Curriculum Review articles from May 1 2003

Curriculum Review archives from May 1 2003

One hundred lesson plans keyed to our national parks. (We hear from readers).
May 1, 2003... The National Park Service celebrates the posting of its 100th lesson plan online Sue Waldron, National Center for Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.: Make history come alive. These words have driven the...

Five ways to keep teachers from leaving. (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The answer to attracting and keeping skilled teachers isn't only weeding out the waywards and luring corporate executives to replace them. It's also finding ways to raise the respect granted teachers and youth workers. We need to recognize...

Long-term planning needed to keep teachers in classrooms for long haul. (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... We get all hot and bothered at the beginning of the school year when we don't have enough good teachers. In fact, the year before we should have been focusing on improving working conditions in the school, having greater career opportunities...

School reform's unintended consequences. (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The school reform movement gave the middle class more choices. There are now charter and magnet schools and public schools with selective admissions policies. Most cities now have a smattering of quite strong elementary schools, and with...

Why don't more African-American men become teachers? (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Black men in teaching are uniquely uncommon. As stark as the problem is, there's a surprising lack of controversy around the issue. Most people agree that the number of black men in teaching is too low--because they're sorely needed as role...

Teacher colleges should provide more specialists. (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Some states, such as Pennsylvania, turn out more teachers than their school districts need. And nearly all teacher colleges produce too many elementary school teachers and too few specialists in math, science and special education....

A modest proposal to increase school funding. (What They're Saying).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A simple solution would avert the budget disaster facing California's schools: We should declare every public school to be a prison. The kids would understand. Details need to be worked out, but I want every child in California to be given a...

Court strikes down Child Online Protection Act. (Technology Update).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Signed into law during the Clinton administration, the Child Online Protection Act has yet to go into force after a lengthy court battle. In the latest round, a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the law is...

So far, so good for laptops in Maine and Virginia. (Technology Update).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Two programs that issue laptop computers to students in Maine and Henrico County, Va., already are showing positive results on achievement, the New York Times reports. After 24,000 grade 6-12 students were issued laptops, dropout rates...

Surf these Web sites. (Technology Update).
May 1, 2003... The Performance Pyramid is a site created by Miami University education students for public school instructors and student teachers at http://www.performancepyramid.com. The site explores such topics as learning styles, test-taking skills,...

U.S. military uses high-tech enticements to recruit teens. (Technology Update).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The nation's military branches are branching out into video games and other tech-savvy promotions to attract teens into the armed forces, the L.A. Times reports. For instance, the U.S. Army spent $6 million to create an online game...

Bill Gates puts his money behind alternative high schools. (Technology Update).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Part of the Microsoft fortune soon will provide new windows on learning for struggling students. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is putting $31 million behind an initiative to open alternative schools across the United States for failing...

Use the Web to enhance art education. (Technology Update).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Visual Arts helps art educators tap the Web for instructional resources. Offering an abundance of primary source Web sites and background information, the book is based on...

Students get first-hand experience with disabilities; grades 6-12. (What's Working In Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... One student in the Future Leaders class at Oregon's Morrison Alternative School uses a wheelchair. That's not uncommon. But there's a twist: There's a different student in that wheelchair every day. It's part of teacher Jamie Richardson's...

Get students in the swing of science with a family fun night; grades pre-K-6. (Scientific Notations).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... That's what Inverness Primary School in Inverness, Fla., did recently. With assistance from the local Museum of Science and Industry, the school hosted an evening of fun science activities for students and their parents to explore, the St....

One way to keep girls interested in science: grades 6-12. (Scientific Notations).
May 1, 2003... Studies have shown that girls are just as interested in science as boys are--until middle school, when that interest begins to evaporate. To keep that from happening, Avondale Middle School in Auburn Hills, Mich., has held an annual Sundaes...

These kids really want their mummies: grades 6-8. (Scientific Notations).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Bring a unit on Egyptian history to vivid life by having students make their own mummies. That's what 6th-graders at Bigelow Middle School in Newton, Mass., did recently. Teacher Jason Everharts led them through the process of turning...

Celebrating cultural highlights of ancient Greece: grades 3-6. (Social Studious).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A recent six-week unit on ancient Greece at New Hampshire's North Hampton School looked at the culture from every area of the curriculum--from social studies to science to language arts. The school's 6th-graders celebrated the end of the term...

