As a child of the mid-nineties, I have had the joy of experiencing both the “old” and “new” sides of technology. In elementary school, I would store school assignments on floppy disks; in middle school, I made the transition to flash drives; and in high school, I started using cloud storage. I have lived the experience of wandering around my school’s library searching, [...]
Though we rely on computer code nearly every hour of every day, many of us take programming for granted, thinking that since we’re computer literate and can use software, that’s all we need to know about it. But those working behind the scenes are the ones making our computer literacy possible, and there is a growing need for them in our technologically advanced [...]
Is America’s school system equipped to appropriately challenge both native English speakers and English language learners (ELLs) alike? Statistics on United States student enrollment indicate that, in the 2011–12 school year, the number of ELLs in the public school system made up 9.1 percent of total students. Likewise, the number of ELLs grew by 53.2 percent from 1997–2008 [PDF link]. Furthermore, it is nationally projected that [...]
When I was in high school, the science club was like a dusty old chalkboard, largely forgotten and barely acknowledged, even by department faculty. And while writing lab reports and conducting investigations were enjoyable, it didn’t occur to me that I could have been performing experiments after school. But for others, this idea has occurred. The award-winning Science Club for Girls (SCFG) takes extracurricular activities to a [...]
Within the vast public school system in Philadelphia, an alternative kind of education rears its tiny head. This atypical school rebuilds the educational framework—literally. At the Workshop School, students are self-driven, becoming their own inspiration to achieve their goals through their own innovation. Taking on projects ranging from electric car design to soundproof recording studios; the Workshop School allows students to delve into the hands-on [...]
Within the vast public school system in Philadelphia, an alternative kind of education rears its tiny head. This atypical school rebuilds the educational framework—literally. At the Workshop School, students are self-driven, becoming their own inspiration to achieve their goals through their own innovation. Taking on projects ranging from electric car design to soundproof recording studios; the Workshop School allows students to delve into the [...]
In 1877, two professors at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg, published a book entitled, Higher Lessons in English, wherein they offered an altogether new way of teaching students how to structure sentences. Termed sentence diagramming, this technique used a particular graphic layout to demonstrate the relationships between the various parts of speech. By configuring the individual parts of sentences in this visual [...]
Much of the rhetoric concerning the present state of America’s education system revolves around the need to create new assessments, new standards and new methodologies. But what if progress lies somewhere in our past? An interesting model of personalized learning—reminiscent of the old-time one-room schoolhouses—is just now emerging and beginning to gain some traction. Dubbed the “micro-school,” this divergent educational format breaks with [...]
Let’s face it. The typical high-school poetry experience is usually not the most inspiring or transformative. Toiling over iambic pentameter, archaic vocabulary and the subtlest of metaphors can strike many students as somewhat pointless and irrelevant beyond their obligatory English courses. In Florida, however, a poetry program run by Tigertail Productions called WordSpeak is offering an alternative poetic experience for 1,000 South Floridian teenagers. Each [...]
There is a rather confounding dynamic currently at play when it comes to our country’s views on education. Popular opinion would categorize our colleges and universities as top-tier institutions. In contrast, however, for many years now, the condition of the United States’ K‐12 system has preoccupied many as a pressing and disconcerting issue. So are we donning rose-colored glasses when we turn our [...]