Education Week - April 23, 2014 - 14

BLOGS www.edweek.org/go/blogs
Schools Abandon Homeroom
In Return for More Class Time
| TIME AND LEARNING | The West Jefferson Hills district,
near Pittsburgh, recently changed the schedule at Thomas
Jefferson High School. Starting with the 2014-15 school
year, students will have eight class periods rather than
seven, plus lunch.
Where did they find the extra time? They got rid of
homeroom, which takes up 21 minutes at the start of each
day. (Schedulers also gained 13 minutes by starting school
earlier and shaved a minute off each class period.)
In the fall, students will start the day with a regular
42-minute class followed by 10 minutes of announcements.
Thomas Jefferson High joins many schools that have
ditched homeroom in the scramble to squeeze in as much
learning as possible.
But other schools still see value in it, particularly in the
lower grades. The Queens, N.Y., K-8 campus of the private
United Nations International School includes two 10-minute
homeroom periods, at the beginning and the end of the day,
for its middle school students. "It gives them a home base,"
said Assistant Principal Barbara Kennedy. -SAMANTHA STAINBURN
Students With Special Needs
Meet the Common Core
| CURRICULUM MATTERS | Because of the Common Core
State Standards, some math teachers have moved away
from teaching tricks. Instead, they're emphasizing
conceptual understanding and letting students figure out
the shorthand techniques on their own.
Students with special needs are among the mostly likely
to be taught math tricks-formulas, mnemonics, key words,
and even songs. At the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics' recent meeting, a mother-daughter team
described the importance of starting these students with
concepts rather than math facts and memorization-even if
the process is painstakingly slow.
When Alex Dixon was in 6th grade, she suffered a stroke
and lost nearly all her physical and academic abilities.
Alex's math returned quickly-more so than her reading.
Her mother, Juli K. Dixon, attributes that to using inquiry
and overarching concepts to reteach Alex in math, rather
than having her memorize key words and compute quickly.
She showed a video of Alex doing a multi-digit addition
problem (2,368 + 5,795). Instead of lining up the digits
vertically and adding starting on the right side, Alex started
with the thousands. She wrote 1,000 two times, then another
five times, and counted them up. She worked from left to
right, adding an extra thousand when she reached 10 in the
hundreds place, and so on.
For word problems, instead of circling the key words to
determine the correct operation, Alex's mom and her teacher
had Alex visualize the problem to figure out what to do. "Did
we jettison key words entirely? We elevated all the words to
be important words," Juli Dixon said.
Louisville Suicide Highlights Role
Of Social Media in Crisis Response
| DIGITAL EDUCATION | After a high school student posted a
video suicide note on YouTube then killed herself last week,
officials from the 101,000-student Jefferson County district
in Louisville, Ky., temporarily shut down school-based access
to YouTube and Twitter, prompting renewed attention to the
role of social media in responding to school tragedies.
District spokeswoman Mandy Simpson said in a statement
that 20 grief counselors were dispatched to Louisville
Male High School, and that access to the sites was quickly
restored.
H. Eric Sparks, the director of the American School
Counselor Association, said the handling of social media in
crisis-response situations is an issue that is "just coming up
on the radar screens" of many schools.
EDUCATION WEEK WEBINAR
In instances where there is two-way online communication
between a troubled student and a school official, he said, best
practices include directing the student to a hotline or other
help, calling authorities, and trying to get an intervention in
place as soon as possible.
More typical, though, might be a situation in which a
student tells an adult he or she saw suicidal threats or
worrisome comments on Facebook or Twitter. Then, he said,
having plans and strategies in place for communicating with
the individual in crisis, contacting parents, and marshaling
other resources is key.
Richard Lieberman, a California school psychologist
and the lead consultant for suicide prevention for the Los
Angeles County Office of Education, said it's also important
that adults not be afraid of social media when working to
prevent and respond to tragedies.
Social media "is where kids are gathering, so that's where
we have to be," he said.
-LIANA HEITIN
Online Directory Details
College-Access Programs
| COLLEGE BOUND | Descriptions of hundreds of
organizations that serve disadvantaged, minority, and
first-generation students in the college-preparation process
are organized into a new, free directory hosted online by the
National Association for College Admission Counseling.
The organization of counseling professionals launched the
resource last week to help admissions officers reach out
to underserved students as they work to diversify their
campuses. It could also be useful to high school counselors
looking to connect students with local programs. The NACAC
Directory of College Access & Success Programs is available
to members and the public at large.
The directory includes national membership organizations,
community-based providers, grassroots programs sponsored
by education groups, and government-funded grant
programs.
-BENJAMIN HEROLD
-CARALEE ADAMS
> www.edweek.org/go/webinars
REGISTRATION IS FREE!
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
1 to 2 p.m. ET
www.edweek.org/go/webinar/
GoogleWebTools
LIVE OR ON-DEMAND
Google
For Teaching & Learning
WEB TOOLS
In this webinar the director of technology from Milpitas Unified in California will share how
his district is using web-based technologies like Google Apps for Education and
Chromebooks and the impact this has had on teaching and learning.
Content provided by
14 | EDUCATION WEEK | April 23, 2014 | www.edweek.org
4-23-14 Google Tools webinar half page.indd 1
GUEST:
CHIN SONG, director of technology,
Milpitas Unified School District, Calif.
MODERATOR:
ANGELA MECCA,
education team, Google
4/11/2014 9:58:36 AM

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Education Week - April 23, 2014

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