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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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Is It a Panda?

 

Gifted children have been compared to cheetahs—a unique member of the cat family, that loses its ability to run fast if not used regularly. While I personally love Stephanie Tolan’s analogy (read it here), I would like to offer up a slightly different analogy, one that addresses a particular kind of gifted child.

Warning: this is not...

Was Buddha Gifted Because He Meditated?

Born Siddhartha Guatama, the “Buddha”as he would later be known, was born a warrior prince in what is present day Nepal. Not wanting his son to see the outside world (which according to the story would cause him to transform into this enlightened being and leave the monarchy), the king built several walls around the kingdom and sheltered his son during the early years. But the...

New Horizons About to Reach Pluto

pluto

After 9 1/2 years, New Horizons is about to give Earthlings an amazing view of Pluto!  On Tuesday, July 14th, after 3 billion miles, the spacecraft will be within 7800 miles of the dwarf planet (which was still considered a planet back during the 2006 launch...

Tour de France Begins!

On July 4th, the Tour de France began and will end on July 26th. It's considered the world's biggest and most exciting bicycling race. Athletes competing in the race will travel  approximately 2072 miles during the 22 day race. This year's Tour de France began in Utrecht,Netherlands.Cyclists will...

Why Are There Fewer Black, Hispanic...

Why is it that fewer black and Hispanic students continue to be represented in our school’s gifted programs?

For instance, you might have 300 white students at a school and 160 have been identified as gifted. On the other hand, you have 200 black students,...

C. M. Rubin's Global Education...

C. M. Rubin's Global Education Report - Around the World in 30 Days

This past month, I spoke to education innovators around the world about topics ranging from improving city schools to inclusivity to the increasing importance of film festivals in the digital age. The perspectives were manifold and...

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