Strollerderby : elementary school

Meet The Robot Teacher

Brett Singer — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Some kids may joke that their teachers are so weird, they must be from another planet.

For some elementary school kids in Japan, they wouldn't be too far off.

Saya is a robot and she/it is teaching this elementary school class.

Here's a really creepy video of the... thing in action:

(For a less jokey take on the story, check out this video from MSNBC.)

Here's the thing. I get that technology can make our lives easier. (Freudian slip: I typed "teachnology" my mistake, which I thought wasn't a word but I guess it is, at least according to Google.) But teachers shouldn't be robots. Or is that robots shouldn't be teachers? Certain jobs would be okay I suppose, although in an economy like this one, any job taken away from humans seems like a bad thing. But teachers? Really? Doesn't that imply that the job is nothing more than a glorified baby sitter?

According to the embedded video, which is a bit cheeky, the purpose of the TeachBot 9000 (my name, not theirs) is to "get kids excited about technology." The MSNBC clip says that Saya started out "her life" as a "robot receptionist" and that she/it "isn't meant to take jobs away from real teachers, but could fill in in a pinch for understaffed schools." They say that she 'bot has the kids "undivided attention." Frankly, I think they look a little scared.

Would you want your children to be taught -- or whatever that thing is doing -- by a robot?

Source: Gizmodo via Telegraph, MSNBC

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Third Grader Expelled Because He Made A Hit List

Brett Singer — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

A third grader at a Hamilton, Ohio private school was expelled because of a "hit list" that was found in his desk. The list contained the names of a teacher and several students that he said he wanted to kill.

Michael Mayo, the principal of the Immanuel Lutheran School, said that he did not believe the boy was actually going to harm anyone, but he felt that he had to take action anyway. (Maybe he could go to that Texas school where they had cage fighting. OK, that's a bad idea.)

This quote bothered me a little bit: "But this sort of thing in this day and age, you just can’t do that. It will never be acceptable." Does that mean it used to be acceptable? I know that's not what it means, but I hate it when things are blamed on "the times we live in."

Without knowing the circumstances it's hard to comment. The report says that the child had "received counselling in the past" which implies that this may not have been an isolated incident. On the other hand, it is possible to overreacted to this sort of thing when it's done by a kid this young.

When I was in 8th grade, I was rehearsing a production of "Bye-Bye Birdie" at my local Y. On the back of my script, I wrote a parody of the song "Kids" in which I made obnoxious comments about the director, an older woman with whom I frequently disagreed about certain artistic matters. OK, I'll admit -- I was an obnoxious 12-year-old. I left my script at rehearsal one day (because I couldn't be bothered to take it home and learn my lines), and the following week I was called into the administrator's office and asked if I intended to do harm to the director. I was told that she had been carrying a pair of scissors in her purse for protection since finding my little ditty. I told them that no, I had no intention of doing anything other than act like a jerk. I continued to do so and never made it to the performance (I wasn't kicked out, I just stopped going to rehearsals).

While I can't remember my song (although I'm certain it contained Mel Brooks-level hilarity) I do know that I didn't make any physical threats in it. Again, I was just being a jerky kid.

I'm not saying that this kid doesn't need counselling, but I guess I'm more inclined to be sympathetic to him than the school was. If he needs help, let's hope he gets it. If not, well, maybe he'll find a school to go to that doesn't make him want to kill everyone.

Source: Ohio Share via ParentDish

Image: sxc

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Photo - Obama Shocked by Schoolkids

Brett Singer — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:11:00 GMT

What is the President doing in this photo? Listening to Sasha and Malia's ideas for dog names? Hearing Republican ideas for his stimulus package? Hearing Sasha and Malia's ideas for the stimulus package? Nope. Read on.

The President was surprised by a question from a student during a recent school visit. (Call "shock and awwww.") I imagine that he's just playing around with the kids. At least I hope so. If not, can you imagine what the question would have been?

I know this is unfair, but our current President looks less goofy when he's playing around then George W. Bush did (and does). Then again, he also appears to be less goofy than Dubya. So there's that.

Maybe they should just have Dubya do all the school visits from now on, and let President Obama just, like, work. Bush seems to enjoy it, and he's got time now.

Source

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George W. Bush Visits Texas Elementary School

Brett Singer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:15:00 GMT

This is the age of bipartisanship. So…well…read this.

The former President and his wife Laura dropped by John J. Pershing Elementary School in Dallas. Apparently it really was a "hi, how y'all doing?" type of visit. The former First couple was there for over an hour. It was open house day, according to Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News.

