Posts Tagged ‘Education’
November 23, 2011
It is no surprise to me that “setting-up” the classroom teacher has become a universal sport. With the introduction of the mobile phone and the high-profile cases of teachers being caught on camera and subsequently fired, it was only a matter of time before something like “cyberbaiting” took off.
A study from Symantec found that 21% of teachers had either been cyberbaited or knew a teacher who had.
Cyberbaiting, according to Symantec’s Internet safety advocate, Marian Merritt, is when students deliberately provoke a teacher into doing something stupid, then video it and post it online. “This of course has the net effect of embarrassing the teacher, taking a momentary lapse of judgement in a classroom and embedding it onto the web.”
As per that 21%, remember it includes teachers who know someone it happened to. Only 4% said it happened to them. Still, it’s one more thing for teachers to think about.
The study — which included interviews from kids and parents in 24 countries including the United States — also found that 62% of kids reported that they have had a negative experience online. It also found that 95% of parents know what their kids are looking at online.
A number of key points come to mind:
- Mobile phones should be banned from the classroom. Those playing with one in class should expect it to be confiscated and returned only when their parents come to pick it up personally.
- Students caught filming, posting or sharing secret tapings of a teacher should be expelled (at least for the more serious cases).
- Teachers should be given the appropriate support so that they are able to teach a class without doing or saying things which they would be ashamed of.
Somehow I expect that this nasty practice will continue without a hitch. Yet another example of the modern-day culture of “teacher bashing” permeating in society.
Tags:Children, Cyberbaiting, Education, facebook, Internet safety, kids, Larry Magid, life, Marian Merritt, News, Norton, Parenting, Scoial Media, Symantec, Teachers
Posted in Cyberbaiting | Leave a Comment »
November 22, 2011
Some fads are just harmless fun. Many would argue that the Sneaky Hat craze falls under that category. Sneaky Hat, which refers to the practice of taking a photo of yourself naked with nothing more than a hat to cover your private parts, is not “harmless”. Kids that take part in it are not just stupid and foolish. They are reckless in the extreme:
The Sneaky Hat trend has been branded a ”paedophile’s paradise” and involves mostly young people posing in nothing but a hat covering their genitals.
Countless Facebook pages and other sites, open for anyone to see, have sprung up showing male and female teens in provocative poses after reportedly originating at a Queensland Highschool.
Cyber safety campaigner Susan Mclean said contributors to the fad were not only staining their futures but risking child pornography charges.
”It’s no use saying its just fun, it’s harmless fun, the consequences can be quite severe,” she said.
”It is going to end in tears and those pictures – it’s not like sending it on your phone to your boyfriend who may or may not send it on – this is on www (world wide web).
“They’re on public sites, anyone can see them and people are posting them with their names, they’re proud of the photos,” Ms Mclean, founder of Cyber Safety Solutions said.
A Queensland Police spokesperson said they were monitoring the trend but a Victoria Police spokesperson said there had been no reports they knew of in Victoria.
Parents, please do want you can to make sure your children don’t entertain the idea of sharing their hats with the world.
Tags:Cyber Safety, Cybersafety, Dr Michael Carr-Greg, Education, facebook, life, News, paedophile, Parenting, Queensland, Sneaky Hat, Sneaky Hat Brisbane, social media, Susan Mclean, Teens
Posted in Cyber Safety | Leave a Comment »
November 20, 2011
I have never cried in front of my students. However, in my first years of teaching, there were times when I felt completely out of my element and had to keep my resolve and try by best to pull through.
I’ve just read a brilliant piece by Caitlin Hannon, a first year teacher, whose introduction to teaching reduced her to tears. And who can blame her?
I broke a cardinal rule of teaching several times last year: I cried in front of my students.
Sometimes it happened out of frustration. Just as often, I was overcome during very honest conversations about the struggles my students face within and beyond the school building. At least twice the tears were brought on by uncontrollable laughter at a student’s joke.
As a first-year teacher, I figured tears (of some kind) were inevitable.
I knew I wanted to make a difference, and I thought that difference needed to start in the classroom — not in an office as a policymaker, with little or no connection to, and understanding of, what happens inside schools.
This desire, and my nontraditional education background, led me to Teach For America, a program that trains recent college graduates from various backgrounds to teach in public schools. I spent my first year teaching English at Tech High School, which served a predominantly low-income, minority population. This year, I am teaching seventh-grade language arts at Emma Donnan Middle School.
