Interesting Articles

CARE
Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary School in downtown Louisville, Kentucky is beginning a program they call CARE standing for Community Autonomy Relationships Empowerment. It is all about making sure the kids have social and emotional learning support in the classroom. The teachers make a point to greet all of the students in the hallways by name as they enter the building. Then each teacher has a circle time with their students at the start of the day discussing issues with bullying, friends and family. They play out real life roles and ask how the people in the situation would feel and how the students want the atmosphere of the classroom to be. It brings up all kinds of tough things like gossiping, cyber bullying and home life problems. The teachers are showing the students that there are people that care about them including their peers. Their social skills increase and they feel more emotionally secure at school. It is growing into a national program and I think it could be very beneficial. Students will want to succeed and do better in school knowing their teachers and peers care about them and that they do not have to be scared to go to school. All teachers can learn from this, especially new teachers.

Bring Your Own Device
As technology is being used more and more in the classroom, how long do teachers have to take to teach students basics of the device because they are not ones the students use on daily basis? Hanover high school students are skipping this step and going right to the lesson by bringing their own devices to class. The high school is now allowing students to use their own cell phones and laptops as long as they are placed in plain site to make sure they are being used solely for classroom purposes. They use their cell phones to text in an answer to a question that the teacher creates on the screen. As they answer, the answers are instantly being tallied and turned into a graph right before their eyes. They also use their laptops to do the daily activities while the teacher can walk around and make sure everyone is on topic. I think this will help cut down on unnecessary instruction time and get to the lesson faster. Plus, students will feel more comfortable with their own devices that they are used to, thus getting more accomplished in class and they will be more able to carry the lesson with them home and keep learning and communicating while they are at home.