Students who blog and who read online news are more likely to appreciate the value of the First Amendment, according to a new book.
From the Knight Foundation website:
High school students who blog, who read online news sources and who chat online regularly are more likely to understand and support their First Amendment rights, according to a new book based on the largest survey conducted on the subject.
Kenneth Dautrich and David Yalof, authors of Future of the First Amendment: The Digital Media, Civic Education and Free Expression Rights in the Nation’s High Schools, presented the key findings at a launch of the book during the Unity ’08 journalism convention.
The book is based on the Future of the First Amendment surveys the authors conducted on behalf of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The initial 2004 survey, the first of its kind for high school students, found that three-fourths of U.S. teens surveyed don’t know or don’t care about the First Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, of assembly and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
With additional information from the 2006 survey, the authors explored the impact of digital media and recent advances in information technology on students’ appreciation of the First Amendment. Their results find a positive correlation between using online news sources and blogs and supporting the forms of free expression protected by the First Amendment. Among the many findings:
Frequent users of online news sources were 12 percent more appreciative of their First Amendment rights than those who don’t get news online.
Students who blog to publish their own content show even higher levels of support.
And 73 percent of chat-room users agree that music lyrics should be allowed, even if deemed offensive, compared with 65 percent of those who don’t use chat rooms.
The authors conclude that a deeper education in both civics and digital technology can help students learn to appreciate the First Amendment.
Dautrich, associate professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut, and Yalof, associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, authored the book along with colleague Mark Hugo Lopez, a research assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
The Knight Future of the First Amendment survey questioned more than 100,000 high school students about their knowledge of and opinions on the First Amendment. The 28-question survey portrayed general feelings of “ignorance, lethargy and agnosticism” in high school students when it came to the five freedoms of the First Amendment.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Mississippi school board bans teachers from texting with students or being friends through social networking sites
Though a Mississippi school board did not have any evidence to support non-professional behavior by teachers with students, it has forbidden teachers to text message with students or to allow them to be friends through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
From Associated Press:
From Associated Press:
A new school district policy in southern Mississippi prohibits teachers from texting or communicating with students through Internet social network sites such as MySpace.
The Lamar County school board approved the policy earlier this month after becoming concerned that casual contact between teachers and students would be unprofessional.
"The only intent is to limit the personal communication between teachers and students," Superintendent Ben Burnett told The Hattiesburg American newspaper. "We don't need to let it cross the line between professional and personal communication."
Burnett said the policy won't keep teachers or students from creating profiles on sites such as MySpace or Facebook, which allow users to share personal information and communicate over the Web.
"This just keeps them from communicating socially through those kinds of means," Burnett said.
No incident led to the policy, which was enacted at the suggestion of the school board attorney. The board has yet to set penalties for violating the policy.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Small Town News author talks about writing first book
I recently uncovered a 2006 television interview I did with Springfield journalist Ron Davis. The first half of the interview centered around the writing of my first book, Small Town News, and how it was inspired by students in my creative writing classes at Diamond Middle School.
Schools need different approach to stop bullying
The common approach to curtail bullying in schools has been to try to stop the bullies.
That approach is wrong, according to psychologist Izzy Kalman. Schools need to teach students how do deal with bullies:
That approach is wrong, according to psychologist Izzy Kalman. Schools need to teach students how do deal with bullies:
Creating a world where everyone is nice to each other is unrealistic, Kalman writes. People tease other people because they enjoy watching them get upset. The more upset the "victim" gets, the more fun it is to tease him or her. So rather than encourage children to report bullying and then punish bullies, educators need to teach children not to be victims. The keys to that, according to Kalman, are to learn not to let bullies upset you and to treat bullies like friends so they become friends.
If that sounds unrealistic, Kalman says he has taught children how to do just that through counseling and role-playing. He also has anecdotes from others who have used his approach successfully. Kalman argues that society often has more to fear from victims than bullies -- in school shootings in the U.S. such as the one at Columbine High School in 1999, the shooters were not bullies -- they were students who had been harassed and felt like victims.
Florida schools requiring middle school students to pass core classes to reach high school
It is no secret that many middle schools and junior high schools do not require students to pass in order to continue to high school.
Florida has enacted a new law which requires students to pass core classes in order to move on to ninth grade:
BY NIRVI SHAH
Miami Herald
July 8, 2008
Failing English, math, science or social studies classes in middle school never kept Florida students from moving on to high school in the past.
That's not the case anymore.
Beginning this fall, a Florida law enacted two years ago will require all students to pass their core subjects in middle school in order to be promoted to the ninth grade.
The tougher standards have already forced tens of thousands of middle school students around the state, including those in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, to enroll in remedial programs during the school year and during summer school.
The law, approved in 2006, was part of the work of a statewide middle school reform task force that wanted to make sixth, seventh and eighth grades more meaningful and ensure that more middle school students were truly prepared for high school. It applied to sixth-graders in 2006. Last year, seventh-graders were added to the list.
Under the old rules, ''they could fail in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and they could go on to the next grade,'' said Carle Shaw, principal of Attucks Middle School in Hollywood.
Now, if a student at Shaw's school earns an F in any grading period, they forgo some of their time in elective classes for the next marking period reviewing the material in the failed class to make sure they understand it and move their grade to a D -- the minimum to go to high school. Or they go to summer classes.
GETTING MOTIVATED
At Pines Middle School this summer, soon-to-be seventh-grader Leyla Borges started the summer with a 35 percent on a science exam -- an F. She finished with a 90 percent -- an A.
Leyla, 12, said she skipped school enough this year to fail science and didn't heed her mother's advice to stay focused. She found that focus in Peter Colman's summer science class and said she's actually interested in the subject now. ''I wouldn't mind learning more about it,'' she said.