Start them young on Hemingway: grades 4-9. (Language Artisans).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Last year, the Cuban fisherman referred to in the title of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea died at the age of 104. When Kathleen Fulginiti, a teacher at Brooklawn, Pennsylvania's Alice Costello School, saw the news report, she...

Find tools for teaching a 2,600-year-old language on the newfangled Web: grades K-12. (Language Artisans).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Speakers of Welsh often call it Yr Hen Iaith, "The Old Language." And it's no wonder: Welsh emerged around 600 B.C., and it's one of the oldest tongues still in practical use. Further adding to its appeal, speaking Welsh will enable you to...

A few tips to spice up Latin class: grades 9-12. (Language Artisans).
May 1, 2003... She may teach a "dead" language, but Latin instructor Jane Batarseh is pretty lively. The 10-year classroom veteran puts her California's Sacramento Country Day School students through their paces while showcasing the language in fun and...

Keep those fundraisers on the healthy side: grades K-12. (Administrative Action).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... That means morphing candy and chocolate sales into fundraisers peddling fruit, low-fat snacks, bottled water and even non-edible projects such as candles, local business discount cards and student artwork featured on T-shirts and coffee mugs....

Should your district hire a professional fundraiser? Grades K-12. (Administrative Action).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Schools nationwide are facing budget shortfalls of record proportions. Most are stepping up their fundraising activities. Some districts are even enlisting professional fundraisers to shake as many dollars as possible from rich benefactors,...

Firing up an interest in tea; grades 3-8. (Art Smart).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Third-graders at Amesbury, Massachusetts' Cashman Elementary got a fascinating cultural lesson to go along with a fun art project recently. As part of a three-week after-school unit sponsored by the local PTA, 27 kids crafted ceramic tea...

Engage young minds with an imaginative building challenge: grades pre-K-2. (Art Smart).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Aided by architecture students from Ball State University, kindergartners at Muncie, Indiana's Pla-N-Stuf recently dove into a fun and creative project. The undergrads challenged the youngsters to build models of places they'd never been but...

Sled race fosters cross-curricular learning; grades 3-6. (Health Habits).
May 1, 2003... It turns out, you don't need snow to hold an Iditarod-style sled race. Just ask the educational wizards behind San Diego's first-ever Ikidarod--an Alaska-style contest held right on the beach. Some 80 middle-schoolers from the Francis...

Free ... or low-cost. (Resources for the classroom).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... From Large to Small: Strategies for Personalizing the High School is a free publication from Jobs for the Future and Brown University's Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory. It offers concrete guideposts to leaders of...

More fun with book reports. (For educators only).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A resource for grade 3-6 teachers and school librarians alike, Keep `em Reading Book Reports features 12 reproducible assignments designed to jazz up student book reports. The activities aim to excite kids to share what they've read while...

Ex-soldiers report for classroom duty thanks to Troops to Teachers. (Inspiring Words for Educators).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... For 10 years, the U.S. Department of Defense has been taking on the active duty of easing the nation's teacher shortage by placing 4,600 ex-service members in the classroom through the Troops to Teachers program, the L.A. Times reports. The...

Mastering the art of multi-tasking. (Inspiring Words for Educators).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I believed I was an expert at multi-tasking until I entered a classroom. I had no idea. Teaching is an art form that I don't expect to master for years, if ever. It's a job that varies minute to minute. A master teacher performs as a...

Kids look beyond our borders to lend a hand. (Inspiring Words for Educators).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Talk about passing with flying colors: Highland Park, Illinois, middle-schoolers in Susie Greenwald's problem-solving class recently raised thousands of dollars to send books to needy students in Afghanistan, the Christian Science Monitor...

Who was that masked Teacher of the Year? (Inspiring Words for Educators).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Linda E. Knowles knows who to thank for her selection as Volusia County, Florida's Teacher of the Year: her alter ego. That's right, Madama Dama Leenda--a book-loving character from the make-believe land Czechohungamania--was named the...

