Blogs

Many of our recent discussions on the Gateway have centered on a multi-disciplinary or “whole child” approach to teaching and learning. Resources that look at one topic through the lens of many different subject areas are very useful to elementary school teachers and to secondary teachers who are working with colleagues to unite learning across different subjects. Creating a successful set of lessons that stresses these connections is a time consuming process. Using quality online resources will allow you to spend your valuable time being a teacher and a mediator.

One of my absolute favorite units as a middle school student was mythology. Since we were learning about ancient civilizations in Social Studies, my Social Studies teacher and English teacher developed the unit together. Although we focused primarily on Greek mythology, we also touched briefly on mythological allusions in books such as The Lord of the Rings and in films such as Star Wars, and the role of the archetypal hero.

Philanthropy: a deliberate affection for mankind, shown in contributions of money, property, or work for the benefit of others

Voluntary giving isn’t necessarily a natural action. From a young age, children need to be taught to share, and to learn that the act of giving has its own rewards. For many years, kids still find it much more pleasurable to receive money and gifts rather than to give them away, but eventually, most learn that doing a good turn for others can feel pretty amazing.

Modern cell phones are more than just devices for making and receiving phone calls. New smartphones are tiny computers designed for communication, organization, and entertainment. These newer phones include tools for taking and editing pictures and videos, sending texts and emails, streaming video, connecting to others through social networks, and so much more. With the release of new education apps every day, cell phones are beginning to edge their way in among high tech learning tools. The fact that so many students have access to cell phones (or other mobile devices like the iPod Touch or a tablet) leads many teachers to consider their use in the classroom.

From time to time, I like to check out various education-related Twitter feeds to see what’s trending. One topic that seems to generate a lot of chatter is the use of cell phones in the classroom. To date, teachers’ experiences of using mobile phones in the classroom are mixed: some report great success in using them to sustain student interest and to teach content in a new way, while other teachers experience problems with students focusing not on classroom content, but on texting their BFFs instead. What to do?

Recent events in my life and around the world have reminded me of the important role teachers play in educating the “whole child.” The main academic subjects are very important, but a well-rounded person will need more than just those basics to succeed in life. We spend a lot of time discussing what to teach and how to teach it, but all this discussion can make it easy to lose track of our ultimate goal of molding successful, well-rounded, and happy humans.

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.
-- Andy Warhol

In the 1950s, a group of British artists met regularly to discuss the influence of popular culture on their artworks. Led by artist Eduardo Paolozzi, the group discussed ways to incorporate components of comic strips, advertisements, current films, and packaging design into art. The movement spread to the United States and other countries a few years later, and the artistic genre known as pop art was born. The movement flourished well into the 1960s, launching the careers of artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns.

Sometimes the simplest things make the most memorable lessons. You can find rocks just about anywhere, and most kids have collected them at one time or another. Careful examination, comparison, and classification are a big part of rock collecting. Kids who enjoy finding and sorting rocks will learn a lot about geology and earth science while doing something they enjoy.