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Student Blogs to Effect School Change

saladTired of being forced to eat what she felt were nutritionally sub-par meals at school, a 9-year-old student took to her blog in an effort to draw attention to the issue. It didn’t take long for that attention to go viral as Martha Payne's blog, Never Seconds, was eyed by several media outlets in her native Scotland. The attention grew to the point of a nationally-televised interview with the BBC. She explained how she would take pictures of the meals presented to her with a digital camera and write up a summary of the food including a Food-o-meter rating of how much she likes it, a mouthful count, a health rating and a number for how many pieces of hair were in the food.

She started in April and by May 15, school and town officials were seen leading journalists on tours of the school’s dining area. It was then that Payne blogged that there was a new system for ordering food, and that "cherry tomatoes, radishes, carrot and cucumber shreddings," began appearing in the meals.

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The Global Search for Education: Dear...

“American kids are now 10, 20, 50 or 90 times more likely to be on prescription psychiatric medications compared with kids in other countries (the rate varies depending on the diagnosis in question). I think it’s an important and disturbing trend.” — Dr. Leonard Sax

Dr. Leonard Sax graduated Phi Beta...

Woman's Record Climb Up Mount...

I found this recent news story of interest and wanted to share. Perhaps, it might be a writing prompt for your students. 

Imagine reaching the summit of Mount Everest. Now, imagine reaching it TWICE in one week. Anshu Jamsenpa, of India, set a new women’s record for a double ascent of Mount Everest in one season. Even more amazing, this is the FIFTH accent of Mount Everest by Jamsenpa! At 29,028 feet, some say it is now 29,035, Mount Everest stands about 5 1/2 miles above...

Positioning Social Studies at the Center

It’s no secret that social studies regularly takes a back seat to other academic subjects. If teachers are honest, they will admit that they struggle to find time to teach social studies, and if they do, it’s crammed into the last minutes of the day, or perhaps creatively combined with other lessons.

What if there was another way to approach social studies? What if there was model that could provide students with meaningful, relevant social studies instruction, while at the same time...

The Global Search for Education: Dear...

UCLA’s 2015 survey of US students found that “interest in political and civic engagement has reached the highest levels since the study began 50 years ago....

The Global Search for Education: Dear...

In a technology driven, infinitely connected world, the roles of teachers and parents in the learning process are changing. Good communication is arguably more important than ever before. A teacher-parent relationship that’s in sync is the best way to create a positive experience and learning environment for each student. So how do...

The Global Search for Education: Is...

“The more that financial education initiatives are developed, both in and outside of school, the more important it is for governments and other stakeholders to evaluate and prioritize such initiatives and to scale and spread good practice.” — Andreas Schleicher

To thrive in today’s innovation-driven economy,...

Interviewing for a Teaching Job:...

As summer vacation nears, principals begin scrambling to fill teaching positions. College graduates start sending out resumes and trying to interview for jobs. Working with final interns (last semester of the program), I have begun to explore how to help these aspiring teachers land a job, preferably at a school of choice. Part of this process (we also work on crafting a resume), involves successful interviewing. To gather information on the topic, I started asking principals to speak to my...

The Global Search for Education: Dear...

“Like many things with parenting, it’s a near-impossible job description, but most of us do our best with it (and beat ourselves up if we get it wrong).” — Justine Roberts

“Parenting is probably the most important job most of us will ever do,” says Justine Roberts, Founder and CEO of Mumsnet....

Flag Day is coming, a day to honor the...

Flag Day is coming, a day to honor the flag of the United States.  Flag Day is June 14th.

Fun Flag Facts:

  1. A vexillologist is someone who studies flags!
  2. Most flags have the colors red and white.
  3. Only Vatican City and the country of Switzerland have square flags.
  4. Most world flags are rectangle in shape. The flag of the country of Nepal is the only one which is not rectangular or square in shape.
  5. When Sir Edmond...

The Power of Creative Inquiry in the...

“Memorable learning is the consequence of creative teaching, and creative teaching embraces the arts. If you are fortunate, you had a few creative teachers—ones like those who challenge students to write long division raps, choreograph geometry dances, perform World War II radio commercials, and paint literary quotes on ceiling tiles.”

(From: Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts)

 

As a teacher, picture how you...

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