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What Happened to Ebonics?

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Turmoil in 1980s Oakland Leads to Continued Definitive Conclusions about Language’s Impact on Education in the 2020s by Matthew Bamberg Photo by Kiana Bosman on Unsplash The Ebonics debate has often been misunderstood. It refers to the dialect of AAVE (African American Vernacular English). This type of language is prevalent in the Black community and has also spread into popular culture through lyrics in rap music and similar genres. I be workin’ Yes, I be workin’ on this article. This can be defined as: I’ve been working on this article for a while, although not necessarily at this very moment. I begin here because using AAVE helps readers understand the importance of training teachers to use it in our classrooms. Before getting into the meat and potatoes of the point, AAVE is an important dialect and, therefore, should be treated with the utmost respect, especially when dealing with it as a teacher. Slavery was Brutal The history of AAVE in the United States began in the 17th and 18t...
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Common Core Standards for Math--Making Math Approachable

Many students have difficulty with math. They find it a challenge to approach any type of math assignment or math lesson. Some of that difficulty stems from a negative attitude, so as a teacher you should suggest to students the advantages of being good at math (cold hard cash when they get older because of the great jobs that involve math) and how a change of attitude can help them to better. The last thing you want to hear a student say is, "I'm terrible at math" or "I can't do math." If they are saying these things, talk about how that type of thinking will not help him/her do better in math. Talk to him/her about metacognitive skills regarding math, such as take problem solving one step at a time and when he/she begins a math assignment to be sure to look over the examples carefully so that math will be easier to understand. Finally, talk about that feeling of satisfaction when you've solved a problem correctly or have gotten an "A" ...
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Common Core--Math and Modeling

The Common Core Standards are only for Math and Language Arts because these are the subjects upon which other subjects are built. Math standards have been written for Grades 1-8 and the following math content areas for hish school: number and quantity, algebra, functions, modeling, geometry, statistics. Everyone is familiar with most of these math content areas. One-- modeling --might puzzle many educators. Just what is modeling? Modeling is using data from observations to make decisions about a wide range of subjects, including students' daily decisions. Modeling problems involve a number of math content areas. It could be a process used to figure out how to feed and provide water a a city of 1 million after a natural disaster. Or it can be used to analyze the changes in each area of Greenland where the ice sheet has disappeared and predicting what will happen to these areas in the future.
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Welcome to the Common Core Standards Links Blog

The Common Core State Standards, a nationwide initiative, are to replace the current state standards and frameworks that vary state to state. Here's what the standards do: 1. Let parents, teachers and students know what they are going to learn. 2. Contain real world applications. 3. Help students to be successful in their college and working careers. 4. Ensure that each community in the United States can compete globally. Today's link is: Common Core State Standards Initiative Home Each week the Common Core Standards Links blog will summarize an important link for teacher, parents and other community members can use to better understand the new Common Core State Standards that will take effect at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year. For most educators that means there are going to be big curriculum changes coming this August. This blog is here to help. Note that  Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, & Virginia have opted out from participating in the ...
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STEM Wildfire Education Necessity

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  California Wildfires Are Getting Worse. Why Schools Must Teach Fire Survival Now From science to social-emotional learning, a comprehensive approach is needed to safeguard communities from natural and man-made hazards Wildfire in the Inland Empire of Southern California as seen from the desert. Photo by Matthew Bamberg Communities in California and elsewhere have shown remarkable resilience in uniting to cope and heal after a wildfire. Yet wildfires will remain a critical challenge, especially during droughts. The future doesn’t have to mirror the past. To ensure a safer tomorrow, California’s education system must prioritize wildfire preparedness and mitigation as a core part of its curriculum. A New Interdisciplinary Wildfire Curriculum The current model of isolating academic disciplines is inadequate for preparing students to face the uncertain world shaped by climate change. A significant curriculum overhaul is urgently needed to equip students with the skills and knowledge t...
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Social Emotional Skills and Holistic Education

Holistic education focuses on students identity in order for them to become good  community members by teachers instituting appropriate  moral, social, emotional, psychological and academic goals for functioning as a productive member of society.  As a teacher, you have to consider what's going on in students' lives order to teach the students coping skills to deal with challenging situations. Holistic education can really help students who are falling behind. Creating engaging lessons that reach all students is the primary focus of planning for instruction in most schools.  You can combine this inclusion with extensive education in all areas. "All students will learn the skills they need to succeed across all domains, including social, cognitive and academic" (Schwartz as cited in Volk, 2013, para. 5). Students perform better academically when teachers address the social emotional needs of students Socio-emotional skills are for school, work and life. They inc...
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Writing a Personal Essay

Writing a personal essay doesn't have to be hard. One would think that the most important part of a personal essay would be writing a draft. This isn't so. While it is important, there are other parts of the writing process that are just as important for writing a focused "A" paper. One of the first tasks you do before you write the rough draft is to have a topic that is appropriate for a personal essay. As you may recall, a personal essay should be written in first person, usually about an account of an event, a story about a person, a travelogue of a place or  an illustration of an object (in words) that is or was special to you. Well, does that mean you should write about your mom, your childbirth (if you're a woman) or your vacation? Any of these topics are a good choice for a personal essay. Recall that the writing process: 1. Brainstorming--Create your topic. Narrow it down. 2. Outlining--Yes, this is necessary! 3. Drafting--Writing your draft f...
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