Joann's blog

According to a recent CDC survey, one in five U.S. high school students say that they have taken prescription drugs without a doctor’s prescription. The survey also found that 72% of high schoolers had used alcohol in the past year, while 37% had used marijuana. Clearly, drugs and alcohol continue to be attractive to teens, despite various drug education programs and public service announcements to alert them to the dangers of such behavior.

Summer may be in full swing, but many educators are already planning for the start of classes in the fall. In addition to reviewing classroom layouts and revamping lessons, some teachers use the “downtime” of summer to investigate new technologies and more effective ways of delivering information to their students.

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous storyteller – which, alas, is not me. My grandmother, however, was a superb storyteller; her ability to keep scores of cousins engrossed in her tales was legendary. Her gift of timing, as well as her ability to use different accents and intonations kept us all enthralled. The oral tradition of storytelling is ancient; Homer’s numerous repetitions of the “wine-dark sea” in The Iliad and The Odyssey, for example, illustrate how the stories were memorized and passed down over the years until they were finally transcribed into print. Storytelling in the oral tradition is both a craft and an art, and something that deserves a resurgence in popularity.

As most educators and parents know, finding quality TV shows for young children can be quite a challenge. While there are a number of engaging and even educational shows for kids on cable TV, the numerous commercials are often inappropriate for young viewers. This is one of the reasons why I’m a big fan of PBS Kids. It’s a safe haven where children can watch educational television without being exhorted to buy the latest toy or being subjected to trailers for TV shows or films aimed at a much older audience.

Although it’s now summer, I know that many teachers are already planning for the coming school year, and thinking about ways to improve their classes. At an end of the year event last month, I overheard an elementary school teacher talking about how students in her class handled stress, and how over the summer she planned to do some research on students and stress management. That got me thinking.

“You really need that,” my seven year-old announced one day, pointing at the TV. An infomercial for the Buxton Organizer, a “stylish genuine leather over-the-shoulder organizer,” shows an exasperated woman digging through her purse while her MIA cell phone frantically rings. “I already have a purse,” I replied, somewhat defensively. “But look at how much stuff it holds!” my daughter breathed, while the woman on the commercial stuffed a wallet, cell phone, two water bottles, an umbrella, and what looked like an entire cosmetics counter worth of makeup into her bag. “And it comes with a little message reminder thingie,” my daughter pressed. “You know how much you forget stuff!” A year later, while I still don’t have a Buxton Organizer, my daughter has not forgotten the commercial.

No matter which acronym you use, the number of U.S. students who don’t speak English as their first language is on the rise. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of U.S. public school children who spoke a language other than English at home jumped from 3.8 to 10.8 million between 1979 and 2007. That means that more than 20% of students nationwide between the ages of 5 and 17 are learning English as a foreign language. Unlike several decades ago, students learning English aren’t confined to urban school districts, either. In our bucolic suburb, for example, my second grader’s school services students speaking 17 different languages other than English, while another K-3 elementary school in town contends with 24 different languages.

Dr. Who?

A few weeks ago, my 5th grader sprinted off the bus to tell me that he had performed a hip replacement that day. “Really,” I said, thinking that a new euphemism had been coined for the daily recess football injury. Instead, he burbled excitedly about virtual surgeries they had performed in school that day during computer lab. My interest piqued, I decided to check out the Edheads Web site for myself. The site offers neat online simulations of surgeries and other types of materials.

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.
- Dave Barry

The above quote by humorist Dave Barry is funny, yes, but would be even funnier if it weren’t so true. Despite foreign language course offerings in U.S. schools, Americans don’t seem to place much of a premium on the ability to speak languages other than English. While English is still the predominate language used in international business, the CIA World Fact Book contends that only 5.6% of the world’s population speaks English as a primary language.