending one session with her Mom, I can see a big change in her. She is more confident. I would recommend these kind of programs for shy kids where their parents are present. It helps to encourage them to participate in different kinds of activities. Thanks.”
For more information, call
Literacy skills are learned before children start school and are the building blocks for lifelong learning.
The Region of Peel’s free Family Literacy Program is a series of nine workshops that will help parents learn how to support their child’s literacy development. Spend time as a family while you learn how to:
Family Literacy programs are offered in English, Mandarin, Punjabi and French.
Download the Region of Peel’s 15 Minutes of Family Literacy Fun Cards for tips and tricks to support literacy in your home:
We recognize and thank the Peel District School Board, the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board, Ontario Institute for Child Studies, Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest and Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud for their continued partnership in this project.


The characteristics of action research in music education.
British Journal of Music Education, 25, (3), . (doi:10.1017/S0265051708008115).
This review article discusses the use of action research in music education and its potential
for producing knowledge and improving practice. The discussion is situated in an analysis of
action research studies in music education. The review demonstrates that action research
in music education focuses on a wide variety of subject matter, integrates research and
action, is collaborative, grounded in a body of existing knowledge, and leads to powerful
learning for the participants. However, few action research projects are cyclical, deal with
aspects of social transformation, or broad historical, political or ideological contexts, and
there is little focus on reflexivity. The review suggests that, in order to undertake high-quality
action research, researchers need a good understanding of action research, a focused use of
research literature and a defensible position with regard to data analysis and the generation
of trustworthy findings.
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By Ginny Osewalt
Good readers are active readers. When your child has a hard time understanding what she reads, instruction can help. Here are some strategies to try.
Connecting what your child already knows while she reads sharpens her focus and deepens understanding. Show her how to make connections by sharing your own connections as you read aloud. Maybe the book mentions places you’ve been together on vacation. Talk about your memories of those places. Invite your child to have a turn. Remind your child that good readers make all kinds of connections as they read.
Asking questions will make your child want to look for clues in the text. Pose questions that will spark your child’s curiosity as you read aloud. Frequently ask her, “What are you wondering?” Jot down those “wonderings” and then see how they turn out. Remind your child that good readers challenge what they’re reading by asking questions.
Creating visual images brings the text alive. These “mind movies” make the story more memorable. You can help your child do this by reading aloud and describing the pictures you’re seeing in your own imagination. Use all five senses and emotions. Invite your child to share her “mind movies.” Notice how they’re different from yours. You might even ask your child to draw what’s in her imagination.
We “infer” by combining what we already know with clues from a story. For example, when we read, “Her eyes were red and her nose was runny,” we can infer that she has a cold or allergies. You can help your child with this reading skill by predicting what might happen in the story as you read aloud. Then invite your child to do the same.
Determining what’s important is central to reading. When you read a story with your child, you might download a “story element” organizer. You can use it to keep track of the main characters, where the story is taking place, and the problem and solution of the story. Nonfiction texts look different from fiction. They’re organized with features like the table of contents, headings, bold print, photos and the index.
Readers who monitor their own reading use strategies to help them when they don’t understand something. Teach your child how to “click and clunk.” Read together and ask her to hold up one finger when the reading is making sense (click) and two fingers when meaning breaks down (clunk). To repair the “clunks,” use these “fix-up” strategies:
Whether your child is having a positive or negative experience in school, it’s important to make the most of your parent-teacher conference. Here are tips to help you and the teacher work together toward success for your child at parent-teacher conferences.
Sometimes it’s not what you say but how you say it. If you want to effectively communicate with your child’s teacher, try these sentence starters.
Ginny Osewalt is a public school teacher in New Jersey, where she is certified both in elementary education and in special education.
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Trouble Writing? How to Use a Graphic Organizer
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Experts Weigh In: 6 School Tools That Can Help Kids With Learning and Attention Issues
If your child with ADHD needs sensory input to improve focus, using a fidget could help.
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One mom shares her experience of coping with multiple diagnoses.
Here’s what to do next to get the help you need.
Hear from Elijah Ditchendorf about his love of math and science, and his college scholarship.
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The Meaning Makers (2nd edition) Learning to Talk and Talking to Learn Author: Gordon Wells
- Paperback - 360 pages
- 18 Aug 2009
- Multilingual Matters
- 210 x 148 (A5)
Basket: 0 item(s) Total: £0.00
The Meaning Makers is about children’s language and literacy development at home and at school. Based on the Bristol Study, “Language at Home and at School,” which the author directed, it follows the development of a representative sample of children from their first words to the end of their primary schooling. It contains many examples of their experience of language in use, both spoken and written, recorded in naturally occurring settings in their homes and classrooms, and shows the active role that children play in their own development as they both make sense of the world around them and master the linguistic means for communicating about it. Additionally, this second edition also sets the findings of the original study in the context of recent research in the sociocultural tradition inspired by Vygotsky’s work and includes examples of effective teaching drawn from the author’s recent collaborative research with teachers.
In the first edition of The Meaning Makers, Gordon Wells used a wealth of observational data to demonstrate the importance of talk with adults for children’s learning and development. The book worked especially well because it included the voices of the children and adults in its many illustrative examples. This new edition not only links the original analysis to recent research and contemporary educational issues, but also provides fascinating insights into the changing perspectives of a researcher over the span of a highly productive, international career.
Neil Mercer, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge
Dr. Gordon Wells is currently Professor of Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he researches and teaches in the fields of: language, literacy, and learning; the analysis of classroom interaction; and sociocultural theory. As an educator, his particular interest is in fostering dialogic inquiry as an approach to learning and teaching at all levels, based on the work of Vygotsky and other sociocultural theorists. The rationale for this approach together with examples of it in practice are presented in Dialogic inquiry: Towards a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education (Cambridge University Press, 1999). From 1969 to 1984, he was the Director of the Bristol Study of Language Development at Home and at School, and from 1984 to 2000, he was a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where he was involved in several collaborative action research projects with educational practitioners in Canada. Chief among these was a project entitled “Developing Inquiring Communities in Education” (DICEP), which was funded by the Spencer Foundation. Books arising from this work are Constructing Knowledge Together (Heinemann, 1992), Changing Schools from Within (OISE Press and Heinemann, 1994), and Action, Talk and Text: Learning and Teaching through Inquiry, written with his DICEP teacher colleagues, (Teachers College Press, 2001). He is also co-editor of Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education (Blackwell, 2002).


