Posts Tagged ‘Teacher’

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Too Many Underage Kids Use Facebook

May 11, 2011

I personally believe that the age restrictions for setting up a Facebook page is quite reasonable.  A child 13 and over is able to make far better decisions and possesses a much greater depth of perception and maturity than a pre-teen.  I think it is very unfortunate that millions of children under 13 have bypassed these restrictions and currently have their own Facebook accounts.  The potential harm of misusing Facebook can not be overstated:

Millions of children are active on Facebook in violation of the site’s terms of service, which require users to be at least 13 years old, according to a survey released Tuesday by Consumer Reports.

The magazine said it estimates that 7.5 million of the 20 million minors on Facebook are younger than 13. More than 5 million children in this group are 10 and younger. These youngsters are vulnerable to predators and bullies, as well as Internet viruses and malware, because they are using Facebook with little parental oversight, Consumer Reports said. The magazine said it projects “1 million children were harassed, threatened or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on the site in the past year.”

Minors can skirt Facebook’s terms of service by falsifying their birth date when they register for the free site. Facebook has procedures in place to find underage users, including reports from other users, and will permanently delete those accounts if detected.

Consumer Reports said the best way for parents to monitor their children’s Facebook activities is to “friend” them via the site. However, only 18 percent of parents of children 10 and younger have done so. This figure rose to 62 percent for parents of children 13 and 14.

In a response to the Consumer Reports survey, Facebook noted that “there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don’t circumvent a system or lie about their age. We appreciate the attention that these reports and other experts are giving this matter and believe this will provide an opportunity for parents, teachers, safety advocates and Internet services to focus on this area, with the ultimate goal of keeping young people of all ages safe online.”

Online security is a concern for adults as well as minors. Consumer Reports’ survey showed that 21 perent of Facebook users with children at home have posted those children’s names and photos on the site. According to the magazine, 15 percent of Facebook users have posted their current location or travel plans and 34 percent have shared their full birth date. This exposes consumers to identity theft and stalking, Consumer Reports said. In addition, one in five Facebook users has not used the site’s privacy controls.

The magazine compiled its results from its national State of the Net survey, which covered 2,089 online households and was conducted earlier this year. About 150 million Americans are on Facebook.

The social networking company has addressed safety as recently as last month, announcing that it has revamped its Family Safety Center, an online portal with resources for parents and teens. Facebook also said in April  that it plans to release a free guide for teachers on how to safely use social media in the classroom.

“We agree with safety experts that communication between parents/guardians and kids about their use of the Internet is vital,” Facebook said, adding: “Just as parents are always teaching and reminding kids how to cross the road safely, talking about internet safety should be just as important a lesson to learn.”

So is it the role of a teacher to teach children about safe internet practices and responsible internet use?  Yes, to an extent.  However, as one of my readers, Anthony Purcell, wrote so succinctly in a comment on a similarly themed post:

I am a little frustrated that teachers are being the ones that are to teach children how to be good digital citizens. Where are the parents? They should be helping out as well. Unfortunately, I know that many parents don’t know how to be a good digital citizen. There are sites out there that teachers can build to help students out with this. Should they be on Twitter and Facebook in primary school? No, but we can set up ways to help them begin their good digital citizenship roles.

I couldn’t agree more.  Parents, we can only do so much to ensure that your children make responsible decisions on the internet as well as in other spheres.  The rest is up to you!

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Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »

How Do Teachers Answer Questions About Osama?

May 3, 2011

There is no easy way to respond to questions about the death of Osama Bin Laden.  Young kids are clearly confused as to why people are gaining satisfaction from a person’s death.  It is not for a teacher of young children to go in to great detail about Bin Laden and his evil monstrous ways.

The problem then becomes – what do we say?

While many of us are still processing last night’s late-breaking news that Osama bin Laden was killed by a team of Navy SEALs, many teachers had to stand up bright and early this morning in front of a classroom of curious youngsters to field their questions on everything from assassination to terrorism, with little preparation.

“One of my students walked in this morning and said: ‘Osama Bin Laden is dead … is that a good thing?’ Leave it to a six year old to put things in perspective,” a California teacher wrote on Facebook today.

