Well another school year is ending, and I can happily say I actually can't wait for it to end this year after being so busy subbing!  There is a possibility I will be teaching summer school this year, which would be a great opportunity to network with other teachers as well have my own class even for a short period of time.

As you've probably noticed, I now have clipmarks at the top of my blog.  Clipmarks are bits of webpages, articles, photos, etc. that I found interesting.  Since I don't always have time to talk about them [or rant], clipmarking them is an easy way for me to save what I found interesting.  You can view my clips by clicking the links.  Hopefully I will also leave a comment about my clips, but sometimes I do forget.  Please share your thoughts about my clips!

Hope you are enjoying the last week(s) of school!
K

Happy PI (3.14) Day!

It's been quite awhile since I last posted as I have been very busy substituting in different classrooms and different schools!  All the moving from class to class, school to school, etc. is definitely sapping my memory!

Here's a new education related article copied from Yahoo news/Reuters [for safe keeping only] which talks about how our confidence in mathematics can influence our performance.  I definitely agree with its findings, and don't hesitate to suggest that it also is true when it comes to reading and writing as well!  Confidence means a lot to performance- there is always some luck and solid knowledge behind everything as well-, but one doesn't think they will succeed at something, all the luck and knowledge in the world might not help them complete the task. 

As teachers, we need to be mindful of the state of mind our students are in- if we get them believing they can get "all the answers right" it will be a lot easier getting them on the road to actually getting the correct answers on the page.


=================== The "page-napped" article from Yahoo==================

Math anxiety saps working memory needed to do math

When I first saw the news article title on Yahoo this morning: Not It! Mass. elementary school bans tag, I thought, there's a school that wants to encourage its students to play together in games that do not single out a student as the only one to chase others! Tag, while fun to play with good friends who have a comparable athletic ability as yourself, can be not a fun game when everyone is faster or more nimble on their feet than you. While I was never an elephant with problems with balance, there were times that I dreaded being the "it" person in gym because I knew that I was going to be the "it" person for the entire game as my chances of catching anybody [even those that were letting me catch them out of mercy] was slim.

In some ways, tag games can also errupt on the school field when someone decides to make a not so nice remark or gesture to someone they know that will take offense and proceed to chase them. While good friends may start laughing and think it's a great game, other children might end up crying or worse if revenge takes place.

However, once I read the very short article- I changed my mind a bit...

Apparently the school is not banning tag because they feel it is archaic or encourages minor bullying and taunting, but because if a student gets injured while playing tag or touch football on the school grounds, the school could get sued. I wonder if they are truly worried about the kids getting hurt or if they are worried about what the school district will do to them once the coffers are threatened in court.

Now while I don't want any one to get sued [unless they deserve it of course,] it was the presence of the word "unsupervised" that caught my attention in the sentence. Just when are the students not supervised on school grounds?? In my opinion they should never be unsupervised as kids will be kids when they get the chance.

So I guess all I can do is wish the school good luck in keeping contact sports banned on their school fields during recess, because kids do have that "dog instinct" that kicks in naturally when they see something they can either chase or keep away from someone else.  Kids will play tag... it's what they do.

Yet more people who want to ban books like Harry Potter...

Ga. Mother seeks Harry Potter Ban- Yahoo Newstory

Apparently, dear Harry promotes the indocrination of the Wiccan religion, and even though it's main themes are overcoming adversity and the power of friendship, it's bad for all children.

While Harry Potter isn't the next classic book, it has managed to do something that all authors, educators and parents should be grateful for: it made reading cool again.  The books are not difficult to read, and once students finish them, they have the confidence and willingness to try other books.  Should be a win, win, shouldn't it?

However, there are people out there who can't stand the fact that the book series involves magic, and witches, and awful monsters- none of which could ever be true- and I have yet to find a child who actually believes them to be. 

No one ever seems to give kids the benefit of the doubt- they are rather smart- they can tell when something is impossible and make believe- they know they can't walk through walls to a special train platform that will take them to the secret magic school, with moving staircases and flying broom stick championships.

But instead of investing in ways to show children that those things are make believe, we should just get rid of the books altogether- and why stop there- let's get rid of all the books with dragons, orcs and elves- after all no true literary works of art have any of those things!

I love science fiction and fantasy books- because they give me a place to escape to.  They challenge my imagination and let me see themes [such as truth and friendship] in different ways.

There's only so many Little House on the Prairie we can handle.



