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Posted under Activism, Current Events, Personal Growth, Resources
This post was written by Global Village School on August 12, 2010
QUEENSLAND children are so anxious over national tests they are wetting the bed and being physically sick, a federal inquiry has been warned.
Concerns over the exam regime has also prompted a rare public statement from staff at one state school, who described Education Queensland’s “mandate” to lift results by 4 per cent as “unreasonable”.
A raft of concerns about NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) has been raised in hundreds of submissions from parents, schools and educators to a federal inquiry, which is examining the administration and reporting of the tests.
Posted under Current Events, Education
This post was written by Global Village School on July 22, 2010
Story Published: Jul 9, 2010
As a member of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe of Northern California, I want to shed some light on what we are doing to protect our culture, land, and way of life.
Winnemem Wintu translates to English as the “middle water people,” referring to the Winnemem Waywaket (McCloud River) that flows between the Sacramento River and the Pit River from the sacred waters of Mount Shasta – our genesis place.
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Posted under Activism, Current Events, Politics
This post was written by Global Village School on July 13, 2010
It wouldn’t be so bad if the current education debate just involved different ways to achieve the same goals for children. But the reality is much more dangerous.
We are talking about two completely different paradigms: One, the traditional one that is failing, assumes that children are naturally lazy and need to be forced to learn. If you believe that then you need competition for grades, passing and failing, tons of homework, long school days, long school years, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
But modern brain research doesn’t confirm that assumption. Rather, it confirms a second paradigm, that children are natural learners, that the brain is naturally inquisitive. If you operate on that paradigm, as many progressive educators and homeschoolers do, almost none of the approaches mentioned above should be used. The teacher’s role is to actively help the student find resources to explore and learn about everything they are interested in.
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Posted under Culture, Current Events, Education, Homeschooling, Politics
This post was written by Global Village School on June 22, 2010
Parents, make sure you’re working some time outside into your curricular plans!
We kind of already know this – if not intuitively then through past studies – but a new study has shown that when you spend more time out in nature, you feel more alive. Published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the study shows that getting out and communing with nature is better for feeling rejuvenated than reaching for the ever-so-urban cup of coffee. “Nature is fuel for the soul, ” says Richard Ryan, lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Both physically and mentally, we’re zippier when we step into the wild.
Science Daily writes, “The findings, adds Ryan, are important for both mental and physical health. ‘Research has shown that people with a greater sense of vitality don’t just have more energy for things they want to do, they are also more resilient to physical illnesses. One of the pathways to health may be to spend more time in natural settings,’ says Ryan.”
Posted under Current Events, Personal Growth, Soul Food
This post was written by Global Village School on June 9, 2010
