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My Schoolhouse Blog
September 9, 2009
Welcome to the 2009-10 school year. My Schoolhouse has provided
new lessons in our Sample Lessons links as while as some new lessons in
the Graphs section of our Subscription link. We will be adding new
lessons weekly. Our Sample Lessons page will provide you with a
new lesson in the six subject areas on a regular basis.
We hope you and your students have a successful school year.
March 25, 2009
Failure? How do students,
teachers, administrators, parents, and the community interpret and deal
with the concept of failure? If the student does not achieve to the
expectations of the teacher, parents, or the state and federal
requirements, does this mean the student is a failure? And what is
failure? It is defined by Dictionary.com as:
1. an act or instance of
failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success:
His effort ended in failure. The campaign was a
failure.
2. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected:
a failure to do what one has promised; a failure
to appear.
3. a subnormal quantity or
quality; an insufficiency: the failure of crops.
4. deterioration or decay, esp. of vigor, strength, etc.:
The failure of her health made retirement
necessary.
5. a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency.
6. a becoming insolvent or
bankrupt: the failure of a bank.
7.
a person or thing that proves unsuccessful:
He is a failure in his career. The cake is a
failure.
As one
reviews these definitions, some definitions apply to education while
others do not. When a student's "lack of effort" results in failure,
then we must conclude that the student is 100% responsible for the
failure. We cannot do what others must do for themselves. When
the student fails for lack of preparation then the failure may be a result
of the student's effort, the teacher's effort, the school's, the state's
or a combination of them all.
But
perhaps, we may also need to evaluate how we look at failure. Is
failure bad? Should failure be looked at as an evaluation of the
person? Or should failure be viewed as a step in the process to
success? One inventor failed a thousand times before he reached
success. What would have happened if this person would have
personalized failure?
March 19, 2009
Is the future electronic textbooks?
Will the teacher actually be held to the constraints of a textbook
publisher even when data is provided by electronic transmission? The
future may be found on the Internet but should it be limited to an
electronic textbook? Electronic textbooks will have great advantages
over the current paper based textbook for many reasons. The images
in the electronic textbook can be updated instantly. Textbook errors
will be corrected immediately rather than in the next publishing.
New data will be provided to the textbook whenever needed. There
will be many advantages to using an electronic textbook but should we be
held to the limited point of view provided by a single textbook publisher?
March 12, 2009
As we continue to question the
state of education in the United States of America, Jennifer Goldstein
offers an interesting perspective of how we got where we are today and
how we might get where we need to be tomorrow. She states "The fact
is that many American school districts and their local teachers'
unions have formed a symbiotic partnership in mediocrity. To single
out one side of the equation (teachers' unions and their support for
tenure) as the cause of the problem is to fail to recognize the role
school administrators have played." Her complete commentary can
be read by clicking
here.
February 12, 2009
"Should
I Let Them Fail?" by Laura Reasoner Jones as published in "Teacher
Magazine" raises questions regarding the issue of failure in our schools.
Rescuing children for lack of effort has been a common practice in many
schools across our nation. Somewhere in time, we as a society moved
from placing the responsibility for learning on the child to placing the
responsibility for learning on the teacher and/or parent. Many
teachers and parents today, feel if the child is not successful, they must
be doing something wrong. To reinforce this, the Federal government
created the "No Child Left Behind" legislation to ensure children are
successful. This legislation only reinforced the concept that all
children must be successful and thus rescued.
A well known inventor spent years
working on projects that lead to the invention of many things we still use
today. During his long days of work, he failed many times. But
with each failure, he learned something. Something he did not know
before and something no one could have just told him. How many times
during a school day are we depriving our children of these valuable
lessons?
February 11, 2009
Algebra in first grade? Are
you kidding me? The introduction and teaching of algebra concepts in
the elementary schools is long over due. Some schools are now
introducing algebra concepts in the elementary schools to help students to
become successful in 9th grade algebra. How can this be? To read
more about algebra in the elementary school, click
here.
