Our World Explained

This week I was asked to give my perspective on three readings dealing with generational differences in the areas of learning and use of technology. The terms "digital native" and "digital immigrant" were conjured up by Marc Prensky in his creatively titled article; Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants .  Prensky uses the term "digital native" to refer to a person who has grown up (or is currently growing up) with frequent use of digital technology.  On the other hand, a "digital immigrant" is someone who uses technology, but did not grow up doing so.  He mentions that digital immigrants sometimes revert back to their "old world" ways as they were socialized prior to the digital age.  Prensky asserts that today's educational system is not serving "today's students" in an effective manner.   "Our students have changed radically.  Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to t

Danielle Colley is an Autistic Support teacher at Phoenixville Middle School in the Phoenixville Area School District .  Danielle has been been a Special Education teacher for 3 years and has worked with children in the summer months at ESF Summer Camps held at the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, PA.  Danielle is my guest blogger this week...she is also my wife!   As an Autistic Support teacher, I have struggled with writing instruction in my classroom, as well as ways to assist my students in transferring certain writing strategies to their regular education classes.  Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to be very “concrete” thinkers.  While most of my students have very organized writing with a good handle on conventions, many of them have difficulty with word choice, elaboration and writing style.  Their writing is short and concise, which is not always a bad thing.  However, when a standardized test score tells them that they are not proficient writers be

One of my responsibilities as a Social Studies teacher is to be conscious of current events that are happening at the local, state, national, and international levels.  This can be a challenging task as major news networks often attempt to spin stories to fit their particular narrative.  I'm finding more and more that I have to tell my students; "It appears that way for now, let's see what happens later this week".  In fact, I experimented with a "3 day rule" toward the end of the year.  If a student asked me a question about something going on in the news I would do my best to explain the story as I understood it.  I would encourage the student to try and revisit the story 3 days later to see if what was printed on Monday matched what was printed on Wednesday.  Websites like Snopes and FactCheck can be very helpful to curious students who want to know if what they read or heard is actually true.   While the feeling of constantly having to question wheth

The main purpose of this blog is to promote the quality of Global Studies instruction.  It is my sincere hope that this platform generates constructive ideas through meaningful communication between myself and other teaching professionals.  My previous two posts included helpful links for teaching Global Studies and 5 reasons why Global Studies still matters in a 21st century curriculum. The purpose of today's post revolves around the concept of homework.  As I've said before , I am a ninth grade Global Studies teacher in the Philadelphia area.  This past school year was my first opportunity to teach at the high school level and I spent the previous three years teaching 8th grade U.S. History.   I got into the habit of giving a current event homework assignment bi-weekly (once every two weeks) when I was working with middle school students.  I knew they had homework nearly every night in their other subject areas and I felt that I was not preparing them for high school (o

Many schools across the country are focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education...and rightfully so!  A good school should make every effort to prepare its students so they are capable of leading a productive and prosperous life.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the demand for skilled and knowledgeable candidates to fill positions in "STEM" fields will increase tremendously over (at least) the next five years.   Public schools throughout the United States are also facing pressure to have their students perform well on state standardized tests, particularly in Math and Science.  Failure to meet "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) under the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act usually meant schools spending more time, energy, and money into passing a state exam.  While NCLB has been replaced by the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), individual states are now determining which standards, assessments, and acco

In my relatively short time as a Social Studies teacher, I've found that one of my biggest challenges is deciding upon which resources I should use to effectively teach required content in a curriculum.  This past year was unique in the sense that not only was I teaching a new class in a new school, but I also had to get used to teaching 79 minute classes!  Our school uses "block" scheduling so while I only taught 3 classes per day, each class was nearly twice as a long as a "traditional" class.  It was important for me to maintain a fairly rigid pace under this system, especially since I was given a new set of students midway through the school year!  I was very lucky to have wonderful colleagues who assisted me by sharing readings, presentations, assignments, and projects.  While we do have textbooks, they are quite dated and we rarely use them during the course of a semester.  I spent many hours over the course of the school year, especially during the first