Teachers ask. Parents ask.
"Why don't students like school?"
Many students ask that question, too, as they struggle to stay attentive in class, while waiting for the bell to ring so they can pay attention to the things that really interest them.
"If you ask 100 high school students if they like to learn new things, almost all of them will tell you they like to learn," said Daniel Willingham, a University of Virginia cognitive psychologist. "But if you ask those same students if they like school, many of them will tell you they don't."
He addresses these issues in a new book, "Why Don't Students like School?," in which he explains how the mind works - and what it means for the classroom.
"The mind is actually designed to avoid thinking," Willingham said. "Thinking is a slow process; it's effortful and even uncertain. People naturally want to avoid that process, and instead rely on memory, the things we already know how to do and are successful at."
Willingham uses cooking as an example.
"If you want to make spaghetti sauce, you could go onto the Internet and search out new recipes. You could go through all your cookbooks. And if you are really into cooking, you might do exactly that. But most people will just make the sauce the way they always make it, because they already know how. And so it's a lot easier that way."
Which is one of the reasons students don't like school. They are forced to think, to accept new challenges, to learn new things, and therefore do the thing their mind most wants to avoid - thinking.
But this is true only up to a point. People also are curious.
"People actually enjoy thinking - when it is at a level that is not too simple, and not excessively difficult," Willingham said. "People like to be challenged. That's why we play games, it's why we read books, why we do many of the things we do. So there's a sweet spot, a level where learning is neither too simplistic to be interesting, nor too difficult to be enjoyable. This is the spot that teachers are always trying to find for their students in the classroom."
This is where creative teaching comes in, using a combination of storytelling that evokes emotion and thought, and exercises that put lessons into context and that build upon previous learning. It's also sustained hard work, Willingham said, that creates thinking skills dependent upon factual knowledge.
"We want to create learning experiences that last," he said.
Willingham spent about 15 years of his career as a research cognitive scientist, conducting studies under laboratory conditions. Then he started talking to teachers' groups and discovered that what he and other researchers had discovered in the lab was of great interest to teachers in the field.
In 2002 he began writing a column, "Ask the Cognitive Scientist," for American Educator, the quarterly journal of the American Federation of Teachers. Teachers have been asking ever since.
Willingham also writes a blog for teachers, and now has authored his book, specifically for teachers and parents of home-schooled children.
One question teachers keep asking is how to work with students' different "learning styles." They don't really exist, Willingham said.
"There are different abilities, but really, we all learn the same way," he said. "It's not left brain versus right brain, or visual or auditory or kinesthetic. We learn using a combination of skills, and we are all more similar in our learning styles than different."
And students naturally learn better in the areas or disciplines where their abilities lie. The key for teachers, and for students, is to find that "sweet spot," where learning is the wonderful challenge that inspires us to do more than simply make sauce the same way we've always made it.
Understanding Why Students Don't Like School
Why Students Don't Like School
"Why don't students like school?"
Many students ask that question, too, as they struggle to stay attentive in class, while waiting for the bell to ring so they can pay attention to the things that really interest them.
"If you ask 100 high school students if they like to learn new things, almost all of them will tell you they like to learn," said Daniel Willingham, a University of Virginia cognitive psychologist. "But if you ask those same students if they like school, many of them will tell you they don't."
He addresses these issues in a new book, "Why Don't Students like School?," in which he explains how the mind works - and what it means for the classroom.
"The mind is actually designed to avoid thinking," Willingham said. "Thinking is a slow process; it's effortful and even uncertain. People naturally want to avoid that process, and instead rely on memory, the things we already know how to do and are successful at."
Willingham uses cooking as an example.
"If you want to make spaghetti sauce, you could go onto the Internet and search out new recipes. You could go through all your cookbooks. And if you are really into cooking, you might do exactly that. But most people will just make the sauce the way they always make it, because they already know how. And so it's a lot easier that way."
Which is one of the reasons students don't like school. They are forced to think, to accept new challenges, to learn new things, and therefore do the thing their mind most wants to avoid - thinking.
But this is true only up to a point. People also are curious.
