Michelle Obama Recognizes Art Education Programs in Hispanic Schools

Michelle Obama Recognizes Art Education Programs in Hispanic Schools: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama honored the work of a dozen projects promoting the development of art and the humanities in education, notably the Paso Nuevo/New Step bilingual school of theater, and a program for preserving mariachi music. Trumpets and guitars were played with youthful power by a group of students in the Mariachi Master Apprentice Program of San Fernando, California, founded by the Grammy-winning band Los Camperos. This initiative was one of those honored with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, presented by the first lady in the White House East Room. Mrs. Obama, honorary chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, expressed her gratitude for the work of artists, instructors and educators working with tightened budgets so these programs can continue helping new generations of young people acquire skills that “aren’t just valuable in the studio or in the theater, but they are critical in the classroom and will be in the workplace.” “You are pushing and inspiring our kids,” she said. “You’re revealing their boundless promise, and teaching them to believe in themselves.” The first lady also noted during her speech the power of art to transform youths and urged the young people at the reception to do everything possible so that others can have the same opportunities they have enjoyed. Ready to do just that was Estefanny Espinosa, 18, daughter of Mexican immigrants, who said that “it’s incredible how little kids see us as an example and start learning culture that, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t learn any other way.” Speaking on behalf of the prizewinners, 15-year-old Starr Arroyo of the New York Urban Debate League said that this initiative has given her the confidence to speak and “dream big” like her heroines, including fellow Bronx-native Sonia Sotomayor, who became the first Hispanic justice of the Supreme Court. She also pointed to another Hispanic project, Paso Nuevo/Next Step, in which youths 12-18 learn acting techniques like the use of voice and movement, develop their creativity within an atmosphere of collaboration, and strengthen their self-esteem.

Verizon Innovative App Challenge for Secondary Students

Verizon Innovative App Challenge for Secondary Students:

Created to ignite interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), The Verizon Innovative App Challenge opens student's eyes to exciting new possibilities for their futures, opening doors they may never have known were there. The Challenge is a collaborative competition that offers $10,000 grants and Samsung Galaxy Tabs for winning secondary schools and students.

Here's how it works:

• Working with a faculty advisor in teams of 5-10, students will develop an original concept for a mobile app that incorporates STEM and addresses a real need or problem in their school or community. While designing their apps, students will consider marketplace need, usefulness, audience and viability. Teams will submit their design concepts online through a visual presentation accompanied by an essay.
• One middle school and one high school team from each state will be judged “Best in State” and team members will be invited to participate in a live webinar hosted by Verizon Foundation featuring industry experts who will share how they use STEM skills in their own careers.
• A distinguished panel of STEM educators and corporate innovators will then judge the top Best in State teams and provide feedback on their design concepts to each team via a live webinar. The 10 overall winning teams will then be selected and announced.
• Each of the 10 winning schools (5 middle school and 5 high school teams) will receive $10,000 cash grants plus professional support and training to help them bring their designs to life by building their apps and bringing them to the marketplace. Students on each winning team will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab and be invited to present their developed apps in person – on their new tablets – at the 2013 National Technology Student Association Conference in Orlando, Florida in June.

The Verizon Innovative App Challenge offers a rich, project-based learning experience that fosters teamwork among students with a wide variety of academic interests and strengths.

It’s a unique opportunity for students around the country to explore new ideas and potential careers in STEM that will serve them well in the future.

Registration is open. Submissions accepted: December 1, 2012 - January 18, 2013

Download the Verizon Innovative App Challenge flyer

Find out more here.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Raises $125k In One Night For Latino Students

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Raises $125k In One Night For Latino Students: At these times when the costs of attending college are outpacing financial support from public and private sectors, The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the nation’s largest Hispanic college scholarship awarding organization, raised a record $125,000 and awarded students during its annual Alumni Hall of Fame gala. Thanks to corporate donors, Wells Fargo, Google, Anheuser Busch and the Meruelo Group, sponsors like Macys, Fox Deportes, and La Raza Pizza, and the more than 400 individuals attending the dinner or watching via video streaming pledged.  “This demonstrates the power of connecting donors to deserving students and together supporting the placement of a college degree in every Latino household in America.” HSF provided college scholarships to over 4,000 students for the current 2012-2013 academic year, but for each one who received a scholarship, four did not for lack of funds. Attendees at HSF’s Alumni Hall of Fame rose to the challenge and pledged $125,000 in new scholarship dollars using Text-to-Pledge technology, funding an additional 100 college scholarship applicants watching the event live via online streaming. Joselyn Espinoza, one of the scholarship recipients, texted “Thank you for this scholarship! …This year has been hard for my family, and without this, it would have been very difficult to pay for college.”