Microdemocracy: Citizens Learn to Ask the Right Questions
The ability to ask good questions is essential for gaining access to public information. We need to democratize the teaching of the skill and make it available to people in low-income communities who come into direct contact with public agencies.
Microdemocracy is a new idea that ordinary encounters with public agencies are opportunities for individual citizens to “act democratically” and participate effectively in decisions that affect them.
The skill of question formulation is a foundational democratic skill that is not deliberately taught in most classrooms in the country. Our book, Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
(Harvard Education Press: 2011) has led to students in schools in low-income communities who are more engaged, take greater ownership of their learning and are learning more.
The same transformation takes place when adults who need to navigate complex public systems learn to ask their own questions and focus on key decisions. The Right Question Institute has developed a strategy that is being used in communities all around the country and beyond to help people learn how to advocate for themselves and hold decision-makers accountable. Gaining access to foundational skills for gathering information and taking action is essential for strengthening democracy on all levels.
What do we call it when people in low-income communities ask questions, participate in decisions and hold decision-makers accountable in their ordinary encounters with public and publicly-funded institutions such as their children’s public school, the welfare office, job training program, Medicaid-funded health care service, and public housing? We have no ‘democratic’ name for action at that level.
Democratic theorists may ignore the experiences there or simply call it ‘individual advocacy.” But, they are overlooking the importance of this terrain. We think we should expand our notion of where democratic action can occur. All those public sites are actually outposts of democracy that exist only because of decisions made further up the democratic decision-making chain. The outposts are already considered as public terrain. They could also become democratic terrain. But that depends on what happens there.
The Right Question Strategy
can change the dynamics of what happens in those encounters. As people learn to focus on decisions and ask their own questions, they begin to participate more effectively in decisions, partner with public servants and also hold decision-makers accountable. These are skills that the Right Question Strategy teaches as thinking and advocacy skills. But, they are also democratic skills and reflect democratic habits of mind. In a democracy, unlike in a dictatorship, citizens should be able to ask questions, participate in decisions that affect them and hold decision-makers accountable.
What is your project? [1 sentence max]
We will create and disseminate creative commons materials in various formats and media that can be used to teach the skill of question formulation in public and publicly-funded agencies and institutions that come into daily contact with residents of low-income communities (community health care centers, public schools, welfare offices, job training programs and adult literacy classes).
Where are you located?
Cambridge, MA, USA
How did you hear about the contest?


In the past week a suggestion has come forward that Hoosier schoolchildren should be educated in financial matters. Specific mention was given to loans, mortgages and credit cards.
Although the idea has merit, it is ironic coming from the Indiana General Assembly, that body of superior knowledge when it comes to finances. A basic course in economics, incorporating elements of personal and public finance, would be my recommendation.
How many members of our esteemed legislature understand the fundamentals of financing government when they first run for office? OK, they learn something over time, but their unelected fellow citizens remain ignorant.
We want our children, our citizens, to be able to manage their affairs well. That’s why legislators make these enlightened proposals. Yet, balancing a checkbook with a bank statement is nothing more than simple addition and subtraction.
What is more complex is the civic purpose of alternative financing methods; government is not a business.
What services should be provided by government? Which level of government: federal, state or local? At the same time we have to decide whether “provided” means operated and financed by government.
An ice rink can be owned by a local government, built and operated by a private company, and financed through bonds and fees paid for by households using the rink.
Our statewide debate over school finance is a good example of confusion about what we expect from our schools and how we think they should be financed and operated. Public financing and private operation is the voucher model, based on the belief that private operation is always more efficient and effective than public operation.
These are the issues that a course in economics should cover along with the concepts of borrowing that were not appreciated by the timid souls who put together our current state constitution.
Thus, we live in Indiana, where the state government may not go into debt, but its cities, towns, counties, school corporations, universities, etc. may and must borrow to be viable.
Equally important as teaching young people about credit card debt is teaching them about music and art. In truth, music and art education may be more important than teaching personal finance.
Desire and necessity, the emotional counterparts of demand and supply, will teach what one needs to know about credit cards. But music and art involve perceptions that must be cultivated.
Credit cards are just contemporary instruments of commerce. In less than a generation they may be discovered by children in attics as today they find rationing coupons.
Beethoven’s music has survived more than 200 years because its structure and beauty continue to delight the ear. Ancient works of art still command our attention because they have balance and precision we have learned to appreciate.
Side-by-side with the efforts to strengthen Indiana’s economy, we need to recognize the imperative of improving our cultural stimulation. For too long, we have been satisfied with pockets of elegance in coarse country clothing.
A grand symphony orchestra should not be struggling in Indianapolis. The sounds of great music should be heard throughout the state. This is a matter for the legislature to address through its education powers as well as its purse strings.
Just as we have a college credit on the income tax, valid cultural organizations should be granted similar positive treatment.
Morton Marcus is an economist, formerly with the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.


Around 250,000 four and five-year-olds starting school next year will have their readiness to start school measured by the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), but The Benevolent Society believes more must be been done to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous round.
“We know that one in five Australian children were found to be developmentally not ready for school in the last Census. This means that they lacked the social, emotional, language or communication skills to cope,” says Director of Professional Practice, Greg Antcliff.
“There is a lot that parents can do at home to support their children’s development, and it’s not just about helping them to learn their numbers and ABC’s.”
“Actually, the most important skills children need to learn to do well at school are to be able manage their own emotions and to have the social skills to form good relationships with teachers and other students.”
Using the expertise of its staff who work with children and families, The Benevolent Society has created easy to follow guidelines on School Readiness and helpful tips for parents on Preparing for School.
- For example, to cope socially and emotionally at school and be ready to learn children need to be able to:
- name and talk about what they are doing – this makes them interesting and predictable to other children
appropriately express their emotions and deal with conflict and frustration without hitting or hurting others
- cope with disappointment and learn to be happy at other’s success
- cooperate with care givers and children without temper tantrums
- seek out adults to help them cope with their emotions
Simple tips to help build your child’s social skills include:
- encourage participation in group games, support cooperative play and friendship building
- play games at home, like board games, to help teach children how to take turns
- teach your child introduction techniques so they are able to approach other people and confidently make friends.
"It’s vital we address this in Australia because one in five children are not developmentally ready for school, according to the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), so more than 50,000 children are likely to start behind,” says Greg Antcliff.
On current AEDC figures, about 9% of children starting school have poor social skills and low self confidence and nearly 8% are anxious, unhappy, aggressive or hyperactive. This means that up to 27,000 children start school each year unable to cope socially or emotionally.
But The Benevolent Society’s work in child care centres with the Partnerships in Early Childhood program shows that with the right kind of support these children can become resilient and thrive at school.
“Our work, especially with vulnerable children and families, focuses on strengthening the social and emotional skills of young children so that they are able to understand and control their own emotions; make friends easily; focus on learning, and communicate well with adults and other children,” says Greg Antcliff.
Children who miss out on support like this in the early years can find it difficult to learn and socialise. Australian and international research has established that early action improves education and employment outcomes and reduces future welfare dependency and crime.
“We keep measuring social and emotional vulnerability, but there’s no concerted effort to fund programs like this one which is effective at helping to reduce those vulnerabilities in children. The sensible approach would be to increase the use of programs like PIEC in areas of identified high vulnerability,” says Greg Antcliff.
“We urge the Productivity Commission into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning to consider the impact on our future prosperity of its recommendations. The Federal Government must make a long term commitment to the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education—specifically the provision of 15 hours of preschool access for all 4 year olds, and include more resources to help educators support emotional and social development for vulnerable children,” concluded Greg Antcliff.
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Our programs helped Toni learn, grow and bond with her daughter, Charlotte.