"People actually enjoy thinking - when it is at a level that is not too simple, and not excessively difficult," Willingham said. "People like to be challenged. That's why we play games, it's why we read books, why we do many of the things we do. So there's a sweet spot, a level where learning is neither too simplistic to be interesting, nor too difficult to be enjoyable. This is the spot that teachers are always trying to find for their students in the classroom."
This is where creative teaching comes in, using a combination of storytelling that evokes emotion and thought, and exercises that put lessons into context and that build upon previous learning. It's also sustained hard work, Willingham said, that creates thinking skills dependent upon factual knowledge.
"We want to create learning experiences that last," he said.
Willingham spent about 15 years of his career as a research cognitive scientist, conducting studies under laboratory conditions. Then he started talking to teachers' groups and discovered that what he and other researchers had discovered in the lab was of great interest to teachers in the field.
In 2002 he began writing a column, "Ask the Cognitive Scientist," for American Educator, the quarterly journal of the American Federation of Teachers. Teachers have been asking ever since.
Willingham also writes a blog for teachers, and now has authored his book, specifically for teachers and parents of home-schooled children.
One question teachers keep asking is how to work with students' different "learning styles." They don't really exist, Willingham said.
"There are different abilities, but really, we all learn the same way," he said. "It's not left brain versus right brain, or visual or auditory or kinesthetic. We learn using a combination of skills, and we are all more similar in our learning styles than different."
And students naturally learn better in the areas or disciplines where their abilities lie. The key for teachers, and for students, is to find that "sweet spot," where learning is the wonderful challenge that inspires us to do more than simply make sauce the same way we've always made it.
Free Teaching Guides on Media Literacy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and curriculum specialists Young Minds Inspired have distributed "Media Literacy: Reading between the Frames," a free teaching resource guide to more than 18,500 high schools across the United States. Reaching approximately 2.4 million students, the guide was inspired by the Academy's Media Literacy Program, which twice a year brings up to 400 Los Angeles Unified School District high school students to the Samuel Goldwyn Theater for a three-day seminar. This is the 10th consecutive year the Academy has produced a teaching guide.
Geared for students in English, language arts, visual arts and communication classes, the guide is designed to encourage critical thinking, expand knowledge of filmmaking and increase overall interest in film and its cultural influence.
The teaching guide features a special supplemental DVD hosted by Jason Reitman, the Academy Award(r)-nominated director of "Juno." The DVD includes selected scenes from such feature films as "Rebel without a Cause," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "Philadelphia," "The Fast and the Furious" and "Real Women Have Curves." Students are asked to contemplate numerous questions as they watch the DVD, including "What is the director showing us in each shot?," "How are the shots edited together and why?" and "How is time being manipulated and why?" The DVD is produced by the Academy and Acme Filmworks.
Each teaching guide also includes a teacher's guide, activity worksheets in English and Spanish, resource lists and take-home activities.
The Academy will bring the "Media Literacy" guides to life for LAUSD students from Chatsworth, El Camino, Grant, Roosevelt and Westchester high schools on Thursday, April 23. Students will watch "Role Models" (2008) and join in a post-screening panel discussion featuring the some of the film's cast and crew (subject to availability). This will be the final day of the spring seminar (the first two days were held in March).
For additional information about the program and to download about previous years' teaching guides (animation, art direction, cinematography, documentaries, film editing, makeup, screenwriting, sound and music, visual effects) visit the Academy's Web site at http://www.oscars.org/education-outreach.
Study Suggests Link Between Health Literacy, Happiness
A new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study published in the advanced online edition of the journal Social Indicators Research suggests a link between the ease with which older adults can access and understand health information and their happiness.
In the study, researchers surveyed 383 older adults in Alabama ages 50 and up who were under the care of primary care physicians. Those surveyed were asked if they could read and answer questions on medical forms unassisted and to rate their level of happiness.
The study found that those with lower levels of health literacy - those who reported having the most problems reading and understanding medical forms - were more than twice as likely to report being unhappy regardless of health and socioeconomic status.
