In 2004, Carolina Izquierdo, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, spent several months with the Matsigenka, a tribe of about twelve thousand people who live in the Peruvian Amazon. The Matsigenka hunt for monkeys and parrots, grow yucca and bananas, and build houses that they roof with the leaves of a particular kind of palm tree, known as a kapashi. At one point, Izquierdo decided to accompany a local family on a leaf-gathering expedition down the Urubamba River.
A member of another family, Yanira, asked if she could come along. Izquierdo and the others spent five days on the river. Although Yanira had no clear role in the group, she quickly found ways to make herself useful. Twice a day, she swept the sand off the sleeping mats, and she helped stack the kapashi leaves for transport back to the village. In the evening, she fished for crustaceans, which she cleaned, boiled, and served to the others. Calm and self-possessed, Yanira “asked for nothing,” Izquierdo later recalled. The girl’s behavior made a strong impression on the anthropologist because at the time of the trip Yanira was just six years old.Sunday, August 26, 2012
New Literacies
Can you believe that summer is almost over and it's back to school. No doubt the students will return to school all brain dead and laid back. As teachers, parents, and school administration what will done differently this school year,and what were the lessons learnt? It is quite obvious that there are many literacies socially out there that has entered the learning process. How will educators use the wealth of social information that students bring into the classroom? Whether we want to accept it or not schools will have to adopt new learning strategies to keep students engaged in class activities.
The average student from the Elementary level up is quite advanced when it comes to technology, yet quite brain dead when it comes to writing a simple story.Therefore the time has come for teachers to become creative and find ways to incorporate social literacies as part of their lessons if they do not want to lose the students's attention.
The question is how much of social media to use and how to use it. Extensive research and planning will need to be done in executing lessons. It is all very easy to get carried away with the amount of technology available to us, but it's very important not to get carried away with the technology but rather to keep the focus on the content of the lesson.
Educators let's clean the slate and start the new school year fresh, yet prepared. Do your homework,listen carefully to your students, and utilize the information you glean from them. Find out what's happening out there in the world of technology and create discussions and your classes around it. Believe me you will grab your student's attention and hopefully they will want to participate more. I think it's worth a try. This generation learns in a whole different way and we must find what makes them tick.
Have a productive year.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Generation of dependents
Someone sent me the following artcle,which clearly outline the problems that we are facing with this generation is the result of poor parenting which continues to get worse through out this century.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Thoughts on Literacy
" What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters in comparison to what's in us'
' The mind is a terrble thing to waste'
Walder Emerson
Monday, May 21, 2012
Literacy and Numeracy gaps widens
As I have been saying in this blog, it is a great concern of mine that our students seem to lack the basic reading,writing and math skills as we move into this global age. While students may be well verse on the computer,they cannot write,comprehend or do basic math.I see students at the elementary level who are quite ill prepared at grades 4 up. We are going to have a problem in later years to come.
The article below confirms exactly what I have been saying. Students are now showing up in college lacking basic writing,reading and math skills. If the leaders in our education system do not take heed of this problem we are going to have serious repercussion. This is quite bad for a first world country. It is time that the minister of education and the school boards stop the denial about education.
It is not about having special programs or white chalk boards. It is about teaching and being firm with parents. Parents need to allow teachers to do their jobs. Teachers in Ontario are not teaching grammar and time tables because some parents do not want it. This is rediculous,those parents should then home school their children.
Ontario Teacher's college also need to come clean and discuss the problems facing our teachers and the school system.
Comments on this story
(67)
EDUCATION REPORTER
Thousands of first-year students at Ontario community colleges are taking catch-up courses in basic math skills — fractions, decimals, percentages — that they should have learned in grades 6, 7 and 8, according to an alarming new study.
The findings raise questions about the quality of math instruction in Ontario and reflect a broader public indifference to math that could be hampering economic growth and blocking students from lucrative careers, warn the authors of the College Mathematics Project, a joint study by York University and Seneca College of 35,000 students who take math in first-year college.