Tech Forum NY 2012

Tech Forum New York:
Insight & Innovation for Technology Leaders
Friday October 19, 2012 | Westchester Marriott | Tarrytown, NY
Join Tech & Learning magazine for a day of networking and professional development.

Register today for $185 per person – that’s a $104 savings! Use code NY12GRM

Register here.
http://www.techlearning.com/events/techforum/newyork12/register

Program Information here.
http://www.techlearning.com/events/techforum/newyork12/program

Parent Trigger Laws: Why It's Better to Embrace Collaboration

Parent Trigger Laws: Why It's Better to Embrace Collaboration:

Blogger Anne O'Brien critiques Parent Trigger Laws, and proposes more constructive measures for involving families in their children's schools.

http://www.walden.com/

Parent trigger laws have been attracting a lot of attention of lately. At least 18 states (some say 20) have considered legislation including parent trigger language over the past two years, with seven states enacting some version of a parent trigger. And a major motion picture set to release on September 28 chronicles a fictional account of a parent and teacher "pulling the trigger" to improve an elementary school.
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Influential educators, bloggers and twitterati recognized at the Bammy Awards

Influential educators, bloggers and twitterati recognized at the Bammy Awards: What would happen if instead of being bashed, blamed, and scrutinized, educators were lauded, celebrated, and recognized. That is among the goals of what might become the annual Bammy awards.  The Awards aim to foster recognition of excellence in education, encourage collaboration and respect, elevate education and education successes in the public eye, and raise the profile and voices of the many undervalued and unrecognized people who are making a difference in the field.

In what is usually reserved for the actors and athletes of our society, instead, it was us on the red carpet in our flowy gowns and tuxedos who were being treated like movie stars as we were chauffeured in limos where we were photographed by paparazzi, taped, and interviewed as we made our way into the Arena Stage at Kreeger Theater in Washington, DC.

Posing for a picture on the red carpet. Photo credit: Kevin Jarrett

The Bammys, presented by the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences International recognized the importance of those of us who blog and tweet because of our ability to help citizens sort out what deserves attention and provide insightful context. I had the pleasure of being selected as a top 100 education blogger at the first annual event and was honored to be among the top 20 who were called up on stage to be recognized for our role as influential thought leaders. 

Influential educational blogger honorees Photo credit: Kevin Jarrett

One of the foremost educational leaders in using social media, Eric Sheninger known as Princial Twitter did a terrific job of coordinating the bloggers, micro bloggers and connected educators.  He and Joe Mazza served as presenters who recognized the following educators on stage: Adam Bellow, Angela Maiers, Chris Lehmann, Deven Black, Erin Klein, George Couros, Joe Mazza, Joyce Valenza, Kelly Tenkley, Joan Young, Kyle Pace, Lisa Nielsen, Mary Beth Hertz, Nicholas Provenzano, Patrick Larkin, Shannon Miller, Shelly Blake-Plock, Shelly Terrell, Steven Anderson, and Tom Whitby. You can see all 100 here. You can see us being honored at the event below.

The event gave us an opportunity to rub shoulders, take photos, and most importantly chat with some of the more renowned movers and shakers in education such as John Merrow, Randi Weingarten, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Diane Ravitch who said, "The depth of discouragement among educators in the trenches is at an all-time high and cannot be overstated." The Bammy Awards works to combat such discouragement by recognizing those who vigorously and thoughtfully blog and tweet about education as a very important part of the education community ecosystem. 

Lisa Nielsen, John Merrow, Patrick Larkin

As librarian Deven Black shared on his blog, "It is so outlandish for educators to get red carpet treatment, hear kind words and receive weighty trophies. We have become far more used to being blamed, attacked, criticized, sniped-at and otherwise vilified." Hopefully the Bammys are the first in a movement to bring our nation closer to those like Finland where teachers are trusted, honored, and respected. After all, as Linda Darling-Hammond pointed out, "There is another story we rarely hear: Our children who attend schools in low-poverty contexts are doing quite well. In fact, U.S. students in schools in which less than 10 percent of children live in poverty score first in the world in reading, out-performing even the famously excellent Finns."

Let's not blame educators for a societal issue and instead focus on rewarding one of our nation's most important professions. Educators are being intensely scrutinized, but not as intensely recognized for the great work being done. The Bammy Awards are one such effort to  change this. 

Integrating Science, Math and Technology Reference Curriculum

Integrating Science, Math and Technology Reference Curriculum: You will be able to use the lesson plans on this site all year long, whether you teach kindergarten or high school. The elementary topics deal with cycles--water cycle, life cycle, plate tectonic cycl..