The study suggests that improving older patients' ability to obtain health information might be an important element in programs aimed at improving wellness and well-being among older adult patients, say the study's lead author, UAB Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Economics Erik Angner, Ph.D., and the principal investigator, UAB Professor Jeroan J. Allison, M.D., of the Division of Preventative Medicine.
Health literacy is the degree to which a person can find and understand basic health information or access health services. About half of all Americans, some 90 million, have problems understanding and using health information, according to a 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine, "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion." Poor health literacy makes it harder for patients to follow directions on medications or provide accurate medical histories.
An explanation for the study results may have to do with a sense of control, said Angner. That sense, which has been found to be associated with higher happiness scores in other studies, might be undermined by inadequate health literacy.
The study was funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics cooperative agreement.
About UAB
The UAB School of Arts and Humanities offers degrees in philosophy, foreign languages, communication studies and English. Its Department of Philosophy prepares students for careers in health care, law, counseling and many other fields. The UAB Division of Preventative Medicine is dedicated to medicine and the health of the public through research, teaching and the dissemination and translation of knowledge for improved health outcomes.
Simple Writing Assignment Improves Minority Student Grades
In a follow-up to a 2006 study, a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher and his colleagues found that an in-class writing assignment designed to reinforce students' sense of identity and personal integrity increased the grade-point averages of African-American middle school students over a two-year period, and reduced the rate at which these students were held back or placed in remediation.
The results suggest that targeted psychological interventions on a wider scale could help narrow the racial achievement gap among U.S. students, one of the most pressing and persistent domestic issues in our country, according to Associate Professor Geoffrey Cohen of CU-Boulder's psychology department and his fellow principal investigators Julio Garcia and Valerie Purdie-Vaughns of Columbia University.
The follow-up study appears in the April 16 issue of the journal Science. Nancy Apfel and Patricia Brzustoski of Yale University were co-authors on the study.
"In our original study we uncovered evidence that this self-affirming intervention improved the performance of African-Americans in a single academic term," Cohen said. "Now we have evidence that its effects persist over the two years of children's tenure in middle school."
The study also suggests that "intervening" early in students' middle school years can have long-lasting benefits by undermining a recurring cycle of increasingly poor performance in school.
Over the two years of the 2006-08 study, the grade-point average of African-Americans was, on average, raised by .24 grade points. Low-achieving African Americans benefited most from the intervention, with their GPAs increasing by an average of .41 points on a four-point scale. The assignment had no impact on white students' grades.
"Our intervention is based on the idea that ethnic minority students experience, on average, higher levels of stress in the classroom because they are concerned that if they perform poorly on a test or in a class this will confirm, in the eyes of others, the negative stereotype about their group's intelligence ability," Cohen said.
Past research has found that school settings in general are stressful to many students regardless of race. However, many African-American students may experience chronic stress in school stemming from negative stereotypes portraying them as less intelligent than their peers, according to Cohen. This in turn leads to decreased academic performance.
The study involved three experiments in which seventh graders from middle-class and lower middle-class families were given a series of structured writing assignments throughout the year. They were asked to choose one or two values that were important to them and then write about why they cherished the values. A control group was asked to write about values that others might hold or other neutral topics. A total of 416 students participated, divided in roughly equal numbers by race.
"This exercise, called a self-affirmation, allows a student to reaffirm that he or she is a good and competent person," Cohen said. "This helps reduce stress by allowing the student to think about all the things that matter to them, for example their family or their religion. It makes the possibility of failure less dire."
The study also suggests that how students perform during the school year is strongly correlated to how they perform during the first few weeks of that year. If a student starts off the year feeling more stress due to negative stereotypes, and then performs poorly during the first few weeks of school, this can establish a downward cycle of increasing stress and poor performance that is hard to break, said Cohen.
"Our study shows that early intervention seems to interrupt this downward trend in academic performance," he said.
Cohen and his co-authors also measured the students' sense of success at the beginning of the school year and again at the end. They found that for low-performing African-American students there is a drop in their sense of adequacy in school over the course of the school year, but for students who participated in the exercise, and for white students, their sense of success remained constant over time.
