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         I am always espousing the need for our students to master the foundation skills in math, reading and writing.  I continually urge families to devote time for daily practice and to seek assistance or supplemental programs such as Pinecone Learning to assure that their students are proficient and strong in all the basic skills.  My vision is that all kids will be able to grasp new concepts, intelligently debate issues, ponder creative solutions and collaborate to forge new and better ways to live and do business – without being dragged down by basic skill shortcomings.
          Now, let’s add another dimension to the foundation skills:  global competence.   What is it and why do we need it?   Global competence is the ability to work with people across political and geographic boundaries with a fundamental understanding of different cultures, languages and histories.  It is the ability to understand and accept that people think and do things differently than we do in the U.S.   Global competence requires (and stimulates) mutual understanding, respect and productive engagement among diverse people from all nations. 
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I’m not one for corporate slogans, but when Nike came out with its “Just Do It” campaign, they were on to something.  Whether inside the classroom or out, learning is best achieved by getting our hands dirty.  This viewpoint is not innate to me.  At the start of my academic career, most of my time was spent overcoming a constant fear of failure.  If I couldn’t get a math problem in the first shot, my eyes welled with tears; if I answered something incorrectly in class, I flushed red; if I felt the need to ask a question, my palms grew moist and my heart beat quickly in anticipation of a stressful event.But I kept on asking questions.  I asked and I asked and I asked, and eventually I came to see that learning was not in the “genius” I brought to the classroom but in putting myself out there, trying, making mistakes, and trying again.  Intellect was something only marginally innate, developed more through hard work and constant adaptation.With this mentality, I began to nurture a true intellectual drive.  Asking questions about one subject made me think deeper about many different ones until all around me there were fascinating puzzles, begging to be solved.  In college, this meant double majoring both in my life-long passion−Creative Writing−and in a newfound interest−Brain & Cognitive Sciences, just because I found it fascinating.  It was here at the University of Rochester...

 
There are several signs that will indicate to parents that their child needs a tutor, says Edward Gordon, a tutoring consultant for the federal and state governments and author of “Tutor Quest.”
According to Gordon, parents spend approximately $8 billion a year on tutors. He said the federal government will spend about $1 billion to pay for tutors due to the “No Child Left Behind” Act that was passed by Congress in January of 2002.
Under this legislation, children who attend schools that do not meet new government standards and are determined to be “failing” schools for two consecutive years will have the option to transfer to better schools and receive tutoring.
Here are some signs to find out whether your child needs a tutor:

Continued failing grades in school.
Child is constantly making excuses as to why he or she is not doing homework. The student is unhappy in school or having problems in general that you are aware of.
The teacher sends notes home to you and you have to go to school because there is disruptive behavior, a pattern that goes on for at least a full school year.”The typical pattern is the child gets a bad report card in the first semester and the second semester they get a second bad report card. In February through May, that’s when the parents typically take action and get a tutor because they don ‘t want the child to go to summer school or to repeat a grade,” Gordon says.

Gordon says there is no such thing as a lazy child. “That is a symptom. It’s a question of motivation or...

TEACHING TECHNIQUE---STOP THE TAPE
Early in my teaching career there was only 16mm film. The Memphis City Schools Board of Education published a film catalog listing hundreds of film available for teachers to show in their classrooms. The usual procedure for the teachers that worked in the school with me was to order a film, get a student to put it on and monitor it and then go to the teacher’s lounge.Of course no teacher does that today. (hopefully not)When I order a film I would always stop the projector and exclaim, “Did you see that!”I would then rewind the projector (a formidable task at the time) and show that portion of the film again. It was something that I really wanted them to internalize.
ACTION STEP 1: Never show a DVD or VHS all the way through. Stop the tape; emphasize the concepts that are important. That makes an additional step desirable.
ACTION STEP...

Teaching Technique-What did you learn in school today?
There was a time Parents would ask their student offspring, “What did you learn in school today”.Do you know what the reply was then? Do you know what the reply would be today?You got it; the reply would be “Nothing”
TEACHERS, that’s our fault.We are involved in the lecture method of teaching. It’s the least effective technique. That’s just one problem. But we won’t focus on problems.Here is the solution.This is the...

Anya Kamenetz has a great new article in Fast Company, "Who Needs Harvard?", where she argues many of the same points in my recent post on Free Education: "Free online courses, Wiki universities, Facebook-style tutoring networks--American higher education is being transformed by a cadre of Web-savvy edupunks." There are hundreds if not thousands of digital education models in the ether, and she highlights some of the best: 2tor Inc., eduFire, Grockit, Inigral, and Knewton. I particularly love recent Yale graduate Richard Ludlow's newest creation, Academic Earth. Inspired by MIT's Open Courseware and Hulu's innovate web-based TV design, this site brings together video lectures and other academic content, creating a free, online "educational ecosystem." Other open courseware models, such as Peer2Peer and Western Governors University, allow students to share information online and even receive a fully-accredited degree from their laptop. Kamenetz concludes, "we've gone from scarcity of knowledge to unimaginable abundance." And in Chris Anderson's Free model, once something (ie. information, content) becomes abundant, it become "too cheap to meter."However, Kamenetz omits one glaring hole in these new models, relationships,...

As most parents know nowadays, it is more important than ever for their kids to do well in school. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has made the Standard of Learning (SOL) tests more important than ever by local school systems. Harder competition to get into a reputable college has added pressure to high school students to earn good grades and standardized test scores such as for the SAT or ACT. Additionally, most national universities now consider advanced level courses taken more seriously. 
Each of these factors has caused most parents to be more concerned than ever with how their children are performing academically. These factors coupled with a tougher job market often make parents feel it’s necessary for them to help ensure their children a secure future.
As the upcoming school year approaches a lot of parents ask themselves, “How can I help my child improve his or her grades and test scores? “ There are...

One of the reasons we started our in-home tutoring service back in 2004 was that we noticed there were TONS of listings in Craigslist for tutors but there was really no way for parents to screen out who was qualified and to make sure their...

Children are more motivated to read when they have books on topics that interest them; multisensory activities are also useful for egaging the interest of young kids.  But how does one find teaching supplies and books in a variety of subjects at a variety of levels -- without busting their own budget?
The above picture shows Twice Sold Tales, one of many stores that sell used literature for children and adults. 
Another favorite is Half Price Books.  In addition to books, they sell children's games, software, and activity kits.  Much of what they sell is actually new, but overstocked or outdated.  I particularly like the children's clearance car...

         I have had the joy and luck of experiencing the Solutions to Environmental Problems (STEP) course at Loyola University Chicago through three lenses. I have been a student, an intern, and a member of the staff. The course’s approach to education rallies students and faculty alike, bringing together the perfect storm of learning, action, problem solving, and hope across the university spectrum. My experience with this unique, interdisciplinary, hands-on course has changed me from an aspiring journalist, to an action oriented environmentalist and an educator. Each challenge along the way has been an opportunity to learn and expand my horizons while searching for solutions to environmental problems.
            The Solutions to Environmental Problems interdisciplinary course successfully draws students from a variety of studies. The STEP course allows students the opportunity to design and implement their own research based on their interests. The fact that this course offers students freedom in their studies, and real outcomes from their effort peaks students’ interest in this course. When I was a student far too many of my collegiate outputs were papers with pre-planned outputs. I jumped at the opportunity to put my efforts into anything above and beyond just another paper. Once engaged in the course one inevitably makes connections with the other students, STEP faculty, and the university’s administration. Students make meaningful connections with one another because they took, survived, and thrived off of the STEP model of education.
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