NB: Oh and another footnote on the bottom of the article is even more important than Harry's life: the same area has stopped the funding for Spanish literature because they think that the books they have are entertaining illegal immigrants in the area.  I'm not going to even get started on that one...

Yesterday, the BC courts ruled that school boards can not charge students extra fees for materials needed to complete the requirements for graduation.  That might be wonderful thinking for parents right away, but some problems arise with this declaration:

School boards are not the ones charging the school fees- they are usually arrived at by the individual school to cover the costs for materials and courses and activities for the students they have.  For example, some schools have a library fee, which helps the librarian buy new and needed books for the school library.  Due to budget constraints, most librarians have minimal to no money to buy any new books, or to replace books that were damaged.

Other fees include school supply bundles [though parents may opt to buy the items themselves in most cases], musical instruments [recorders for elementary, band instruments for upper grades] and field trip money.

For the school supplies, all students are required to have the regular stuff- pencils, pens, rulers, erasers and now looseleaf paper and notebooks.  As the rate of inflation increases, school supplies which used to be extremely cheap when I was in elementary school [for example 200 pg loose leaf for 19 cents for the first 6 per customer] are now not so cheap at $1.99 for the first 6 per customer.  While parents bemoan having to pay for 2 dollars for a pack of paper, I hope that they remember that the school is paying that amount as well times the number of students and teachers it has.

With that to think about, don't forget the "extra" things... will schools continue to get their students [who voluntarily signed up for band class] to rent or buy their own instruments? or will the schools have to pay for them entirely? Here's where one of the loopholes in the ruling comes: Band and other courses like Math 12 [and it's graphing calculators] are technically not required for graduation.  BC students are required to complete English 12, and a certain number of credits to get their Dogwood certificate.  Math 12 is not a specific course needed to graduate, rather, it can be delegated as an elective.  Ditto for Band, Art, Computer Science, Biology...

Obviously with schools collecting school fees for sports equipment, books, and the like, there is not enough money getting to schools to cover the costs.  With schools and school boards not allowed to go over budget [instead they must cut], this school fee banning might cause even more program cutting and courses no longer given.  While I doubt that class field trips will stop, special concerts with drama, musical and science groups coming to visit schools will plummet as schools have to use the gratuity money they would have paid to the artists, etc. for other things.

(I doubt that independent schools will be affected as many of them are designated specialty schools, so not everyone should be celebrating in getting their ### dollars back.)

As editorial letter writers and Province political columnist Michael Smyth wrote today- I expect that even though parents think that they have won right now, everyone will be seeing their taxes increase as the costs of education will have to be met.  Parents are not going to take the cancellation of Band class lightly in most school districts, and they aren't going to be too happy with all the fundraising they will have to do.

I expect a lot more bingo/raffles and possibly gambling nights to cover the school costs- just now they won't be for replacement computers or football helmets- now it will be for erasers.  White out, anyone??

Instead of me commenting on the scary things that have happened in high schools in the US this past week, I thought I had to briefly talk about something people have just "noticed" happening... Online tutoring being "outsourced" to foreign countries such as India.


Link to article on Yahoo

A lot of students use the internet to help them with their homework, some using the popular and kid-focused websites, and others taking their chances with Google or other search engines.  I, for one, have found the internet helpful with researching for papers and assignments, but have always had trouble finding a site that gives me all the information and answers I am looking for. Luckily a great teacher/instructor has always been there to help me out.

Here comes the problem then- with teacher time depleting, students and their parents try to find the help they need, and some have found great success with tutoring centres and private tutors.  Often the tutors are well educated in the subject, and some such as myself, really enjoyed being able to help one person with their problems.

As demand increases, price can also increase, and that stems the problem some teachers are warning about in the article published on yahoo (link above- it's too long to copy post here).  Apparently some students and parents have found that online tutors based in India are very successful in helping their kids and don't charge the sometimes exorbatant price tags.  These tutors are trained in their subject areas, and I'm thinking that if they lived in the States or Canada, they would be teaching there if "they were allowed"  to.

We are all mindful and fearful that educational standards are met, and for the most part, feel safest when WE are in charge.  The fact that the online tutors are based in a FOREIGN country, out of our control and direct monitoring, adds to the fact that somehow we have this set stereotype of the people in that country- and that we are smarter and better equipped to help our children learn what they are supposed to be learning.