"This suggests that early failure can have a disproportionate effect on the negatively stereotyped group," Cohen said. "The first few weeks of middle school can have a negative effect on a child's self-concept that seems surprisingly persistent. We found that if you can buffer people against this you can potentially have long-term benefits."
Cohen said he plans to continue studying similar psychological interventions on other groups of students to see if similar positive results can be generated and to zero in on the mechanisms underlying these effects.
"In a society where economic success depends heavily on scholastic achievement, even a slight narrowing of the achievement gap would be consequential," Cohen said. "This is especially true for low-achieving students, given the societal, institutional and personal costs of academic failure."
Source: University of Colorado at Boulder
$5,000 for You and Your Library
Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and a leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses, invites library fans to create a one-minute video segment to promote their library and explain how it brings "power to the users" in their community or school as part of its third annual YouTube video contest launched in April. Entries are due on June 1, 2009.
$5,000 for You and Your Library
The winning entry will be awarded $2,500 and an additional $2,500 will be presented to the winner's favorite library. Results will be announced at this year's American Library Association's Annual Conference in Chicago, July 9 -15, 2009. Finalist videos will be available for viewing at Gale's booth.
This year's contest, "Power to the User" Ad Madness, runs from April 12th to June 1, 2009. A panel of judges will determine the top five finalists and the winner based on the creativity of the video, the originality of the sentiment and its connection to the "Power to the User" theme. The videos will be featured on www.gale.com/librareo . Video entries should be no shorter than 30 seconds and no longer than 60 seconds in length. Entrants must load their videos to the Librareo group on YouTube (www.youtube.com/group/LIBRAREO) before midnight EST on June 1, 2009. Participants may submit as many videos as desired, provided each entry is entirely original. All entries must comply with the complete contest rules which can be viewed, along with video samples, at www.gale.com/librareo.
Kids Count: Teaching Children about Money
In today's economic environment teaching kids about money, financial management and financial literacy has never been more important. More people will file for bankruptcy this year than will graduate college and U.S. consumers owe more than $970 billion in total debt and almost $9,000 per household in credit card debt.
A national survey of U.S. teens found that only 35 percent reported learning money management in school and more than 40 percent of parents believe that schools should be doing more to educate kids about money. Research conducted by Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University indicates that 80 percent of K-12 teachers think it is important to teach financial literacy.
To help teach children about money and financial management, Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University has developed the Kids Count curriculum to provide teachers with online access to lesson plans mapped to standards in all 50 states for grades three thru five. Teachers simply enter the appropriate grade level and the state they teach in. The My Money Counts board game provides additional opportunities for teachers to integrate financial literacy into the classroom.
Kids Count provides financial management and financial literacy activities that relate to the age and experiences of third through fifth-grade students. The curriculum offers teachers a time-saving resource that combines reading, social studies and economics with money management skills delivered in an integrated curriculum. The Kids Count curriculum allows students to evaluate, create analyze and apply each lesson.
To learn more about the Kids Count curriculum from Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University watch this accompanying video: http://www.yourupdate.tv/moneyandfinance/kids_count.html or go to: http://www.nfikidscount.org/
Schools Slipping Back to Segregation, New Book Finds
Urban school districts across the country have shifted back to managing segregated schools following the recent lifting of court-ordered desgregation plans, a new book finds.
The book, "From the Courtroom to the Classroom: The Shifting Landscape of School Desegregation," was edited by Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development faculty Claire Smrekar and Ellen Goldring and published by Harvard University Press.
"As the return to neighborhood schools accelerates, schools resegregate, and magnet programs assume new roles, this book provides timely information on critical social and academic outcomes for children," Smrekar said.
School desegregation, once a central piece of social and educational policy, has been ended by an increasing number of federal courts in recent years in urban school districts. When desegration polices are removed, schools are designated as "unitary," which means they are expected to implement a variety of policies focusing on school improvement, school choice and neighborhood schools, among other alternatives. Racial balancing of schools is no longer a priority.
"The significance of this book is rooted in the need for a better understanding of new policies on race and schools, the social and political context of choice, and the consequences of these reform strategies for school systems in urban America and for the lives of educators, students and their families," Goldring said.