Here are some highlights:

The Bushes were scheduled to visit three classes, but they ended up popping in on any room with an audience.
Ducking in one room, Bush asked, "Hey kids, do you know who I am?"
Gasps all around, and then someone blurted, "George Washington!"
"That's right!" the visitor said. "George Washington Bush!"

Then:

A little later, at an ESL class, Bush tried introducing himself in Spanish. Only it was a little too West Texas for the Spanish speakers. He tried again. Blank looks. Even held up three fingers. You know, a 'W." Still nothing.
Finally, Pershing's innovative, energetic principal, Margie Hernandez, stepped in with a Spanish introduction.
Ohhhhhhh.
The kids laughed at the confusion. The former president laughed. The principal laughed, out of relief, mostly.

Now, these examples are goofy, which is something that the former President was known for during his eight years in office. (Among other things, of course.) Later in the article, he shows off a different side of himself. One of the kids asked him:

"Why did you come here?"
Bush told the kids he came because he saw signs that welcomed him, and it made him feel good, and he wanted to say thanks. He then made some general observations, none more poignant than the first.
"You can be president," he said. "Can you believe that?"

I mean, look. It's not Barack Obama saying, "you can be president." But I think for the kids who were there to meet him, it was probably a special thing. Right?

Then he got a little goofy again. When asked if he would participate in the Dad's Club Haunted House, he answered with a grin and said, "I'd make a good ghost."

When I was in elementary school, I always thought it would be neat to have a President come and visit. I think it's sort of cool that GWB is still doing that. I mean, I don't agree with any of his major policies, but he was still the President. Heck, I wouldn't have minded meeting Gerald Ford.

See Congress? That's how bipartisanship works. Give me a call, we'll talk.

Source/Image

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Parents Sue School for Checking for Sex Offenders

JeanneSager — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:06:00 GMT

And the short-sighted parent of the year award goes to . . . two Texas parents who are suing their child's school because they're required to show their driver's license before being allowed access to a building full of children. The horrors, I know.

Yvonne and Larry Meadows say their rights are being violated by a program that compares would-be school visitors' driver's licenses to a database of registered sex offenders.

Yvonne says she's been told she'll be denied entrance to Bee Cave Elementary School unless she hands over her license. That, she said, puts her private information at risk. Besides, the Meadows' told the Austin American-Statesman they are guaranteed the freedom to associate with their children at school.

I'm kind of perplexed here. The school is a government agency, as is the department of motor vehicles - which provides the driver's license. Any information being picked up in the scans should already be in the system, which makes it hard to see how parents are suffering identity theft. Granted the school has contracted with a private company to do the checks, but several states contract with private companies to issue driver's licenses.

The license, by the way, isn't a guaranteed right. It's a privilege - which can be revoked. As is the so-called "right" to visit a school. At my daughter's pre-school, no one is allowed entrance unless they are recognized as a parent of one of the students or show some ID and a clear reason for being present. Even my in-laws had to present the teacher with identification to pick up their granddaughter. Hers is a private pre-school, but I'd like to think a public school would have a similar policy.

Public schools are the places where we send our children during the day, expecting them to return to us in the same shape in which they left. We put our trust in them to keep our kids safe, and protection from pedophiles ranks high on that list. I would think the Meadowses would prefer a little hassle at the door to having their child touched by a kiddie rapist (not a threat, merely an awful, disgusting fact of life). In the post-Columbine era, most schools have locked all but one entrance and placed someone there to monitor ingress and egress anyway. They reserve the right to turn anyone away. As a reporter, I quickly learned to bring both my press pass and driver's license with me to the doorway lest I be sent back to my car and end up late to my interview. At times, my ID has been taken for me to claim on the way out - the school's way of ensuring people check in before they leave, so they can tell who is in the building and when.

Is this any different? Would you feel violated if you were asked to provide ID or feel like your kids were a little safer?

Image: WRAL

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Barack Obama Elementary?

SunnyChanel — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:00:00 GMT

He hasn’t even taken over the oval office yet, but Barack Obama is already getting an honor that is usually reserved for past presidents not president-elects. Instead of opting for Lincoln, Washington or even Taft, a New York elementary school, previously known as Ludlum Elementary School in Long Island’s Hempstead Union Free School District, voted this week at a school board meeting to change the name to Barack Obama Elemenraty, according to the AP.

The school of 440 students is comprised of mostly black and Hispanic kids where, as school officials said, “Obama's victory is a source of great pride.”

