Back when I was in the 7th grade, I had an English teacher (we called it “English” back then, but to you younger readers that is “Language Arts”) named Ms. Miller. Ms. Miller taught the honors students and she was one of the more demanding teachers for our grade level. This being pre-NCLB-centered education, what…. read more
This Aint Elementary School Anymore
Last Friday, my daughter made the jump from a K-6 elementary school into a 7-8 middle school. Her father and I did all we could to prepare her: clothes, school supplies, some summer “school work”, a number of talks about boys, peer pressure, “mean girls” and more. We made it a point to watch some…. read more
Strange Disney Educational Films
The folks over at io9.com have compiled a list of six weird educational cartoons produced by Walt Disney studios. The topics include menstruation, malaria, smoking, drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases. Most Perspectives readers will have seen “Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land” before, but the other 5 may be new to you. Now, as un-Disney…. read more
A Most unScientific Study – Back to School Shopping
An informal survey of thirteen families revealed the following data about how families shop for school supplies for the coming year. 4 of the 13 families are done with their back to school shopping 6 of the 13 famlies have begun shopping but are not finished yet 3 of the 13 famlies have not begun…. read more
A Most unScientific Study: Summer School
An informal survey of seven parents of school age children revealed the following results. 5 of the 7 parents said their children were assinged summer work by their local school district. 4 of those 5 said they felt the schoosl’ assignments were poorly designed. 3 of the 5 called the schools’ assignments “not worthwhile”. Only…. read more
If You Only Knew
Last week was the end of a long school year. And as I head into the summer, I keep asking myself ‘did it really matter?’ Next year’s class lists are all set, pending the results of state examinations. Barring any surprises, I could tell you who will be in my classroom, who will be in…. read more
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1×0 =?
One of the Facebook Questions currently going viral is this one. 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1×0 =? As of noon PST on Tuesday June 14, the correct answer was NOt the most popular answer. 781,143 people believe the expression is equal to 0. [These people are forgetting their order of operations. The 0 is multiplied by the final 1…. read more
A Most unScientific Study – The End of School
An informal survey of ten teachers of Grades 2 – 6, revealed data which suggests education reform is not necessarily a matter of money, but of use of class time. 6 of the 10 teachers said they had stopped recording new grades for their students by May 20 8 of the 10 teachers said they…. read more
A Different Way of Learning About Historical Figures
My daughter went to school today dressed as Abigail Adams, wife of 2nd president John Adams. She, along with the rest of her 8th grade Social Studies class, walked down to the local elementary school to talk with the K-5 graders – in character. Of course the more recognizable historical figures (Abe Lincoln & George…. read more
A Most unScientific Study: Math Homework Woes
An informal survey of nine parents of Algebra, Geometry, or Algebra 2 parents revealed data which we found very distressing. 8 of the 9 parents said they feel they cannot help their child with their homework 0 of the 9 parents said they looked through their child’s math notebooks at least once a week This…. read more
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