Posts Tagged ‘News’

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Mum Hacks Into School Computer to Change Her Kids’ Grades

July 20, 2012

Sometimes doing your kids’ homework just isn’t enough:

A Pennsylvania woman allegedly changed her children’s grades after logging into a school computer system using passwords obtained when she worked for the district.

Investigators say Catherine Venusto used the Northwestern Lehigh School District superintendent’s password to change the grades. She was arraigned Wednesday on a half-dozen felony counts and released on bail.

Officials say Venusto changed a failing grade to a medical exception for he daughter in 2010, when she was still a district secretary. The New Tripoli woman is also accused of bumping one of her son’s grades from 98 to 99 percent in February.

State police say Venusto admitted changing the grades, saying she thought her actions were unethical but not illegal.

Half a dozen felony charges? For changing a 98 to a 99? You’ve got to be kidding!

Word has it she hacked into the courts’ computer system and has altered her 6 felony charges down to 5.

Click here to read, ‘5 Humourous Comparisons Between Parenting and Journalism’.

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Posted in Parenting | Leave a Comment »

Doctors Able to Reverse Egg Allergies

July 19, 2012

This is brilliant news for my daughter and the many others that suffer from egg allergies:

First peanuts, now eggs. Doctors have reversed allergies in some children and teens by giving them tiny daily doses of problem foods, gradually training their immune systems to accept them.

In the best test of this yet, about a dozen kids were able to overcome allergies to eggs, one of the most ubiquitous foods, lurking in everything from pasta and veggie burgers to mayonnaise and even marshmallows. Some of the same doctors used a similar approach on several kids with peanut allergies a few years ago.

Don’t try this yourself, though. It takes special products, a year or more and close supervision because severe reactions remain a risk, say doctors involved in the study, published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

“This experimental therapy can safely be done only by properly trained physicians,” says a statement from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the federal agency that sponsored the study.

It didn’t work for everyone, and some dropped out of the study because of allergic reactions. But the results “really do show there is promise for future treatment” and should be tested now in a wider group of kids, said the study’s leader, Dr. A. Wesley Burks, pediatrics chief at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

I’m glad this method is proving successful, but I don’t think I could put my daughter through the process.

Click here to read, ‘Anaphylaxis: The New Form of Discrimination’.

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Teachers Considered “Highly Qualified” After 5 Weeks of Training

July 18, 2012

Of course a student learning to become a teacher has not developed the skills to justifiably call themselves a “highly qualified” teacher. Sadly, with teacher training at such a poor standard, they could be studying for 5 years and it wouldn’t make much difference:

Today a U.S. House appropriations subcommittee will consider legislation that would allow students still learning to be teachers to be considered highly qualified teachers under federal law.

The nonprofit organization Teach for America places college graduates into high needs schools after giving them five weeks of training in a summer institute. The TFA corps members, who are required to give only a two-year commitment to teaching, can continue a master’s degree in education with selected schools while teaching.

Of course it doesn’t make any real sense that a new college graduate with five weeks of ed training or any student teacher should be considered highly qualified — because they aren’t. But federal officials inexplicably partial to Teach for America have bestowed millions of dollars on the organization, and TFA has, not surprisingly, lobbied Congress for this legislation.

The truth is, that 5 weeks of practical observation and teaching is far more beneficial that years of theory and mindless lectures.

Click on the link to read, ‘Teachers Trained Very Well to Teach Very Poorly‘

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Posted in Teacher Training | 2 Comments »

It’s Time to Get New Role Models

July 18, 2012

Unfortunately sports stars are idolised by children. I say unfortunately, because all too often they let themselves and their followers down by insensitive behaviour and poor decisions.

Take this story from my country, Australia, for example:

A YOUNG girl claims she was told by a St Kilda football player that the club saved themselves for ”hot chicks” and that ”there should be a no fat chicks section” in their contracts.

The girl, who has not been named, said the comments were made last week at Melbourne airport while she was trying to get a photograph for her friend.

She told the Herald Sun she was horrified by the experience.

“Instantly my eyes filled up with tears,” she said.

“Body image and how I look is important, so that comment, coming from someone who is in the public eye, made me feel like a monster.

“Now I think everyone around me is thinking those things.”

And what about this for a lackluster response?

St Kilda’s head of football Chris Pelchen confirmed the club had acted on the incident.

