Education

Posts Tagged ‘Education’

The Top 50 Best Apps for Children

August 5, 2012

Courtesy of The Guardian comes 50 of the best smartphone/iPad apps for children. Below is a snippet:

FARM 123 – STORYTOYS JR iPhone/iPad – £1.49. Farm 123 aims to be a digital version of pop-up books, based on a character called Farmer Jo and his animals. It’s aimed at pre-school-age children, teaching them to count from one to 10 with cows, pigs and eggs.

FUNIMAL PHONICS iPhone/iPad – £0.69. Children and parents are well-used to phonics alphabet-learning now, and this stylish flash-cards app gives the discipline a friendly animal face. It’s also notable for its inclusion of both US and UK English accents when speaking sounds.

LITTLE DIGITS iPad – £1.49. This marvellous numbers app gets your child to count by placing fingers on the iPad’s touchscreen, with cute cartoon numbers appearing, depending on how many fingers are pressed. Simple maths tasks give it an educational angle too.

MY A-Z iPhone/iPad – £1.49. There are lots of alphabetical flash-card apps for iPhone, but this one stands out for its personalisation. Children can add their own photos and sounds for letters – a picture of their dog and its bark for “D”, and so on.

NUMBERLYS iPhone/iPad – £3.99. Despite the name, this beautiful app is more about letters than numbers. It’s a mixture of games and storytelling to explain the origins of the alphabet, with a visual style influenced by films like Metropolis and the original King Kong.

TIMES TABLES: SQUEEBLES MULTIPLICATION iPhone/iPad/Android – £0.69. This UK-developed app is aimed at 5- to 11-year-olds, providing a series of multiplication questions to earn stars and rescue cutesy characters from a nefarious Maths Monster. Up to four children can save their progress on one device.

THE SINGING ALPHABET iPhone/iPad – £0.69. A stylish app that does what it says on the tin: letters that sing. Specifically, they sing their own phonetic sounds, and can be combined to make harmonies and tunes. Given five minutes, your child will be singing along too.

COUNTING WITH THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR iPhone/iPad – £1.99. Eric Carle’s famous book about a fruit-munching caterpillar has been turned into a fun educational game with a mathematical skew. Your child identifies, counts and adds the foods over five levels, ensuring it appeals to a range of ages.

AROUND THE CLOCK iPhone/iPad – £1.49. This time-focused app wears its educational spurs lightly. It’s a collection of 24 mini-games, one for each hour of the day, from toothbrushing to pancake making. The idea is to familiarise children with the clock.

BAREFOOT WORLD ATLAS iPad – £2.99. If you have a child who is just becoming interested in geography, this is an essential buy. It’s a digital globe with music and animation, drawing kids in to the meat of its text and photographic entries on countries, people and nature.

CHANGE4LIFE FUN GENERATOR iPhone/iPad/Android – Free. Part of a wider Department of Health initiative to get families out and about, this app suggests more than 100 activities for children, filtering them by indoors/outdoors and the number of participants. A summer-holiday lifesaver for parents.

COOPER’S PACK: LONDON CHILDREN’S TRAVEL GUIDE iPhone/iPad – £1.49. For parents taking their children to London as a tourist, what better guide than a stuffed dog named Cooper? This travel app is a story-based guide to London’s history and attractions, with plenty of interactivity to keep children reading.

FAMIGO SANDBOX Android – Free. If you’re handing over an Android device to a child, Famigo Sandbox is invaluable. It filters the apps on your phone to only show those suitable for children, locks off other features, and recommends new apps they might like.

MOVE THE TURTLE iPhone/iPad – £1.99. Can five-year-olds start learning to program? They can with this app, which aims to teach the basics of computer programming by planning tasks – all presented by a friendly turtle character to spark their imagination.

THE HAPPY FACE iPhone/iPad – £0.69. Most parents have used a reward chart for their children at some point. This turns the idea into an app for use while out and about, moving children’s photos onto a happy or sad face according to their behaviour.

YOUR FANTASTIC ELASTIC BRAIN iPad – £1.99. Aimed at five-year-olds and up, this is a book app all about brains, using illustration and animation to explain some complex science, while throwing in “brain workout” games to help children stretch their grey cells.

Click on the link to read all 50.