The report calls on Queen’s Park to consider a mandatory Grade 10 numeracy test like the Grade 10 literacy test, and even have student teachers write the test if they wish to teach math.
“We’re expressing concern that 8,300 students are taking preparatory and foundational math in first-year college, but the vast majority cover concepts introduced in grades 6, 7 and 8,” said co-author Graham Orpwood, professor emeritus of math at York University who has been involved with the seven-year study sponsored by the province.
A growing number of community colleges — including most in the GTA — offer catch-up courses for first-year students who are weak in math but need it for their field. Others offer broad first-year “foundation” programs such as pre-business and pre-technology that include math review.
When researchers looked to see which elements of grades 11 and 12 math these courses covered, they were startled to find concepts from back in grade school. Yet these college students have graduated from high school with at least three math credits.
How can that add up?
“Interesting question — but remember, you can get a credit with a mark of 50 per cent, and maybe these students are strong enough in areas such as geometry to balance out their weakness in arithmetic,” Orpwood suggested.
“To be fair, not all students in the foundation programs are weak in math, but the number of students who need the preparatory programs is growing and that’s a concern,” noted co-author Laurel Schollen, Seneca College’s associate vice-president academic, educational excellence.
Education Minister Laurel Broten was not available Friday to comment on the study, but noted Ontario’s Grade 8 students outperform the Canadian average in math, reading and science and Ontario students have seen scores climb in province-wide math tests.
Still, when the college study examined 19 pre-technology foundation programs and 11 in pre-business, it found every one reviewed the “order of operations” for algebra first taught in Grade 6 (the memory trick is BEDMAS do what’s in brackets first, then exponents, then division, multiplication, addition and subtraction).
Moreover, all pre-business courses reviewed fractions, 91 per cent covered decimals and 82 per cent covered percentages.
The article below confirms exactly what I have been saying. Students are now showing up in college lacking basic writing,reading and math skills. If the leaders in our education system do not take heed of this problem we are going to have serious repercussion. This is quite bad for a first world country. It is time that the minister of education and the school boards stop the denial about education.
It is not about having special programs or white chalk boards. It is about teaching and being firm with parents. Parents need to allow teachers to do their jobs. Teachers in Ontario are not teaching grammar and time tables because some parents do not want it. This is rediculous,those parents should then home school their children.
Ontario Teacher's college also need to come clean and discuss the problems facing our teachers and the school system.
Growing number of Ontario college students need help in grade school math, study finds
May 19, 2012Comments on this story
(67) EDUCATION REPORTER
Did you know? On parentcentral.ca you can check out EQAO test results for your child's school
Click now to search
Click now to search
Thousands of first-year students at Ontario community colleges are taking catch-up courses in basic math skills — fractions, decimals, percentages — that they should have learned in grades 6, 7 and 8, according to an alarming new study.
The findings raise questions about the quality of math instruction in Ontario and reflect a broader public indifference to math that could be hampering economic growth and blocking students from lucrative careers, warn the authors of the College Mathematics Project, a joint study by York University and Seneca College of 35,000 students who take math in first-year college.
The report calls on Queen’s Park to consider a mandatory Grade 10 numeracy test like the Grade 10 literacy test, and even have student teachers write the test if they wish to teach math.
“We’re expressing concern that 8,300 students are taking preparatory and foundational math in first-year college, but the vast majority cover concepts introduced in grades 6, 7 and 8,” said co-author Graham Orpwood, professor emeritus of math at York University who has been involved with the seven-year study sponsored by the province.
A growing number of community colleges — including most in the GTA — offer catch-up courses for first-year students who are weak in math but need it for their field. Others offer broad first-year “foundation” programs such as pre-business and pre-technology that include math review.
When researchers looked to see which elements of grades 11 and 12 math these courses covered, they were startled to find concepts from back in grade school. Yet these college students have graduated from high school with at least three math credits.
How can that add up?
“Interesting question — but remember, you can get a credit with a mark of 50 per cent, and maybe these students are strong enough in areas such as geometry to balance out their weakness in arithmetic,” Orpwood suggested.