In a statement he said: ”The St Kilda Football Club can confirm we received a complaint from the mother of a young lady alleging comments were made by the players at Melbourne airport on Friday that upset her daughter.

”The Club has spoken to the playing group, and while there is some conjecture about the comments, the Club is mindful that sensitivities need to be respected.

”The family involved have indicated their appreciation for the professional way the St Kilda Football Club has managed the matter.”

The team made a donation to the Butterfly Foundation and also provided a guernsey to the young girl.

The sport’s body (the AFL) should step in and demand stronger consequences. This is beyond unacceptable behaviour.

Click here to join in the discussion on body image and our youth.

 

 

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Teaching Young Kids to Throw Away Their Money

July 16, 2012

Facebook offers its users “free” gambling games,which they of course claim is restricted to children over 13 (but we all know how well Facebook police their own age requirement laws):

Members of Facebook, who must be aged 13 or over, can play a wide range of games traditionally associated with betting, including roulette, slot machines and card games.

Addiction experts have now claimed the games could lead children to becoming habitual gamers or even “problem” gamblers.

They believe the free games could lead youngsters to believe they are just harmless fun, setting them on a path towards betting with real currency.

A spokeswoman for charity GamCare added they would like the Gambling Commission to research social gaming and investigate it further.

Mandy Barrie, policy and development director, told the newspaper: “This is a really rapidly-moving area. We need to think through very carefully any risks that it presents particularly for young people.

“There is a link between early exposure to gambling and developing a problem in adulthood.”

These games are designed to get kids into gambling as quickly as possible. Facebook knows it, parents unfortunately don’t.

Click here to read my post ‘Facebook Doesn’t Seem to Care About Kids’.

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Posted in Child Welfare, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

The Maths Professor who Understands the Importance of Engaging a Class

July 13, 2012

It’s fantastic to see a teacher who understands how important it is to keep the class involved and engaged:

Maths is not usually top of the list when it comes to favourite subjects at school.

But one teacher has found a novel way of getting his pupils attention.

Professor Matthew Weathers starts all his lessons with comical introduction piece – and now his endeavors are causing a stir on YouTube.

In the latest of his videos, the maths genius, who teaches at the Biola University in California, piques the curiosity of students learning about imaginary numbers with an impressive display of computer wizardry.

He creates a double of himself on a computer which appears on a white board behind his desk and then proceeds to chat to his imaginary self.

His class burst into fits of giggles as his double asks him to stop interfering in the lesson, asks him to leave the room and tells him off when he tinkers with the microphone.

The video has already amassed 17,000 YouTube hits.

Mr Weather said: ‘I like asking interesting questions or telling interesting stories but with a smaller class, it’s easier to do tricks on them.

‘I upload my videos on YouTube so my students can see them but then other people start looking at them.’

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Video of Woman Saving Children From Runaway Van

July 12, 2012

Well done Lezlie Bicknell on a most heroic act:

A New Mexico woman heroically jumped to save two children alone in a runaway van, even as her own vehicle slid into traffic.

Lezlie Bicknell says she was shocked to see a young child behind the wheel of a minivan she pulled up next to in an Albuquerque strip mall parking lot.

“There was a small child in the driver’s seat,” Bicknell, 40, told ABC affiliate KOAT. “I literally watched her shift it into gear. I knew what was going to happen.”

The two children were reportedly locked inside the minivan while their parents ran into a nearby convenience store, and one of the youngsters accidentally knocked the vehicle into neutral.

Video shows the minivan sliding backward toward the street, and Bicknell jumping from her truck to help. Then her own vehicle starts to roll backward, too.

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Posted in Child Welfare | 2 Comments »

It isn’t that Hard to Make a “Poor” Teacher a “Good” One

July 12, 2012

There is a theory among educational circles that a struggling teacher can’t improve. This is probably true in today’s climate, but it isn’t a reflection on under-performing teachers, but rather a reflection on the total lack of support given to teachers.

A teacher’s journey begins with a pressurised, yet basically completely useless, teacher training course. This course not only fails to provide teachers with the requisite practical skills but is often taught and run by former teachers who are overjoyed at the prospect of finally being out of the classroom.

Then, if that teacher is lucky enough to score a job at a school with resources, a track record of half-decent behaviour and academic standards (because let’s face it – graduate teachers often go to the toughest schools to teach in), they are left on their own. No mentor, no support system. They are put in an environment where every teacher is in charge of their own classroom and teamwork is often non-existent.