BeAtrice Mazyck, who teaches 11th-grade U.S. history at Lee Central High School in Bishopville, South Carolina, tells The Lookout she had already finished her curriculum for the semester, so she was glad to have a big current event to talk about. Her students had studied the 9/11 attacks earlier in the year, and today were debating the effect bin Laden’s death would have on the U.S. war efforts.

“Some of them were wondering, ‘Is the war over? Can the soldiers come home now?’ Because we live like 20 minutes from the Shaw Air Force Base,” Mazyck said, adding that some of her students have parents who are in the military.

 In Cincinnati, one 9th grade teacher found she had to rehash for her students the events of September 11, 2001–when they were very young–for them to understand the context and significance of bin Laden’s killing.

“Most of these students were in kindergarten or first grade and have very little memory of September 11th,” Oak Hills High teacher Amanda Ruehlmann told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Many have even less of an idea of how much their lives have been impacted by the results and effects of 9/11. So I’ve shown students information on how bin Laden came to be Public Enemy No. 1.”

Some older students wrote they were glad for a distraction from regular coursework. A senior at Glades Central High School in Florida joked on Facebook that Monday should be a school holiday, and that he planned to “bring up the Osama killing to distract all of my teachers from teaching today.”

Teachers aren’t the only ones getting questions. Parents around the country are going online to talk about how difficult it can be to explain to a child why so many people seem happy that a person has been killed.

“I got to explain to my 7 year old son this morning about the news that osama is dead…. he was instantly happy and in his words ….. so the war is over and daddy doesnt have to go away again? really, how do you answer that?” wrote Kate Harbison in Bangor, Maine. “I explained that we all love daddy, and would love for daddy to be home all the time, but considering all that is going on in this world, daddy and all the rest of the armed forces have alot still to do, and probably always will,” Harbison told The Lookout in a note.

“In explaining who Osama is this morning to my 6 year old, my 8 year old said ‘it’s like he is Voldemort.’ I’m so glad it is clear to them now,” a woman from Coppell, Texas wrote.

Have you been asked any questions about Osama by your students?  What did you say?  Do you have any advice for this slightly tongue-tied teacher who is looking for the right words which stubbornly refuse to come out?

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Posted in Child Development | Leave a Comment »

Should Teachers be Dismissed for Leading Double Lives?

April 29, 2011

Whilst I don’t think it’s ideal for a teacher to be involved in the racy novel-writing industry, I’m not sure that the crime befits anything more than a ban on writing future novels.  A teacher caught involved in such activities hasn’t broken laws but they have somewhat tarnished their reputation.  Still, is it really worth more than a slap on the wrist?

Parental complaints have led Midd-West School District officials to investigate a veteran high school teacher who writes erotic romance novels under a pen name.

The teacher, Judy Buranich, of Selinsgrove, has taught at Midd-West for 33 years. Under the pen name Judy Mays, she has been writing novels for a number of those years. Her books include liaisons involving werewolves, aliens and vampires and can be found in the Romance section at Waldenbooks.

Buranich declined to comment about the controversy Wednesday.

On her website, she refers to herself as “a mild-mannered tenth grade English teacher in a small public high school.”

Wesley Knapp, superintendent of the Midd-West School District, said he has received a few complaints, but it was after The Daily Item approached him on April 18 to ask about the connection. Until then, he said, “I didn’t know anything about it.”

Knapp said he has told those making complaints “that we’d look into it.”

He declined to discuss the matter further.

“When it’s a personnel matter, I can’t comment,” he said.

Deanna Stepp, mother of a district student, said: “We are not questioning Mrs. Buranich’s teaching credentials. We are not even questioning her ability as a writer … . What we’re questioning is that the two jobs are not compatible with one another.”

Another parent, Wendy Apple, said she had Buranich as an English teacher in high school.

“I thought she was a top-of-the-line teacher,” Apple said.

But the erotica, she said, “is unethical, totally unacceptable. Period. It just sort of sickens and saddens me to know everybody’s sort of looking at this like, hey, this is OK.”