By the end of that first year, I realized that the life I’d changed the most was my own.
Who is prepared to read a child’s disclosure of abuse in a journal entry?
Who is an expert at helping a student handle the loss of several close family members in a bout of gang violence over the weekend?
I experienced both of these scenarios and more during my first year, and it’s hard to imagine a traditional route to the classroom making it any easier to deal with such heartbreak.
Above is just an excerpt of the article. I encourage you to read the entire piece. It strengthens my long-held position, that teachers are not fully prepared for the rigours of a classroom due to the failings of the teacher training programs. I also feel that new teachers are left to their own devices when they really need a non-judgemental mentor to help show them the ropes and counsel them through the tough times.
Ms. Hannon may not have had her last cry at school, but her passion and teaching philosophy suggests that she is going to have a great future. Her students are going to be the great beneficiaries of her blood, sweat and, yes, tears …
Tags:Caitlin Hannon, Education, Emma Donnan Middle School, life, Students, Teach for America, Teacher, Teacher Training, Teacher Welfare, Tech High School, TFA
Posted in Teacher Training, Teacher Welfare | 6 Comments »
November 19, 2011
Even though I am not in favour of children bringing mobile phones inside the classroom, I am not in the least bit sympathetic when teachers get caught out as a result of being covertly filmed by students.
With a phone camera, a special-needs student in New Jersey managed to turn the tables on a teacher who had been bullying him.
US-based ABCNews.com quoted the school district superintendent as saying teacher Steven Roth now faces disciplinary action for his actions.
The ABCNews.com report said Roth was heard on the recording calling the 15-year-old student a “tard” and saying, “I will kick your a** from here to kingdom come.”
The ABCNews.com report said that when the boy, who has ADHD and emotional issues, first told his parents about Roth’s bullying, they were skeptical.
But eventually, his father gave him permission to take his cell phone to school and record the bullying – and the boy did that last Oct. 24.
On the video, which lasted nearly 10 minutes, the boy had asked the teacher several times to stop calling him “special,” provoking an outburst from Roth.
The ABCNews.com story said the video also showed Roth to appear to use physical intimidation, walking up to the boy and standing directly in front of him.
The boy’s mother said she was appalled after watching the video. “I’m just appalled. I’m sickened and appalled,” she said.
Roth has been at the school for eight years, according to the boy’s mother.
“Teachers are supposed to build students up and build their self esteem, not rip it down. You don’t scream at them … degrade and threaten,” she added.
Mr. Roth may feel set-up or unlucky that he was undone by a child contravening school rules. I think, by the sound of it, he’s lucky it took so long for him to be exposed in the first place.
Tags:ABCNews.com, ADHD, Bullying, Caught, Classroom Managements, Education, Gloucester County Special Services, Leona Mather, Michael Dicken, Mobile Phone, New Jersey, Steven Roth, Teacher
Posted in Bullying | 2 Comments »
November 18, 2011
Last week I wrote about the difficulties teachers face in finding punishments that work. Probably the most popular consequence for breaking a school law is the “apology”. Teachers have traditionally required students to apologise to them or a classmate before that child can reclaim their privileges.
My problem with this, is it’s very rarely an honest, authentic apology. Usually it is said under duress and the child has no alternative but give the teacher what they want to hear.
It’s just like the fight we used to have with our siblings when growing up:
“Go on! Apologise to your sister!”
How many times did we actually mean it when we said sorry?
And that’s what teachers face on a daily basis. It’s like pulling teeth!
“Sorry …”
“What are you sorry for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well you can’t say you’re sorry and not know what you’re sorry about.”
For even worse infringements the apology is ramped up to a public apology. This is when the student is made a spectacle over so as to show the others that there is a penalty to be paid for overstepping the mark. Again, is it really worthwhile if the student’s apology isn’t genuine?
Sometimes I feel like we impose the apology so we can close the chapter and get on with life. The chid has made the apology, I dealt with it and now we can move on. It’s more about seeming to do something rather than actually doing something.
The problem with this is that mistakes that haven’t been learnt from get repeated. Chances are, the apology will not mean much weeks later when the child breaks the same rule again.
Whilst I understand the “apology method” and have personally subscribed to it more times than I feel comfortable admitting to, perhaps it should be the last step in a more extensive response.