Shaw and other principals prefer getting kids help during the school year. Students shouldn't get used to thinking they can fail a class during the school year and make it up in three weeks over the summer, said Joel Smith, who oversees middle schools in Broward.
Nearly one in 10 of the district's 26,000 sixth- and seventh-graders were eligible for the summer classes. About 2,100 enrolled.
''What you didn't get in the year you're not really going to get in three weeks,'' he said. ``You want to make lifelong learners rather than just have them recover a course in three weeks.''
Not all of the summer students who finished classes Thursday will end up with the credit made up. If they haven't mastered the skills, they'll have to keep working for the credit, Smith said.
Students who fail one or two classes in middle school -- including English, math, social studies and science -- can still be promoted from one grade to the next as long as they fail no more than two classes. But they could get locked out of ninth grade without remedial work.
State and local education administrators hope that when this group of students advances to high school, dropout and graduation figures will improve. Florida's graduation rate is 72 percent, and it was just 66 percent in Broward and 64 percent in Miami-Dade County last year.
Many of the students who bring the graduation rate down drop out in ninth grade.
''Ninth grade's the toughest year for the students in Florida,'' said Mary Jane Tappen, the state's deputy chancellor for curriculum, instruction and student services. ``The whole purpose is to try to help with that.''
High schools already have enacted many reforms to keep ninth-grade students engaged and in school, said Chip Osborn, principal of Hollywood Hills High. Many schools separate freshmen from upperclassmen, give them unique schedules and pair them with mentors.
REQUIRED CLASSES
And while middle school students could move on to high school even without passing some of their classes, high school students can't earn diplomas without a fixed number of credits, Osborn said.
''You need four credits in English, four credits in math, three credits in social studies,'' Osborn said. The courses required of middle school students must also have a point, he said.
Broward Superintendent Jim Notter looks forward to seeing the effect of middle school reforms on high schools.
Although Broward scaled back on most summer school programs years ago, the district came up with about $400,000 to pay for middle school classes to give as many students as possible the chance to get to high school on time.
''I believe it's one of those reforms that was much needed,'' he said.
Florida has enacted a new law which requires students to pass core classes in order to move on to ninth grade:
BY NIRVI SHAH
Miami Herald
July 8, 2008
Failing English, math, science or social studies classes in middle school never kept Florida students from moving on to high school in the past.
That's not the case anymore.
Beginning this fall, a Florida law enacted two years ago will require all students to pass their core subjects in middle school in order to be promoted to the ninth grade.
The tougher standards have already forced tens of thousands of middle school students around the state, including those in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, to enroll in remedial programs during the school year and during summer school.
The law, approved in 2006, was part of the work of a statewide middle school reform task force that wanted to make sixth, seventh and eighth grades more meaningful and ensure that more middle school students were truly prepared for high school. It applied to sixth-graders in 2006. Last year, seventh-graders were added to the list.
Under the old rules, ''they could fail in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and they could go on to the next grade,'' said Carle Shaw, principal of Attucks Middle School in Hollywood.
Now, if a student at Shaw's school earns an F in any grading period, they forgo some of their time in elective classes for the next marking period reviewing the material in the failed class to make sure they understand it and move their grade to a D -- the minimum to go to high school. Or they go to summer classes.
GETTING MOTIVATED
At Pines Middle School this summer, soon-to-be seventh-grader Leyla Borges started the summer with a 35 percent on a science exam -- an F. She finished with a 90 percent -- an A.
Leyla, 12, said she skipped school enough this year to fail science and didn't heed her mother's advice to stay focused. She found that focus in Peter Colman's summer science class and said she's actually interested in the subject now. ''I wouldn't mind learning more about it,'' she said.
Shaw and other principals prefer getting kids help during the school year. Students shouldn't get used to thinking they can fail a class during the school year and make it up in three weeks over the summer, said Joel Smith, who oversees middle schools in Broward.
Nearly one in 10 of the district's 26,000 sixth- and seventh-graders were eligible for the summer classes. About 2,100 enrolled.
''What you didn't get in the year you're not really going to get in three weeks,'' he said. ``You want to make lifelong learners rather than just have them recover a course in three weeks.''
Not all of the summer students who finished classes Thursday will end up with the credit made up. If they haven't mastered the skills, they'll have to keep working for the credit, Smith said.
Students who fail one or two classes in middle school -- including English, math, social studies and science -- can still be promoted from one grade to the next as long as they fail no more than two classes. But they could get locked out of ninth grade without remedial work.
State and local education administrators hope that when this group of students advances to high school, dropout and graduation figures will improve. Florida's graduation rate is 72 percent, and it was just 66 percent in Broward and 64 percent in Miami-Dade County last year.
Many of the students who bring the graduation rate down drop out in ninth grade.
''Ninth grade's the toughest year for the students in Florida,'' said Mary Jane Tappen, the state's deputy chancellor for curriculum, instruction and student services. ``The whole purpose is to try to help with that.''
High schools already have enacted many reforms to keep ninth-grade students engaged and in school, said Chip Osborn, principal of Hollywood Hills High. Many schools separate freshmen from upperclassmen, give them unique schedules and pair them with mentors.
REQUIRED CLASSES
And while middle school students could move on to high school even without passing some of their classes, high school students can't earn diplomas without a fixed number of credits, Osborn said.
''You need four credits in English, four credits in math, three credits in social studies,'' Osborn said. The courses required of middle school students must also have a point, he said.
Broward Superintendent Jim Notter looks forward to seeing the effect of middle school reforms on high schools.
Although Broward scaled back on most summer school programs years ago, the district came up with about $400,000 to pay for middle school classes to give as many students as possible the chance to get to high school on time.
''I believe it's one of those reforms that was much needed,'' he said.
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