Why Choose Philosophy?
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the average person will change jobs 10 times between the ages of 18-38. Furthermore, it is widely held that by the time the average American retires, he or she will have changed careers between two and four times.
Philosophy does not prepare a person for a specific career the way a degree in social work or nursing might. Instead, philosophy is to other disciplines something like yoga or core training is to specific sports. Yoga and core training are very useful to athletes regardless of the specific sport for which they are training because they focus on the fundamental elements on which one needs to build if one is going to maximize one’s potential as an athlete: flexibility and good core strength. Similarly, philosophy focuses on the development of foundational skills that will be of great importance to a person regardless of the career that he or she chooses: critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing skills. These skills as well as the development of the ability to “think outside of the box” – to use a contemporary cliché – lie at the heart of the discipline of philosophy. While many other disciplines teach these skills indirectly, philosophy focuses on them directly (in the same way that yoga and core training classes try to isolate these areas).
Finally, courses in the philosophy department – perhaps with the exception of the introduction to philosophy class – tend to be very small and upper-level courses often have fewer than ten students. By the time a student graduates, he or she will usually have participated in one, if not more, independent study course with a professor. In short, as a philosophy major or minor you will receive substantial individual attention from faculty. This becomes even more important when it comes time for professors to write letters of recommendation, as they will know their students quite well.
What Do Philosophy Majors and Minors Do After Graduation?
- Law school
- Graduate school (in philosophy and many other disciplines)
- Any field or area or job where critical thinking and creative thinking are important, including:


Net.art and Net.pedagogy: Introducing Internet Art to the Digital Art Curriculum
Colman, Alison, Studies in Art Education
As digital media becomes integrated into the art curriculum, art educators have been encouraging students to use computers and other digital technologies for personal and collective self-expression. Because the learning curve can be steep for sophisticated computer graphics software and other digital technology, many art educators find it necessary to spend most of their instructional time acclimating students to the software environment. In addition, many secondary and college level art students feel that learning computer graphics would better enable them to find a job after graduation. As a result, the students' learning focus tends to be primarily pragmatic. This combination often leaves little time in the curriculum for the art educator to engage students in critically exploring digital technology and in introducing them to artists who examine the cultural and political implications of its use.
Nevertheless, I believe when it comes to teaching students about digital media, art educators have a responsibility to devise curricular and pedagogical goals that go beyond preparing students for future employment in market-driven jobs. I also believe this responsibility mirrors the critical responsibility artists have in developing visions of technology that present alternatives to those inspired by commerce. These beliefs led me to pursue a research project in which I could explore, in a classroom setting, the implications of this responsibility. The purpose of my study was to investigate pedagogical strategies that would encourage secondary students to think critically about their perceptions and use of the Internet, guide them in analyzing works of Internet art, and introduce them to using the Internet as an artistic medium.
Prior to the development of the World Wide Web, users perceived the Internet as an information repository, political forum, and community builder (Stallabrass, 2003). The Internet has since become increasingly commercialized, playing a major role in the rapid acceleration of the global economic system (Schiller, 1999). This commercialization has transformed the Web, as search engines and content providers enforce homogeneity and regulation as well as a uniformity of look. This look has been imposed by browsers and developed from another design convention: the graphic user interface. The result has been a standardization of web design elements, such as frames, banner advertising, animated GIFs, changing cursors and rollover effects (Johnson, 1997). Recent use of Java and Flash does little to enhance the participatory and interactive character of the Internet; instead, it increases its allure as spectacle (Stallabrass, 2003). A significant body of Internet art is instructive for critical pedagogy in that its creators openly repudiate and critique this commercialization, favoring technological experimentation, online interaction, dialogue, hypertext narrative, political involvement, and making strange the Web's established design conventions.
What is Internet Art?
There is an enormous amount of art reproduced on the Internet due to the computer's ability to replicate any reproductive medium. This "art on the 'Net" can be described as an image that has been created with another medium, scanned into the computer, and displayed on the Web. For instance, if someone creates an oil painting, photographs this painting, scans the photograph to create a digitized image and inserts this image into a webpage, this could be considered "art on the 'Net." "Art on the 'Net" treats the Internet as a virtual gallery where digitized artwork is "hung" and viewed by clicking on a hyperlink. Often the purpose of "art on the 'Net" is to publicize or sell physical works of art. One example of this is Bill Gates's purchase of the digital rights to artworks in assembling the collection of his company, Corbis, the world's largest image database (Schmiederer, 1998).
What differentiates Internet art from art on the 'Net is that it is created specifically with and for the online environment. …


- The need to promote your school
- How the media works
- How to put your school's good news in the media
- Organising an event to attract the media
- Other ways you can promote your involvement with Count On
- A press release
- Talking to the media in a crisis
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOKLET
This booklet has been produced to help primary, secondary schools and colleges promote their good news stories to the media. Too often the really good things that are happening in schools go completely unnoticed by the general public while education in general and schools in particular seem to be the subject of lurid, sensational and distorted headlines. This not only happens in the national press but can be a feature of local and regional press too. Whether you have had only limited dealings with journalists in the past or even none at all, this booklet will help you develop a confident approach to dealing with them and will help you to take more control of the news agenda that directly affects your school.
Its aim therefore is to help schools celebrate their achievements with children and parents, especially their mathematical achievements, to a wider public. But it also aims to help schools celebrate and give recognition to the hard work and achievements of its teachers and staff.
The booklet gives general but invaluable advice on how the media works, how best to approach it and work with it whatever your involvement with it may be. Within this it gives a wealth of practical examples, tips and advice on how to go about promoting your school in the most positive and effective way especially during the uniquely exciting Count On.
Count On aims to promote maths as accessible, relevant and enjoyable to everyone, not just children. It is the continuation project of Maths Year 2000, which finished in April 2001. Although it runs alongside and supports the Government‚s National Numeracy Strategy, Count On is a complementary campaign that aims to involve children and teenagers in discovering the fun and excitement of maths and adults in opportunities to improve their numeracy skills. It aims to create positive attitudes and a "lets-do-can-do" culture towards everyday maths with the whole community.
There are all sorts of activities planned for the year.
- A series of regional family oriented MathFests running in major centres with hundreds of smaller satellite events based in schools, colleges, libraries, museums and galleries;
- A terrific interactive website crammed with maths games and puzzles for children, resources and ideas for teachers and parents, a virtual maths museum and Maths Magnet magazines for Key Stages 1 and 2;
- regular e-mail newsletters to share ideas and billboard news of events;
- The Basic Skills Agency is helping adults to improve numeracy skills;
- The Office of National Statistics and the Royal Statistical Society are building on last year's Children's Census;
- Fantasy Football League are running a secondary schools competition;
- High street retailers are sponsoring in-store activities, games and software;
- Walkers and News International are re-launching maths "Books for Schools";
To provide a creative focus Maths Year 2000 was divided into six bi-monthly themes which you could use again in Count On. They are:
January: Maths on Time
March: Maths takes Shape
May: Maths at Work
July: Maths in Play
September: Maths and People
November: Maths and Money
To ensure Count On is a success we need the widest possible involvement: schools, colleges, libraries, museums, galleries, parent and voluntary groups, businesses, local education authorities and the media.
This is your opportunity to get involved and make a difference.


Benefits of public schools
Schools have opened all over the country. How can we evaluate public education’s impact? N.C. State University economist Mike Walden responds.
“And, of course, we’re focusing here … on elementary education: elementary and secondary, K-12. And folks in elementary and secondary education have been increasingly under pressure to justify the money they spend in terms of the benefit.
“So what are the benefits for example getting a high school degree? Well, economists who’ve looked at this say the benefits can be categorized into three groups: First of all, obviously getting a high school degree rather than dropping out of high school or having no degree gets you at least the potential for getting or having a better job.
“Jobs, of course, are very hard to get, but clearly if you don’t have formal training and education, it’s going to be even tougher. So, that’s one way you can measure the benefit in terms of the extra income that a typical high school graduate is expected to earn, as opposed to someone who did not finish high school.
“Second important impact, I think, of public education is in terms of reducing — potentially reducing — other public costs. Many studies have shown, for example, that an individual on average, getting a high school degree, as opposed to dropping out of high school, will down the road mean less cost for supporting their medical expenses, lower crime costs, and, for example, more involvement in the political system. And so you can put a dollar amount on those savings, and studies have found that those dollar amounts can be very, very substantial.
“The last point — last category — is the impact of good public schools on surrounding property values. People, of course, with children want their children to have a good education. Schools that deliver that are more valuable. And many, many studies have shown that in neighborhoods, localities, where the houses are in districts where there are very good schools, housing values are higher. And so property owners, in fact, will benefit.”Category: Economic Perspective