“To be fair, not all students in the foundation programs are weak in math, but the number of students who need the preparatory programs is growing and that’s a concern,” noted co-author Laurel Schollen, Seneca College’s associate vice-president academic, educational excellence.
Education Minister Laurel Broten was not available Friday to comment on the study, but noted Ontario’s Grade 8 students outperform the Canadian average in math, reading and science and Ontario students have seen scores climb in province-wide math tests.
Still, when the college study examined 19 pre-technology foundation programs and 11 in pre-business, it found every one reviewed the “order of operations” for algebra first taught in Grade 6 (the memory trick is BEDMAS do what’s in brackets first, then exponents, then division, multiplication, addition and subtraction).
Moreover, all pre-business courses reviewed fractions, 91 per cent covered decimals and 82 per cent covered percentages.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day
Mother's Day is one of the most celebrated days of the year for merchants and retailers,however any true mother will tell you that it doesn't take one day to be a mother. Being a mother is every day and thus should be celebrated all year round. Therefore just as I believe with Valentine or Christmas. we do not need for a specific day to let our moms know how much we truly love and appreciate the sacrifices they have made for us.
Try not to go out and buy sense less gifts that mom may never look on or give a second glance at,instead spend some quality time with mom if she is still in your life. Happy Mother's Day to all moms not just those who have given birth, but also to the many women who have dedicate their lives to nurturing others.
I took the following pictures from Yasmin's blog Poet's of the Caribbean at a reading of her poem written by her at a school. I agree with yasmin that parents are soldiers. I say to all moms,keep the fight going.
Try not to go out and buy sense less gifts that mom may never look on or give a second glance at,instead spend some quality time with mom if she is still in your life. Happy Mother's Day to all moms not just those who have given birth, but also to the many women who have dedicate their lives to nurturing others.
I took the following pictures from Yasmin's blog Poet's of the Caribbean at a reading of her poem written by her at a school. I agree with yasmin that parents are soldiers. I say to all moms,keep the fight going.
Poetry Reading from Mommy and Daddy Are Soldiers
It was a pleasure for me to read to 3rd and 4th graders last week at Judith Resnik Elementary, from my book, Mommy and Daddy are Soldiers.
The children asked lots of interesting questions about poems, the poetry writing process, and my book. They also had very thoughtful comments on some of the poems. I had a lot of fun and was thrilled about their enthusiasm for poetry. It was a fitting end to poetry month. Great kids!!
The children asked lots of interesting questions about poems, the poetry writing process, and my book. They also had very thoughtful comments on some of the poems. I had a lot of fun and was thrilled about their enthusiasm for poetry. It was a fitting end to poetry month. Great kids!!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
To Be or Not To Be
While preparing a poetry critique essay for a group of grade ten students. I came across Robert Frost's poem, The path not taken. It sent me down memory lane of fond memories of school and my high school teacher. I loved Language and learning poetry. I think to myself how much life has changed. Students now all think,poetry is such a waste of time.
Better yet I am happy for the path I have chosen.How many of us regret the career or the relationship we chose.This poem is very deep and depicts many lessons in life. It is difference in today's fast pace world in trying to get students to make the connections in all their subject areas. Math is more than just numbers,Science is not just about formulaes,Literature and novel study always,always have many deep life lessons that will remain with you through out life.
Think about the impression imprinted in our minds of Animal Farm,Lord of the Flies,Shakespeare... Let's keep encouraging our children on which path not to take for in this advance world,there are quite many paths.
Less you forget,I present Robert Frost: The Path Not Taken;
Better yet I am happy for the path I have chosen.How many of us regret the career or the relationship we chose.This poem is very deep and depicts many lessons in life. It is difference in today's fast pace world in trying to get students to make the connections in all their subject areas. Math is more than just numbers,Science is not just about formulaes,Literature and novel study always,always have many deep life lessons that will remain with you through out life.
Think about the impression imprinted in our minds of Animal Farm,Lord of the Flies,Shakespeare... Let's keep encouraging our children on which path not to take for in this advance world,there are quite many paths.
Less you forget,I present Robert Frost: The Path Not Taken;
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
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