Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Standardized Testing Sucking the Love Out of Teaching (Video)

May 26, 2013

 

 

Many teachers have had their love of teaching eroded because of the emphasis on standardized testing. The teacher featured in this powerful video above, uses YouTube to resign from a profession she once loved.

I found this quote to be most compelling:

“Raising students’ test scores on standardized tests is now the only goal. And in order to achieve it, the creativity, flexibility and spontaneity that create authentic learning environments have been eliminated. Everything I loved about teaching is extinct.”

 

Click on the link to read Teachers Who Cheat are “as Dumb as Hell”

Click on the link to read Standardized Tests for Teachers!

Click on the link to read Oops, We Seem to Have Lost Your Exams

Click on the link to read I’m Just Gonna Say It: Standardised Tests Suck!

Click on the link to read Too Many Tests, Not Enough Teaching

 

The Teacher Than Inspired Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann

May 26, 2013

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I love stories about inspiring teachers. What makes this teacher’s story so special is that she inspired one of my countries most loved and respected filmmakers:

FILM director Baz Luhrmann’s career could have turned out very differently had it not been for his English teacher at Narrabeen High School.

Lorraine Bowan took Mark Anthony “Baz” Luhrmann to his first Shakespeare play.

And when Luhrmann prepared for his first audition for the National Institute of Dramatic at the age of 18, she helped him. But, most importantly, Ms Bowan brought him back to class when he dropped out of school in Year 11 to work in a Mona Vale shop.

She was doing the morning roll and when she realised Luhrmann was not in class, a student told her he had quit school to take up work at a shop.

“Straight after school I drove up to Mona Vale to find him and said, ‘Mark, what the hell are you doing? Make sure you’re back in class tomorrow’,” she said.

While Ms Bowan later forgot about the episode, Luhrmann recounted it up in front of all the guests at a party she attended at his Darlinghurst home about 10 years ago.

“He said ‘you’re responsible for what I’m doing now’,” she said.

“It’s very nice that he remembers me in that way.”

 

Click on the link to read Proof that Teachers Care

Click on the link to read The Short Video You MUST Watch!

Click on the link to read Is There a Greater Tragedy than a School Tragedy?

Click on the link to read School Shooting Showcases the Heroic Nature of Brilliant Teachers

Click on the link to read Meet the Armless Math Teacher

Click on the link to read The Case of a Teacher Suspended for Showing Integrity

 

Another Shocking School Fight Video Emerges (Video)

May 25, 2013

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Who would want to be a high school teacher in this place?

 

 

Click on the link to read Tips for Parents of Bullied Children

Click on the link to read School Official’s Solution to Harassed Teen: Get a Breast Reduction

Click on the link to read Sickening Video of Girl Being Bullied for Having Ginger Hair

Teacher Runs Suicide Note Writing Workshop

May 24, 2013

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Anyone interested in the aptly named School of Death? I hope not:

Philosophy professor Simon Critchley from New York City’s New School said he believes that the only way to really learn how to live is to prepare to die.

So, as part of a larger theatrical installation this spring called School of Death, he offered a suicide note writing workshop to anyone who was interested in appreciating its literary art form.

The notes studied ranged from the terse and emotionally conflicted — “Dear Betty: I hate you, Love George” — to the narcissistic: “Now you will appreciate me.”

“The worst thing that can befall us is to die alone,” said Critchley, 53. “And the suicide note in some strange way is not to die alone. It’s always addressed to someone. It’s a failed attempt at communication.”

Proof that Teachers Care

May 22, 2013

 

 

Well done Rhonda Crosswhite for shielding your students from the terrors of the tornado:

Sprinkled in between the tales of horror and sadness to come out of tornado-ravaged Plaza Towers Elementary School, in Moore, Okla., are stories of brave teachers putting their lives on the line for students.

Fourth-grader Damian Britton described one such teacher this morning, when he appeared on NBC’s TODAY. Rhonda Crosswhite, a sixth-grade teacher at the school, used her body as a shield to protect Britton and other students from the deadly storm.

“She was covering me and my friend Zachary,” Britton said. “I told her we were fine because we were holding on to something, and then she went over to my friend Antonio and covered him, so she saved our lives.”

The show also captured an emotional reunion between Crosswhite, Britton and Britton’s mom, Brandi Kline.

“I told you we were going to be OK,” Crosswhite said to Britton.

Another Plaza Towers teacher, Becky Joe Evans, told her friend Edie Cordray that she used her body to cover students from falling debris, according to a story in the L.A. Times.

The destructive tornado hit Moore, which is located outside of Oklahoma City, yesterday afternoon.

 

Click on the link to read The Short Video You MUST Watch!

Click on the link to read Is There a Greater Tragedy than a School Tragedy?

Click on the link to read School Shooting Showcases the Heroic Nature of Brilliant Teachers

Click on the link to read Meet the Armless Math Teacher

Click on the link to read The Case of a Teacher Suspended for Showing Integrity

Click on the link to read Teaching is Worth It!

Is There a Greater Tragedy than a School Tragedy?

May 21, 2013

tornado

My thoughts and wishes go out to all those effected by the recent Oklahoma tornado.