That teacher can always break the unwritten rule and ask for help, but that would be a mistake. A graduate teacher’s first contract is usually a 12-month trial run. That teacher cannot afford to advertise their uncertainty and lack of experience. Teachers are overburdened as it is and many resent having to help an amateur when they have an ever-increasing workload to deal with. Therefore, a graduate teacher that asks for help risks not having their contract extended, thereby risking future employment.

So what do these teachers do? They learn on the job. And that’s where mistakes are made and bad habits are formed.

These bad habits sometimes make them look like “poor” teachers. Many of them are just well intentioned teachers who have never been given the support they needed.

The public are probably very supportive of new regulations that makes it harder for teachers branded “incompetent” from finding a new teaching job. I bid them to see beyond the labels and call on the system to support our teachers rather than replacing them for a newer version of the same thing:

For the first time, schools will be given legal powers to find out whether staff applying for new jobs have previously been subjected to official warnings.

Former employers will be required to disclose any disciplinary action taken against teachers over the last two years to give new schools a more comprehensive picture of their ability.

The regulations – being introduced from this September – come amid fears that too many schools allow weak teachers to leave and find new jobs rather than draw attention to their performance.

In the last decade, just 17 staff in England have been officially struck off for incompetence.

But teachers’ leaders insisted that the regulations would treat teachers “worse than criminals” and force some out of the profession altogether.

Click here to read about how I would solve the problem of the unsupported teacher.

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Posted in Teacher Training, Teachers Stress | 5 Comments »

School Deals With Bullying Problem by Banishing the Victim’s Mother

July 11, 2012

Schools have to wake up and understand that if a child is being bullied and they are at a loss to stop it, it is not only a parent’s right but a parent’s responsibility to demand answers.

If my life savings were in the hands of a stockbroker and I called every day to find out how things were going, my stockbroker would treat my concerns with respect because he/she realises that my life savings mean a lot to me.

But when a child, the most important and precious thing in a parents’ life, is being tormented at school and the parent rings constantly to seek assurances, the response from the school is often far from respectful.

Take this story for example. A mother persistently rings her child’s school in order to seek help over s bullying issue only to be banned from stepping foot onto school grounds:

A local school board won’t explain why it banned the mother of an allegedly bullied child from school grounds unless she has written permission.

Mario Turco, the Algoma District School Board’s director of education, said the board “absolutely” had reason to issue the June 22 letter which informed Kathy Lindsay she needed to get prior written permission to visit Queen Elizabeth Public School, or face trespassing charges.

“Why would we send a letter out if there was no reason?” Turco said Tuesday.

When pressed, Turco would only say the letter was in response to a letter from Lindsay’s lawyer.

“I don’t think I need to discuss it in public. (Lindsay) understands it. It’s between the lawyers now,” Turco said.

Lindsay said she isn’t backing down.

She said her daughter, Hailey, is being tormented on a daily basis by a group of classmates.

“This is a little girl who has been in a living hell for the last year,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay said all she did was walk her daughter to class and make a number of phone calls to try to stop the bullying.

“They’re going to say I called often — and yes, I did,” Lindsay said. “I called often because it’s not taken seriously enough and that was my way of trying to get something done about it.”

 

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You Don’t Fight Bullying With More Bullying

July 11, 2012

People are entitled to feel very angry at the school that reportedly allowed a young Japanese boy to be bullied to the point of suicide. But it is incredibly important that the anger is expressed in a non-threatening way.

Firstly, those concerned should call for disciplinary measures for all those involved (including students, staff and administrators).

Next, they should be encouraging their children and close friends to speak out against bullying whenever they find themselves to be bystanders.

Finally, they should take an interest in how their local schools deal with bullying situations.

One thing they should not do is threaten the school. This course of action is tantamount to dealing with bullying by becoming the bully:

THE suicide of a 13-year-old boy in central Japan has sparked a series of bomb threats against his school.

Threats have also been made against the local government over claims of negligence in the case, police said.

The boy’s death has snowballed into a national scandal amid reports that bullies routinely forced him to “practice” killing himself before he took his own life, and that his teacher brushed off the abuse as a joke.

A letter sent to the boy’s school in Shiga prefecture threatened that the building would be bombed unless the pupils and teachers involved apologise, local authorities said.

Click here to read my post ‘Child Commits Suicide Due to Alleged Systematic Bullying and Inept Teachers’.

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Posted in Bullying | 2 Comments »

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