Joanne Jacobs
At 91, math teacher isn't ready to retire
After 63 years of teaching high school math in Alexandria, Virginia, Lou Kokonis isn't planning to retire. The 91-year-old comes early to...
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Joanne Jacobs
- 4 days ago
- 2 min
Don't make math harder than it needs to be
Struggle is supposed to be good for math students, writes Greg Ashman on Filling the Pail. Telling them how to solve problems is supposed...
Joanne Jacobs
- 5 days ago
- 2 min
Chicago invests in small-group tutors, while LA shifts to classroom teachers
Chicago Public Schools are relying on "academic interventionists" to help students catch up in reading and math, reports Mila Koumpilova...
Joanne Jacobs
- 5 days ago
- 2 min
It's summer school or else for would-be fourth graders in Tennessee
Thousands of Tennessee children will be going to summer school -- or repeating third grade, reports Chalkbeat's Marta W. Aldrich. Sixty...
Joanne Jacobs
- 6 days ago
- 1 min
Go outside to play -- and learn
Kindergarteners learn outdoors -- including time in the "magical forest" -- for most of the school day at a school in Quebec, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
- 7 days ago
- 2 min
If Mia becomes Mike, parents want to know
If Jayden was cutting school, failing classes and getting in fights, he might not want his parents to know. But his teacher wouldn't keep...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 27
- 2 min
High school debate's decline: No arguing allowed
High school debate competitions no longer value debate, writes James Fishback, a debater turned debate coach, on The Free Press. Until...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 26
- 2 min
No-tell teaching: Figure it out for yourself, kid
A leprechaun has two pots of gold, each with 10 coins in it, plus three extra coins. How many coins does he have in all? Some...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 25
- 2 min
Dual enrollment soars, but is it really college?
Sarah Olufemi-Dada is graduating from her Texas high school with a diploma, an associate science and a full scholarship to Stanford,...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 24
- 2 min
'At lunch hour, everyone eats alone, scrolling TikTok'
But, Mom, everyone else has a smartphone. Parents are trying to say "no" to smartphones for elementary and middle schoolers, but it's...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 24
- 2 min
Surgeon General: Social media is hazardous for your kids' health
Social media is endangering the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, warns Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in a 19-page...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 23
- 1 min
Test reading and civics at the same time
Only 6 percent of eighth-graders can read Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech and identify two ideas from the Constitution or...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 23
- 1 min
Textbooks are light on Latino history -- except for Sonia Sotomayor
U.S. history textbooks don't include much about Latino Americans, concludes a report by Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 22
- 2 min
SATs are out. Published 'research' is in, but it's pay to play
Test scores are out. Everyone's got an A average. The "community service" trip to Mexico and the start-your-own-charity gambit are...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 21
- 2 min
Roblox goes to school: Plan a Mars mission or join the Pathogen Patrol
Roblox is going to school, reports Benjamin Herold in Education Week. The popular gaming platform is adding immersive online “learning...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 20
- 2 min
Study links early smartphone use with poor mental health
At what age did you get your first smartphone or tablet? The younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 19
- 2 min
Students don't learn more from a same-race teacher
Elementary students don't learn more from a teacher who matches them in race or ethnicity, concludes a new study. There is little...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 18
- 2 min
School of bullies
Sometimes students misbehave -- not because their needs haven't been met or their teachers aren't sufficiently sensitive to their culture...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 18
- 2 min
My students are 'broken kids I cannot fix'
Teachers on Reddit are sharing horror stories of their students' emotional, social and academic melt downs, screen addictions and apathy....
Joanne Jacobs
- May 17
- 1 min
We can't 'replace academic mastery with critical thinking about nothing in particular'
The American education system has turned away from academics and lost its way, says David Steiner, executive director of the Institute...
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