School teacher stuff

Video games get active and so do the kids Repeat after me "Active games don't replace physical education". Write that out 100 times and you won't make the easiest mistake of active gaming. It's so easy to get kids involved with active gaming, even easier with Gamercize equipment, but use it as an extra and give children more opportunities to be active instead of replacing the ones they already have. A really fun way of getting the whole class involved is to set up a competition. Remember that Gamercize is a level playing field because it lets the game work so long as you ... Read Full Story

Expert Sets Guidelines for Improvement The exergaming world was rocked by criticism following the use of exergaming as a replacement for traditional physical education. The story that originated in the UK has since circulated the globe with criticism from as far away as Australia for not being real exercise and for giving up on sport. The articles highlighted research stating the console used was only 2 percent more extra effort over sedentary gaming. The odd part is this; the discouraging research came from the same university that praised the equipment via BBC news one year earlier. If you are not confused by this U ... Read Full Story

Recently the idea of Co-Teaching seems to be under scrutiny in our school. I question where this is coming from. Rather than "trusting" administrators we should trust each other. And if we have doubts we should visit each other's classes. From what I heard in the past, and experienced myself, some of the most effective classes have been co-taught classes. Eg. 1 SCART . Science and ART . When I first came to QHST Varriale and Fox shared the products and the accolades of the co-taught science and art class from the year past. I was impressed with the outcomes and the freedom teachers ... Read Full Story

While driving south through Brooklyn on BQE just before you pass the Brooklyn Bridge, there is one section of parkway where all you see is self storage places. Have these places always existed? or have we become so programmed to hold onto everything and acquire anything that we need to rent extra space for our stuff, nowadays? One of the many amazing things in the Department of Education is that every year I somehow seem to change my classroom. I get to move all the stuff I've claimed in the name of education and start over again. As a teacher I am notorious for ... Read Full Story

Here is a reprint of an opinion article published in the NYTimes and the letters responding to it: Editorial September 12, 2007 America’s business community was an early advocate of reform and a prime mover in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which required the states to improve public schooling for all students. With Congress gearing up to reauthorize the act, business leaders are rightly raising their voices in an attempt to prevent the teachers’ unions and their political allies from weakening this important law. Corporate leaders have complained for years about job applicants who don’t read, write or ... Read Full Story