With the US election tomorrow, it seems a fitting time to read Thomas Paine and Jimmy Cliff at the top of a middle-school assignment about social justice and perseverance, followed by 7th-graders' interpretations. New York City teacher John Chase's 8th-graders' even more powerful responses to songs about social responsibility and empathy indicates how much the assignment resonated with them (put … [Read more...] about M.U.S.I.C. in class
School & Tech
Early view of ed’s future
Speaking as a parent and online-kids advocate, not an educator: Increasingly, education will have both online and offline components as it does now, only the online pieces will get more and more fluid, media-rich, and supportive of the P2P (person-to-person) offline part. In fact, online tools - such as Howard Rheingold's "collaboratory" - will make the classroom part more meaningful to teacher … [Read more...] about Early view of ed’s future
Site for anonymous bullying reporting
Given the recent UCLA report on young people's reticence in reporting cyberbullying (see this), this is an interesting concept: a Web site that allows students to report said anonymously. So far the Utah-Based site, SchoolTipline.com, is being used by "six Utah schools and 48 schools in other states," the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The only concern is that the site could also be abused. Given also … [Read more...] about Site for anonymous bullying reporting
Teachers in SNS: ‘Creepy treehouse’ or ok?
My headline's referring to "slang for how students feel creeped out by school teachers and college professors who are using Facebook and MySpace to interact with their students online," the Dallas Morning News reports, adding that "the term derives from urban legends about sexual predators luring children into treehouses." Of course that's not fair to a lot of teachers who are in social-network … [Read more...] about Teachers in SNS: ‘Creepy treehouse’ or ok?
Homeschooling with World of Warcraft
Actually, it's called "unschooling," but not many people know what the term means: basically, homeschooling "without the trappings of formal education," LiveScience.com reports, such as textbooks or even traditional subjects covered separately. Subjects that are covered unconventionally, e.g., in World of Warcraft, are "math, reading, sociology, economics, creative writing and communications." … [Read more...] about Homeschooling with World of Warcraft