Category: education

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A picture of a giant robot helping…

A picture of a giant robot helping Russia revolutionaries storm the winter palace in 1917, was accidentally used in an Australian history exam. Some students wasted time in trying to figure out what the giant robot was, thinking it was a statue of a Russian politician or a battleship.

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A High School Engineering Class Created a Prosthetic Arm so Middle Schooler Can Play Cello

High school kids in Irving, Texas put their engineering class to good use by fulfilling a middle school girl’s dreams of playing in the orchestra.

Kayla Arqueta was born without her left hand and part of her forearm. As a student at Austin Middle School, she wanted to join the orchestra, so she auditioned for cello. Orchestra director Carly Addison was happy to welcome Kayla to the group, but she wasn’t sure how to make it work.

“She told me she wanted to play cello and I had no idea how to make that happen, but I knew I couldn’t say no,” Carly said in a school district video.

Carly did some internet research, and she discovered another young girl who used a prosthetic arm to play the cello. The musical prosthetic was designed by Dr. Jennifer Mankoff at Carnegie Mellon University.

After contacting Dr. Mankoff, Carly found the blueprints for the prosthetic online. Next, she learned that the high schools in her district had 3D printers, so she reached out to Dwight Davison, an engineering teacher at Nimitz High School.

Dwight hadn’t been using 3D printing in his engineering class, but he created a new class project just to help Kayla out. It was optional for students, and six enterprising teens signed up.

They successfully designed and printed a musical prosthetic for Kayla, who is now blossoming as a burgeoning cellist.

“When Kayla pulled on the string, it made this big beautiful cello sound, and I knew we had done it,” Carly said.

As for Kayla? In addition to her new prosthetic, she’s learned a valuable lesson. “I learned that people are willing to help, and that it’s okay to be different,” she said. “I would like other students to know that life is challenging, but everyone is going to love you for who you are.”

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10 Tricks for Teaching Little Kids, According to Teachers

Teaching is a profession fraught with frustration and difficulty, but it also presents adults with a unique opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life.

Luckily, there are a some ways to make teaching a little bit easier, and thankfully there are teachers out there who are ready to share their tips with the world. Here’s a small sampling of their wisdom.

10. Call Them by Their Preferred Name

You expect your students to respect you, and that’s why you need to show them you respect them as well. You may have a student that prefers to go by a nickname, middle name, or even rapper name. Ask them what they’d like to be called and abide by this.

9. Take Nothing Personally

Kids can do things that make you angry, but they also have a short memory for that sort of thing. Try to help them understand their actions in the moment, but don’t hold a grudge or take things personally. It doesn’t serve either of you.

8. Enforce Rules Consistently!

Not all children have adults in their life that enforce rules or boundaries. They may actually like you for this. One teacher mentions that she and her students think of rules together and commit to following them during the academic year by signing a “contract.”

7. Give Talkative Students Something to Do

There’s always a chatterbox in the room. Extroverted children love attention, so give them a task to do. This will get things done and make them feel good, too.

6. Laugh!

Teachers are often told they need to be tough authoritarians. This is sometimes appropriate, but remember: you’re human. Kids will appreciate an honest sense of humor, especially if you keep it in good taste.

5. Admit to Your Mistakes

Everyone misspells something or gets it wrong. It’s healthy for children to see that you can ‘fess up to your wrongdoings.

4. Provide Cell Phone Parking

Phones are a distraction to students, but they’re a necessary part of our lives today. Provide a space where your students can keep their phones during class. They’ll know it’s there when they need it, but they won’t be distracted by it.

3. Contact Home for Positive News, Too

Teachers often contact parents when there’s trouble. Make sure to let them know when their child is doing well!

2. Create a “Study Space”

One teacher mentioned having a table full of things their students can do without having to ask for permission every time. They’re allowed to staple things, get extra supplies, and grab assignments they’ve missed if they were absent. Teach them to be independent while limiting distractions

1. Consider Not Raising Your Voice

Older children (junior high and high school) may have a rebellious streak, but speaking in a quiet voice can help them calm down.

 

Are you a teacher? What wisdom do you want to impart to your peers? Share below!

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Italy’s Schools Will Require That Children Learn About Climate Change Starting in 2020

It looks like Italy is taking a big step in the fight against global warming and climate change, and for that, we should be thankful…and we should hope that this kind of curriculum spreads across the globe.

Lorenzo Fioramonti is Italy’s education minister, and he is now requiring that, starting in September 2020, all children in his country will receive education about climate change. All students will be required to have 33 hours of lessons each year dedicated to climate change and environmental sustainability.

Fioramonti also wants to eventually make climate change education part of math and geography curriculum so students will take sustainability into consideration when they study these subjects as well. The lessons will teach students the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and will be formed with help from environmental experts.