January 15, 2009
"Win a Wireless Lab" Sweepstakes is
supported by CDW-Government, Inc. and is available to all K-12 schools in
the United States. The program is designed to encourage teachers to
use more technology in their classrooms. Each lab includes 20 laptop
computers, a software grant from Discovery Education, interactive
whiteboards, digital cameras, and professional development. The lab
is valued at $50,000. For more information,
click here.
January 9, 2009
Happy New Year! Every new
year brings new ideas and resolutions. Here's a new thought.
Could student's cell phones be put to use in schools to provide more
learning opportunities? Are restrictions on cell phone use in
schools limiting student's learning. An article titled "Students
Turn Their Cell Phone On for Classroom Lessons"
by Andrew Trotter discusses the many advantages that cell phones may bring
to a classroom.
POSTS
September 17, 2008
We recently received the following
comment from a user. "Thank you for this website. Your explanations
and examples are great. The best part is the test with the answers,
which I take first (to be sure I understand) then my child takes it. This
is a blessing. Thanks!!!"
We would like to hear from you.
Please submit your comments about how you use My Schoolhouse in this blog.
August 14, 2008
www.myschoolhouse.com is a brilliant to my collection of educational
resources. I have spending quite a significant amount of time on this to
collect stuff for my kid and this just seems to top all of it. With this
new time as Stacey puts it new methods need to be adopted as kids are more
into computers these days, providing them educations via this medium is
better absorbed by them. another good resource that i grabbed from the
internet was at www.schoolsgalore.com/distance-learning-online-schools-directory,
schools galore. Many more are also there with the development of
institutes and more people accepting the trend of online education many
online scholls have sprung up.
referring to a post on sept 27th i
would like to add that the beauty of communication is that it can be done
via any medium and yes kids these days use short forms for literally
everything.
Ushar M.
August 1, 2008
When I tried to enroll my daughter
for summer school, I was told her grades were too high. My argument was
that they (grades) stayed high because of all year learning. But thank
goodness I was able to find Schoolhouse website. It was a godsend.
She is ready for Sept. 4th !!
Linda R.
July 14, 2008
I do believe that computer-based learning is in our near future! The students are motivated by computers, current information is available through the internet, and students (and teachers) are learning
creative ways to produce products that showcase their learning. Used properly, technology is fun and educational. There are a few potential roadblocks to massive implementation of technology in our schools, like funding issues, safety concerns,
and traditions. I think the real technology explosion in our schools will occur as the younger generation becomes involved in teaching careers.
Stacye M
July 9, 2007
Our trip to the NEA Convention
provided us numerous opportunities to meet people and display My
Schoolhouse to individuals across the country. People were excited
to see the wonderful opportunities for learning provided by My
Schoolhouse.com.
We had numerous requests for My
Schoolhouse Gift Notepads to give as welcome gifts to new teachers.
We would like to offer readers of the MSH Blog the opportunity to
acquire My Schoolhouse Gift Notepads to include in your new teacher
welcome packets. Email
Support@myschoolhouse.com and let us know how many notepads you would
like sent to you. Please include your name, school district, and
mailing address in your email.
June 27, 2007
We hope you are enjoying your
summer. Don't forget to take advantage of our Summer Subscription
for only $4.95. Our Summer Subscription is a great way to keep your
skills hot! :)
June 12, 2007
Look for our new
Social Studies lessons for grades 1-3 this month. These new lessons
will provide exciting learning opportunities for students. My
Schoolhouse will be visiting the NEA Convention in Philadelphia the last
weekend in June. Stop by our booth and say hello. We'll
have some great gifts for you.
June 3, 2007
Join the My Schoolhouse Learning
Community today and begin receiving all the benefits of your membership.
Member benefits include; contest offers, gifts, our monthly newsletter
(full of helpful learning activities and tips), special subscription
offers, and the latest updates to My Schoolhouse. And the best part,
it's FREE.
Keep your child learning all Summer long with lessons from My
Schoolhouse. Children practicing their basic skills throughout the
Summer months come to school in the Fall better prepared to learn.
:)
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