We guarantee that your students will read! We have partnered with the author and developor Sue Dickson, a well-known educator with 27 years of primary grade experience to bring your students the internationaly acclaimed program Sing, Spell, Read & Write.
Build fluent, independent readers through a unique 36-step learning-to-read curriculum built on carefully sequenced, systematic, and explicit phonics instruction. With over 25 years of proven classroom success, Sing, Spell, Read & Write uses music as the primary instructional vehicle. This fun and engaging reading program will have all of your students reading!
Students struggling with basic math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) will quickly learn how to count, write, and master all the basic math facts with this fun multi-sensory program! Musical Math is equally effective through individual instruction as with small group learning.
The skills necessary for college success are needed long before high school graduation.
Students entering high school rarely understand the long term significance of their academic performance over the next four years. College-bound freshmen need guidance in order to set realistic goals and create an effective plan of action for academic success.
Research shows that without the right organizational and study skills, many students lose the equivalent of one to two years of academic achievements that are crucial to succeeding and reaching future goals.
Regardless of each student’s current knowledge level, with the S.O.S skills program students will achieve overall improvement in setting goals, organization, note-taking, completion of assigned work, test preparation, reading and listening for understanding, and so much more.
This program is designed to coincide with regular classes. This program requires one 2-hour session a week for 4 weeks. Classes can be taught on-campus afterschool or on weekends for groups of 5-10 students. This program is also offered to students on an individual basis.
For many students an individualized approach is the best way to meet the specific needs of the learner when preparing for an SAT or ACT test. Parents only pay for the tutoring that the student really needs. We will provide a tutor specializing in one section (math, science, writing, or reading) of the test to prepare each student. The tutor will create a plan of action that includes subject review, practice tests, and test-taking tips and strategies. In preparing for College Entrance Exams the best resource is the diagnostic results from a previously administered test. Using the diagnostic results, or a newly completed sample test, our tutors can pinpoint the areas where the student needs the most improvement. A customized program will be designed based on the individual student and his/her specific needs.


In nineteenth-century Europe and North America, school music lessons were mostly designed to foster musical literacy by teaching children to sing at sight using different versions of "sol-fa" (based upon syllables) as an introduction to staff notation. Two key pioneers were Lowell Mason (1792–1872) under whose influence music was introduced into the schools of Boston as an integral subject in the curriculum in 1838, and John Hullah (1812–1884) who conducted a Singing School for Schoolmasters in London for the first time in 1841.
With the development of recording and broadcasting in the early years of the twentieth century, the notion of attentive listening gained a higher profile with the rise of the Music Appreciation movement and the work of Stewart MacPherson (1865–1941) and Francis Elliott Clarke (1860–1958). At about the same time the percussion or rhythm band became a regular feature of music in schools, characterized by a rather formal and prescriptive approach. In contrast was the work of Satis Coleman who experimented with creative music for children at the Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University. Simple instruments made by the children themselves were utilized alongside singing, movement, and spontaneous creative improvisation.
The trend towards hands-on, participatory approaches to the teaching of music is exemplified in the work of three key figures: Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950), Carl Orff (1895–1982) and Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967). Jaques-Dalcroze devised his system of eurhythmics in Switzerland, and presented his first training course for teachers in 1909. He integrated movement, improvisation, and solfège (the "fixed-doh" system) into music education. Dalcroze's ideas influenced Orff who co-founded a school with Dorothee Günther in Munich in 1924 where music teaching went hand in hand with movement teaching. Musically, students were encouraged to improvise and compose their own music, and to invent a number of unsophisticated musical instruments. The first edition of Orff-Schulwerk was published in 1935 and demonstrated Orff's conviction that through speech-rhythms and chants, songs and movements, children were able to discover and demonstrate musical concepts. Meanwhile in Hungary, it was Kodály's aim to build a music culture in schools using national and folk songs. There were three basic elements to his concept of initial musical training: sung folk tunes; movable sol-fa ; and simultaneous clapping and singing, or singing in parts.
In practice, the ideas and methods outlined are adapted, combined, and synthesized by present-day music teachers, whether they are working, for example, within the National Standards for Music Education in the USA (1994), or the National Curriculum in the UK (1992). But the adoption of these ideas should not be regarded as somehow natural or immutable, but rather the result of dialogue, and sometimes conflict, between those who hold widely differing conceptions concerning music and its meaning in children's lives, and how the musical experiences offered to children in schools can reinforce the fundamental aims–the fostering of musical literacy, performance skills, and musical values, along with the cultivation of attentive listening and creative expression–of a general music education.
Campbell, Patricia S. 1991. Lessons from the World: A Cross–Cultural Guide to Music Teaching. New York: Schirmer.
Coleman, Satis N. 1922. Creative Music for Children: A Plan of Training based on the Natural Evolution of Music including the Making and Playing of Instruments Dancing-Singing-Poetry. New York: G.B. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press.
Jaques-Dalcroze, Emile. 1967, 1921. Rhythm Music and Education. Woking: The Dalcroze Society.
Orff, Carl. 1978. The Schulwerk. New York: Schott Music Corp.
Rainbow, Bernard. 1989. Music in Educational Thought and Practice: A Survey from 800 BC. Aberystwyth, UK: Boethius Press.
Szönyi, Erzsébet. 1974. Kodály's Principles in Practice: An Approach to Music Education through the Kodály Method. Hungary: Corvina Press.


SRU researchers find involvement
key to early reading success
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Teachers who want their students to do well, need only find a way that makes them feel part of the learning, is the conclusion Jenna DePizzo, a Slippery Rock University elementary education and special education major from Cortland, Ohio, reached after conducting a seven-week research project.
DePizzo, working with Sherry Dupont, SRU associate professor of elementary education and early childhood development as her faculty adviser, devised an "action research" study as part of her required student-teaching assignment, to link music with literary skills.
The project was titled "How Can Song Influence Foundational Literacy Skills?," and was conduced with second graders at Musser Elementary, part of the Sharon [Pa.] School District.
"This was a project that literally elevated second-grader's vocabulary and comprehension abilities. They were impressively engaged in the singing activities every day," DuPont said.
"I knew there was a need to help increase the student's fluency and the rate at which they could read. I also knew they loved music, of all different genres, so I worked to put together a program that might link the two - and result in a better reading comprehension rate," DePizzo said. "And, I knew, for the most part, they did not like reading."
"At the same time I wanted to see if there was a connection between the music and the reading comprehension," she said.
"My overall plan was for a seven-week project. The first week I gave each of my 31 students a fluency pre-test and recorded their reading rate of words per minute that they were able to read to me. In weeks two through six, I incorporated songs, everything from Disney movies to Broadway, country and western and popular music. Each week we also focused on 25 different vocabulary words as part of the process," DePizzo said.
The seventh week was used for the post-research test, with the students again reading to DePizzo.
"It was clear, the students had benefitted tremendously," she said.
"Twenty-nine of my students showed positive gains in reading; only two students remained the same," she said. "The average gain was between zero, for the two students, and 61 words per minute and that is huge in a seven-week period."
On the word recognition test, students averaged recognition of eight additional words out of a possible 25, she said. "Some students showed a 98 percent increase in vocabulary development, giving the class an overall 32 percent average increase."
"It was clear to me the students truly enjoyed the project and that it was not too time consuming, since it was just incorporated into our other standard classroom activities. I realized the students enjoyed the learning, and that had a lot to do with the success of the program," she said."
"Previous research has shown there is a strong connection between music and cognitive growth. Not only does music engage both hemispheres of the brain, but it is also linked to children's awareness of speech sounds. Studies have also shown that students who are more aware of rhythm test higher in vocabulary, reading and spelling. This action research study investigated the influence of music on second grade students' skills in foundational literacy, specifically in the areas of fluency and vocabulary acquisition," she said.
DePizzo and DuPont presented their findings at Slippery Rock University's 2014 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Achievement.
DePizzo said she expects to someday incorporate the teaching plan in her own classroom.
DuPont said, that research is clear that students involved in the arts, of any form, have achieved higher in reading scores. She said DePizzo is one of the most creative and positive student teachers that she has worked with in 25 years. "DePizzo will absolute go on to touch the lives of thousands of children in her teaching career."


