Ooops! I almost forgot the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in the United States on June 5th.This year’s winner was Anamika Veeramani, from Ohio, who spelled the word ‘stromuhr’ correctly to win the competition. According to npr, a ‘stromuhr’ is a medical instrument ‘that measures the amount and speed and flow of blood through… Continue reading 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee
My guess is that unless you keep abreast of US politics, you probably won’t have heard of Michelle Rhee. She was, until very recently, children’s chancellor to Adrian Fenty, mayor of Washington, DC, until he was defeated in the Democratic primary on September 14th.Over her three years in tenure Rhee turned education in Washington schools… Continue reading Goodbye to Michelle Rhee, children’s champion
Many years ago I enjoyed very much watching Desmond Morris’, at the time, utterly captivating TV programme ‘Zoo Time‘, where he would get up to, amongst other things, all sorts of antics with a number of favourite chimpanzees. His books, The Naked Ape and Manwatching, were also great fun, if a little speculative in places.… Continue reading Desmond Morris on books v TV for toddlers
This week’s New Scientist (October 2nd 2010) is carrying an interesting piece entitled ‘Supercharge Your Brain’ but it’s also the introductory editorial ‘From neuromyth to reality’ that has much to commend it.Firstly, I can’t resist including the remark once made by John Maynard Keynes quoted at the beginning of the editorial. He is recorded as… Continue reading The New Scientist on neuroscience and education
This is a bit off the usual track but I happened to notice that Nick Diaz has written a guest column on Laurie Rogers’ blog ‘Betrayed: Why public education is failing’.In the piece, Diaz takes on the stereotyping of ‘Asian’ students (by which people in the USA mean students whose parents are of Chinese, Korean,… Continue reading Nick Diaz on bigotry and mathematical ability
I’ve just seen this rather fascinating video, originally posted on the irvingparentsforum. I picked it up on the kitchen table math blog, posted by the inimitable Catherine Johnson, and it’s certainly worth sharing.The context for the interest in this subject relates back to a story, reported by npr, that broke into the news earlier this… Continue reading Money, money money? Or autonomy, mastery and purpose?
Catherine Johnson from kitchen table math is reporting that the number of students in the USA identified as having a ‘specific learning disability’ has declined over the past ten years from 6.1% in 2000-2001 to 5.2% in 2007-2008. The figures come from the U.S Department of Education’s 2009 Digest of Education Statistics.As is the case… Continue reading Decline in SpLD numbers in the USA
Sounds-Write is pleased to announce the publication of its new series Battle Cries, which features the heroine Amy Blade, ‘all action, all heart, already two steps in front of you’!The series is designed to help struggling, older readers (from about eleven years and onwards). Each book focuses on a particular sound and is deliberately contrived… Continue reading Introducing the new Battle Cries series of books
Has Ofsted recovered its nerve? Apparently so. In its recent report ‘The special educational needs and disability review: a statement is not enough’, Ofsted reveals that, while the number of pupils with a statement of special educational needs ‘decreased slightly’ (from 3% to 2.7%), ‘the proportion identified as needing less intensive additional support at School… Continue reading SEN, or just poor teaching?
As a postscript to yesterday’s story about Lincolnshire county council’s desire to pursue Mark McCullough for allowing his daughter to walk twenty yards to the stop for her school bus, Toby Young, in the Telegraph (13/09/2010) – ‘Schools must be braver with our children: Spending a childhood wrapped in cotton wool is no preparation for… Continue reading Busy bureaucrats must be braver!