Apple has received comments and messages on her Facebook page, she said, from people who are attacking her for speaking out.

Apple said she heard the rumor from several students, and started during her own research. Although most of Buranich’s defenders are saying it’s not an issue because she does the writing on her own time, Apple said, “then how did these kids find out? These kids knew what kind of writer she was.”

As a result of her speaking out, which she had contemplated for about a month, Apple said her son, who has Buranich as a teacher, has received backlash at school as well.

“I wholeheartedly believe that more parents are looking at things the same way we are,” Apple said.

Writing as Mays on Facebook on April 22, Buranich said, “The world is full of idiots.”

She also referred to support she has gotten.

“I have a lot of people supporting me, including students and ex-students,” she wrote.

She wrote that she hopes the expose will make the sales of her books go up, and already has.

Meanwhile, a Facebook page titled “Support Judy Mays (Mrs. Buranich)” hit 88 likes by Wednesday afternoon.

Cindy Wagner, manager, at Waldenbooks, said the novels are under the category of “Romance,” not “Erotica” at the bookstore. She said the books are already tagged when they arrive, and she simply places them on the shelves according to those tags.

So should teachers be allowed to lead a double life?  At what point would they be taking it too far?  Do you think that the parents of Ms. Buranich have what to complain about?  Do you agree that she should be advised to quit writing these novels while she is still teaching?

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Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Teacher Stress a Real Issue

April 27, 2011

At a time when teachers are being unfairly picked on by politicians and the media and forced to take the heat for standardized test results and missed benchmarks, there is no wonder why teachers are suffering from stress.  The paperwork is ridiculously high and the support is nowhere to be seen.

Just look at what toll it is having on teachers in Britain:

An increase in Government targets and high-stakes Ofsted inspections is fuelling a rise in serious mental health problems among school staff, according to teachers’ leaders.

Most teachers said behaviour policies in schools were inconsistently enforced, allowing many pupils to get away with bad behaviour

The National Union of Teachers claim stress is now the main reason for driving teachers out of the profession.

It follows the publication of figures last year that showed almost 309,000 school teachers – more than half of the workforce – were signed off sick for an average of two weeks in 2009.

The NUT claim that staff are now routinely expected to work more than 50 hours a week after being swamped by marking and form-filling.

Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Harrogate, activities told how many teachers were resorting to alcohol to get through the day or even attempting suicide because of the workload.

Sue McMahon, branch secretary for Calderdale, West Yorkshire, said: “As a divisional secretary I have seen a meteoric rise in work-related stress and in more than one occasion have had to support a member who has attempted suicide.”

She said the problem was being caused by “the demands being placed on our members to hit Government targets”.

“We got into teaching to teach, not to be beaten by the target-driven culture of those Stepford heads who relish the Government agenda,” she said.

“The target tsunami escalating from the aspirations of this Government is sweeping away those [teachers] that you are struggling to support. And as the wave gets bigger it is leaving a trail of devastation in its wake that used to be a world class education system.”

Teachers need more support and consideration.  It isn’t an easy profession, and yet it continues to be more taxing and highly stressful than ever before.  Less paperwork, less beaurocracy, more support and more leadership from our politicians and administrators please?


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Posted in Teachers Stress | 1 Comment »

Inspiring Words For All Teachers

April 24, 2011

I came across this brilliant article by Priscilla Wilson, a retired school teacher and educator.  In her wonderful piece, she calls on new teachers to put children first, and to look past bureaucratic stumbling blocks and instead, fight for the child.  It is so refreshing to come across a teacher that puts this critical message in such eloquent terms.

Teachers from all around the globe would be well advised to read this:

This week is somewhat of a milestone for me.

Forty years ago this week I started my first teaching job. In reflecting on what a great time that was for me, I am saddened as to how much things have changed. It was an exciting time when people who felt that they wanted to teach could easily do so.

It was actually a very care-free and nurturing time which I must say we simply took for granted. It only made sense that if you had studied to be a teacher, you would have the opportunity to do so. The big discussion was not if you could get a job but simply where you thought you wanted to live and work! People were excited to do both and there was a great buzz about the profession and about getting to it!