Do you enjoy working with young people? As a K–6 elementary teacher, you can play a key role in the intellectual and social development of children during a crucial period in their lives. By introducing them to the world of reading, writing, math, science, social studies, the arts, and other subjects, you can inspire them to become inquisitive, engaged lifelong learners.
The Indiana University Bachelor of Science (BS) in Elementary Education degree at IUPUC will prepare you to pursue certification and a general license to teach children in kindergarten through grade six.
- You will choose from five concentration areas under the Rules for Education Preparation and Accountability (REPA) program. Choosing a concentration area is similar to earning an academic minor.
- Before graduation, you’ll be prepared to complete the state licensure exam for a general K–6 license. You will receive your license, if you successfully complete the exam, after your degree has been conferred.
Whatever concentration you choose, IUPUC’s elementary education program will give you in-depth knowledge and insight into how children best think and learn. You will also have the skill to employ a range of methods for planning effective coursework and establishing a classroom environment that facilitates student success.
IUPUC’s elementary education program consists of three components.
- General Education Courses: These prerequisite courses must be completed for admission into the program. They build the foundational skills for professional education courses you will take during your final four semesters.
- Professional Education Coursework: These credits will be completed after you are admitted to IUPUC’s Teacher Education Program (TEP).
- Area of Concentration Coursework: You will select one of six concentration areas.
For complete details, download the document that best describes you:


"With the Internet exploding with information resources and tools for learning, teachers can be facilitators of information with a greater emphasis on explanation and critical thinking as opposed to the dissemination source. Formal learning systems have in some cases been slower to adopt this model, rightfully concerned with accuracy of material and consistency; yet with ever increasing numbers of individuals accessing information in learning environments, the necessity of these formal systems to adopt technological change is very clear."
Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection examines how students’ access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students’ learning experiences. Based on results from PISA 2012, the report discusses differences in access to and use of ICT – what are collectively known as the “digital divide” – that are related to students’ socio-economic status, gender, geographic location, and the school a child attends. The report highlights the importance of bolstering students’ ability to navigate through digital texts. It also examines the relationship among computer access in schools, computer use in classrooms, and performance in the PISA assessment. As the report makes clear, all students first need to be equipped with basic literacy and numeracy skills so that they can participate fully in the hyper-connected, digitised societies of the 21st century.
By Abhijit Bhaduri and Bill Fischer Changing mindsets begins with you! The only mind you can be sure of changing is your own, and the only way that you can demonstrate this mindset change is through your behaviors. If you aspire for your organization to be faster, more innovative, less afraid [...]
What effect do digital devices have on our digital brains? To uncover the influence on learning of using digital tablets for reading, the Coast Guard Leadership Development Center conducted an experiment to ascertain differences in recall and comprehension between tablet and paper readers.
This paper describes and updates the Propulsion Theory of Creative Contributions (Sternberg, 1999; Sternberg, J.C Kaufman, & Pretz, 2002). Theories of creative products need to be updated to reflect the new global world with such technological bounty
Nano-Professional Development: 20 Quick Courses For Teachers by TeachThought Staff Professional development can come from a variety of sources–conversation, books, blogs, social media, YouTube, and more–courses, for example.
We’ve talked about gamification quite a bit, which is different than game-based learning, if you’ll recall. (The definition of gamification is the application of game-like mechanics to non-game entities to encourage a specific behavior.
We talk a lot about the social and emotional skills here at Wyman. Ask yourself these questions to see how well you do in regards to short-term self-regulation: It’s hard for me to notice when I’ve ―had enough (sweets, food, etc.). When I’m sad, I can usually start doing something that will
Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.
How to integrate my topics' content to my website?
Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.
Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.


Discussion in 'Elementary Education Archives' started by TeachRight, Mar 13, 2006.
Mar 13, 2006
What kinds of charts should if display for my poetry unit?
Are they written on sentence strips? if so use a pocket chart.
I use good old Printshop and then enlarge my poems when printing. Then I cut, paste together and laminate to create a large copy of a poem that I can reuse.
One year I also punch holes and used rings to create large poems to be used on flip chart.
hmm...I hope this helps. If you have questions just pm me!
Mar 14, 2006
you could have the rhythms for cincuain and haiku
Separate names with a comma.


AJEC Vol. 35 No. 3 September 2010
In this issue:
- Family day care is for normal kids: Facilitators and barriers to the inclusion of children with disabilities in family day care
- Findings from an evaluation of an intervention targeting Australian parents of young children with attachment issues: The ‘Through the looking glass’ project
- Exploring transition through collective biographical memory work: Considerations for parents and teachers in early childhood education
- What will my teacher be like? Picture storybooks about starting school
- Early childhood teachers’ understandings of and provision for quality
- Curriculum implementation: Decisions of early childhood teachers
- Early childhood professionals as a source of social support: The role of parent–professional communication
- Culturally strong childcare programs for Indigenous children, families and communities
- Promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing in childcare centres within low socioeconomic areas: Strategies, facilitators and challenges
- The Effects of the Art Education Program on Drawing Skills of Six-Year-Old Gifted Children in the High Socio-Economic Status in Turkey
- Constructing leadership in child care: Epistemological beliefs and transformational leadership
- Influences of the family and childcare food environments on preschoolers’ healthy eating
- What does being an early childhood ‘teacher’ mean in tomorrow’s world of children and family services?
- Gender and leadership styles in children’s play
- Exploring engagement at ArtPlay: What factors influence the engagement of children and families in an artist-led community-based workshop?
- ‘I want to play when I go to school’: Children’s views on the transition to school from kindergarten.


born to a slave father and free mother near Berlin, Maryland
Composer of many Christian Hymns including "We Shall Overcome"
which became the anthem for Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's
Known as the Father of Gospel Music.
Charles A. Tindley was born in the Town of
Berlin, in Worcester County on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore on July 7,
1851. He was born on the Joseph Brindell farm where his father was a
slave and his mother was free born. His mother died when he was
young and he was raised by his sister until he was old enough to be hired
out for work. He worked along side slaves, though he was free and
his free status was recognized.
He had no formal elementary education and taught himself to read and
write. Eventually he worked as a janitor to put himself through
night school while simultaneously earning a Divinity Degree via a
correspondence course. In 1902 he became a pastor at the very church
where he formerly served as a janitor. It had 130 members when he
took it over. The congregation grew to about 10,000 members under
Charles and included both Blacks and Whites.
Charles was a powerful preacher, a superior pastor (known as "the
people's pastor") and a pioneering song writer. His soulful
lyrics, rooted in the depth of feeling that rises from an oppressed
people, chanted love - not hate, patience and tolerance - not revenge or
retaliation. One of his hymns, "I Shall Overcome" was
modified and became the now famous "We Shall Overcome" which
served as the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and is
widely sung in Christian Churches all over the world..
Charles Tindley's hymns still appear in hymnals and songbooks used by
all Christian Denominations. Technically, he was a musical
illiterate. Evidently, he dictated the tunes and lyrics to a
transcriber. He noted for writing over 30 hymns and is often
referred to as the "Father of Gospel Music."


