Joann's blog

With the U.S. presidential election less than a month away, the presidential campaigns are in full swing. Each candidate is busy raising campaign funds and vying with each other to promote their messages and views. It’s a fortuitous time to show students how the campaign process works, and how voter attitudes often change over time. Inevitably, many early frontrunners fizzle out, while other political contenders slog along in the shadows until some aspect of their campaign happens to catch the popular imagination. While political campaigns are often viewed as either high drama or theatres of the absurd, they are still a vitally important element in the democratic process.

Recently, the G20 Summit was held in Cannes, France to discuss world financial markets and a system of monetary reforms for some troubled European economies. This year, the discussions focused heavily on Greece, whose citizens are rebelling against austerity measures recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to prevent the Greek economy – and quite possibly the world economy – from collapse. While the financial discussions may be a snorefest for many students, it’s vital for them at all grade levels to understand the concept of financial debt and its consequences.

Students rarely feel blasé about modern and contemporary art. Generally speaking, they are either captivated by it or bemused by it – "Geez, I could do that!" is a common response. Whatever their attitude, student reaction to such art is honest and visceral. One byproduct of the "I could do that" attitude towards modern art is that students often find it more accessible and less intimidating than other types of art that stress realism. Less intimidating material tends to allow students to approach the subject with less trepidation and with more tolerance regarding mistakes that can occur when creating their own artwork.

In a small Massachusetts village in 1692, two young girls began having a series of fits that quickly afflicted other girls and young women in the town. Finding no physical cause for the fits, local physicians quickly dubbed it the work of the devil. The girls were thought to be possessed through witchcraft, and they quickly accused three village women of having cast the evil spells. As the news rapidly spread through the New England region, other girls suffered similar afflictions in neighboring towns, and increasingly numbers of women (and some men) were thus accused of witchcraft. In the span of four months, more than 150 people stood accused of witchcraft in the region, and 24 died as a result.

The human love affair with ghosts and monsters has a long history, and reached a zenith in the mid-to-late 1800s. Writers such as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker and many others crafted stories of the supernatural, delighting their audiences with frightening tales of mystery, curses, and sometimes madness. Commonly known as Gothic fiction, the genre is still popular today, thanks to contemporary authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and Anne Rice.

Until recently, schools banned the use of cell phones and other mobile devices by students during class hours. While some students argued that the devices could be helpful to the learning process, teachers and administrators focused instead on those students who used the devices for non-learning related tasks, such as texting their peers and trolling the Internet.  Although the abuse of mobile devices by students is still a valid concern, some enterprising educators have embraced mobile technology and are increasingly incorporating it into the curriculum.

Autumn doesn’t officially start until next week, but thesigns that the season is imminent are all around us. The nights have becomenoticeably cooler, and the days shorter. Trees are beginning to change color,and will soon begin shedding their leaves. For many plants, the lifespan of their hardworking leaves has come to anend; they will soon color, shrivel, and finally die. In some parts of thecountry, many plants will remain dormant for the winter, and only graduallyre-animate in the spring, when they unfurl new leaves.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11. For me, the only day that was worse than September 11, 2001 was September 12, 2001. By then, the shock of what had happened was starting to recede, and the grim reality of the utter devastation was sinking in. Most of our K-12 students are too young to remember much, if anything, about that day, but it remains a watershed event in American history.

It’s always fun to do something unexpected in the classroom, and to watch the kids’ reactions. It’s especially gratifying when the event furthers a curricular goal, or makes subject matter more palatable to the students.

A new book aimed at six-to-twelve year olds will hit the shelves in October, and it’s already generating a lot of comment in the press and from nutritionists. The book is entitled Maggie Goes on a Diet, and it tells the story of an overweight and insecure girl who diets and exercises her way to becoming a soccer star.