Click on the link to read Top 10 Educational i-Pad Apps

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Tags:Apps, apps available for children of all ages., apps for children to make music, apps for kids, apps for learning, Best apps for children, download the best apps for children, draw and share digital pictures and record their own voices reading favourite stories., Education, Educational apps, from games and story books to maths and phonics apps, technology, Top 50 iPad apps for children, Top 50 smartphone apps for children
Posted in Technology, Technology in the Classroom | Leave a Comment »

Teachers Who Have Sex with Students Must be Imprisoned

August 4, 2012

Losing your license is not an appropriate consequence for engaging in sexual activity with your students. It certainly doesn’t deter other teachers from doing the same:

Kristle Vandever, a former English as a second language teacher in Oregon, has lost her teaching license for engaging in sexual activity with “one or more students” and providing underage students with alcohol. But now, some are wondering why she’s not in jail.

A report out by the state of Oregon reveals that the 44-year-old educator at McNary Heights Elementary violated five major codes for teachers during her career. She resigned in May 2010 amid a district investigation, though her license wasn’t officially revoked until last month, the Hermiston Herald reports.

Immediately following her resignation, Vandever reportedly sent a boasting email from her school account.

“No jail for me and that is only because of luck … no witnesses coming forward,” the message reads. “He said he was of legal age, but he lied. I just can’t help wanting these hot young boys … and they want me. Who am I to spoil a young man’s fantasy. Damn.”

Her arrogance says it all. This is deplorable behaviour. It must be punished by a lengthy jail sentence.

Click on the link to read Why Can’t Teachers Touch Kids any More? :O’Brien

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Tags:44-year-old educator at McNary Heights Elementary, a former English as a second language teacher, Education, I just can't help wanting these hot young boys, Kristle Vandever, Kristle Vandever engaging in sexual activity with "one or more students", Kristle Vandever escapes jail, Kristle Vandever loses her license, New York Education Department, providing underage students with alcohol, Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, Tricia Mooney
Posted in Professional Conduct | Leave a Comment »

Saggy Pants Leads to a Very Sticky Situation

August 3, 2012

Teachers are losing their cool, and while it’s inexcusable, it comes from the lack of respect our teachers are treated with:

Pat Frost, an English as a second language teacher for Anson High School in North Carolina, may lose her job after admitting to slapping a student during a dispute over saggy pants.

Frost was suspended after the incident occurred in June, and the district is still investigating the charges. At the time, she reportedly stopped 18-year-old Johnathan Smith to tell him to pull up his sagging pants. But Smith didn’t comply, allegedly telling the teacher to “get the [expletive] out of his way” and shoved past her, WBTV reports.

When Frost followed him outside, reportedly to record his name, the teen began to charge at her, yelling that he would “[expletive] her up.”

Smith told WSOC-TV, however, that he did pick up his pants and told the teacher his name — but Frost didn’t believe him.

“I never thought a teacher would lay her hands on me,” Smith told the station.

Frost’s attorney argues that Smith refused to give his real name and repeatedly threatened to assault her. Frost says her blow was out of self defense.

“Fearing she was about to be hit, Pat tried to create distance with the student and slapped him in the face in that effort,” according to a letter from Frost’s attorney. “He responded by striking Pat in the head. He then took off his shirt and started pounding on nearby cars in the parking lot yelling that he was going to get her fired and hoped that she would be killed.”

I am afraid that episodes like this will become extremely frequent if something isn’t done to improve teacher/student relations.

Click on the link to read Why Can’t Teachers Touch Kids any More? :O’Brien

Click on the link to read Teacher and Four Students Arrested in Alleged Hazing Case

Click on the link to read The Classroom isn’t the Best Place to Rectreate Famous Movie Moments

Tags:an English as a second language teacher for Anson High School, Education, Frost was suspended, Johnathan Smith saggy pants, News, Pat Frost, Pat Frost saggy pants, Pat Frost slap over saggy pants, professional conduct, Respect for teachers
Posted in Professional Conduct | Leave a Comment »

Social Media: A Playground for Bullies

August 3, 2012

For all it’s benefits, social media is an invitation for bullies to wreak havoc:

The Internet can be a hostile place, and Twitter is no exception. According to a new study, about 15,000 bullying-related tweets are posted every day, meaning more than 100,000 nasty messages taint the digital world each week.

To further understand what happens in the virtual world, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison trained a computer to analyze Twitter messages using an algorithm created to point out important words or symbols that may indicate bullying. In 2011, during the time of this study, 250 million public tweets were being sent daily — a number almost 10 times the population of the state of Texas.

