Translating Calorie Counts into Exercise Equivalents Leads to Healthier Choices By mid-2012, coffee shops and burger joints across the country will be required to prominently display nutritional information about their food products. Many of the larger franchises are already doing this. But does knowing the number of calories in a caramel latte make you more likely to choose a fat-free coffee?
How to Create Great Summer Reading Experiences I know many of us educators (and those at home) have been working hard all year to try to cultivate or protect a love of reading in our learners. Now with warmer temperatures and summer beckoning for the Northern Hemisphere comes the real test; will kids keep reading over the summer? Is what we did enough? Did we lay enough of a foundation, get them excited, get them hooked so that the next few weeks or months will not put them in a reading drought? While time will truly be the judge of how the work might pay off, here are a few ideas that may help depending on the age of the learner.
Reading Engagement for Tweens and Teens: What Would Make Them Read More? When I was still in high school, I began my first teaching job, tutoring the sister of a friend in English. I was very pleased about this turn of events, as my pink-and purple-colored hair and other notable eccentricities in my appearance were not really socially acceptable at that time, so it would have been hard for me to obtain and retain a regular casual job involving interaction with other people. I quickly picked up additional students, and before I knew it, I found myself a teacher, pretty much by accident. As part of my strategy, while I worked closely with my students to improve their structural and grammatical skills using targeted instruction tailored to meet their individual needs, I quickly found that the most rapid and consistent improvement could be achieved when I managed to get my clients hooked on reading. I thought about the multiple facets involved in "getting them reading."
Is it time to change New Zealand's "white, middle-class" approach to reading? New Zealand education has long held an international reputation for excellence, so why are many of our young readers struggling? According to researchers, the literacy programmes in most New Zealand schools are decades out of date – and largely irrelevant to today’s learners. They are racist and classist, and our teachers are poorly trained for literacy instruction. Professor James Chapman, Professor of Educational Psychology at Massey University, says the New Zealand education system is disabled by “white, middle-class assumptions” about learners.
The Daily Show tests if a "good guy with a gun" can stop a mass shooting It has been said millions of times after a mass shooting: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. On Thursday, The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper put the theory to the test. He trained on the basics of using a firearm and got a concealed carry permit that's valid in 30 states. Then he participated in mass shooting simulations to see how, exactly, he would hold up in such a scenario. There Are Two Ways to Read - One Is Useless Reading is telepathy, and a book is the most powerful technology invented. Homer, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Woolf, Hemingway — these are names without a living body. We can’t talk to them, nor touch them, but their thoughts are immortalized through the written word. Aristotle’s logic, Kepler’s astronomy, Newton’s physics, Darwin’s biology, Wittgenstein's philosophy — these are memes without living originators. They no longer champion their ideas, and yet, we still talk about them.
Promotion of a Reading Culture – Building Connections Image by StockSnap from Pixabay Many of us can fondly recall reading for pleasure in our childhoods. I can remember being excited and looking forward to silent reading time in the classroom. However, recent studies have found a decline in the number of students reading for pleasure. With reading for pleasure linked to many academic benefits and overall achievement, a focus on promoting a reading culture in schools is more important than ever before. The more teachers expect, the bigger the gains MAY 9, 2017 Updated MAY 15, 2017 Futurelearning If we are to create an equitable education system that enables all students to flourish, we need teachers who have high expectations, writes Christine Rubie-Davies The underlying tenet of our education system is that an equitable education enables all those who are prepared to work hard to achieve at high levels.
Abigail Fisher, Please Stop Blaming People of Color for Your Mediocrity by Kwanzaa Imani Last week, Abigail Fisher’s case against The University of Texas at Austin gained media attention when she announced that she would once again be taking it before the Supreme Court. In 2008, Fisher filed a discrimination suit against the school, making the claim that they had denied her admission while accepting less qualified students of color because affirmative action laws gave them an unfair advantage due to their race. Further inspection, however, revealed that Fisher simply wasn’t a competitive enough student to qualify for a spot. UT Austin’s Top Ten Percent Plan accounts for 92 percent of its admissions, with the plan guaranteeing Texas high school seniors within the top ten percent of their graduating class admission to the university. Thus, spots for the remaining 8 percent are extremely competitive.