April may seem like a strange time to begin teaching but I simply finished my university year one week and went to work the following week. I was in Fredericton and there was a separate Special Education school. I had the pleasure of volunteering there during my time at Teachers College and St. Thomas University and knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. Following this opportunity, I was fortunate to be able to work in a segregated Special Education school for 10 years prior to Integration in the early 1980s. It was indeed an exceptional time that was especially meaningful, productive and memorable, a time of my life filled with fond memories that I will have forever.

With the introduction of Integration, many of us who had taught in the separate Special Education system became resource teachers. In addition to working as a resource teacher I was fortunate to teach most grades from 1 to 9.

I know now that I was always drawn to the child who was struggling, for whatever reason. I was very drawn to this particular student and was always intrigued as to what I could do that would be different; teach it again or another way. What was it going to take in order for the student/students to be successful?

I consider myself so fortunate because teaching has been such a positive career choice for me. What about those who are ready now to dedicate their time and energies to teaching? Why does employment have to be such a struggle for them? Why, too, are so many who are teaching so dissatisfied with their career? What changes could be made to the system to make things better for everyone?

What is more important than our young people; both our students and our young teachers? At a time when so many so-called topics of importance are being discussed, why aren’t we hearing more about the importance of an education? Why aren’t we talking more about how to make it better?

Many children are unhappy with their school experience which is extremely sad and quite unbelievable! Parents are dissatisfied and teachers can only dream of better teaching experiences, and thousands of enthusiastic young teachers feel they may never teach. How can things be so desperate in what should be such a progressive time?

In addition, the needs of so many children are not being met because the system is not set up to handle them. Amazing young people are losing out every day and we get to help them and, in fact, turn their lives around because at Wilson Reading Centre we’ve created a learning environment that is working for them.

Getting back to my 40-year anniversary, I think that it’s interesting that I have the energy and stamina that I’ve always have. Well, it seems that way to me. No doubt, I have slowed down somewhat but I’m having too much fun to notice. There’s nothing extra special about me, except that I truly love what I am doing. That in itself is a gift and one that I wish for the many young people trying to fulfill their dream of being a teacher. Just think of what they could accomplish!

I feel strongly that as a society we should be fighting back. Our students need so much more and our young people need work.

I personally know very capable young people who have left the area in order to teach. Can you imagine the time, effort and expenses that they have endured in order to achieve the necessary qualifications, only to be unemployed? If this isn’t enough, they are then forced to move away in order to find work.

I know that this isn’t just happening within education but my soap-box is education. A good education can have the most meaningful effect on the lives of our young people and we are letting them down.

We always say how important our children are to us as parents and as a society. Parents do their best to provide for their children but they aren’t the ones assigned the task of teaching their children to read.

Being a successful reader carries over into every aspect of life. Without it, the child feels helpless, defenceless, frustrated, discouraged but most importantly defeated and unsuccessful.

So my challenge to the education system is to look at each individual and ask what we as a society could be doing differently.

Perhaps the key to my happiness as a teacher was the fact that I was drawn to the child who was struggling and set about to make a difference. It seems like a reasonable solution to a successful career because it would mean the difference between doing the best job possible and one that produced mediocrity.

Teachers feel overwhelmed because too many children are coming to them with too many struggles. One solution would be to address some of these struggles before they become insurmountable.

I am not talking about a hypothetical situation. I am, in fact, talking about one that I decided to tackle as an individual. I did so by creating a learn-to-read program that I felt would make a difference. Then I set about to prove that it would work.

Having accomplished this has allowed me the opportunity to prove my philosophy on many levels. One is that by simply taking a different approach to learning to read, people who have struggled, sometimes for years, can be successful. Another is the proof of the overwhelming power that learning to read plays in each individual’s life.

Finally, the clincher, which I think is the fact that being able to give back is the key to a successful career whatever you do. So, as this week represents forty years of tons of fun and loads of opportunities to give back, my plea is that we try harder as a society and look for ways to help more children be more successful, for certain more successful and more confident as readers and therefore, as individuals!


