President Obama gave a preliminary statement last Sunday right after the jury gave its verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, but then after watching the controversy unfold in the days that followed, he said yesterday (7/19/13) in the White House briefing room that he thought it might be useful to expand on that a bit. Besides the calmness in his voice and quiet in the room for those 17+ minutes, … [Read more...] about Kids these days: ‘Better than we were,’ the President says
school policy
Wisdom about bullying from a former target
There's probably no better testimony to the power of social-emotional learning than this UK student's poem about what happens to the "bully" when victimizing someone else (don't miss this 1:25 min. video of Garrett reading his poem). Garrett was a student at New Line Learning Academy in Maidstone, Kent, UK, when he read this poem in 2011 (he may still be, since it's a school for students aged … [Read more...] about Wisdom about bullying from a former target
Social literacy up, social problems down in Chicago Schools
More than 50 Chicago schools were recommended for closure this year, but one of the four schools that won't close isn't closing because of its strong, successful social-emotional learning program, Education Week reports. Marcus Garvey Elementary School "is recognized for helping children develop empathy and problem-solving skills." SEL is "problem-solving with dignity," as teacher-songwriter … [Read more...] about Social literacy up, social problems down in Chicago Schools
Stop using the word ‘bullying’ in school, researchers say
"Bullying" is a loaded term to say the very least, and not using it could not only defuse a lot of fear and harmful overreaction when it happens, it could save lives. I'll get to the life-saving part in a minute, but first the problem with using the word. Because of all the (certainly well-intended) awareness-raising and media attention lately, "bullying" has come to mean every imaginable mean … [Read more...] about Stop using the word ‘bullying’ in school, researchers say
A techie dad’s perspective on school
The subhead of this post might be: "Writing code as an extracurricular activity" or Venturebeat's headline, "Why your 8-year-old should be coding," or just "Let them learn code!" Another article about Harvard undergrads' extracurricular code-writing activity shows how that activity can enrich a whole lot of lives as well as open up careers for young code writers, but I'll get to that in a minute. … [Read more...] about A techie dad’s perspective on school