The book comes on the heels of the June 28, 2007, U.S. Supreme Court decision (Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Crystal D. Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education) that limits the use of race in student assignment and school choice plans.
The book focuses on four key objectives:
- Identify a set of important trends in the socio-demographic composition of schools following the end of court-ordered desegregation. How have districts responded to the end of court-ordered desegregation plans in terms of student and staff assignment? What priorities drive the new district policies on racial and socio-economic desegregation and student assignment? How will the PICS opinion shape district policies in the future?
- Explore the implications of new policies on race and school choice across multiple levels and contexts, including classroom and school, and at school district and national levels. What do patterns of achievement among white, African American and Latino students suggest regarding the impact of these new policies?
- Scrutinize the conditions in school districts that served as landmark legal cases in the march toward desegregation in the United States. What is the impact of new student assignment plans on racial and socio-economic segregation/integration patterns in these historically significant districts?
- Examine the aftermath of desegregation, including both social and academic outcomes, against the growing evidence of resegregation across urban school districts in the United States. Does race matter? What is the role of expanded school choice programs (e.g., magnet schools) under these conditions?
"This book makes compelling the need to connect the imperatives of new policies on race and schooling to the practices of educational leaders facing the demands of diversity, equity, choice and excellence for all students. Student assignment policies represent some of the most complex and controversial decisions made by local school boards across the country," Smrekar, associate professor of public policy and education, and Goldring, professor of educational policy and leadership, said. "It is our hope that this data may provide essential guideposts for districts considering the consequences of unitary status under the more restrictive new legal constraints regarding the use of race. This book is designed to highlight the short- and long-term implications of these decisions for schoolchildren, their families and communities."
Website: http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/97/FromTheCourtroomToTheClassroom
In Economic Hard Times, Artists Flock To Job Panel
In the face of a tough job environment and a declining art market, New York City writers, performers, and artists are searching for arts-related work that will help pay the rent on their studio---or studio apartment. Part-time employment teaching the arts in NYC public schools is an increasingly popular option for artists who want to make a difference in the lives of young people.
Registration filled up within days for an annual job panel on arts education, sponsored by Community-Word Project. "We've never had a response like this," said Community-Word Project Program Director Keith Kaminski. ‘We had to move to a larger space because we had as many people on the waiting list as were registered." Community-Word Project Executive Director Michele Kotler attributes the unprecedented turn-out to an increased interest in public service. "Art is about reaching out to others. When artists find out that they can use their creative skills to give back to their city, they're eager to learn more."
The Seventh Annual Arts Education Job Panel will be held on Thursday, May 14, 6:00-8:30 PM, at the Scholastic Building, 557 Broadway, 2nd Floor Education Resource Center, New York City. At this event, artists will learn how they can work with children, earn income, and continue to pursue their own art.
With registration opened up to accommodate a larger audience, Community-Word Project expects over 150 artists, writers, poets, dancers, musicians and actors to attend the event to learn about work opportunities as "Teaching Artists," using their creative talents to inspire New York City students to discover their own talents and ability to communicate through the arts.
Community-Word Project is an art education non-profit founded by Ms. Kotler, a poet herself, that places Teaching Artists in underserved public schools. The Arts Education Job Panel will include representatives from Community-Word Project and from other leading NYC arts organizations: Brooklyn Arts Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, Studio in a School, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Urban Arts Partnerships, Wingspan Arts, and Young Audiences.
Attendees will also learn about Community-Word Project's Teaching Artist Training and Internship Program, a 25-week program that combines seminars on teaching the arts in New York City public schools with classroom internships.
For more information about the Job Fair Panel or Community-Word Project, please visit our website: http://www.communitywordproject.org/.
Illusionist to Launch Magic Trick-Based Education Curriculum for Students with Special Needs
Award-winning illusionist Kevin Spencer, the leading authority on the therapeutic use of magic in physical and psychosocial rehabilitation, announces the Summer 2009 launch of his new project, Hocus Focus, a student-centered, experiential-based educational approach utilizing the art of magic tricks in the context of empowering an empathetic, professional educator/student relationship for children with special needs.
