WINTER BREAK
This is a reminder that
our winter break will begin December 22, 2014 and continue through January 2,
2015. I would like to take this
opportunity to wish the entire community a safe and happy holiday season. We look forward to our students and staff returning
to school on January 5.
HOUR OF CODE
In
celebration of Computer Science Education Week held each December, many of our
classrooms participated in an "Hour of Code" event. These events are
one-hour tutorials that provide students an opportunity to write their first
few lines of computer code. The tutorials are game-like and self-directed,
enabling students to work at the own pace and skill level. You can learn
more about the project on YouTube using this link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/rH7AjDMz_dc .
Anyone can join in the fun at http://code.org
WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR STUDENT TO KNOW?
I recently read an
excellent article with some important ideas that speak to what we are trying to
achieve in Vermilion through the use of blended learning, co-teaching and
center-based learning. It is copied
below, and I hope you will find it as insightful as I did. The author is Jill Jenkins, a retired teacher
and commentator on innovation in education.
“What is important for
students to know? What should our
schools be teaching? If you listen to media, all the schools should be focused
on is STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Just like in the
1950’s our society is demanding that education provide more STEM education to
provide a technological suave population who can produce a profit for our
corporations. Are schools created to serve our corporations or the individual
needs of our students? Society certainly
rewards students who perform well in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics, but not every student has the desire or the aptitude to do well in
those areas. Are we doing those students
a disservice? Since girls have stronger verbal skills and brains wired for an
education in communications is this a subtle form of prejudice? Before we write our curriculum, it is important
to determine what is important to know to help our students become both
productive citizens and principled people.
We need a more balanced approach to serve all of the needs of all of the
varied students in our classes.
Schools need to
prepare students to be productive citizens, but to be honest, with as rapidly
as technology is changing that is not an easy task. As a child, I remember laughing at Maxwell
Smart and his shoe telephone. Now, all
of us carry telephones around in our pockets that are not only communication
devices, but small computers. The truth
is there will be careers that we can’t even imagine, so we have to give
students skills to be life-long learners.
To achieve they must be willing to learn new skills through-out their
lives. We need to prepare students to adapt to world that we cannot conceive
existing.
Research shows that females learn
differently than males. Girls
have larger hippocampus, where memory and language is stored. This means they develop language skills,
reading skills and vocabulary much sooner than boys. On the other hand, boys
have a larger cerebral cortex which means they learn visually and have better
spatial relationships. This could
improve their ability in engineering and technology. These differences become less dramatic as the
child grows older. Perhaps schools need
to focus on presenting a broad spectrum of disciplines in a variety of ways to
serve all of students.
Even though our society does not value
careers where communication, rather than subjects like science, technology,
engineering and mathematics are the primary focus, they may still be important
careers for our society. For example,
teachers are essential if we want to continue to produce an educated workforce,
but if pay is the measurement of value, they are not valued by society. In the state where I taught science,
engineering, technology and math teachers were all paid $5000.00 a year more
than any other kind of teacher. Still,
if we want to be realistic, students need a balance of both to be
successful. For example, my daughter is
a journalist; however, she also needs to know how to write computer coding
because the magazine that employs her is on-line. Most scientists must document whatever they
do, which means they need writing and reading skills. Furthermore, who is to
say who will be the next poet laureate .
The arts, history and language arts are all equally important skills for
students to master as math, science and technological based skills.
Even more important, the
humanities: literature, history and the
arts force people to ask “why.”
Certainly, we can’t think about Nazi Germany without realizing that
there was a reason Hitler banned books.
We can’t read a Michael Critchton book without discussing ethics in
science and medicine. We can’t read
Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist without questioning the social problems caused by
poverty and homelessness. Reading,
writing, history, the arts are all connected to science, math, technology and
engineering. A quality education is a
balance. All of it is equally
important. Teachers should be
compensated fairly and students should be provided with an equal balance. Teachers should help students develop their
own individual talents, so they can become all that they can be. Schools should prepare each student to become
“all that they can be,” not a product to serve the needs of industry.”
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