How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us by Gail Collins “What happens in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas when it comes to textbooks” No matter where you live, if your children go to public schools, the textbooks they use were very possibly written under Texas influence. If they graduated with a reflexive suspicion of the concept of separation of church and state and an unexpected interest in the contributions of the National Rifle Association to American history, you know who to blame. When it comes to meddling with school textbooks, Texas is both similar to other states and totally different. Those favorites are not shrinking violets. Ever since the 1960s, the selection of schoolbooks in Texas has been a target for the religious right, which worried that schoolchildren were being indoctrinated in godless secularism, and political conservatives who felt that their kids were being given way too much propaganda about the positive aspects of the federal government. “Evolution is hooey” The chorus of objections to textbook material mounted.
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Chapter 2—The Themes of Social Studies Standards Main Page Executive Summary Preface Introduction Thematic Strands Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity. Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture. Cultures are dynamic and change over time. Through experience, observation, and reflection, students will identify elements of culture as well as similarities and differences among cultural groups across time and place. In schools, this theme typically appears in units and courses dealing with geography, history, sociology, and anthropology, as well as multicultural topics across the curriculum. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the past and its legacy. Studying the past makes it possible for us to understand the human story across time. Knowing how to read, reconstruct and interpret the past allows us to answer questions such as: How do we learn about the past?
The 5 Most Overhyped Trends in Education « Looking Up For your perusal, a completely subjective list of five things happening right now in education that are getting lots of notice, energy and resources but don’t deserve it, and why I think we need to reconsider our collective love affair with them: 1. Flipping The Class: What is it? “…a form of blended Learning which encompasses any use of Internet technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos that students view outside of class time. What’s The Problem? The problems with flipping are well explained in “The Flip: End of a Love Affair“. The short form is: What is it? What’s the problem? I’ve written before about the problems with BYOD. It’s inequitable. 3. What is it? The consistent message at ECOO12, from top thinkers and all corners, is that when considering using devices in education, pedagogy must come first. 4) 1 to 1: What is it? What is it?
The History Guide -- Main The real problem with multiple-choice tests Q) What is one responsibility that modern Presidents have NOT described in the Constitution? (From the 2010 NAEP exam) a) Commanding the armed forces b) Proposing an annual budget to Congress c) Appointing Supreme Court justices d) Granting pardons One of the biggest complaints about standardized tests is that the multiple-choice questions don’t measure deep thinking skills. Here’s a new look at the problems with multiple-choice questions, written by Terry Heick, curriculum director at TeachThought, an online platform that that explores innovation in education. Heick is an educator, husband, and father of three who is interested in improved social capacity through the design of progressive learning forms. (The answer to the question above is B, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2010.) By Terry Heick The multiple-choice problem is becoming a bit of an issue. Tone This all emphasizes the value of uncertainty in learning. Uncertainty There is nothing wrong with being uncertain.
World Mentoring Academy | FREE Interactive Learning OpenCourseware from MIT, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, U Houston, USC, UCLA, Khan Academy, NPTEL General description: The College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Dantes (DSST),TECEP, ECE, NYU-SCPS & others, are a group of standardized tests that assess college-level knowledge in 170+ subject areas that are administered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States created by the College Board, Gov & 3 State Universities. There are 1,000 to 2,900 colleges which grant Univ. credit. Each institution awards credit to students who meet the college's minimum qualifying score for that exam, which is typically 50, but it does vary by school and exam. The tests are useful for students who have obtained knowledge outside the classroom, such as through independent study, job experience, or cultural interaction. CLEP/DSST also offers students (including international and homeschool) the opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency in subject areas and bypass undergraduate coursework. Language: English Free Professors: Default Professor, Cliff Ishii Total units: 117
New Reasons to Dislike Multiple-Choice Testing The multiple-choice problem is becoming a bit of an issue. While it has been derided by educators for decades as incapable of truly measuring understanding, and while performance on such exams can be noticeably improved simply by learning a few tricks, the multiple choice question may have a larger, less obvious flaw that disrupts the tone of learning itself. This is a tone that is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century as access to information increases, as the updating of information happens more naturally, and as blended and mobile learning environments become more common. Tone Learning depends on a rather eccentric mix of procedural and declarative knowledge -- on the process as much as the end product. Students are often as confused by teacher instructions or activity workflow as they are by the content itself. The process of mastering mathematics, for example, is served as much by a consistent process of practice as it is the practice itself. Uncertainty Beyond Either/Or
Lessons & Activities Thinking about Lesson Plans The most effective technology integration lessons put students at the center of the learning process. These lessons empower students by fostering creativity and innovation and they enhance collaboration and communication. Look for lesson plans that help build 21st century skills such as inventive thinking, communication and collaboration, and information literacy. There are great lesson plan resources available online that help build 21st century skills. A Vision of K-12 Students Today, created by Professor Michael Wesch at Kansas State University Instead of focusing on "canned" lesson plans, concentrate on finding "lesson ideas" that can be adopted and integrated into your lesson objectives. Best Sites for History Lesson Plans and Activities These websites are a gateway to a vast number of history and social studies teaching resources, including lesson plans, curriculum units, presentations, primary sources, Powerpoints, quizzes, and more. Mr. Registration
How to Destroy Education While Making a Trillion Dollars The Vietnam War produced more than its share of iconic idiocies. Perhaps the most revelatory was the psychotic assertion of an army major explaining the U.S. bombing of the provincial hamlet of Ben Tre: “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” If only such self-extinguishing claims for intelligence were confined to military war. The U.S is ratcheting up a societal-level war on public education. At issue is whether we are going to make it better — build it into something estimable, a social asset that undergirds a noble and prosperous society — or whether we’re going to tear it down so that private investors can get their hands on the almost $1 trillion we spend on it every year. Here’s a three-step recipe for how to destroy education. First, lower the costs so you can jack up the profits. Second, make the curriculum as narrow, rote, and regimented as you can. Finally, rinse and repeat five thousand times. That is what real teachers do. So watch out.
Common Core poses big challenge for students, big opportunity for teachers The complex language skills that are the focus of Common Core’s English language arts standards will be needed to excel in Common Core math and the new science standards. They are stressed, too, in California’s new language standards for English learners. Courtesy of Dr. Norma Sanchez of CTA’s Instruction and Professional Development Department and a presenter at CTA’s Summer Institute. With an emphasis on developing verbal and analytical skills, the new Common Core standards will pose a big step up for most students. For English learners, who comprise a quarter of California’s children, it’ll seem more like a pole vault. “Common Core is pushing us toward a higher level of achievement, and that depth is predicated on an ability to use language in sophisticated ways,” said Ben Sanders, director of standards, assessment and instruction for the 10 districts that formed the nonprofit California Office to Reform Education, or CORE. Unified, coherent, interdisciplinary