Making a difference : 10 essential steps to building a preK-3 system
- Linda Sullivan-Dudzic, Donna K. Gearns, Kelli Leavell ; foreword by Ruby Takanishi.
- Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin, c2010.
- Physical description
- xvi, 162 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Education Library (Cubberley)
|LB1139.23 .S85 2010||Unknown|
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-155) and index.
- Foreword by Ruby Takanishi Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Step 1. Establishing Need and Common Interests Connecting to Your Preschool Community Connecting the Early Childhood Community and K-12 Public School Establishing the Need and Prioritizing Your Efforts PreK-3 Your First Early Childhood and K-3 Meeting Step 2. Locate and Connect With Your Early Childhood Learning Environments Locating Your Community Preschool Partners Identifying and Locating Key People in Your School District Planning for Your "Kick off" PreK-3d Meeting Step 3. Develop a Leadership Group Your Leadership Group Vision Plus Action Quality Preschool Step 4. High Quality Professional Development How to Provide Professional Development Aligned to Your Goals Target Professional Development to the Needs of Your Community Establish Your Professional Development System Information to Refine Your Work and Strive for Excellence Step 5. Connect and Align Quality PreK to Kindergarten Connect Your Community Preschool and Kindergarten Programs Develop an Assessment and Information Loop Align Curriculum and Instructional Practices Step 6. Maximize the Benefits of Full-Day Kindergarten Advantages National Trends How to Design a Full-day Kindergarten Developing a Planning and Implementation Team Developing Goals for the Program Using Research to Drive the Process Core Curriculum Selection Process for Your Kindergarten (PreK-3rd Grade) System Low-to-No-Cost Options Developing Daily Schedule Expectations Data Sharing "Friendly Accountability" Step 7. Align and Connect Full-Day Kindergarten With Grades 1-3 Connect Your FDK to Grades 1-3 Align Your K-3 Standards Align Your Assessment and Information Loop Align Curriculum and Instructional Practices That Support Children's Learning and Development K-3 (PreK-3rd) Tiered Systems Connect and Align Resources to Focus on Your Goals Step 8. Conquer the Fade Out Teach the Conventional Reading Skills That Are Developed Birth to Age 5 Horizontal Alignment Vertical Alignment Temporal Alignment Step 9. Create a Sustainable System of Support Broad Base Support and Financing Your Goals Celebrate and Publicize Your Efforts Continuous Engagement Step 10. Review, Revise, and Extend Next Step: Looking Ahead and Planning Review Your Goals Are We Making a Significant Difference? Your Leadership Group (ECCE Group) Looking Ahead References Resource A: Books and Web Sites Resource B: Steps for Your First Leadership Meeting Resource C: Leadership Guide Resource D: Curriculum Adoption Form Resource E: Glow and Grow Self-Reflection Form Resource F: Look Fors in Early Childhood Programs Resource G: Four Key Components to Sustainability Guide Index.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Publisher's Summary
- The national push for early learning is no longer about preschool alone, but rather about strategic planning to increase achievement by working with communities to establish a strong Key Stages 1 and 2 foundation. This book provides the essential steps for carrying out this important work, including how to reach out to community early childhood education providers to establish quality instruction and build bridges to Key Stages 1 and 2. Drawing on their success in building a PreK - 3 system in the Bremerton, WA school district and their work with schools across the USA, the authors provide education professionals with a field-tested, step-by-step road map that can be adapted for your own community and school district. Essential topics in this book include: identifying the needs of families and children; aligning resources, curriculum, instruction, and assessment; establishing key players; training staff; developing a plan for implementation; instituting professional learning communities; anticipating potential challenges; and celebrating successes. This book shows head teachers and early childhood professionals, as well as county officials, Education Officers, Head Start programmes, and Title I directors, how to provide all children with access to high-quality educational experiences in and before Reception and link early childhood standards and goals to the Key Stages 1 and 2 systems.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Early childhood education.
- Publication date
- 9781412974233 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 1412974232 (pbk. : alk. paper)
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Ofsted said history suffered in many primary schools because of weak subject knowledge among staff and the use of “disconnected topics” in lessons.
At secondary level, growing numbers of pupils are now exposed to just two years of compulsory history classes instead of the recommended three.
In a damning conclusion, the watchdog warned that England was the only country in Europe where schoolchildren were allowed to stop studying history at the age of 13.
In all, more than 100 state schools also failed to enter a single candidate for the subject at GCSE, it was revealed, a 25 per cent increase in just 12 months.
The disclosures follow claims from the Coalition that children are growing up ignorant of British history, with lessons for many pupils consisting of little more than a “cursory run through” of Henry VIII and Hitler before most pupils abandoned it altogether.
The Government has now launched a review of the National Curriculum in a move that is likely to specify the key dates, events and historical figures that all pupils should learn.
Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, said: "It is worrying that Ofsted finds that many pupils lack a chronological understanding of history and are unable to make links between events.
“It is also a concern that secondary schools are squeezing history out of the curriculum or into general humanities courses.
“The facts, dates and narrative of history cannot be learnt in disparate chunks - without them we cannot compare, interpret or evaluate the past or draw lessons from them.”
The report, History For All, was based on inspections of 166 primary and secondary schools in England over a three year period.
History teaching was good in around three-quarters of primary schools, Ofsted said, but teachers “found it difficult to establish a clear mental map of the past for pupils”.
It said weaknesses were down to a lack of teachers’ expertise in the subject combined with poor National Curriculum specifications that treated topics in a “disconnected way”.
The report told of one primary school curriculum that skipped from the Romans and Ancient Egypt to the Tudors and then the Victorians in subsequent years.
Similar weaknesses were identified in secondary schools.
Currently, history is compulsory during Key Stage 3 – traditionally from the age of 11 to 14. But many schools now squeeze this stage into just two years to allow pupils to start GCSEs earlier.
It found that one-in-five secondaries allowed pupils to give up history early or combined history and geography into generic “humanities” lessons.
Although the subject remained popular at GCSE level, growing numbers of schools now failed to offer it beyond the age of 14 at all, the watchdog suggested.
Just 20 per cent of pupils in the Government’s flagship academies took history at GCSE compared with almost half of privately-educated teenagers.
"In England, history is currently not compulsory for students beyond the age of 14 and those in schools offering a two-year Key Stage 3 course can stop studying history at the age of 13,” Ofsted said.
"England is unique in Europe in this respect. In almost all the countries of the European Union, it is compulsory to study history in some form in school until at least the ages of 15 or 16."