Click on the link to read Teachers Who Rely on Free Speech Shouldn’t be Teachers

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

School Adopts Chinese Students to Boost Grade Levels

August 2, 2012

If it isn’t discrimination, then it’s certainly opportunism:

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has launched an investigation into allegations that the San Mateo Union High School District is discriminating against Chinese students.

A discrimination complaint lodged against the California school system has the agency looking into claims that the district holds Chinese students to “different standards for demonstrating residency or guardianship than students of other races” and nationalities, a department spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.

The civil rights complaint comes as at least a dozen Chinese students say they have been transferred from top-performing high schools to low-performing ones. The district says the students were transferred because they don’t reside with their parents — who, in many cases, live in China — and instead live in homes owned by relatives.

Private tutor Marian Kong filed a complaint on behalf of two students who she said fell victim to the district’s bias. Both were accepted to attend high-performing, Asian-majority Mills High School last fall, and lived with guardians whose addresses fell within zoning boundaries for the school. But just days later, they were transferred to lower-performing Capuchino High for failing to show proof of residency for Mills.

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Tags:A discrimination complaint lodged against San Mateo Union High School, Asian Students, Capuchino High School, Chinese students, Chinese students say they have been transferred from top-performing high schools to low-performing ones, civil rights, civil rights complaint, Education, Failing Schools, investigation into allegations that the San Mateo Union High School District is discriminating against Chinese students, Low-Performing Schools, Office Of Civil Rights, Private tutor Marian Kong, School Adopts Chinese Students to Boost Grade Levels, Schools, U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights
Posted in School Rules | Leave a Comment »

Standardized Tests for Teachers!

August 2, 2012

After what I put my students through last term, I’m sure they would love to see me sit for some exams. They would be more than happy to preside over the testing and ensure I don’t try to cheat from the teacher sitting next to me:

The Indonesian Government’s been forced to defend its attempt to test the country’s one-million teachers, after the first run was plagued with problems and allegations of corruption.

In an attempt to improve education, Indonesia has begun testing the performance of teachers, instead of students.

This week it launched the first online exam to assess the abilities of those who are educating the country’s children.

One million teachers will be tested in 3,500 locations across 33 provinces.

But the head of the Education Ministry admits that on the first day, only 10 per cent of the teachers who attempted were able to log on and sit the test.

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Tags:10 per cent of the teachers who attempted were able to log on and sit the test, Education, exam to assess the abilities of those who are educating the country's children, Indonesia has begun testing the performance of teachers, Indonesian teachers forced to sit online test, instead of students, naplan, News, Standardised Testing, Standardized Testing, The Indonesian Government
Posted in Standardised Testing | Leave a Comment »

Ginger Beer Ad is Neither Funny nor Clever

August 2, 2012

I realise that this ad was aiming for controversy, but I can guarantee that kids will be bullied because of it:

An advertising campaign from a New Zealand company telling customers to swap their “ginger children” for ginger beer has been criticised on social media.

A media release from Hakanoa Handmade Ginger Beer yesterday gave “unfortunate” parents with red-haired children the opportunity to exchange them for ginger beer, starting today and running until the end of August.

“Parents with ginger spawn will be able to bring them into The Little Grocer on Richmond Road, Grey Lynn, where they will be able to swap them for a six-pack of ginger beer.”

However, people on the company’s Facebook page said the campaign was offensive.

Ross Ronald said: “Awful – who’s next? Kids with glasses? You’ve totally missed the point and have maybe created the world’s most un-inclusive ad campaign. Humour is best left to those who have some.”

“This is a disgusting but of bullying – towards children – and I hope you have some human rights complaints coming your way,” said William Robertson.

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Tags:"unfortunate" parents with red-haired children, Advertising, advertising campaign from a New Zealand company, Body Image, Bullying, campaign is offensive, Commercial, Education, Facebook and Twitter, Hakanoa founder Rebekah Hay, Hakanoa Handmade Ginger Beer "ginger children" for ginger beer, Hakanoa Handmade Ginger Beer swap your ginger for six, life, News, Parenting, Parents with ginger spawn, Political Correctness, six-pack of ginger beer, social media, swap their "ginger children" for ginger beer, swap your ginger for six, television, The Little Grocer on Richmond Road, tv
Posted in Body Image, Bullying | Leave a Comment »

Does ‘Stranger Danger’ do More Harm than Good?