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Posted in Inspirational Teachers, Literacy | 1 Comment »

Why Teachers Want Out of the Profession

April 6, 2011

It’s such a tragedy to read that nearly two-thirds of teachers want to quit. I love the profession, and recommend it to anyone that has an interest in teaching, but it is clear that no matter how wonderful this vocation is, the support and welfare of teachers is, more often than not, missing from the equation.

Unlike what some may think, teachers aren’t leaving because of the money (even though we clearly don’t make very much).  A recent survey spell it out:

Centre for Marketing Schools director Dr Linda Vining said the survey confirmed the “deeper issues” of concern to teachers.

They included a lack of communication between staff and principals, and feeling undervalued and not being consulted.

“Teachers are feeling steamrollered . . . they are feeling that things are happening too quickly,” Dr Vining said.

“Through my research comes a sense they feel they are not valued members of the team – they are simply there to work and for many of them that’s not fulfilling.”

The findings are a sad indication of why so many teachers are unhappy:

  • SIXTY per cent of teachers said the school’s direction was not clearly communicated.
  • FIFTY-ONE per cent did not feel part of a close-knit school community.
  • FIFTY-FOUR per cent said communication between staff and management was poor.
  • TWENTY-SEVEN per cent said the school principal was not approachable.

The tragedy of this situation is that teachers are leaving for reasons which should be easily rectifiable. They are not leaving because they don’t enjoy teaching, aren’t happy in a classroom or find that they are not up to the day-to-day demands of the profession. They are leaving because they are feeling unappreciated, ignored, not properly consulted and have difficulties with colleagues.

These issues should be able to be addressed and corrected, so that teachers can enjoy the same kinds of working conditions as I do. The fact that they aren’t is a strong condemnation on the way schools and administrators operate. They are often inflexible, unaccommodating and cold.

And this is supposed to be the warm, friendly and caring environment for our children?

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Posted in Teacher Welfare | 6 Comments »

Inspiring Teacher Who Taught Herself To Read

April 3, 2011

Below is an excerpt of an article about the inspiring teacher, Patty Gillespie, who was given passage through school without ever knowing how to read or write.  The article chronicles her struggle from an illiterate youth to her prominence as a brilliant teacher and devotee of helping instill a love of reading in kids:

Teaching comes naturally to Gillespie, a small woman who wears dresses to school, smiles a lot and waves her hands when she talks.

So does giving. Gillespie, whose favorite book is Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” gives away hundreds of donated books at school each year.

Being a student wasn’t as easy.

Gillespie, who grew up in Massachusetts, loved to play “school” before she was old enough to go. By first grade, she couldn’t keep up with her classmates in reading lessons. It would be years before learning disabilities were diagnosed.

“You could show me pictures of apples and say the short ‘a,’ and I heard ‘uh,’ ” she said. “To just hear the isolated sounds didn’t work.”

Help was hard to come by in an era when special education was for severely disabled children. Private tutors used the same phonics lessons that teachers did, so they read Gillespie’s schoolbooks to her instead.

Gillespie, a popular student, carefully hid her problems from classmates. She raised her hand to answer questions only when everybody else did; when she was called on, she told teachers she’d forgotten what to say.

By high school, her English teachers asked the same question each year: How did you get here without knowing how to read or write?

“It may have been wrong, but I think teachers continued to pass me because I tried so hard,” she said.

Gillespie also made it into Westfield State College in 1971, despite low scores on the SAT college entrance exam.

Gillespie’s parents knew she struggled. Still, for her they wanted the education they’d never had.

Her father, an insurance salesman, had turned down a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania so he could support his family. “I just said, ‘Hey, without the degree you won’t get very far in life,’ ” said Gillespie’s father, Bob Watson, 89.

Gillespie lived at home and drove to campus for classes. She was just as lost there as she had been in high school. This time, she found little sympathy from teachers.

The closer Gillespie got to academic probation – she says she was two-tenths of a point away her first semester – the more she wanted to walk away from her college education.

She changed her mind after a stern warning from her father: If that’s what you want to do, then quit. But remember you’ll always be a quitter.

