I know this is year's late in the time of the blogosphere, but thanks for the kind words. If ever you'd like to speak more on this issue, please let me know.
Just browsing the internet. You have a very, very interesting blog.
Hey, Jenny!
I don't know if you'll be picking this up, but if you do, just stopping by to say hello.
Best of luck in your new beginnings.You're the best and I know you'll continue taking the world, and especially the educational system, by storm!
Thinking of you especially since my daugher announced she is naming her daughter-to-be (one of twins) Anna.
If you ever come up for air, feel free to drop me an e-mail. LRMarsh@aol.com
A blast from the NJM past--
Lea Bayers Rapp
www.LeaBayersRapp.com
Maybe you could do a little public school substitute teaching before beginning your career in academia.
You'll get to know how it feels to stand in front of a bunch of kids.
To understand teaching and learning in Today's public schools, there's no substitute (sorry for the pun) for actual classroom teaching experience.
Substitute teaching credentials are usually relatively easy to get.
Walk a mile or two in our shoes and you will broaden and deepen your own understanding of the teaching profession and the everyday challenges faced by our public school students and the teachers who serve them.
Consider it.
Good luck with every thing!
Jenny,
Here is a plan that will truly assist teachers at doing the amazing and difficult job that they have chosen.
Bringing Education to the 21st Century
A change in education must take place. The Reality Works Company (RWC) has designed an online program that teaches children how to think and learn in the real world and also within the classroom. The program is intended to reach children from non-challenged to challenged, ELL to non ELL and more. All student performance is collected and provides immediate feedback to the teacher and student, offering motivation for learning new and more complex skills while also providing confidence in what they already know. The program targets the early years in which a child’s brain develops most dramatically and creates a strong foundation for the student’s future educational development. The real world curricula that is offered in the computer program was designed around 3 – 5 year old children; however they have also found notable gains with students up to the age of 12.
The goals are as follows:
• Launching a state wide or a selected county program to improve the student’s school readiness with knowledge and to begin bridging the digital divide while inspiring a personal value for technology and the lifelong process of learning.
• The program should eventually be utilized within communities and classrooms nationwide.
• To bring back the responsibility of the parent to better prepare their children for the classroom.
• We will bridge the current gap between pre-school and elementary schools.
• To develop cognitive thinking and to create the fundamental elements of reading and math while introducing children to computer technology.
• There is a great value in multimedia, internet delivered curricula and we believe that this form of delivery will become the standard in preschool and elementary education.
The proposal is a pilot program involving 4 year olds and elementary schools in order for them to be prepared for kindergarten. Children could access programs from day care, home, school, church, community center etc.
How we begin: (Pre-school)
• Launch a state wide or a county wide pilot program for all 4 year old children within a given county or area using the program provided by RWC called BeSchoolReady (BSR.)
• All families register their child by the county they reside in or school district. A list of locations within their community that provide the program will be given.
• The student performance data for registered children will be available to the pre-school provider and each school district involved so that they know exactly what learning level their new attending students are at.
• Funding Structure is to be determined
How we begin: (Elementary Schools)
• All Elementary Schools in the chosen state or county will register with the program provided by RWC called Knowledge First (KF.)
• Any new kindergarten student registered with BSR will use KF within the school. The activities offered in both of the programs are the same. The student will start right where they left off within the program once they enter Kindergarten.
• Teachers, Principals, and the district will have access to all of their registered student’s quantifiable data.
• Funding Structure is to be determined
The program is currently being used in 5 schools within a School district in Washington State. They are in the process of developing a community outreach program that’s similar to the proposed state wide/county pilot but on a much smaller scale. The Lynwood School District in California has taken on the program in 9 out of their 12 schools. Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (CA.) is currently using the program with 500 of their pre-school students. The program has found significant success in California. Three years ago, Rosa Parks Elementary (Lynwood District) raised their state test scores by 2 points (Academic Performance Index points.) In 2006, the only change in their curricula was adding the computer based, cognitive learning program and since then their test scores raised 114 points. This was the highest raise in test scores within 5,661 schools that offer k-5/6 in California.
They currently serve 10,000 children within WA and CA.
In conclusion, it’s very important that the parents get involved and start preparing their children for life readiness and school. This would be a very efficient and quantifiable way to build a statewide structure for preschool. As well as helping students in school develop real world skills and abilities. There would be many other details to work out involving the state wide pilot program with BeSchoolReady and launching Knowledge First within the elementary schools but it can be done if we put well meaning minds together.
Hi Jenny,
I’m writing to share our latest online tool, ZipRoad.org. ZipRoad (www.ziproad.org) is One Economy Corporation's innovative education tool that helps parents, students and caregivers find education-related resources in their communities.
By simply entering one’s zip code, users are quickly on the path to finding information about schools, as well as quality and affordable after school tutoring, homework assistance, and other learning programs in their neighborhoods. Users are able to comment, rate, and review these services, thereby sharing their own experiences and expertise with the public. ZipRoad is available in English as well as Spanish, and caters to parents, caregivers, and students of all literacy levels.
ZipRoad’s unique features make researching education programs easy, it features;
• A searchable database of schools and after school, summer, tutoring, and college programs.
• Resources which are submitted and updated by users.
• The ability of users to rate, review, and comment on programs and services in their communities.
• Personalized accounts that allow parents to create a list of programs of their interest
Please take a look at this groundbreaking website, as it offers many helpful resources for its users. To help maximize exposure to the site, you could even provide a link to ZipRoad on your Jenny D. blog.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments.
Thanks!
Kyle Collins
Web Content Intern
One Economy Corporation, San Francisco, CA
So did you get one of the jobs you interviewed for?
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