High School » Carol J. Carter

Will Khan Academy Replace the Traditional Classroom?

The flipped classroom model has begun to pick up speed in classrooms around the country, allowing students to watch lectures at home and teachers to spend more one-on-one time with students in the classroom as they complete work that would typically be done at home.

KhanÂ AcademyÂ is an open-source website that has attracted many followers, from teachers creating a curriculum that require students to watch aÂ KhanÂ AcademyÂ video to students looking for online help to complete their homework. Many experts in education believe the flipped classroom, with the help ofÂ KhanÂ Academy or websites like it, will change the traditional classroom for the 21st century student. However,Â KhanÂ AcademyÂ and the freedom that comes with learning behind a computer doesn’t come without its critics.

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Career Readiness Evaluated by a Test? The ACT Career Series

ACT Inc. just announced they are developing new assessments aimed at students between 3rd and 10th grade to test their college and career readiness skills. Many states are pushing for more students to leave school with the skills they need to succeed in college and career and ACT believes their new series, to be launched in 2014, will be the answer.

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Is Being “Special” a Responsibility?

Everyone is special.

That’s the message many students have learned over the last decade in supportive classrooms and home environments. That’s why for many a commencement speech that recently went viral was such a shock (and for some a breath of fresh air). Â In her article “Should We Stop Telling Our Kids That They’re Special?”Â Erika Christakis responded to the speaker who told the graduating class:Â “You’re not special, you are not exceptional.”
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The “Time Wasting Divide”: Digital Literacy Opens Opportunities for Low-Income Families

As more low-income families get access to devices and the digital divide closes, an unexpected side effect is left in its wake. The outcry for equal access to technology and Broadband is being answered, however, instructions for how, when, why to use technology aren’t included. This is causing a problem in low-income families — the families who are supposed to be helped by closing the digital divide — as the younger members use their new gadgets for entertainment, not as an educational resource.
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Innovative Summer Learning: K-12 Schools Partner with University

For kids, the long summer days pose many opportunities for having fun with friends, relaxing, and watching TV. Unwinding from the stresses of the school year is an important use of summer time, but so is providing kids with learning opportunities to keep their brains engaged and ready to enter the next school year strong.
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Leadership from the Medical Community for Low-Income Students: LifeBound and La Casa/Quigg Newton Family Health Center Promote Reading, Literacy and Opportunity

Summer learning losses are a real threat to all students entering the summer months. Providing kids with educational games, activities, materials, and experiences during their summer vacation is crucial in retaining information learned during the school year and preparing them for the transition into next year.

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Opportunities for Low-Income Students: Summer Learning and Work Which Turns to Gold

For low-income kids, the oncoming summer vacation can bring forth different feelings than it does for privileged students. Due to a lack of accessibility, availability, and financial resources, low-income students often don’t have equal summer learning opportunities as privileged students, which contributes to increased summer learning losses and puts them at a disadvantage at the start of each new school year. Some of these students care for younger siblings all summer. Others play the role of parent to parents who may struggle with addiction or other issues. Others are in foster families or are raised by a grandparent because their parents are in prison or not fit to raise them.

This year, teen unemployment rates are soaring between 23.2 – 23.8 percentÂ ¹, which may prove to be even more problematic for low-income teens looking to work more hours to contribute to the family, make money for the upcoming school year, or to simply keep busy and off the street.

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Riding the Waves of High Teen Unemployment: Turning the Tide in Turbulent Waters

Teens enjoy using their summer months to unwind from the long academic year, but many also expect to spend summer working a summer job, or increasing the hours at their part-time job, to save money, get experience, and have something structured to do. And these are the lucky students who have the luxury of being able to get a “legitimate” job. Â Many disadvantaged students living in the housing projects or at poverty level will be struggling to avoid street temptations and other fast ways to earn money. This year almost one out of four American teens ages 16 to 19 were unemployed in February. On average, over the last 20 years, teens have held a steady unemployment rate of between 14 and 18 percent. The teen unemployment rate in 2012 has reached 23.2 to 23.8 percent.¹

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Defining Unique Skills Powers Economic Success for Grads

In a competitive global market theÂ soon-to-be college graduate andÂ new professional needs to know their unique talents and abilities in order to stand out from the crowd. Our economy is recoveringÂ slowly; a shift inÂ our schoolsÂ Â and colleges can set newÂ expectations toÂ better prepareÂ graduates forÂ workforceÂ realities. Many K-12 schools, whether out of choice or necessity, still teach to standardized tests and curriculums. However, the new professional is anything but standardized. The new professionalÂ is self-aware,Â stands outÂ because of their ability to develop unique strengths, can connect their education to their career, is fully integrated into traditional and digital communication, and understandsÂ how to use personal discipline for professional advantage. If there isnâ€™t enough time to emphasize this model in class, teachers can emphasize the importance of this exposureÂ outÂ of class.
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Do All Students Share a Universal Learning Style?

Since 2008, researchers have been conducting studies which have challengedÂ the idea that students have different learning styles, according to Annie Murphy Paul in the article “Do Students Really Have Different Learning Styles?” Studies have shown that students do have preferred ways of learning, but that the mode in which information is presented — whether using kinesthetic, auditory, or visual lessons — has no effect on their ability to “absorb information”.Â Â What is useful, and where I differ from the research Paulâ€™s references, is the critical area of learning styles and self knowledge:Â to make a better commitment to study to how you learn, to link learning to careers and fields which match your abilities, and to manage both learning strengths and weaknesses.
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