Precursor: Pasted somewhere in your family album is a visual collection of white shirts and khaki pants. Well maybe the shirts are black and the pants are denim, but the optical philosophy persists. Your family is dressed in uniform, making it simple to identify the confederate members. While there’s nothing distasteful with this strategy, particularly when extended groups are involved, perhaps you long for something unexpected, maybe you’ve nibbled at accented neturals (ie black and white with dashes of red). The following post is intended to present a feast of fresh photographic possibilities.
The Allen family is led by an artistic matriarch who carefully orchestrated a harmonious yet unexpected color scheme for her Autumnal family photo. While she is collegiately papered in chromatic proficiency, the rest of us can benefit from a crash course in color theory.
First the Color Wheel
Our primary colors, as learned in our elementary education, are red, yellow, and blue. Every other color on the wheel is born from a combination of these hues.
The first generation of genesis are secondary colors. When two primary colors are combined, a secondary color dawns. The next lineage of colors is tertiary, created by mixing a primary and secondary color.
Finally, it is relevant to register the left side of the wheel as cool and the right side of the wheel as warm.
Now, on to our harmonies:
In the preceding specimen, the entire ensemble sprouts from the same red-violet base. Monochromatic harmonies are clean and elegant. To keep them interesting combine textures as well as tints (hues created by adding white), shades (hues created by adding black), and tones (hues created by adding gray). For example, combining the opulent velvet magenta shade with the gauzy rose tint.
The pointed pair above illustrates a soothing analogous color harmony. The scheme shares a common violet core but introduces variation by mixing more blue on one side and red on the other. Not only does this combination cross hues, but it also bridges the warm/cool boundary which further enriches the effect.
This intrinsically attention absorbing harmony adds natural vibrancy. When used judiciously it can add energy and interest. Desaturating one component (the blue in this sample) allows the opposing golden orange to dominate and shine. Using tints, shades, and tones as well as secondary and tertiary color combinations also keeps the scheme from appearing trite (ie a primary red again a secondary green Christmas combination).
The harmony visualized in the foreground of the image (left-front daughter in blue-violet + right-front baby in red-orange + emerald green grass) provides high contrast without the strong tension of a straight complementary scheme.
And let’s just acknowledge here and now for all you smarty britches, that this citation is not a perfect split complementary. The color compound should include red-violet instead of true violet, but I like it and as the owner/writer of this blog, I say, “close enough.”)
This harmony illustrated by the upper tier of image representatives (son in blue green scarf and yellow-orange plaid + daughter in red-violet jacket) offers rich contrast while retaining optical balance. The trio is not as visually demanding as the complementary scheme, but it shines in balance and interest.
The dominant colors within the image form a harmonious tetrad. The varying shades of red violet shine against the yellow-green grass. The blues and oranges conflict just enough to create dynamic interest. And as a whole they balance each other beautifully.


By Maria Edmundson, Assistant Director
As a play made up of 25 monologues compiled into two variations — “Stars” and “Stripes” — Our War required a unique rehearsal structure. After an initial read and table work with the whole cast, director Anita Maynard-Losh, met with the actors, one-on-one, to work through each piece. We moved on to ensemble building, staging and technical rehearsals, but in the midst of these steps, we kept returning to these individual meetings to continue to discover and deepen each monologue in the play.
Performing a monologue can seem deceptively simple. There are no other characters interjecting dialogue, no moving parts, no fight scenes or songs. But there is also nothing to hide behind. A monologue exposes to the audience the structure of the text and the foundational skills of the actor. During the tête–à–têtes, we methodically asked the questions central of each piece:
- What does the character want?
- Where is the character?
- Who is the character talking to?
- Why is the character telling this story?
Since the audience has only a few minutes to get to know each character, the actors had to make clear decisions and hone the story of each monologue. The actors explored how each of the characters walk, talk and think. Playing multiple characters every night gives the actors the opportunity to make bold transformations.
The structure also impacts the shape of the performance. Once the story of each monologue is clear, we have to figure out how to unify those disparate voices into one piece of theater. Part of this process is choosing conventions on the piece. All of the actors are on stage for the whole show, creating tableaux that support the individual pieces. Much of this unification is also done through technical elements — the style and color of the costumes, the shape and quality of the light, and the framing of each scene with projections of its author and title.
We hope to leave the audience with a polyphony that tells a story about America. What would your monologue be?
(Photo: Sara Waisanen (standing), Tuyet Pham, Ricardo Frederick Evans and Lynette Rathnam (sitting) of Our War. Photo by Teresa Wood.)


This report draws upon a wide range of published and unpublished statistical materials to present an overview of the educational status of girls and women in the United States. Trends in Educational Equity for Girls & Women contains a selection of indicators that illustrate the educational gains made by females in recent years as well as areas where gaps continue to exist. This statistical report assembles a series of indicators that examine the extent to which males and females have access to the same educational opportunities, avail themselves equally of these opportunities, perform at similar levels throughout schooling, succeed at similar rates, and reap the same benefits from their educational experiences.
This report serves as an update of an earlier publication, Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women (NCES 2000-030). General topics covered by this report are similar to those addressed in the 2000 report. Many indicators that were included in the 2000 report have been updated with the most recent data available. In addition, a number of new indicators have been added, designed to reflect the most current research on topics relevant to educational equity.
The report begins with an overview that summarizes the report's major findings. A series of 38 indicators follow, which examine various facets of educational equity. The indicators begin with preprimary and early elementary education, move through elementary and secondary education and postsecondary education, and finally, consider educational outcomes. Each indicator shows the status of females relative to males. Some indicators include further breakdowns, such as those by race/ethnicity; however, the general focus of this report is on overall comparisons between males and females and not on the experiences of various subgroups, which may show different patterns. The data for the indicators are drawn primarily from surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), although several other sources of national and international data are used as well. Although these indicators provide valuable information on many aspects of educational equity, some important topics cannot be addressed with available, nationally representative data. Examples of such topics include the extent to which sexual harassment undermines the ability of schools to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment and whether girls and young women are encouraged to challenge themselves in their educational pursuits, especially in mathematics and science.
The data presented in this publication demonstrate that in elementary and secondary school and in college, females are now doing as well as or better than males on many indicators of achievement and educational attainment, and that large gaps that once existed between males and females have been eliminated in most cases and have significantly decreased in other cases. Women are still underrepresented in some fields of study, as well as more generally in doctoral and first-professional degree programs, although they have made substantial gains in the past 30 years. These differences may have labor market consequences.


Numeracy Skills resources
Handling your emotions
Studying mathematics as an adult can be a daunting (or even terrifying!) task. Not only do you need to make progress in your studies, you also may need to handle your negative emotions towards the subject as they can hinder you from achieving your full potential. The purpose of this leaflet is to give you some ideas and techniques that might help you to handle your emotions better when learning and doing mathematics.
Mathematical Symbols and Abbreviations
This leaflet provides information on symbols and notation commonly used in mathematics. It shows the meaning of a symbol and, where necessary, an example and an indication of how the symbol would be said. For further information from mathcentre resources, a search phrase is given. This Quick Reference leaflet is contributed to the mathcentre Community Project by Janette Matthews and reviewed by Tony Croft, University of Loughborough.
Computer-aided assessment of maths, stats and numeracy from GCSE to undergraduate level 2. These resources have been made available under a Creative Common licence by Martin Greenhow and Abdulrahman Kamavi, Brunel University.