"As educators, the most important aspect of one's work is to help children prepare for a bright and challenging future. But if we don't also teach our children how to deal with life's difficulties, many simply won't realize their potential," Spencer says. "With students who face additional challenges -- LD, ADHD, SLD, NLD, Autism or any number of other physical and/or psychosocial obstacles -- the job of an educator may include finding strategies to move them into becoming a more competent learner. That's why I created the Hocus Focus curriculum, with the fundamental goal of fostering student growth and development."
One of the most important factors for achieving success for the student is to make the learning process as tangible and visible as possible teaching facts and concepts they can see, touch, manipulate, and talk about.
"Our students with behavior disorders have a very hard time with frustration tolerance and task follow-through. I can see the Hocus Focus curriculum being an enjoyable time where they are perfecting these skills without knowing it," says Kathy McClung, Behavior Disorders Teacher in Iowa. "We need to constantly find ways to reach our students and I appreciate the work Spencer has done that gives us another tool in our belt."
Hocus Focus provides teachers with a visual, exciting, and motivating way to allow students to safely explore skill levels, improve existing skills, and develop new ones. It is a systematic approach by which students learn to focus and accomplish specific goals and objectives by learning magic tricks and then exploring the benefits of each one. Students learn simple tricks at first and move to more complex tricks as they progress. Watch this video about Hocus Focus to learn more.
Spencer is also the author of HEALING OF MAGIC, the most comprehensive guide available to establishing and maintaining a magic therapy program in a hospital or rehabilitation facility. The program - a systemic treatment modality incorporating the therapeutic use of simple magic tricks in physical and psychosocial rehabilitation - has been successfully utilized in many areas, including physical diagnoses, brain injuries and mental health. Therapists around the world as well as educators in the occupational and physiotherapy departments of leading universities are using the Healing of Magic program to help patients reach their therapeutic goals.
"I'm committed to empowering therapists with exciting new tools to aid them in helping their clients achieve functional, measurable goals. Magic wands don't always belong with black hats and rabbits -- sometimes they belong in hospitals where frail hands learn tricks and the magic is in the healing," Spencer says. Watch a video on the Healing of Magic.
The concepts of the Healing of Magic program are currently in use in hundreds of rehabilitation facilities in more than 30 countries. Spencer has collaborated on numerous research projects around the world to prove the validity of this treatment modality. You can read the research here.
For more information on Kevin Spencer, visit www.SpencersMagic.com. To learn more about the summer launch of Spencer's Hocus Focus program for special needs students, visit http://www.hocusfocuseducation.com/ or www.MagicTherapy.com/therapists.html#MagicandEducation.
Teaching teachers mindfulness to foster education, improve well-being
Teachers who encounter stressful classroom situations can become upset and their teaching may suffer. However, by analyzing teachers' emotional reactions in the classroom and how those emotions affect teaching, Patricia Jennings developed innovative teaching methods to help teachers from preschool through college.
Jennings, research associate, Penn State's Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, looks at 'mindfulness' -- maintaining awareness of one's thoughts and emotions -- as a way to reduce stress and improve performance.
"Many new teachers have problems managing their behavior when they get upset by challenging student behaviors," says Jennings. "Oftentimes, they end up resorting to punitive and harsh responses, which can lead to power struggles with children and derail learning."
Starting in May 2009, Jennings will spend two years finalizing and testing a professional development program, Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE), funded by a $932,361 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute for Educational Sciences. CARE was developed at the Garrison Institute, where Jennings is director of the Initiative on Contemplation and Education.
CARE stresses the importance of emotional awareness and self-regulation when interacting with students. This empowers teachers to make calm, effective responses to children's behavior rather than unconscious reactions that are often ineffective. During the first year, researchers will measure the results of the CARE program through surveys and focus groups of elementary school teachers participating in the program. They want to establish which aspects of CARE are most effective in improving teacher-student interactions and relationships, and to develop the parts of CARE that help foster an optimal educational environment.
Researchers will spend the second year observing teachers in the classroom, before and after the teachers have completed CARE. The researchers will measure disruptive behavior, student compliance, cooperation, communication, problem-solving, interest level, focus, and responsiveness.
