GreenAbalone

Thursday, December 10, 2009

WEST Test- give it a shot

I am currently studying for the Washington Educators Skills Test (WEST) test for washington, for history. If you have some free time, take a gander to see how you do:

http://www.west.nesinc.com/PDFs/WA_SG_027.pdf

Monday, November 30, 2009

Often, school teachers are telling kids to be quite, sit down, learn. In this school, and others around the country and the globe, are doing quite the opposite: they are telling the kids to get outside.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Alaska: take a lesson from the Italians

What happens when culture and traditions clash with current events and global economies? In Alaska, families are moving from their traditional homelands to pursue better jobs and more options for their children. The result is budget cuts and schools closing because the families who stay behind don't have enough kids to support the school. When the schools close, those families must decide if they support looking to the future by moving to a town that has a school so their children can have opportunities in today's economy, or hold onto the past by staying behind and preserving their cultural way of life. Either way, something is lost.

The Italians struggled with this same question, but in a different context. As the older population dwindles and the young begin to move into places of economic power, dialects are being lost. To help keep their culture intact, while still allowing the children opportunities within the global arena, Italians now offer at least two types of required language: the regional dialect, and a foreign language - most likely English.

Alaska- take example. If you leave the families to make the choice, you will lose either way, as your future citizens must decide between academic illiteracy, or cultural ignorance. By making traditional culture a part of required education at all Alaskan state schools, you win both ways, and pull the past into the future.

more information, check out the NYT article on Alaska schools here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/us/26alaska.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

making math cool again.

a call from big bird and elmo to make math and science cool again:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/science/24educ.html?_r=1&hpw

Friday, November 13, 2009

The (mis)education of america, part 2

Last we spoke on this subject, I had discussed the Teacher Salary Project, part of the 'GOOD 1oo' a collection of exciting innovative ideas. Today I'd like to delve into another Green Abalone on their list, KIPP charter schools.

Before we start, pop quiz:

Q: What if we lived in a country where we prided ourselves at being the biggest and the best, of living under one notion that there should be liberty and justice for all, but yet still less than 20% of the low-income students will attend college? How would you fix that problem?

A: Kipp Charter Schools.

KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) was founded by two Teach for America alumni, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. The schools serve over 20,000 under represented minority students from around the country.

They don't have a secret sauce, they don't use fancy programs, expensive state of the art equipment, they use something simple and powerful: Teaching. Mike Feinberg says it all: "The only reason we get better results is great teaching and more of it. There's really nothing going on that is magical or special. We make a commitment to excellence and a promise to our children, and a promise to children is a sacred thing."

So in the light of the Race to the Top, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that involves more money than the U.S. Department of Education has spent on education reform in the past 29 years combined, let's put the money to where it counts. Get good teachers, pay them an appropriate salary, and make promises to the kids.