Girl Scout badges now meet national ed standards

Gross. Don't kids spend enough time in school already?

Girl Scout badges aligned to Common Core standards
Washington Post
Apr. 27, 2013

Ethiopian kids school themselves

Given Tablets but no teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves
MIT Technology Review
Oct. 29, 2012

Who needs the Peace Corps when you've got a stack of iPads and kids bright enough to hack them?Would be even more interesting to see what they still learned/retained years later.

Running Commentary of your Child's Struggles

5 Benefits of Sportscasting your Child's Struggles
Janet Lansbury
Apr. 25, 2013

Lovely article. H/T to The Thumbstumbler

The nature of an effective test

Interesting story about education and testing. Don't think an automatic reader would be able to grade this one.

Why I let my students cheat on their game theory exam
Popular Science /  Zocalo
Apr. 24, 2013

Totally cool tall bike

Based on the audio it seems a little harrowing.

He had the tallest bike at Ciclavia

LA Observed

Apr. 25, 2013

photo via StreetsblogLA

Interesting Parenting Strategy

SNL skit in the making

Obama: If daughters get tattoos, we will too
Washington Post
Apr. 24, 2013

“What we’ve said to the girls is, ‘If you guys ever decided you’re going to get a tattoo, then mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo in the same place. And we’ll go on YouTube and show it off as a family tattoo,” Obama said. “And our thinking is that might dissuade them from thinking that somehow that’s a good way to rebel.”

Recent articles on standardized testing

Standardized test questions kids have to answer that don't even count
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Apr. 23, 2013

Hey, as long as we're wasting class time, why not let our kids offer a bit of free research for the folks making gazillions off of the test? Our tax dollars at work, there.



New Standardized tests feature plugs for commercial products, Washington Post (Apr. 20, 2013)
It was only a matter of time. Bastards.


NCTE Position on machine scoring of standardized tests, National Council of Teachers of English, Apr. 2013
A very wordy and detailed report that essentially says: No. Just--no.

Is reading from iPad same as a book?

Apparently it's not!

Do e-readers inhibit reading comprehension?
Salon
Apr. 14, 2013

"...E-readers ...prevent people from navigating long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way. In turn, such navigational difficulties may subtly inhibit reading comprehension. Compared with paper, screens may also drain more of our mental resources while we are reading and make it a little harder to remember what we read when we are done."

Turnitin.com for news orgs

Is it Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release?
The Atlantic
Apr. 23, 2013

Philly Inquirer's Hard Years are Microcosm of Newspapers' Long Goodbye
Nice pix of a dying industry struggling to reinvent itself

What pro-spanking research misses

What pro-spanking research misses
The Attached Family
Oct. 2, 2012 (They also posted on their FB recently)

"Spanking kids does not deter behavior. Like beating a dog, it just makes them mean."

Summary of the changes in teaching over the last 15 years

How my job went from great to infuriating
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Apr. 21, 2013

Anecdotal summary of why these tests are a bad idea for students and teachers, and for the basis of our country as a whole. We need to grow writers, critical thinkers and leaders, not bubble-in-ers.

Influence of media on children

Watching Movies with the kids is a mixed bag
New York Times
Apr. 19, 2013

Hello? You're showing your four-year-old Austin Powers?!

School environment

The secret to fixing school discipline? Change the behavior of Adults
New America Media
Mar. 26, 2013

As good as any standardized test

Eighth-grader writes a standardized test spoof as commentary on standardized tests
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Apr. 17, 2013

Very hilarious and worth a read. Much more impactful since it was written by a student.

Stupid Writer Tricks

Funny article about trying to be a writer, from the NYT.

"Stupid Writer Tricks"
NYT
Apr. 15, 2013

To feed your inner Cliff Claven

I can't remember how I found the website Brain Pickings, but it's a truly evil time-suck with a lot of fun stuff on it. It will help your dinner party conversations, but will be utterly useless in accomplishing anything productive.

Baby talk

The Power of Talking to Your Baby
NYT
April 10, 2013
"Another idea, however, is creeping into the policy debate: that the key to early learning is talking — specifically, a child’s exposure to language spoken by parents and caretakers from birth to age 3, the more the better. It turns out, evidence is showing, that the much-ridiculed stream of parent-to-child baby talk — Feel Teddy’s nose! It’s so soft! Cars make noise — look, there’s a yellow one! Baby feels hungry? Now Mommy is opening the refrigerator! — is very, very important. (So put those smartphones away!)"

Fight Fair at Home

A really good NYT article on effective arguing, with less drama.