Al Qaeda fighters trained to attack schools. (Last Month in Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Terrorist training videotapes, found in Afghanistan in 2001 but only recently released and authenticated by the U.S. government, show al Qaeda fighters practicing school attacks in classrooms filled with cut-out targets of teachers and...

Washington moves to reduce school lunch numbers. (Last Month in Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... About one in four U.S. kids who eat free or reduced-price lunches at their schools do not meet eligibility requirements for the program, the Department of Agriculture contends. As a result, the government is moving toward rules that would...

Teens driving to lunch are accident-prone. (Last Month in Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Mixing inexperienced teen drivers with open campuses and short lunch breaks can be a recipe for disaster, Phoenix New Times reports. In fact, 21,000 teens were injured and 139 died in lunchtime driving accidents in 2001, according to the...

Should physics be taught before chemistry and biology? (Last Month in Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... In an effort to boost the science interest and test scores of high-schoolers, more than 200 U.S. high schools are now teaching physics to freshmen and chemistry to sophomores, saving biology for last, the Washington Post reports. ...

Wooden playground equipment could increase cancer risk. (Last Month in Education).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Virtually all wooden playground equipment in the nation's parks and schoolyards was treated with chromated copper arsenate, a pesticide. When children get residual arsenic from the treatment on their hands, they might face an increased risk...

Standardized tests aren't worth the time and money, teachers say. (What the Numbers Say).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Whether they are high-stakes exams or not, state-mandated standardized tests aren't worth the time and money it takes to prepare for and administer them, according to three out of four teachers polled by the Lynch School of Education in...

Class size might not make big impact on achievement, study suggests. (What the Numbers Say).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Other variables are more important than class size when it comes to improving standardized test scores, attendance and dropout rates, suggests a Louisiana study that analyzed data from the state's accountability program. Using 2001 data,...

Longer classes don't lead to big bump in test scores. (What the Numbers Say).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Schools that switch from 45-minute periods to block scheduling of longer classes are unlikely to enjoy big achievement gains from the move, according to a study of 228 public high schools in Kentucky conducted by the Murray State University...

Gradeschoolers average only about an hour of school exercise weekly. (What the Numbers Say).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The average U.S. elementary student attends two physical education classes every week, amounting to only 69 minutes of exercise, according to a study of 648 schools released by the National Institute of Child Care and Youth Development. The...

Plurality of student shooters get their guns at home. (What the Numbers Say).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A CDC study of 123 students who used guns to kill people at U.S. schools between 1992 and 1999 reveals that 38 percent of the shooters obtained their firearms at home. Another 23 percent of the firearms came from the homes of relatives or...

The whole system's out of order ... (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Demonstrating that he'll make a fine attorney himself one day, a Memphis High senior sued the principal, superintendent and the entire school board in an attempt to change the A grade he was given for a work-experience class in his mom's...

Grade-changing kid faces felony rap. (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A 6th-grader at St. Lucie West Middle School in Port St. Lucie, Fla., was recently picked up on a felony intellectual property offense after he allegedly went into his teacher's computer and gave himself a better grade on five reading tests....

But will the teens drop back in to pick them up? (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The superintendent of Pennsylvania's York City School District recently suggested giving "undiplomas" to local high school dropouts. The document looks like a regular diploma, but it delivers an eye-opening message, telling teens that they're...

Teacher's aide gets played for a dope. (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Police recently arrested a teacher's aide at a Cleveland kindergarten after she signed for a package full of marijuana in front of her students, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The woman, who faces drug trafficking charges, "has no...

D.A.R.E. officer charged with sampling the merchandise. (Between Tears & Laughter).(Drug Abuse Resistance Education)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Winning the award for most ironic story of the month, a D.A.R.E. officer in Harrison Township, NJ, was recently arrested and charged with cocaine possession and use, the Gloucester County Times reports. "He was actually an excellent...

An experiment in bad judgment. (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A physics instructor at Canton, Michigan's Plymouth High was suspended with pay recently after he brought a BB gun to class as part of an experiment, the Detroit Free Press reports. He'd been using the gun to illustrate the physics of...

This senior prank went sour. (Between Tears & Laughter).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Students at Colorado's Aspen High School recently snatched a giant pickle sculpture from a sandwich shop roof and put it on display atop the school, the Aspen Daily News reports. After administrators admitted getting a chuckle out of the...