Via: Salon/AP

Pass this bill or the kid gets it

Brett Singer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Do you ever wonder if public officials are escaped mental patients?

At a school board meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, board Chairman Joe White was lobbying for an environmental policy initiative. He then pointed to a 5-year-old in the crowd and said, "if adults don't protect her air and water 'then it matters not one iota; she will die at a young age.'" The girl, Kelly Vazquez, had, "asked board members to preserve the French immersion program at Oaklawn Elementary." (This is, as far as I can tell, a separate issue. At least I hope it is, since environmental awareness really shouldn't be limited to those who speak French.)

According to the Charlotte Observer, the family was "traumatized"; in fact, the mother was quoted as saying, "I didn't mind…It's something true. We need to think about the future of the kids."

Whatever you think of the worthiness of the proposal (which some at the meeting opposed because, according to the Observer, they feared it would add staff and costs and was unnecessary), what exactly is the purpose of picking a little girl out of the crowd and informing everyone that she is going to die young if some dopey proposal doesn't get passed? If this had happened in Manhattan – where I've seen people almost come to blows at a co-op board meeting discussing the building pet policy – those parents would have blown a gasket. Not that that's good either, but "your child will die if this doesn't go through" seems a tad melodramatic, don’t you think?

image (which is completely unrelated): flickr

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How Young is Too Young To Learn About Evil?

Amy Kuras — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:32:00 GMT

So, this isn’t going to be a funny post, y'allz, but I want to get the opinions of our readers on this one.

Where I live, we have a small, but very community minded, Jewish population. One of the things they’ve done is to create a well-regarded Holocaust museum and memorial center, the first freestanding such place in the country. Among other things, they run a speaker's bureau of Holocaust survivors who speak with school and community groups about their experiences. Connecting with children and young people, so that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten, is a huge part of their mission. That's also accomplished through school tours, which are mostly aimed at high school and middle school students.

But some people believe that more needs to be done to reach the youngest kids, those ages six to 10 years old. To that end, the museum plans a children's gallery aimed at that age group.

Hmm. I am just not sure what to think about this. On the one hand, I want to shield my kids from knowing about the true extent of human ugliness as long as I can. On the other, you can’t fight injustice and evil if you never go face to face with it, and maybe starting earlier is better. And my oldest is only three, so I have no idea how she'd handle it when she's twice this age.

What do you think? Is elementary age too young to learn about the Holocaust?

Happy Birthday kids. Have some carrots.

Brett Singer — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Despite what Adrienne pointed out about chubby kids having fewer cavities, a school principal in New Zealand isn't taking any chances.

Megan Bowden of the Oteha Valley primary school has issued a decree: no more cake. With a large number of kids having birthdays in September and October, every day was a birthday cake day, and that's just too damn much cake! The New Zealand Ministry of Education (ooo, sounds ominous, doesn't it?) has been trying to reduce the amount of sugary snacks being served at school, but they also issued a statement that, "schools did not need to monitor food brought in from outside." So they're probably cool with the cake.

As much as the principal's policy seems draconian, I have to admit that a part of me agrees with her. I'm far from a health nut, and Kelly is right when she tears into the London lunatic who criticized a heavyset beauty queen. But it does sometimes feel like kids are given a tremendous amount of junky food during the school day. I know of two elementary schools that have "sundaes on Friday" once a month at lunch, and I've seen lunch menus that offer waffles and bacon, with chocolate éclairs for dessert. According to the article, parents began to think that bringing a cake for the child's birthday was a school rule. Then there's the issue of allergies, which means checking the cake for nuts or another offending substance, and whoever brings in the cake might be expected to provide an alternative for any child who can't partake of the treat. Maybe it's not completely unreasonable to say hey, have your cake at home.

OK! The dog didn't eat my homework! Don't shoot!

Brett Singer — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Third grade teacher Jayne DeArmond has been de-armed (get it?). One of her students was looking for something in a drawer and found – wait for it – a handgun. It wasn't loaded, but there was ammo. The teacher was arrested and is now free on bail. School didn't stop for the day; the kids in her class were moved to a different room and parents were told at the end of the day.
"Hi honey, what happened at school today?"
"Nothing much. Oh wait. Someone found a handgun. Can we stop at McDonald's?"