By giving teachers the skills to be aware of their emotions and observing the results, Jennings is hoping to understand better which factors are associated with effective teaching.
"Many people think that good teaching is most associated with such factors as years of teaching experience or the amount of training a teacher has received. Those are important factors, but if a teacher doesn't respond and interact with their students in a way that fosters a positive learning environment, then the education tends to get left behind," says Jennings.
Researchers will also evaluate the self-reported social-emotional status of teachers. They will determine whether the teachers have problems with sleep, anxiety, depression, or caring for themselves.
"Even the most caring of teachers are known for ignoring themselves," says Jennings. "This can be problematic. About 50 percent of teachers leave the profession after only five years. By teaching skills on how to be more self-aware, we hope to lower this number, and increase the number of positive role models in our education system."
In the pilot study that helped secure funding for her project, Jennings saw success with CARE.
"An English teacher in a Philadelphia school hit a wall of resistance from her students one day. The students were not interested in her grammar lesson and they became disruptive. Through her own practice with mindfulness, the teacher was able to calm herself down and not react with anger, and in doing so, she was able to tune in to her students and really listen to their complaints with genuine interest. After an open discussion with her students she decided to shift her lesson in response to these feelings. The students were enthusiastic about the new assignment, and the teacher helped them channel their frustration into a creative outlet."
That teacher was able to avoid frustration, and in doing so reduced her stress levels and encouraged learning in the classroom. Those are the results that Jennings is hoping to see and promote through CARE.
CARE was developed by Jennings, Richard Brown, chair of the Contemplative Education Department at Naropa University, and Christa Turksma, prevention consultant. The evaluation will be performed simultaneously in Harrisburg and State College schools. Additional courses on mindfulness are available through the Garrison Institute (http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/).
Thousands of Books Available to People with Print Disabilities
Bookshare and Hachette Book Group (HBG) have entered into a partnership to provide digital books for Bookshare's accessible online library for people with print disabilities. This partnership has two components that break new ground in the publishing industry. First, Hachette has agreed to donate digital files for all 1,700 currently digitized frontlist and backlist titles. Secondly, Hachette will refer all customer service requests for accessible books to Bookshare for fulfillment.
Bookshare believes that people with print disabilities deserve the same ease of access to books and periodicals that people without disabilities enjoy. The Bookshare library provides legal access to more than 43,000 books and 150 periodicals that are converted to Braille, large print or synthetic speech. Thanks to Bookshare, a person with a print disability can read a newspaper the same day it hits the newsstand or download a best-selling book simultaneously with its release.
Fewer than five percent of the books needed by people with print disabilities are currently available in accessible formats. An award from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) allows Bookshare to expand its collection through publisher partnerships and to grow the number of users who have access to the service. The award also provides free access to qualified students of any age.
Bookshare members download books, textbooks and newspapers in files protected by its Digital Rights Management system to ensure the security of publishers' copyrights. Members read the texts using adaptive technology, such as software that reads the book aloud (text-to-speech) or converts the text to an enlarged font, or hardware devices that allow the book to be read on refreshable Braille displays. Members can also print digital books as embossed Braille.
Bookshare's conversion and distribution of accessible books from publishers' digital files significantly reduces the time and expense required by publishers to provide books in accessible formats for people with print disabilities.
Website: http://www.bookshare.org/
Summer Reading Kicks Off at Scholastic: Are You up for the Challenge?
This summer Scholastic, together with Save the Children's U.S. Programs and the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, is challenging kids to read for fun, for their team and for a good cause. Launching on April 30th, "Scholastic Summer Challenge" (http://www.scholastic.com/summer) is the online destination for summer reading. With a robust online community for kids, expert advice for parents and free teaching resources for librarians and educators, this is one challenge everyone can enjoy! The "Summer Challenge" kicks off with a live game show web cast hosted by Jon Scieszka, the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Kids will test their book knowledge starting at 1:00 p.m. ET on April 30th at www.scholastic.com/summer.
Why Summer Reading?
