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Getting hauled out of the classroom on day two wasn't exactly how Eric Hamlin had expected to kick off a new year at a new school. But Hamlin, a geography teacher at Carmody Middle School in Lakewood, Colorado, was suspended for allegedly flouting state law. His offense: displaying flags from other countries. Yes, that's right. Colorado law says that foreign flags may hang in classrooms only when they are relevant to the curriculum. After a little detective work, Principal John Schalk determined that Hamlin had no lessons planned for the immediate future that would relate directly to the flags in question—those of the United Nations, Mexico, and China. Officials, Hamlin said, seemed to think the Mexican flag in particular would "send these seventh graders into a spin and they would start protesting." When Hamlin refused to remove the flags, the Jefferson County School District had him escorted from his classroom and placed on administrative leave. "We have to uphold state law," said district spokeswoman Lynn Setzer. The district quickly backpedaled, though—offering to reinstate Hamlin and allow the flags to fly for up to six weeks, at which time he would have to rotate them with the proud banners of other nations. "Our district believes in win-win situations," said Superintendent Cindy Stevenson. Rather than returning to Carmody, Hamlin has asked to be reassigned to another school. Though he was new at Carmody, this is his fourth year in the Jefferson County district, where he has previously displayed flags from Iraq, Palestine, and other places. "It's much along the lines of a science teacher who puts up a map of the solar system," he said. "They may not spend every day and every lesson talking about Mars, but they want the students to see that."

Posted by Denise Kersten Wills at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

You know those nine pizzas? The ones your very excellent mother just served? The pizza days are over, pal. With the world's prominent astronomers voting yesterday that Pluto will no longer be classified as a planet, the mnemonic device several generations of schoolchildren have used to remember the order of planets in our solar system is now missing a vital piece. Teachers planning astronomy lessons using an old solar system model may find themselves plucking out the smallest Styrofoam ball and rewriting the memory aid to feature noodles, nuts, or nothing. On the plus side, though, many educators recognize that the astronomers' decision hammers home an important idea about scientific knowledge: that it's evolving. "What's so exciting is I'll be able to share with them the history in the making...I share with them that science changes daily," said Alan Burrell, a 6th grade science teacher from Indianapolis. He also cites Pluto's planetary demise as a positive event simply because it's gotten the public talking about astronomy. "It will get people more interested in finding out about the planets," he said.

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In an effort to squeeze every possible ounce of the day into test preparation, many schools have reportedly cut back on arts and enrichment programs. The Houston Independent School District, however, is taking the opposite approach. The district has launched a $1.75 million initiative to increase arts offerings in its schools. The money, according to HISD superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, will be used in part to train teachers to integrate music, dance, and other arts into core academic courses like math and science. In announcing the program, Saavedra pointed to research showing that, in fact, arts education boosts student engagement and performance. James M. Clarke, executive director of the Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education, added that schools’ practice of reducing time for the arts in favor of more academic drilling is counter-productive. “They’re giving [students] more and more work sheets and the brain doesn’t learn that way,” he said.

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What's a sign that your curriculum might not be effective? Well, if the subject in question is sex ed, then the finding that 13 percent of your high school's female population was pregnant last year could be a hint. The Canton, Ohio, school board has decided to rethink its abstinence-only sex ed curriculum after reviewing statistics showing that 65 of the 490 female students at Timken High School were pregnant in 2005. The new curriculum, which was developed by a committee that included a minister, "moves beyond the 'Just Say No' approach." Among the priorities were replacing circa-1988 health textbooks that were "older than some students," and updating the curriculum to go beyond state department of education requirements—which direct only that "venereal diseases" be discussed and do not require information about contraception to be taught. "Sex is more complex than the information about drugs and alcohol," said Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. We can say yes to that.

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At one time, "neatness counts" was as common a classroom phrase as "raise your hand," and penmanship ranked right up with math and spelling on the weekly educational roster. But in an increasingly digital world, the skill—or art—of neat handwriting may be going the way of the ditto machine. Some educators are bemoaning penmanship's fall from grace in the face of increasing testing demands and ubiquitous computer use. The concern is especially strong among occupational therapists who work in public schools. "Handwriting is the number-one way elementary school students provide feedback to their teachers about what they've learned," said occupational therapist Sandy Purvis. Penmanship also "improves the ability to connect the mind to the body to increase focus and attention," she said—skills that would benefit nearly any student. As students get older, good handwriting translates to legible notes, cleaner SAT essay answers, and nicer thank-you letters after college interviews. But all the genteel benefits in the world may not be able to secure penmanship's place in the classroom, especially for students beyond the third grade. "It's pretty clear that as time goes on, people are doing less and less writing by hand, " said University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman. "I suppose it only makes sense to spend less time practicing handwriting and more time practicing other things."

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