For the gun nut perspective, read this piece in the Colorado Springs Gazette. The paper feels that the "nutty" parts of this story are the fact that the students were moved to another classroom (um, maybe it was worthwhile to search the rest of the room? Maybe there was a crossbow in the glue cabinet), not to mention this affront: school officials had the nerve to offer – offer, not require – counseling if anyone wanted it. "Instead of counseling, the school should give gun lessons. It should hold classes that tell children guns are abundant in society, they're dangerous, but mostly they do good." Oh sure, that makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of that?

The original story mentions that police believe the gun to be DeArmond's but they aren't certain. So we'll have to wait and see. For a video report from CNN.com, click here.

image: GorillaPostle

Teacher Says Obama is Bad Man

Jen Chaney — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:33:00 GMT

I didn't major in elementary education. But I do know the following three tenets of teaching kids:

1. Don't share personal political opinions with them.

2. Don't tell them that certain political leaders are "scary."

3. Don't say that those political leaders are "scary" because they are Muslim, especially if they are not Muslim.

Apparently a fifth grade teacher in Delaware did not get that memo. She came under fire recently for telling her class of 10-year-olds that she would not vote for Barack Obama because he is a Muslim and "is scary." Now, if the recent Rev. Wright/Obama flap has taught us anything, it's that the Senator from Illinois is Christian. But that aside, let's get two things straight. Muslims are not, as a rule, scary. Consequently, Obama isn't scary, unless being intelligent, articulate and charismatic is frightening. If that's the case, then someone should put him in the next "Saw" movie ASAP.

The teacher has apologized to a Muslim student and her mother, who originally filed a complaint about the incident. According to this story from Fox News, reports that Delaware's Human Relations Commission is investigating the matter are untrue.

Whether you buy into Obama's politics or not, surely most parents agree that this sort of language should never be used in a classroom setting. And the hate-filled rhetoric about believers of Islam has got to stop. Just look at the comments on the Delaware News Journal's story about this very subject, including the one that says, "He makes a big effort to hide the fact that he is Muslim and tries to say he's a Christian, but we all know the truth. No Muslim should ever be President."

Really. How can we expect to teach our children tolerance and respect for others when so many adults can't even screw their heads on straight?

Babble.com File Photo

Vice Principal Makes Kids Eat Off the Floor

Kelly Mills — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:28:00 GMT

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a tool for reporting on all these wretched teachers and school administrators when there's plenty of decent ones who don't make the news, but I find these stories strangely compelling. Maybe it's the sense of anxiety I have as a parent, sending off my kid and telling her to listen to other adults who I may or may not always agree with. And I can guarantee you I would not agree with anyone making my child eat off the floor as punishment, as one vice principal at a Philadelphia elementary school did.

Part of what makes this story particularly wretched is that it sounds like these kids were particularly vulnerable to the unfair treatment because they were ESL students, many from other countries, and in some cases the families were unaware of the punishment. The incident that prompted the vice principal to make an entire elementary school class eat their lunches off the cafeteria floor? One kid was changing the water cooler jug and it spilled. The good news is that the woman was put on administrative leave while the matter is investigated.

Caught On Tape: Teacher Calls Kids Stupid

Kelly Mills — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:32:00 GMT

It's been kind of a disturbing couple weeks in education news. What with teachers patting down students and coaches spiking drinks and schools suspending kids for hairstyles, it sort of makes you rethink the whole homeschool idea. And now in Houston, a pre-K teacher is under investigation for calling four- and five-year-olds "stupid" and telling them she could be mean to them. And in case you think the kids might be fabricating that one, this teacher was caught on tape.

Who set up the wire and the sting operation? One parent, worried about the stories she was hearing, hid a tape recorder in her daughter's backpack. The teacher was recorded using the insults, apparently irate because one student came into the classroom too slowly. Oh, and she was just suspended in December for a day when the principal found evidence she slapped a student. Call me crazy, but I'd kinda hope she wouldn't be returning to the class after the slapping incident. We can only hope the audio evidence makes a stronger case for that.

Mean Teachers Beget Slutty Kids

Madeline Holler — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:37:00 GMT

This might explain the whole Catholic schoolgirl thing. According to a recent study, there is a direct link between teacher verbal abuse and early onset of sexual intercourse.

Mother of God, those sharp-tongued Sisters of Mercy are causing more than bruised knuckles!

Canadian researchers were looking for a link between peer rejection and teacher verbal abuse when they came up with these findings. They tracked 312 grade-school kids, assessing them from Kindergarten through fourth grade for teacher verbal abuse, peer rejection and antisocial behavior. Then in the seventh grade, the same subjects were assessed for self-esteem and sexual activity.