"Lessons in Domestic Diplomacy"
NYT
Apr. 12, 2013

"Real learning is a relationship-based experience."

"The right—and wrong—role for teachers"
Washington Post Answer Sheet
April 15, 2013

What if Everybody Understood Child Development?

What if Everybody Understood Child Development?
Huffington Post (via Not Just Cute)
Apr. 5, 2013
"Most people, I imagine, would be surprised to learn that understanding child development is not one of the standard requirements to become a teacher. Or maybe not. Maybe most people, including those who decide what teachers need to know, are unaware of the incontestable connection between how children develop (not just cognitively but also socially, emotionally, and physically)and how they learn."

on Women and 'Babes'

My So-Called 'Post-Feminist' Life in Arts and Letters
The Nation
Apr. 29, 2013
Hat tip to Scott Lewis Photography
"...Nearly every review refers to me as a stay-at-home mom. One such article is entitled "Battlefield Barbie," which calls me a "soccer-mom-in-training." I look nothing like Barbie. My kids don't play soccer. The general consensus is that the book is good, but I suck. The character assassinations are intense. Talkasks if I'm worried I'll be labeled a slut. I object to both the word and the question; the journalist prints them anyway.Brill's Content and The Women's Review of Books insinuate that I brought on my own rape and various other crimes that I experienced at the hands of men—armed robbery, a knockout blow to the skull from a crack addict.Salon resorts to slut-shaming and libel. New York thinks I'm an insult to feminism for having left a promising career behind."

Hidden Sugar

Sigh.

9 Sneaky Places Sugar is Hidden
Yahoo Team Mom
Apr. 12, 2013

Nature and outdoors is good for kids, adults

How Nature Makes Kids Calmer, Healthier, Smarter
Aha Parenting
Apr. 15, 2013

Exercise, friendships, and puzzles beat back dimentia
NPR
Apr. 15, 2103

Vintage animations on Critical Thinking

"Six Vintage-inspired Animations on critical Thinking"
Brain Pickings
Fun. And also informative.

With police in schools, More children in Court

With police in schools, More children in Court

New York Times (found via FreeRangeKids.com)

Apr. 12, 2103

"Yet the most striking impact of school police officers so far, critics say, has been a surge in arrests or misdemeanor charges for essentially nonviolent behavior — including scuffles, truancy and cursing at teachers — that sends children into the criminal courts.

" “There is no evidence that placing officers in the schools improves safety,” said Denise C. Gottfredson, a criminologist at the University of Maryland who is an expert in school violence. “And it increases the number of minor behavior problems that are referred to the police, pushing kids into the criminal system.”"

Monarchs and Milkweed and RoundUp

Monitoring the Monarchs
NPR's Science Friday
Apr. 12, 2013
"Last month, monarch butterflies began an annual northward journey from their overwintering habitat in Mexico. Monarch expert Lincoln Brower discusses the dwindling monarch population. Brower says the plunge in butterfly numbers is due, in part, to a combination of habitat loss in Mexico and a decline in milkweed plants in the U.S."

Sparkle Stories now on Kindle! and Free Sparkle Story!

"First ebook on Kindle and 'Everything Junkyard' Giveaway!"
SparkleStories.com
Apr. 11, 2013

They say: 

"For years people have been asking us to make our stories available in print.

“I would love for my older children to read your stories.”

“We need bedtime stories we can trust.” “I am Deaf. So listening to stories does not work for me. Do you have written transcripts?”

And we’ve finally made it happen!"  Check out the book, contest and free story here.

Renoir comes to life *

"Painting Renoir in Finely Detailed Strokes"
"Earthy muse in 'Renoir' helped bridge painting and Cinema"

NPR

Apr. 11, 2013

A movie on Renoir that should appear realistic with the help of an art-world forger bringing his technique to life.

*updated with link to story

A whole lotta Johnny Cash

"Johnny Cash's Columbia Catalog out Now—as a 63-disk Box Set"
NPR
Apr. 10, 2013

On Conspiracy Theorists and Climate Change

"What a Conspiracy Theorist Believes"
The New Yorker
Apr. 10, 2013

If you're a conspiracy theorist who believes Princess Diana's death was an organized assassination, are you more likely to poo-poo climate change?

Glass gems and the light table

Play at Home Mom has a great round-up of activities you can do with light tables and glass gems. You can make a light table for cheap out of an underbed-storage box and a string of Christmas lights, and gain literally hours of alone time engaged play for your kids.

