Written by contribution blogger, Christine Martin. Making New Year’s resolutions has been a long-standing tradition. Generally, these are created with enthusiasm and motivation, dwindling as time goes on. The trick is keeping the goals present and revisiting them periodically. Some ways to do this include sticking them on your refrigerator, adding them into your icalendar, illustrating them in a visual board. Having aspirations and creating challenges are ways to further develop ourselves and discover our capabilities. Beginning at a young age, children learn to value goal-setting. Resolutions for kids are meaningful if they understand their importance and have adults modeling them as well. In addition to having personal goals, it is beneficial to include one or two under the parent...
Written by Christine Martin, collaborating blogger. American classrooms are becoming increasingly varied in representations of cultures. Mindfulness of this in schools is illustrated by active multicultural education opportunities through books, lessons, and exposure to celebrations. The winter holiday season is one which offers extensive ways for children to learn and understand the cultures of their classmates and community. Thankfully, there are many resources that share information about festivities such as Hanukkah, Christmas, Eid Al Adha, Kwanzaa, and Chinese New Year. Teachers do their best to fairly represent the similarities and differences of these cultural holidays, but sharing in discussions, activities, crafts, and learning at home adds to deeper understanding and appreciation. Below is a short list of resources...
Written by contributing blogger, Christine Martin. There is a buzz about shifting paradigms regarding the education model as we know it. A fascinating publication called the Forecast 3.0, Recombinant Education: Regenerating the Learning Ecosystem , delves into the various foreseeable opportunities and challenges that come up with this topic. One is the role of technology. Undoubtedly, the digital explosion is a key player in influencing transformation across spectrums: society, economy, culture, etc. Let’s take music as highlighted in the Forecast. For example, (there are) integrated platforms such as iTunes, Google+, and Facebook with artist information, concert databases, and mobile apps to transform passive listeners (us) into active music participants who share, create, remix, and produce music.Just as technology has expanded,...