What they found was, especially among girls, a direct link between the teacher verbal abuse and early onset of sexual intercourse. The verbal abuse is indirectly linked to delinquent behavior.

The article doesn’t say what the verbal abuse was exactly, nor did it say how frequently it was unleashed on those kids whose lives would be quite different in a matter of a few years. Were these kids repeatedly degraded in front of their peers or would a single incident drive them to promiscuity in middle school?

What do you think? Does your second-grader have a mean teacher? Did reading this just explain the first 20 years of your life?

Drunk in Kindergarten? New Research Says It's a Possibility

ChagHolland — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:15:00 GMT

I don't remember much about elementary school, probably because I was too busy trying to acclimate myself to four different schools in five years. But one thing I do remember is I never tasted alcohol until middle school. Today, I would be considered a late bloomer as a 2005 study showed that over thirteen percent of sixth graders had tasted alcohol in the previous year. These numbers are causing researchers to suggest that alcohol prevention discussions should begin in elementary school rather than waiting until the kids are teenagers.

Am I the only one who is shocked by these stats? There's no one you can blame for these numbers except the parents. While I'm sure some of the children surveyed received their alcohol from older siblings, most probably received the alcohol from their parents. The parents probably thought they were just "harmless sips," but when you're ten years old, is there really such a thing as a harmless sip of alcohol?

Next thing you know, elementary school kids will be bringing guns to school.

Oh wait. Never mind.

I Vote for Year-Round School

Karen Murphy — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:32:00 GMT

Tomorrow school bells will once again toll throughout the land.

At least, they will where I live. For lots of you, school started a couple of weeks ago, or maybe last week, and I'm only partially blind to the fact that hey! there are other countries out there! and it's a whole different season in some of them!

But back to the back-to-school. Major relief there, dude, because the summer, it is way too long. Too many repetitions of "I'm hungry" and "What can I dooooo?" have soured me on long summers.

And I am so not alone. 3000 schools across the U.S. have gone to a year-round schedule, and I applaud them. And there are actual real and semi-scientific reasons for it, too, the main one being this:

Kids who have shorter breaks from school, especially low-income kids, seem to retain more of what they learn.

True. I'd forget stuff too after 10-12 weeks of not doing it, and spending several weeks of each new school year reviewing the previous year's work seems like a waste of time. Many schools, then, are moving toward a non-traditional schedule with shorter summer breaks; the entire state of Hawaii has moved to such a thing, with only a seven-week summer break. Other schools have several month-long breaks through the year including one in the summer. The alternate schedule seems to work best in elementary grades, though, because there can be major balkage when you mess with things like football season or other sports in high school, not to mention summer jobs and college prep season.

I would totally embrace a modified year-round schedule with longer breaks through the year: my kids would stay engaged through the year, would have longer breaks mid-year to rest and refresh, and I would hear the whining about "What can I doooo?" much much less, and there'd be lots of opportunity through the year for breaks and vacations.

What about you? Could you give up the traditional long summer vacation for your kids and move to a year-round schedule?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0yer2dIp2s8rsgTjHW81jtBCvmA

PTA Numbers Are Dwindling

Melissa Summers — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:20:00 GMT

I went into this story prepared to make fun of the hyper involved parent I know. The ones who take on so much responsibility at school they don't have time for anything but school related activities. I was going to snarkily imply that sometimes it seems like the Uber Volunteers at school seem to be filling the void left when they're not in charge of child care for 24 hours a day anymore.

Then I read about these volunteers, like Chester Tuella who serves on local, county and national PTA posts even though his children are grown. Then I thought about the Science Alive assembly my kids couldn't stop talking about or the Hands On Museum presentation they raved about and how my PTA set that up and I felt a little guilty.

PTA membership is dwindling nationally, membership has hovered around 6 million for the past five years, from a peak of about 11 million in the 1950s. The PTA can't seem to drop it's image as a group of bake sale throwing mothers and with so many working parents, the opportunities for volunteering is scarce. In my circle, the PTA can't drop the stereotypical behavior of bored housewives with too much time on their hands. True story: An aquaintance told me a mother had called to volunteer for a book fair, but the other mothers didn't like her so they lied and told her the job was already taken.

The dwindling numbers are unfortunate because the group does great work to help schools offer extras lean school budgets can't provide. PTAs bring special programs to the school, like science assemblies and character building programs. PTAs also help organize fundraisers which help defray the cost of field trips and extracurricular programs.

Maybe I'll get involved.....next year when we're at a new school.