For example, in the case of an argument between two students, perhaps we should spend more time mediating the kids and letting them exchange view and clearing the air. Some do this already, others are reluctant to use the time (and go for a quick apology instead). Only when it seems that both sides can appreciate the other’s point of view, should we request the apology. That way it will be genuine and longer lasting.
Elton John once sang that “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.”
It’s only hard when the person saying it, actually means it.
Tags:Apology, Classroom Management, Consequences, Education, Elton John, Parenting, Punishments, School Rules, Teachers, Teaching
Posted in Classroom Management | 3 Comments »
November 18, 2011
I can’t stand knee-jerk reactions that result in banning something which enriches the lives and experiences of many. Banning balls from the schoolyard is a sure-fire way of taking the one thing most children enjoy doing at school and expecting them to just go along with it. When you take away a child’s right to let off some steam at recess through the healthy pursuit of a football game, you are potentially ruining that child’s day.
I sympathise with teachers and parents that have been hit by a stray ball. I was once hit so hard that I was on all fours during yard duty. It is an extremely unpleasant experience. But it’s still not a good reason for banning balls:
Earl Beatty Public School’s decision to ban the use of hard balls on their playground because of safety concerns has prompted an outcry from the little people in the line of fire.
Students who wish to play games like soccer and football are having to make due with foam substitutes, and they don’t like it. Some in this elementary school near Coxwell and Danforth have gone as far as creating signs and petitions to express their frustration.
“I think it’s great. They absolutely see the ridiculousness of this situation – it’s straight from the heart,” said parent Diana Symonds, who has three children in grades 4 and 5.
“It’s like kicking around a sponge,” said Joey McDermott, a Grade 8 student. “They’re expecting all the little kids to get hurt. We got hurt when we were younger and we’re fine now.”
Foam balls are no substitute. They squash under your feet and cannot be played with if the ground is even slightly wet. I know we live in a litigious society and schools are afraid of lawsuits.
That’s why I think politicians should step in and legislate to allow schools to look after their students without the fear of having to go to court because of it.
Tags:Alicia Fernandez, Balls, Ban, Bans, Coxwell, Danforth, Earl Beatty Public School, Education, hard balls, life, News, Parenting, Playground, Safety, School Rules, Sport
Posted in School Rules | 3 Comments »
November 16, 2011
Can you imagine the distress that the students must have felt when they discovered the novel they prepared for wasn’t actually covered in the exam? What do they do? Try and write about novels they haven’t read? Can you imagine the teacher’s embarrassment when he/she was informed of the huge error?
SHOCKED students from a private school in Melbourne’s southeast were unable to complete a VCE exam because they had been taught the wrong text.
Authorities have launched an investigation after eight pupils from Lighthouse Christian College in Keysborough spent a year studying a novel not on the prescribed reading list.
The error was discovered last Thursday afternoon – when the year 12 students could not find Julia Leigh’s The Hunter on their literature exam paper.
The VCE English exam is a 3-hr exam. Unlike all other subjects, it is not an elective. Every Year 12 student in the State sits for it. To study a text, night and day, only to find out during the exam that it wasn’t on the prescribed reading list would have been an earth shattering revelation for the students involved. If it was me, I would have panicked. It would have ruined the whole exam for me.
Mistakes happen, but this was a big one!
Tags:Avril Howard, Books, Education, English, Error, Exam, Julia Leigh, Keysborough, life, Lighthouse Christian College, Mistake, News, Novel Read, Parenting, Teacher, The Hunter, VCE
Posted in Education Matters | 4 Comments »
November 16, 2011
Tim Day of the New Teacher Project is spot on. How can you evaluate teachers when you haven’t properly defined what a good teacher is?
“Everyone around teachers has failed them – the colleges, the administrators and the foundations,” said Tim Day of the New Teacher Project, offering what was likely the second-most provocative comment of my recent conference.
The group believes that teacher quality is key to student success, but districts treat all teachers the same – as interchangeable parts, rather than as professionals.
The problem is that it is difficult for principals to know exactly what happens when classroom doors close, and all the panelists seem to believe that what’s considered the easiest way to measure student growth – test scores – should be only one part of an evaluation.
In my view teachers should be evaluated, but one needs to know what they are looking for in a teacher so they can properly evaluate against it. Similarly, since teachers aren’t the only element in a functioning education system, other areas need to be evaluated. Principals, administrators, schools (ie, school culture) and even those politicians entrusted with funding the schools should undergo evaluations too.