Fioramonti said, “The entire ministry is being changed to make sustainability and climate the centre of the education model. I want to make the Italian education system the first education system that puts the environment and society at the core of everything we learn in school.”

Italy’s education minister also believes that older people need to educate themselves and play a role in this movement, so all citizens can work together toward sustainability. Fioramonti said he wants to “build a strong bridge between old and new generations around sustainable development as a social glue.”

An NPR poll found that 80% of American parents are in favor of their kids learning about the issue. Wouldn’t that be nice…?

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Students Make Tampon Cookies for Their Principal After He Refuses to Put Tampons in the Bathrooms

Leave it to a man to do something this ridiculous regarding women’s health. At a middle school recently, some kids got pretty peeved when the (male) principal argued against putting a tampon machine in the restroom because the students would “abuse the privilege”…whatever that means.

So what did these obviously bright and crafty seventh graders decide to do? They held a protest and baked some tampon cookies.

People thought the protest was pretty amazing, and the responses came rolling in.

“Each generation is incorporating feminism into child-rearing more and more. Yesterday’s ‘you can be a doctor’ is now ‘you can be a doctor and you can demand tampons.”

“She and every girl in the school should rally together and agree that every. single. time. they need a tampon, they should bypass all other adults at school and go ask for one from the principal directly.”

“Maybe the girls should demonstrate that they are not taking advantage of free tampons by returning them to the principal when they are finished with them.”

The girls who baked the cookies also released a statement under the name Revolutionary Girls’ Baking Society (this just keeps getting better) to update the world on what happened after the tweet went viral. The statement said, in part:

“After our cookie protest, our principal and the school board are now working to make sure every girl in our town will have the products they need readily available so no girl misses a day of school. We are very grateful that the school has taken our action seriously and is making a change. Feminine hygiene is not a luxury or a privilege, and not having tampons and pads is a barrier to every girl’s education.

Ours is a story of standing up with love and courage for our basic rights. Stand with us and work locally, nationally, and internationally to support the health and rights of all people. Check out Period.org or any of the hundreds of organizations working to ensure equal access to education for all.

Your actions can and do make a difference. We know, because ours did. If tampon cookies can spark a revolution, then the possibilities are endless!

Signed,
The Revolutionary Girls’ Baking Society, baking a difference one bizarre confection at a time.”

You can read the full statement from the girls HERE.

I just love this story so much!

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15 Tweets That Should Please All the English Majors out There

These posts sure are lit.

English lit, that is!

Those English majors sure are a punny bunch, aren’t they? If you one of these folks or maybe you just merely identify with them, you will enjoy these tweets.

You may proceed!

1. That’s very true.

2. Time to unpack.

3. Maybe they had a few too many?

4. Oh, here we go…

5. Not gonna make it.

6. That’s much better.

7. Don’t ask me.

8. A lot to read…

9. He is pretty good, I must say…

10. Might want to wait on that a little while…

11. Is that really E.E. Cummings?

12. Funny how that works.

13. No symbolism here, unfortunately.

14. That’s high praise.

15. Oh, it’s lit alright.

Okay, I’m gonna say it…NERD ALERT.

But don’t take it as an insult! I’m one of you!

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A 4th-Grade Teacher Refused to Lie to His Students, so He Taught the True History of Christopher Columbus

This is an important story, so pay attention.

Nathanael Madden is a teacher at Cold Spring Elementary in Potomac, Maryland, and he has decided to take a different path when teaching his students about a very controversial historical figure.

Madden decided that he would teach the real history of Columbus and Columbus Day to his 4th-grade students, and his tweets about his student’s responses went viral.

Madden said about his decision,

“School is often a very confining and controlling place for kids, and I want to create a space for students to feel liberated by learning. I want all students to feel that they are free to be who they are and that they have a place of belonging in my classroom. This also means that we can’t ignore our world’s current realities, as well as how everything has been impacted by historical realities. Through my teaching, I constantly encourage and challenge my students to be critical questioners and critical thinkers so they can be active and informed participants in our world.”

Madden shared a series of tweets in which he talked about how his students responded to his lessons laying out the “alternative history” that is not usually taught in public schools.

Madden added,

“For so long, particularly in the US, the story of Columbus as a heroic explorer has been the dominant narrative, erasing and ignoring the voices of Indigenous peoples who have known the truth for centuries. As we grapple with the myths of American exceptionalism and start listening to the voices of different marginalized groups, we can uncover the truths of history.”

American public education has come a long way since I was in grade school; I don’t remember anything other than praise for Christopher Columbus around the time we celebrated Columbus Day at school.

The times, they are a-changing…and that’s a good thing.

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Decades of studies have shown…

Decades of studies have shown that parenting has the largest effect on a child’s grades, not the quality of the school. Affluent families produce better grades regardless of the school due to having more interactions with their parents, resulting in a 30 million average word gap by age 3.