I'll bet you can easily name your favorite elementary school teacher, no matter how long it has been since your elementary school days. (Mine was Mrs. Portia Patterson, my third grade teacher at P.S. 116.) A good elementary school teacher can encourage you to love school and set you on the path to academic success. A recent study conducted [...]
Here's an inspirational story for you, as reported in Yahoo! Sports: Braylon Edwards, who was a Cleveland Browns rookie in 2005, promised back then to give $10,000 in scholarships to 100 Cleveland area eighth-graders if they could graduate high school with over a 2.5 GPA and 15 hours community service. Of the 100 who were afforded the opportunity, 79 [...]
Today's New York Times has a full-page ad courtesy of Baylor University celebrating Robert Griffin III's winning the 2011 Heisman Trophy. (For those of you without access to a hard copy of the Times, here is a link to a not so great shot of the ad). Above a large picture of Griffin in uniform, smiling as he holds [...]
Here's a "Letter from a Parent to His Son's Teacher" which has made the rounds on the Internet. While it is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, this attribution has been sufficiently disputed by historians to render it weak at best and probably false. Regardless of its authorship, the thoughtful advice in this passage is worth reprinting here. While it [...]
Back in March, GCP told you about Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.com) and its math and science tutorials online. ("GCP Sidebar: Homework Helpers", March 3, 2011) This semester, 36 schools nationwide are incorporating Khan Academy tutorials and software in their classroom instruction. Teachers across the country are combining their in-class lessons with computer based lectures and exercises devised by Salman Khan's [...]
It's parent teacher conference season! What's the best way to ensure that you get the most out of your limited time with your son's teachers during the conference? Check out these links for some helpful tips and ideas: "Acing Parent Teacher Conferences", published last year in the Wall Street Journal; A To-Do List for Parent Teacher Conferences from Education.com; [...]
Here's yet another interesting educational piece in the news: Today's Wall Street Journal features an article about how Chicago preschool and kindergarten teachers are integrating math concepts into daily classroom activities, giving young students firmer footing when they learn more complex math concepts in later grades. The teachers are being trained by The Erikson Institute, a graduate school in [...]
Here's an inspirational story from The Washington Post to savor along with your Thanksgiving leftovers: Coach Natalie Randolph, an African American believed to be the only woman currently coaching a high school football team in the country, led her Coolidge High School Colts earlier this week to the Turkey Bowl, Washington D.C.'s public school football championship. This was the [...]
While better teachers can certainly help a student achieve, better parenting can make a huge difference in a student's academic achievement as well. GCP has been shouting this from cyberspace rooftops since the day we launched, and a column in today's New York Times confirms that we need to turn up the volume. In "How About Better Parents?", found [...]
GCP is always on the lookout for ways to help our sons (and daughters) learn and excel. Here is a great one: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers Saturday Academies of American History, which provide free elective courses for high school and middle school students on Saturday mornings. Gilder Lehrman Saturday Academies are held in eighteen schools [...]