Leaving the teacher alone in the dark is not going to achieve anything. Education is a team effort and currently the team is letting the teachers down.
Tags:Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation., Don Shalvey, Education, Education Writers Association., Measures of Effective Teaching project, New Teacher Project, Principals, Standardised Tests, Standardized Tests, Steve Cantrell, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers, The Widget Effect, Tim Day
Posted in Teacher Evaluations | 3 Comments »
November 15, 2011
There have been a lot of studies recently where the findings were so obvious you wondered how they managed to get a research grant for it in the first place.But every so often you stumble upon a study where the findings were not as you might have predicted.
A recent study that found that clever children are more likely to use drugs surprised me greatly:
Intelligent girls and boys are much more likely than average to take illegal drugs like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy when they grow up, a study has found.
Scientists think they do so in part as a “coping strategy” to avoid bullying from their peers, and partially because they find life boring.
The effect is more pronounced in girls than boys, with those exhibiting high IQs as children more than twice as likely to have tried cocaine or cannabis by the age of 30, as those of lower intelligence.
The effect in boys with high IQs is also marked, with them being around 50 per cent more likely to have done so by that age as their less intelligent former classmates.
A team at Cardiff University analysed data from almost 8,000 people born in one week in April 1970, who were enrolled at birth in the ongoing British Cohort Study, which follows participants through life. All these children had their IQs tested between the age of five and 10.
Drug use, as reported by the participants themselves, was then recorded at 16 and 30 years of age.
At 16, 7.0 per cent of boys and 6.3 per cent of girls had used cannabis. This minority had “statistically significant higher mean childhood IQ scores” than non-users, according to the authors of the report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The authors noted: “Across most drugs (except amphetamine in men), men and women who reported using in the past 12 months had a significantly higher childhood IQ score than those who reported no use.”
They concluded: “High childhood IQ may increase the risk of substance abuse in early adulthood.”
Well that explains it – no wonder why I’ve never taken drugs!
Tags:Boys, British Cohort Study, Bullying, cannabis, Cardiff University, Children, Clever, cocaine, Dr James White, Drugs, ecstasy, Education, Girls, I.Q., Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health., kids, life, News, Parenting, Scientists, Study
Posted in Drugs | Leave a Comment »
November 14, 2011
Students across Australia, and dare I say it worldwide, are sick of constantly being graded. Gone are the days when a child can learn to love a given subject through observation, experience, discussion and self-evaluation. Now every learning focus leads to the ultimate test of nerve – a test.
Standardised tests have absolutely ruined the enjoyment of learning. They reinforce a pecking order which is not beneficial for children. The constant grading of children make kids who try hard but struggle to perform, feel dumb and useless. It has taken over classrooms, with teachers too worried about the implications of their class doing badly to teach the curriculum the way it was designed to be taught. Instead, they are forced to teach to the tests. This involves months of practice exams. How inspiring!
Our children deserve better. They deserve to go to school without having to constantly sit for preparation tests followed by real tests followed by another set of preparation tests etc. They deserve to have their education untainted by political point scorers.
I love the backflip contained in the first paragraph of a recent editorial in the L.A. Times:
The high-stakes measurement of student progress through annual standardized tests has, in many classrooms, restricted creativity, innovation and individuality. It has emphasized the skills involved in taking multiple-choice tests over those of researching, analyzing, experimenting and writing, the tools that students are more likely to need to be great thinkers, excellent university students and valued employees. But, by pressuring schools to raise achievement, it also has ensured that more students reach high school able to read books more sophisticated than those by Dr. Seuss — which, sad to say, was a major problem a decade ago — and tackle algebra by ninth grade.
Once you have taken the “creativity, innovation and individuality” out of education there is no “but”. There is no good way of rationalising those vital missing ingredients.
Sure it’s good to have data on the quality of teaching and learning in our classrooms. Of course, assessments are a staple of education. But these dry, monotonous, pressure-ridden tests can get too much for kids looking for more enjoyable ways of learning.
If these tests have as I suspect, a negative effect on our students’ enjoyment of learning and self-esteem, is it really worth persevering with?
Tags:Education, Gov. Jerry Brown, Learning, No Child Left Behind Act, Parenting, Standardised Testing, Standardized Testing, Students, Teaching, Tests, veto message
Posted in Standardised Testing | 6 Comments »
Topical Teaching 