“That really changed my life,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let him down.”

Gillespie started with vowels, using the pronunciation key of a dictionary and pictures instead of sounds.

For short “a,” she envisioned a black cat; an ape for long “a.”

She studied in her bedroom, between classes, up to eight hours a day for a year. In the beginning, it took two hours to get through three paragraphs of a textbook. Gillespie wouldn’t let herself turn the page until she understood what she’d read.

Not once did she want to quit.

“I knew I could do it,” she said. “That was the first time in my life.”

The full article is slightly longer.  I strongly recommend you read the full piece.  What a teacher!  What a story!

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Posted in Inspirational Teachers, Literacy | 1 Comment »

Teachers Who Beat Kids Should Be Put Away!

March 14, 2011

Please join me on my mission to eradicate legalised corporal punishment from our classrooms.  In Australia a teacher is not allowed to hit, beat or physically handle a student.  It is against the law, and so it should be.  The fact that some other countries don’t practice the same policy mistifies me.  A teacher should never be given the permission to physically discipline their students.  Such an allowance gives bad teachers the right to lash out at any student that gives them a hard time.  That is hardly what you would call “quality education.”

Stories like this one sicken me:

Picture this. It’s 10am in a classroom at a primary school and a teacher is handing out science test marks to the pupils. Among the children sits a 13-year-old boy who is an excellent student and an athlete, generally a boy who could be classified “a good child”.

But he has failed this particular test. The teacher tells him to stay behind after class.

His heart lurches and he gets a knot in his stomach because he knows what that means. He’s going to get a beating. Before spanking him, the teacher tells the pupil, “My daddy beat me and I beat my children, so I’m going to beat you.”

The boy walks away with not only a bruised bottom, but a bruised ego and tears in his eyes.

This scene is not from a school in some small village in “backward Africa”. Nope, this happened in a school in Alabama.

According to the US Department of Education, more than 200,000 school kids encounter corporal punishment every year across the US. And those are just the ones the department knows about. Some cases go unreported. Testimony at congressional hearings has revealed that up to 20,000 kids a year request medical treatment, mostly for bruising and broken blood vessels after being physically punished in school.

That is an awful statistic.  How can this be allowed anywhere, let alone in the United States?  How can teacher’s get away with bruising their students?  For every medical practitioner that is called on to treat a victim of corporal punishment, a policeman should be called on to put the offending teacher away!

But based on the current state of play, that scenario is a long way off for some states:

Corporal punishment in schools by teachers with a paddle (a wooden board), belt or strap is legal in 20 states. While 28 states have outlawed it outright, the US Supreme Court has ruled it legal.

The majority of the states that still allow teachers to spank kids are in the mid-west and in the south of the country. States such as Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and, to my surprise, Florida, are said to use corporal punishment more frequently than others.

The mother of the Alabama boy is suing the superintendent of schools and the teacher for her son’s spanking. She’s angry because, by law, you can’t hit a dog and you can’t hit a prisoner, but you are allowed to spank children.

There are guidelines for how teachers can spank kids, which is more than I can say for when I started school in the ’80s, but there are bound to be some teachers who will do whatever they like.

Of course there are teachers that exploit this situation.  Whilst I would like to believe that all teachers care about their students there are enough out there that grow resentful and irrational over the years.  These teachers can not be trusted to make decisions in the best interests of their students.

And to those that think that fear of such a punishment brings out the best in students, I say this.  Fear doesn’t bring out the best in anyone!  If a teacher can’t control their class, they can approach an expert for advice or quit.  If they feel they have to burst their students’ blood vessels to gain law and order, they ought to feel completely and utterly ashamed of themselves.

It’s 2011!  Time to wear our belts, consign paddles to PE lessons and throw away the straps in the bin!

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Posted in Classroom Management, Corporal Punishment | 9 Comments »

The Heroic Life of a Selfless Teacher

March 4, 2011

If there is something one can get out of the absolutely tragic story of a teacher who drowns in trying to rescue his students, it is the selflessness of teachers, heroically displayed by maths and science teacher Paul Simpson.

