In the early 1980’s, I became a teacher. I had been hired by a local Catholic parish as a cantor, but was seeking full-time employment in my field. When I was introduced to the parish staff, the principal asked me what I did for a living, and, when I told her that I was between…
Category: edu-cat-ion
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Pray For It: Part 5.5 of 5
To be clear, this doesn’t mean there should be prayer in public schools (although there used to be, and there’s nothing that stops private prayers from happening…especially before tests). Actually, if the local community wants prayer to be present “in” the public school, it should be allowed…but that’s another topic for another article. Regardless of…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Kids Need to Be Read To: Part 5 of 5
One of my earliest childhood memories was snuggling up to my mom on the couch on Sunday mornings. She would read the comics to me. It didn’t matter that I may not have understood the humor the cartoonist was presenting, because mom would explain what was going on in the pictures. I still remember bringing…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Reading, Writing and “Teching”: Part 4 of 5
You may think the title of this article has the word “teaching” spelled incorrectly. That assumption would be incorrect. “Teching” was a termed coined in the early video game era, but some folks started to use it regarding the increasing utilization of technology. Today, most children “tech” for enjoyment…alright, young adults do too, as evidenced…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Play Physical Games (Not Just Virtual Ones): Part 3 of 5
When I was a teacher, all ten of us – one teacher for each home room (K-8), and yours truly who taught 7th and 8th grade science and health, 8th grade algebra, and instrumental music – had recess duty once a week every other week. Kids played. It was not structured. It was not attuned…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Kids Need to Play a Musical Instrument: Part 2 of 5
A few years ago, I met a gentleman who told me he played in a band for 19 years, and made 3 records. He loves music, and is grateful to his dad for “making” him learn a musical instrument – even though when he was young, he hated it…especially when his friends were outside playing…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Kids Need to Sing: Part 1 of 5
I’m sure you’ve heard the argument that students in faith-based schools academically outperform public school students because of small class sizes. Let’s debunk that myth here and now by going back to 1965…almost 50 years ago. The 1st grade at St. Albert the Great School in Baldwin Boro (a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA) had approximately…
Continuous Improvement ≠ Transformational Innovation (or, 5 Things We Must Do To Improve Education) – Introduction
I’ve succeed in finding something that does not exist in some computer coding languages – the “does not equal” sign. ≠ needs to be found somewhere, then pasted in as a character. There are suggestions in several coding forums regarding what can be used, such as -=, which is the negation of the equal sign,…
Why edu-cat-tion?
For the summer months of June and July, edu-cat-ion.com will repeat its “Continuous Improvement =/= Transformative Innovation” series of articles. But first, a little more about why this site was created. Why do we need another Web site that talks about education? Why is there a picture of the space shuttle blasting off? And why is…
The Effectiveness of Teaching Strategies on Learning
In our current educational discussions of standardized testing, core curriculum, STEM, the elimination of arts education and the concern for special needs/gifted student/non-English speaking student education, not to mention the ever-changing role of the use of technology in the classroom and its impact on the learning experience, as well as societal issues such as bullying,…
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