US President Barack Obama declared a “major disaster” as rescuers combed through smashed homes and the collapsed remains of an elementary school in Moore, where twister-seasoned residents were shocked by the devastation.

The dead included at least 20 children, most of them under the age of 12, Amy Elliott, of the state medical examiner’s office, told AFP.

Reporters for local broadcaster KFOR-TV saw children as young as nine being pulled out of the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, a residential community of 55,000 just south of Oklahoma’s state capital.

Anxious parents were being kept at a distance while search-and-rescue workers scrambled to free the students.

A second elementary school, Briarwood, was also hit but did not appear to have suffered casualties.

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Click on the link to read Advice for Talking With Your Kids About the Boston Marathon Attack

Click on the link to read 6 Messages For Children After a Tragedy

Click on the link to read A Teacher’s Guide to Talking to Students About the Newtown School Shooting

Click on the link to read Explaining the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting to Children

Click on the link to read Helping Kids Cope in the Aftermath of Sandy

Click here to read ‘Helping Our Children Make Sense of Natural Disasters’.

Children Just Love to Laugh. It’s Up to Us to Help Out!

May 19, 2013

 

This clip of a father sending his quadruplet babies into fits of laughter reminded me how healthy it is for children to laugh. Although teachers are traditionally warned not to do anything that may compromise their authority, making your students laugh is a wonderful thing for building a healthy and positive classroom environment.

 

Click on the link to read The Children of Today Show a Lack of Respect For Authority

Click on the link to read Is There Anything Better than an Inspirational Child? (Video)

Click on the link to read Instead of Teaching a Baby to Read, Teach it to Smile

Click on the link to read The 15 Most Commonly Misspelled Words in the English Language

Click on the link to read Who Said Grammar Isn’t Important?

Click on the link to read Why Spelling is Important

David Letterman’s Top 10 Reasons I’ve Decided To Become a Teacher

May 16, 2013

 

Click on the link to read  25 Amusing Signs You Might Be a 21st Century Teacher

Click on the link to read  20 Questions Teachers Should Be Asking Themselves

Click on the link to read School Official Allegedly told a Teacher to Train her Breasts to not Make Milk at Work

Click on the link to read 12 Tips for Managing Time in the Classroom

Click on the link to read If Teachers Were Paid More I Wouldn’t Have Become One

Click on the link to read Different Professions, Same Experiences

Click on the link to read Our Pay Isn’t the Problem

The PC Police and its Implications for Male Teachers

May 13, 2013

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This is a classic example why male teachers must be extremely careful to act above and beyond the professional standards adhered to by their female colleagues.

Do you honestly think that if a female crossing guard was ‘high-fiving’ children anyone would even blink an eye?

A LOLLIPOP man has been banned from giving high-fives to children as they cross the road because it’s “too dangerous”, according to the health and safety police.

Bernie Robertson – who has stopped traffic to keep young pupils safe outside Mount Annan Public School in Sydney’s southwest for 13 years – has been cautioned after a review of guidelines by Roads and Maritime Services.

Parents with children at the school have launched a furious revolt, starting a Facebook page “Support for Bernie our crossing man”, which has received more than 870 likes and an online petition with 250 signatures.

Mr Robertson said he was overwhelmed by the response from the community. “Of course I’m very pleased with the support, with what the parents have done,” he said.

Rachael Sowden, from the Parents and Citizens Association of NSW, said the issue was an example of political correctness “gone mad”.

 “We don’t believe high-fiving little children is an inappropriate thing,” she said.

“Sometimes people take things a little bit too far and this sounds like one of those incidents. While there’s no concern for their wellbeing it does seem a little bit like PC gone mad.”

 

Click on the link to read I Would be Happy to Have CCTV Cameras in My Classroom

Click on the link to read Should Classrooms Be Fitted With Surveillance Cameras?

Click on the link to read Schools Putting Spy Cameras in Toilets and Change Rooms

Click on the link to read Two-Year Olds Forced to Have Fingerprints and Mug Shots Taken

Click on the link to read Male Teachers Beware!

Click on the link to read Are Male Teachers Subject to Sexual Discrimination?

Click on the link to read The absence of male teachers in public schools

Student Rant Goes Viral

May 12, 2013

 

This rant is disrespectful and quite undignified, but one can’t help but agree with his underlying message. Teaching by worksheet from behind a desk, having a lack of a 1 on 1 teaching approach, ignoring individual learning needs and preaching rather than teaching are just a few reasons why students feel completely let down by their teachers.

There are no winners from this rant. The student involved will get a quick 15 minutes of fame from his peers but will find it hard to avoid negative attention based on this when it comes to getting a job. The teacher may get some support from other teachers, but is also likely to be the poster child (unfairly) for the many teachers out there who have lost all passion for what they do.

Click on the link to read Inviting the KKK to Your Classroom is Irresponsible

Click on the link to read Could This be the Most Violent High School Test Question Ever?

Click on the link to read Six Valuable Steps to Making Positive Changes in Your Teaching

Click on the link to read 10 Art Related Games for the Classroom

Click on the link to read 5 Rules for Rewarding Students

Click on the link to read Tips for Engaging the Struggling Learner