A schoolteacher has drowned in an apparent attempt to save his students from a rip at the notorious Bells Beach.

The man, believed to be aged in his 30s, died yesterday while supervising a group of Year 11 and 12 students from Shelford Girls Grammar, in Melbourne’s east.

The girls, aged about 15 years, had been snorkelling at 4.30pm when wild surf and a rip tide turned conditions dangerous.

The group of 19 students and three adults had been walking in knee- to waist-deep water on a reef when a wave knocked them off their feet and into deeper water, Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said.

Police said it was believed the teacher had been trying to rescue the girls before he drowned.

Paramedics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him on the shore of the surf beach near Torquay, 105km southeast of Melbourne.

Several teenagers had to be rescued from the water. One received treatment for an asthma attack. Others had minor injuries.

The distressed students, who were in shock, had to be helped to make their way back up the beach to a car park to be taken back to their camp at Torquay.

The teacher is question works at a school within walking distance of my home.  His bravery and unflinching desperation to rescue his students shows us what sacrifices a brilliant teacher can make for the safety and security of his students.  I extend my condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and students.  May his brief but meaningful life inspire others to strive to make selfless decisions whilst looking out for others.

If you have some time I encourage you to read tributes written by his former students on a special Facebook page dedicated to the memory of this incredible person.

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Posted in Inspirational Teachers | 1 Comment »

Teacher Assistants Now Come in Human and Dog Variety

March 1, 2011

I love this story!  Like yesterdays post, education is at it’s best when interesting and unorthodox ideas are devised to help improve the standard of learning and teaching.  To get kids to read to dogs is just zany enough of an idea to work.  Who needs teachers when you can employ dogs to do the same job?

A “LISTENING” dog has become Staffordshire’s latest teaching assistant – so he can help children improve their reading skills.

Primary school-age pupils will be reading stories to Danny the greyhound to build their confidence and overcome their fears of reading aloud.

Staffordshire County Council is only the second local authority in England to trial the idea and was due to be enlisting the help of its new four-legged recruit today.

The mild-mannered pooch was going to be working with about 30 youngsters at a library in Tamworth.

If successful, the project could be rolled out to other libraries this autumn to benefit schoolchildren across the county.

Danny and his owner, Tony Nevett, are part of the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) programme, which has already proved a huge hit in the U.S.

Tony said: “He loves being read to and loves people.

“He will just be laying there on the floor while children are reading to him.

“Some children even show him the pictures in the books. Danny doesn’t judge them and he doesn’t criticise.

“For children who don’t like standing up in class, it can be a real help.

“We’ve had some fantastic results.”

Therapy dogs are already used to help people recover from illnesses or to befriend the elderly, which is where the idea to use them to aid literacy skills came from.

“It’s called animal-assisted therapy,” said 50-year-old Tony, who is based in Northamptonshire and has a degree in this line of therapy.

“When people stroke a dog, it’s been proven to lower their blood pressure.

“One of the reasons we use a greyhound is their temperament. They don’t bark.

“They are also the only type of dog with one coat of hair, so they are less likely to trigger allergies.”

The listening dog sessions can work in a variety of ways.

Sixteen-month-old Danny might listen to a child read on a one-to-one basis, or work with youngsters in small groups.

Pupils with special needs, such as autism, can draw particular benefits from working with Danny, although Tony is quick to point out that any child can enjoy working with a dog.

The books can tie in with the reading schemes they are using at school.

Staffordshire is following the lead of Kent County Council, which piloted the READ programme last year.

The approach in Staffordshire is especially innovative, because it involves running the sessions in a library.

Councillor Pat Corfield, cabinet member for culture, communities and customers, said: “This may seem like a shaggy dog story, but it has a serious purpose.

“The idea is that children will lose their fear of reading aloud, because the dog is a non-judgmental, friendly audience.”

Despite only being a young dog himself, Danny already has a wealth of experience working with children.

He has a sideline as a ‘Blue Cross’ dog, where he goes into schools to help teach pupils about responsible pet ownership.

There’s an old joke often attributed to teachers that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.  Seems that joke can be altered from peanuts to shank bones now.

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