Healthy, Educated & Productive
Starting with the overarching objective of a healthy, educated, and productive population that is competitive in the global marketplace, what should be done? Let’s work through this piece by piece.
Start with healthy. We are facing an epidemic of chronic disease, driven in part by an epidemic of obesity. The eventual financial costs of diabetes and all its complications, e.g., heart disease, will be enormous. The human costs in terms of lost quality of life will also be daunting.
The most important thing in stemming this epidemic is quite straightforward, at least on the surface. People have to consume fewer calories and/or burn more calories via activity. Better quality food and smaller portion sizes would help on the consumption side of things. More physical education in schools, as well as by employers, would help the burning of calories.
One of the problems, however, it that junk food, much of which is corn based, is subsidized by the government via farm price supports. So we have created a food ecosystem where the government invests in the creation of foods that people should not be eating. However, for poorer people, this food is the best deal in terms of calories per dollar, so they buy it. We need the government to subsidize broccoli and carrots, not corn.
Next, let’s consider education. We need literacy and numeracy skills to be increasing, not decreasing. We need people to understand and be competent with technologies and computers. The key is making K-12 education motivating and even fun. Problem based learning could help tremendously. Perhaps we should eliminate closed-book exams and instead focus on problems and cases that require literacy and numeracy. A nation of problem solvers will be much more competitive than a nation of memorizers.
Finally, let’s address productivity. In general, the private sector invests in employees’ productivity via training, education, and technology. The more output per hour or dollar, the more people are paid. (Unless, of course, healthcare costs are consuming these gains.) We need tax policies that encourage employers to make these investments in our healthy and educated problem solvers who can help companies innovate and compete.
So, for health, we need resources focused on prevention and wellness, as well as chronic disease management to deter disease progression. We need resources for education focused on creating a nation of literate, numerate problem solvers. And, we need tax policies that motivate employers to invest in their productivity.


SchoolArts is a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.
Issue link: http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/i/271882
All Levels Continued on page 51. scanned painting or photographed statue, a three-dimensional sculp- ture with accompanying music . . . or just about anything. 2. The artwork triggers a video inter- view with the artist. When you view it through your tablet or smart phone a video appears of the artist explaining the process used to cre- ate the artwork. 3. Part of the artwork triggers an overlay of the rest of the artwork to complete the piece. Or, perhaps you happen upon a piece of artwork that looks unfin- ished. As you are looking at it through your tablet or smart phone, the rest of it is downloaded to your screen. You are now looking at a true mixed- methods piece of artwork, consist- ing of what exists in real life and Creating a Virtual Art Gallery Here are just three ways that ARt could be used in the development of a virtual art gallery: 1. A title triggers the artwork to appear. Imagine wandering around a conference hotel and coming upon a blank spot on a wall that is identified by nothing more than the kind of name plate you would see accompanying a painting in an art gallery. But when you view the nameplate using your tablet or smart phone, up comes an overlay of the student artwork on your screen, which appears with the title. The artwork can be a video, a A ugmented Reality Art (ARt) is artwork that combines what is on the gallery wall with what you are view- ing on your mobile device. In ARt, I see the potential for a new art form, as well as a tool that can be used in incredible ways across all content areas—from art to science to health. Basically, ARt works like this: You define a visual image as your trigger. This could be any visually distinct object in real life—a phone, a sign, a painting on the wall . . . just about anything. Using ARt software—in our case a free app called Aurasma—your iPad sees the object, then calls up (triggers) something else to appear on your screen, called an overlay. You are now looking at the real-life object and the overlay blended together to create an augmented reality. As the creative process evolves, we realize that new media can actually facilitate new content and let us imagine new ways to make media, create art, tell stories, and be creative Cara Heitz, 2012 Alaska Teacher of the Year, views ARt through her iPad at the 2013 Alaska Society for Technology in Education Conference in Anchorage. The piece she is viewing is titled Buffalo, created by elementary student Jaida, for Ginger Christensen's Art Club at Butte Elementary School in Palmer, Alaska. Jason Ohler Augmented Reality ART 40 April 2014 SchoolArts B_pages_4_14.indd 40 2/20/14 3:07 PM


PHONICS VS. PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
A reader sent us these questions about phonics and phonological awareness:
What is phonics? Is it not sounding out words? How does this differ from phonological awareness?
I get this question frequently. First, let me define phonics:
Phonics is the method of teaching beginning readers to connect the sounds of spoken language with letters or a group of letters and yes, part of phonics instruction involves the teaching of children to blend the sounds of letters together to form words (technically referred to as decoding skills).
Phonics instruction typically starts with letters first and children are taught the sounds that those letters "stand for" or "make".
It is NOT the same thing as phonological awareness. The terms are not interchangeable.
Phonological Awareness is the awareness of sounds only! It is void of print. No letters are introduced, no sound to symbol correspondence is taught.
I like to use the following example.
Phonics involves the eyes AND ears. Phonological awareness involves just the ears. You can have phonological awareness without phonics but you cannot have phonics without phonological awareness.
Phonological awareness skills are prerequisite skills for phonics!
Katie and I both think it is best to start with teaching sounds first; teaching children to hear, identify and manipulate the sounds in our language. Of course, the sooner you can establish the Alphabetic Principle the better but good phonological awareness skills help children to make sound letter connections more readily.
Skilled reading teachers can explicitly teach both phonological awareness and phonics skills (alphabetic principle) almost simultaneously in their instruction.
Thanks for the questions. Hope this information helps.


Drawing On Science For Kids
Plants and animals have developed many ways to use light energy for their survival. The EMS is composed of wavelengths of energy from low radio waves to high gamma waves. Light is a very small part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS). Light energy is visible to animals having photoreceptors (photo=light, receptor=receiver). Light is also used by specialized cells in green plants.
In unicellular (uni=one) organisms such as Euglena, special regions in the cell are able to detect light to which the organism responds. The organism will either move toward the light or away from the light depending on its preference. Green plants such as Maple trees have chloroplasts containing the light-sensitive chemical, chlorophyll, which uses the light energy for the production of food. Multicellular (multi=many) organisms have evolved two types of photoreceptors called eyes: compound eyes and camera eyes.
Insects have compound eyes consisting of many lenses and light-sensitive cells. Compound eyes can detect light and movement. That cute insect called a dragonfly has eyes which consist of some 30,000 lenses and light sensitive cells. Dragonflies can see 360o around them, they can distinguish color, and can spot a mosquito flying many feet away. You and your mammal friends, on the other hand, have camera type eyes. A camera basically has a lens, a diaphragm controlling an opening to allow light in, and film on which an image is captured (Digital cameras do not have film. Instead the image is captured by a charge coupled-device or CCD. A CCD is a light-sensitive thing that captures an image electronically.)
Your eye is globe-shaped with a protective outer covering called the sclera. The front part of the sclera, called the cornea, is transparent and is slightly bulged. Just inside the sclera is a dark-colored tissue, the choroid. This tissue supplies blood to the eye. The choroid has a thickened region called the ciliary body and a ring of tissue, the iris, in front of it. In the center of the iris is the pupil. Just behind the pupil and attached to the ciliary body is the lens.
The ciliary body and the lens divide the eye into two chambers. The forward chamber is filled with a watery substance called the aqueous humor. The rear chamber is filled with a jelly-like substance called the vitreous humor. Covering the inner surface of the choroid in the back of the eye is the retina. The retina is composed of two types of cells: rod cells and cone cells. Rods are found along the outer rim of the retina and are very sensitive to light, but not to color. They produce blurry images. Cones are found in the middle of the retina. Cones are sensitive to color and produce a clearer, sharper image than rods. Rods and cones combine to form the optic nerve, which leads into your brain's visual centers.
A camera's diaphragm controls the amount of light that enters the camera by controlling the size of the opening. When an image passes through its lens the image is turned upside down, so the film (or CCD) receives the upside down image as is. Your eye works the same way. Your eye's iris controls the pupil's size. Contracting the pupil lets in less light while dilating (opening) the pupil allows in more light. Your retina also receives an image upside down. So how come you see things right side up? Well, when the image is transported though the optic nerve to your brain, your brain turns the image right-side up.