"Glass Gem Compilation," Play at Home Mom (10 Apr. 2013)

Great newspaper correction

Tampa Bay Times correction admits reporter 'not strong in the ways of the force.' (Poynter, Apr. 10, 2013)

God help the reporter who gets Star Wars trivia wrong. "Regret the error, we do," responds the Tampa Bay Times. "Wookie mistake," quips Poynter.

Waldorf blogs

Here are some of the Waldorf blogs I keep my eye on, in no particular order:

The Magic Onions
SouleMama
Rhythm of the Home and Blog
This Whole Family
Natural Suburbia
Frontier Dreams
Waldorf Essentials
Waldorf in the Home (Informed Family Life)
Curly Birds

Montessori blogs

This looks like a good homeschooling blog, by a Montessori teacher.

Trillium Montessori



I also like Counting Coconuts (and on Facebook) and Adventures of Bear, and At Home with Montessori (0-3)

Parenting resources, persistent kids, and conflict resolution in preschool

Teacher Tom talks about parenting videos, and creating rules within a group via consensus—even for a young group.

Kids in the house: Discipline and Conflict in Preschool, (Teacher Tom, Apr. 8, 2013)

Teacher Tom talks about Rewards and Punishments, with some more links. A great thing to think about.
Alternatives to Punishments and Rewards (Teacher Tom, Apr. 10, 2013)



Dr. Laura Markham reminds us that the persistence that bugs the crap out of us in kids is actually a great trait in learners and adults

10 Tips to raise a persistent child, Aha parenting (2013)


And, she also reminds us some gentle parenting techniques in How can you set limits if you don't use threats to enforce them (2013). Big reminders for me.

Parent opt-out of standardized testing

I thought that allowing my son to take a third grade, fifth grade and middle school test might be a good idea, just like I had it in school. But I forgot about the new climate around all of this testing. This article makes me think again. We're creating a nation of worriers, as though if we don't cause others to worry, their lives are not being fulfilled. How is this collective anxiety going to help anyone?

Mom: why I won't let my son take high-stakes standardized tests, (Washington Post Answer Sheet, Apr. 7, 2013)

"At the same time, reading homework had become a nightly battle. My son Jacob, who turned 9 in January, was bringing home these long non-fiction reading passages, often very boring. He had to read the passage, identify the main idea, and make inferences about the material in order to answer the questions. The questions were often opaque, oddly worded, and frequently depended on outside knowledge. Sometimes when I was helping him I would figure out the answer, and I’ve have a moment of excitement, and then I would think, “Oh, yeah, I’m 46 and I have a PhD from Yale and I’m excited because I just figured out the answer to my 9-year-old’s reading homework?”

"As test prep ramped up in February and March I had another revelation: Jacob does not love to read. Based on what he was bringing home from school, how could he?"

Driver's ed, for Dutch kids on bikes

Lenore Skenazy alerts us to a longtime Dutch tradition of teaching children the safety rules of the road so they can bike to school—sometimes as far as nine miles. A far cry from the parents who drive their kids only a few blocks.

Just like driver's ed, except for younger kids & Bikes (Free Range Kids, Apr. 8, 2013)

Buying healthy meat

Food Renegade discusses her philosophy on meat-buying as we all traverse the organic / hormone-free / grass-fed blah blah blah in Healthy Meats: What to Buy (Food Renegade, Aug. 4, 2009?). It was linked from an interesting discussion on Apr. 6, 2013 on her Facebook page.

Teaching students fear, through lockdowns

In Motherlode's Lockdown: Teaching Students to Hide from Guns, and Hide their Fears (NYT online, Apr. 8, 2013), we are reminded that the likelihood your child will be killed in a school shooting by a lunatic is 1 in 3,000,000, and most likely that lunatic might be another kid's parent. But we need to terrorize children with surprise drop-and-cover drills "just in case."

Welcome to Newsish!

Wherein, I offer my clippings-service spam via RSS instead of in your own in-box. A collection of articles that are interesting to me, but may be interesting to you. Topics likely will focus on education, parenting, homeschooling, crafting, nutrition, food trends, education news, journalism, photography, technology, media, and whatever else tickles my fancy or ticks me off.

Please note that the linked stories are copyrighted by the original writers, photographers and publishers. Some news sites may require a login to read the story.

I'll do my best to keyword, and group stories, so you can search by topic. If you enter the keyword and the word 'star' into the search box, you should find the articles I thought were extra interesting. If I remember to keyword it right. You might see some updated posts as I try to keep keywords current.


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