As Malcolm Gladwell pointed out in his best-selling book "Outliers", "America doesn't have a school problem, it has a summer vacation problem." Research shows:
-- Kids who don't read four or more age-appropriate books over the summer are more likely to fall victim to the "Summer Slide," the common loss of skills due to being out of school over the summer.
-- Low income students experience an average summer learning loss in reading achievement of over two months, a greater loss than that of their higher income peers.
-- The primary reason kids say they don't read for fun more often is that they have trouble finding books they like.
"All kids need opportunities over the summer to practice what they have learned during the school year," said Ron Fairchild, Executive Director of the National Center for Summer Learning. "Programs that encourage kids to read age-appropriate books that interest them are a great way to keep kids learning over the summer."
"Summer reading is a perfect, low-cost activity that helps keep students' learning skills strong," said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. "The 'Scholastic Summer Challenge' gives kids a chance to read what they want to read, connect with other readers in a safe online community, and help children in need."
What is the "Scholastic Summer Challenge" for Kids?
This summer, kids ages eight and up can log on to www.scholastic.com/summer to read for fun, play games and help children in need. Here's how: once they accept the Challenge, they take a fun quiz that sorts them into one of four color teams, joining other kids from across the country and the world to record their minutes spent reading, earn points for their team, play games and chat about books. All summer long kids will be learning about critical issues kids face in the areas of early childhood development, literacy, physical activity, nutrition and emergency preparedness and response, which are at the core of Save the Children's work in the U.S. At the end of the summer, Scholastic will make a financial contribution to Save the Children's U.S. Programs on behalf of all the participating readers and the winning "Summer Challenge" team will vote on which issue Save the Children works on receives an extra donation!
"We are thrilled that this program not only gets kids reading but also educates them about some of the challenges faced by other kids across the country," said Mark Shriver, Vice President and Managing Director of Save the Children's U.S. Programs. "Today one in six kids lives in poverty. With the 'Summer Challenge,' Scholastic is taking an important leadership role in uniting the next generation and instilling a greater sense of responsibility to one another."
At the Scholastic Summer Challenge, kids can also:
-- Take fun quizzes and multiply their points
-- Unlock new games and earn even more points
-- Apply their points to the Scholastic Book Fairs' "Read for the World Record!"
-- Watch awesome celebrity shout-out videos including: The Naked Brothers Band, Lil' Mama and Keke Palmer from "True Jackson, VP" on Nickelodeon
-- See exclusive content about favorite authors and books
-- Chat about favorite books like "The 39 Clues" and "Harry Potter"
-- Post book reviews on the Summer Challenge review blog
-- Enter sweepstakes for the chance to win prizes
In addition, kids can enter to for a chance to win sweepstakes for books from Scholastic, membership to Kidzui, the Internet for kids, and free bonus points from SmartyCard, redeemable for real rewards.
Kids ages 7 and younger have their own fun challenge: for every book they read and log online, kids earn seeds to plant and grow in their own virtual garden.
What is the Scholastic Summer Challenge for Parents and Caregivers?
"The Kids and Family Reading Report(TM)" shows that parents are the top source of book suggestions for kids who read most. The "Summer Challenge" parents' site, sponsored by Wendy's, will offer extensive, age-appropriate summer book lists and articles available in English and Spanish to help parents find books their kids will want to read. Parents can also explore multi-media content about kids and summer reading, get advice from education experts, and shop the Scholastic Store Online. Younger kids, in addition to the virtual garden game, can send an e-card to Clifford(TM) about what they are reading and learn a new word from WordGirl(TM) every day!
What is the "Scholastic Summer Challenge" for Teachers and Librarians?
Teachers and librarians play a crucial role in getting kids to read over the summer. The "Summer Challenge" site will feature a dedicated area for educators with teaching resources such as printable book lists, bulletin board materials, and send-home letters about summer reading for parents (in English and Spanish). Teachers and librarians will also have access to free lesson plans, video book resources, and engaging book activities and teaching tips specifically for summer. Fun reproducibles for students include the "Read, relate, respond" graphic organizer and a "Critic's Corner" book review template.
