Digital Fitness vs. Traditional PE

The Edutopia Poll by Sara Ring brings up a good debate.  New technology is always being implemented in schools.  Digital  fitness is one of those technologies in question.  While digital fitness may have similar benefits to traditional PE as far as aerobic conditioning goes, some people including myself wonder if the other intangibles are being compromised.  Teamwork, competition, fair play, intense social interactions, and physical abilities are aspects that seem to be missing.  These are very important things for children to learn about at young ages.

Halloween Activities

The classroom can be a stressful place sometimes for kids.  Children can get burnt out just as teachers can.  We need to remember that the students need a break from the routine every once in a while.  Having the kids do fun activities around a holiday are great for teachers and students.  Halloween is right around the corner and there are plenty of fun and educational projects to do with them.  One online search is all it takes.

School Reform: Focusing on College Prep is Key

Having just a high school diploma nowadays is not going to get our students a great job anymore.  Therefore, we need to be focusing on preparing them for college and university courses as much as possible.  Standardized tests are not the best assessment methods, but they are necessary.  Many college courses rely heavily on tests.  Students need practice in the testing area as well as developing study habits that will help them succeed.  Schools should be gearing their programs toward these goals.

Magnet School Attracts Students to Careers in Health

The video "A Magnet School Attracts Students to Careers in Health, by the Edutopia Staff, explains how learning real world skills instead of just a lot of theory is highly beneficial.  The motivation and involvement of the students is exceptionally high.  The students can actually see why what they are doing is important and relevant.  Sometimes in the classroom, students say things like, "When am I ever going to need this?".  This particular magnet school takes kids into a health related workplace and treats their learning experience as if it were an internship.  I think theory is one thing, but actual experience is another.  This is a great way of educating our youth!

Increase Student Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

The National Science Board reports that American students score low internationally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  The Edutopia Poll, by Sara Bernard, suggests that the reason for this is simply a lack of interest.  She addresses the possible solutions to this problem.  One option is to illustrate how these subjects correlate to many different careers in hope of inspiring students to become interested.  Another option is to prepare teachers with more exciting lessons in these areas.  The thought process here is that more engaging activities will lead to greater interest and achievement.  A combination of these methods could also be used.  However, some feel that neither of these options will work because teachers don't have the time and have too many other issues to deal with in the classroom.  I think administration is the key here.  They need to provide the time and training for the teachers to be able to interest students in these subject areas.

Mathematics All Day

The video "Teaching Students the Magic of Math", by the Edutopia Staff, indicated that test scores have improved in math for schools that use it constantly throughout the day.  Every subject (science, geography, language arts) including specials (music, physical education, art) is required to include math instruction in their lessons.  The students become very familiar with math concepts and terminology.  Workshops for teachers are held regularly.  At these workshops all of the teachers get on the same page so that their lesson plans focus on the same concepts being learned in math at that time.  This is the first I have ever heard of anything done like this with math.  I think the extent these schools go to to ensure their students succeed in math is wonderful.  I feel like the administration has a well thought out plan and is implementing it nicely.  It is a shame more schools are not functioning like this.