August 1, 2012

If teaching children about ‘stranger danger’ prevents them from feeling safe then is it really worth it?

Research by the charity the National Children’s Bureau showed that under-15s are now less likely to enjoy outdoor play than in previous generations.

It was revealed that almost half of parents admitted that “fear of strangers” prevented them allowing sons or daughters from playing outside.

More than 46 per cent cited traffic concerns and a third were afraid that children would trip or get hurt while playing in parks, streets and playgrounds, figures showed.

The NCB – which published the research to coincide with its national Playday 2012 campaign – insisted that playing outside “should be a normal everyday event for all children”.

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Tags:Anxiety, Cath Prisk, Children and safety, director of Play England, director of Play Wales, Does 'Stranger Danger' do More Harm than Good?, Education, Fear, half of parents admitted that “fear of strangers” prevented them allowing sons or daughters from playing outside., irrational fear that our children are unsafe outside, Mike Greenaway, National Children’s Bureau stranger danger, Paranoia and parenting, Parenting, Playday 2012 campaign, playing outside “should be a normal everyday event for all children, The NCB stranger danger, under-15s are now less likely to enjoy outdoor play
Posted in Child Welfare | Leave a Comment »

Learn English with Ricky Gervais

August 1, 2012

I would have loved having Ricky Gervais as my English teacher:

RICKY Gervais is bypassing the TV networks for his new series, Learn English with Ricky Gervais.

The comedian announced on his website that he had just finished editing the pilot for the show, which will be distributed on the web.

He gave few details about the show besides saying he might charge viewers a small fee to cover production costs and that it would be subtitled into as many languages as possible.

The first episode, he said, would be free.

“I’m thinking of making a clean version of the pilot available for download so people can put their own subtitles on it and repost it,” Gervais wrote on his blog. “You can do a Klingon version if you want.”

Web series are swiftly gaining in popularity. Last month Jerry Seinfeld premiered Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, in which he drives around town in vintage cars, yaks about nothing in particular with fellow comics, then stops off for a coffee.

Gervais is also working on a comedy series for British TV, titled Derek, in which he plays a middle-aged assistant in a retirement home.

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Tags:Derek Ricky Gervais, Education, Jerry Seinfeld premiered Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld sharing coffee with comics, Jerry Seinfeld vintage cars, Learn English with Ricky Gervais, Learn English with Ricky Gervais first episode free on the web, Learn English with Ricky Gervais on the web, News, put their own subtitles on ricky gervais first episode, Ricky Gervais finished editing the pilot for the show, RICKY Gervais is bypassing the TV networks, tv, Web series
Posted in Literacy | Leave a Comment »

The Most Unlikely Children’s Author Yet

August 1, 2012

I would never have predicted that former basketballer Dennis Rodman would even contemplate becoming a writer of children’s books:

What do Katie Couric, Gloria Estefan, Jamie Lee Curits and Dennis Rodman all have in common? If you said “They’ve all been photographed in a wedding dress!” … you’re correct. But we also would have accepted … they have all written children’s books.

That’s right … the NBA Hall of Famer and occasional crossdresser is releasing his own book for kids called “Dennis The Wild Bull” … set to be released sometime later this year.

Dennis and his people are tight-lipped about the premise, but the book’s website says it will “convey good lessons to children based on Dennis’ own experiences as a world class athlete while overcoming obstacles as a child.”

Dennis recently reconnected with his father … and we’re told he’s been re-motivated to strengthen his relationship with his own children … and believes this book will help the process.

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Tags:Books, Dan Monroe, Dennis Rodman and Dustin Warburton, Dennis Rodman children's book author, Dennis Rodman Dennis The Wild Bull, Dennis Rodman has written a book for children, Dennis Rodman kids book, Dennis Rodman releasing his own book for kids, Education, Gloria Estefan, Jamie Lee Curits and Dennis Rodman, Katie Couric, Reading, Rodman trying to re-connect with children, Writing
Posted in Literacy | Leave a Comment »

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Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Teachers Who Have Sex with Students Must be Imprisoned

Saggy Pants Leads to a Very Sticky Situation

School Adopts Chinese Students to Boost Grade Levels

Standardized Tests for Teachers!

Does ‘Stranger Danger’ do More Harm than Good?

The Most Unlikely Children’s Author Yet

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