The cart East Allen County schools use to charge and reimage 30 iPads at a time.
Two education technology stories caught our eye today, touching on questions of the cost and support needed when schools provide laptop or tablet computers for their students.
The questions are important in Florida because lawmakers have required schools to deliver half of their classroom instruction digitally by 2015. Schools are also preparing for new online exams tied to Common Core State Standards.
“I would support a name change recommendation if brought organically to the board by the community,” Vitti said
The Florida Times-Union reports that community members are also open — if unenthusiastic — to revisiting an issue which has simmered for years. The Duval school board last took up the issue in 2008, voting 5-2 not to rename Nathan B. Forrest High School.
But Oklahoma announced last week it would not use PARCC and opted to develop its own test.
Barresi cited three big reasons for the decision: Cost; most Oklahoma school districts lacked the bandwidth and technology to handle the online tasks; and a desire to cut the amount of time spent testing.
Electronic devices, such as mobile phone or tablets, may be reducing kids' ability to focus on tasks.
Mobile gadgets such as phones and tablet computers may be eroding kids’ attention spans and contributing to a rise in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis, according to researchers in this Time magazine piece.
That’s because mobile devices condition their users to expect constant, electronic stimulus. When kids put down those devices, the real world can seem slow-paced and less interesting.
From the story:
Researchers are reluctant to say there is a direct correlation between gadgets and ADHD, but there are strong parallels between the upswing in diagnoses and an increase of screen time. One important finding: children and young adults who overdo TV and video games are nearly twice as likely to suffer from a variety of attention-span disorders, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.
“ADHD is 10 times more common today than it was 20 years ago,” said Dimitri Christakis, the George Adkins professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Although it is clear that ADHD has a genetic basis, given that our genes have not changed appreciably in that time frame, it is likely that there are environmental factors that are contributing to this rise.”
Part of the problem is the fragmented, action-packed nature of electronic media. Christakis found that faster-paced shows increased the risk of attention issues. The brains of children adapt to that speed, so when they’re forced to work in the slower pace of life, they often struggle to pay attention because it’s less stimulating and rewarding.
Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed.
Ms. Roberts left teaching ten years ago, but she remembers very clearly a day in class that changed her and her students.
It was her first year and she was teaching English to over two hundred kids a day in Room 100, also known as “the Pit.” The name came from the fact that her class was where several other Language Arts teachers had transferred challenging students.
One of the most difficult parts of the first year is coming up with material and lesson ideas for each day, and Ms. Roberts was relying entirely on the Language Arts textbook she had been instructed to use.
malik ml williams / Flickr
A Toni Morrison novel was a sign to one classroom that their teacher believed in them.
A student of hers, Roland, who had become the fulcrum of his particular class. In a way, he was in charge each day. He had the power to determine which way the class would go.
Ms. Roberts said she never knew when he opened his mouth to talk if he was going to help her or sabotage her lesson. Either was as likely. She recognized Roland’s leadership ability and the tremendous influence he wielded over his classmates.
One day he asked Ms. Roberts a question during class.
It’s summertime and Angela Maxey, principal of Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School, is observing a classroom of 9- and 10-year-olds draw and identify different kinds of triangles.
Karelia Arauz
Campers in the summer program at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School learn Common Core lessons.
“Remember this is fourth grade—they’ve just finished third grade, but they’re learning fourth grade curriculum,” says Maxey. “It’s all Common Core.”
This is not your traditional summer school. The kids in this classroom are part of Duval County Public Schools’ Superintendent’s Summer Academy. They’ll be voluntarily spending their summer here, at Sallye B., learning math and science lessons in the classroom and on field trips—with the explicit goal of preventing summer learning losses.
In the three months that they’re out of school, most kids lose some of what they learned in the school year. On average, students start school in the fall about a month behind where they left off in the spring. Research shows that kids from low-income, minority schools lose disproportionately more over the summer. Those losses build up and, down the road, can keep a kid from graduating. Continue Reading →
Principal Angela Maxey is ready for the Common Core at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School in Duval County.
Florida schools have just one more academic year to phase in a new set of education standards under the Common Core—and Principal Angela Maxey is ready.
“I’m truly a proponent for standards-based Common Core education. I’m passionate,” says Maxey, who works at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School in Duval County.
Her school is a math, science and pre-engineering (STEM curriculum) magnet school where 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. For Maxey, the Common Core is about more than new benchmarks.
“Education, to me, levels the playing field,” says Maxey.
Maxey spoke with StateImpact Florida for part of our series on how educators feel about the Common Core. Here’s what she had to say: Continue Reading →
Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed.
One of the first people I talked to about the different ways teachers add value to students’ lives was Mr. Bernard. He is now retired and he told me a story that had happened a few weeks before.
He was at a party when Mark, a former student from a few decades ago, came up to him.
Mark was excited to see Mr. Bernard, and he recounted that a week before, the pastor at Mark’s church had urged the congregation to think about those who’d had an impact on their lives and to reach out to them. Mark had thought of Mr. Bernard he and thought it incredible that they would run into each other so soon.
Mark then explained to Mr. Bernard the effect he had had on Mark’s life.
Mark had been trying to decide where to go to college. He played football and had some scholarship offers, but also had a chance to go to an Ivy League school with no chance of playing football.
The Republican Party of Florida is out with a new web ad featuring teachers praising Gov. Rick Scott.
The teachers aren’t identified, but appear to have been recorded at the recent teacher summit Scott hosted in Tallahassee. Most of the teachers thank Scott for investing in education, particularly his push for across-the-board raises.
“I think Gov. Scott is a visionary. He’s a brilliant businessman,” one teacher says in the video. “What he’s done for the business world in Florida, I think he can incorporate that in education.”
Another says she feels teachers have the governor’s ear.
Jeremy Glazer says teacher evaluations miss some of the most important work he does.
Editor’s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed.
One of the things I want to do through this series is to expand the discussion of a teacher’s value. We cannot let the worth of teachers be defined narrowly by the test scores of their students. We need to consider all of the different ways teachers have positive impacts on the lives of their students before we choose the criteria with which we judge who is doing a good job as a teacher and who is not.
One of the best ways to do this is to hear from teachers themselves.
I hope to put these stories in context. I will tell you about teachers I’ve spoken to, and I will share with you their stories. I want to show the breadth of ways teachers affect their students.
I walked into a teacher’s classroom near the end of the year and saw him explaining bank fees and ATM charges to a senior who was about to graduate.
This teacher didn’t have any seniors in his classes. I knew it wasn’t a current student, but rather a past student who saw the teacher as someone he trusted. The interaction I was watching was definitely adding value to the student’s life in a way that has little to do with school curriculum, and definitely isn’t counted in FCAT scores or school grades.
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