It is a shame that we are often very quick to try to stop other people, whom we have pre-judged, from trying to help us and perhaps make up for time and work we have not done for some reason or other.  I don't know all the NCLB statistics, or what exactly happens in US schools, but I hope that teachers, no matter where they are, are thinking about the students first.  If a student is doing better because they are getting one on one help from a tutor, then perhaps we need to look in to why they are doing better- perhaps that tutor is doing something that we should be doing too.

Finally a good article about Education in the news...


For years I have fortunately reaped the benefits of having been forced to play piano as a child. While it was curiosity that got me the dreaded piano in the first place, not to mention the horrible examinations and recitals, I always complained about having to practice scales and technical stuff 1-2 hours a day.  The pieces [songs] came easier as I could develop stories or pictures in my head to remind me of how the melody went, but once it got to the more technical side, I wasn't sold.  As I got older, I began to be able to almost photograph my favourite musical pieces in my mind and play with my eyes closed.  Great for me, but the examination gurus weren't too impressed with my "over confidence."

Anyways, I digress...

A recent study showed that children who have musical training do better on memory tests.  That is probably true.

However, from experience, students really connect with music, even if they don't have any musical ability whatsoever [in those rare cases], BECAUSE it is seen as something "FUN".  In music class, one is often DOING something beyond writing things down on paper, and if you have a good music teacher, you are experimenting with sounds and instruments you don't have at home.  The fact that there are not any desks in the room helps too, and music class in general is a lot less stressful than other courses.  [Art, Drama and PE fall into this category too.]

When there is less stress, or at least less teacher telling you to smarten up and get to work and memorize something, I think learning and creating (and memorizing) will come at lot faster.  Without the extra worries of getting 100%, or perfect grammar, students are able to let their brain focus on the subject rather than the "other stuff" that can get in the way.

So I hope that all the parents and teachers see the article or study below and give kids opportunities with music if they haven't already.  They might not show drastic improvements in memory skills, but at least they will hopefully get some fun injected into their day. 

Just don't force to them to go to too many recitals.  Oh, and if they forget what piece they were supposed to play when they get up on stage and then play something else, don't get mad at them.  It really doesn't help.

---The Article----- ----- Pasted over for safe keeping only----

Music Lessons Help Young Child Memories

By Jennifer Kwan Tue Sep 19, 7:10 PM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Parents who spend time and money to teach their children music, take heart -- a new Canadian study shows young children who take music lessons have better memories than their nonmusical peers.

The study, to be published in the online edition of the journal Brain on Wednesday, showed that after one year of musical training, children performed better in a memory test than those who did not take music classes.

"(The research) tells us that if you take music lessons your brain is getting wired up differently than if you don't take music lessons," Laurel Trainor, professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, told Reuters.

"This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year," said Trainor who led the study.

Over a year they took four measurements in two groups of children aged between four and six -- those taking music lessons and those taking no musical training outside school -- and found developmental changes over periods as short as four months.

The children completed a music test in which they were asked to discriminate between harmonies, rhythms and melodies, and a memory test in which they had to listen to a series of numbers, remember them and repeat them back.

Trainor said while previous studies have shown that older children given music lessons had greater improvements in IQ scores than children given drama lessons, this is the first study to identify these effects in brain-based measurements in young children.

She said it was not that surprising that children studying music improved in musical listening skills more than children not studying music.

"On the other hand, it is very interesting that the children taking music lessons improved more over the year on general memory skills that are correlated with nonmusicalabilities such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ," she said.

Another newsbit today that I'm not copying over...

Apparently according to a recent study, taller people are "smarter."  Not only do they earn more money [I think that professional sports is to thank for at least part of the skewing??], but the taller subjects in the study tended to have "better" high paying jobs that require good thinking skills. 

One reason researchers think is at play is that taller people tend to have had better nutrition and health care when they were children, and that good health and food when they were younger helped them develop their brains better.  With high self esteem, the "tall people" were groomed for leadership roles, and probably were able to channel the positive feedback from others into challenging themselves academically.

Now as a short person, I'm a little disappointed with the findings naturally.  While I was on the road to becoming a doctor [high paying status job], I didn't feel that was were I belonged- and didn't want to spend any more of my life in a lab !  Also I wonder if ethnic background should be taken into account- my chinese-canadian family/friend circle is quite academically supportive and influential in all our life choices.  I know quite a few not so tall people with good paying jobs here in Vancouver, where I wonder if the same results would have happened if the study was done again.

Oh, and don't get me started on the fact that the study's reasearchers just happen to be taller than average.

Link to study pdf from yahoo:  http://papers.nber.org/papers/w12466.pdf