Archives for September 2010

School friends may play a major role in teen’s academic success.

In a new study conducted in Los Angeles 629 12th-graders kept a record of
activities such as time spent studying and time spent with school friends and out-of-school friends. Students with higher grade-point averages (GPAs) had more school friends than out-of-school friends. The more school friends, the higher the
GPA.

It appeared that in-school friends are more likely to be achievement-oriented and share and support school-related activities, including studying, because they are all in the same
environment.

The study was recently published online in the Journal of Research on Adolescence.

The findings don’t mean that friends from outside of school aren’t beneficial.  It simply means that the friendships formed in school are more beneficial for academic success.

Data clearly indicate that students who spend more time in school are more academically successful.  It may indicate that schools should encourage more time in school through the use of clubs and sports activities.

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The purpose of this list was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at www.beloit.edu/mindset.

The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since “digital” has always been in the cultural DNA, they’ve never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.

Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them.  A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of scholarship. They will discover how to research information in books and journals and not just on-line. Their professors, who might be tempted to think that they are hip enough and therefore ready and relevant to teach the new generation, might remember that Kurt Cobain is now on the classic oldies station. The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older.

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A Portion of Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014

Most students entering college for the first time this fall””the Class of 2014″”were born in 1992.

Few in the class know how to write in cursive.

Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.

Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.

“Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo.

With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.

A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority”¦unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet.

Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.

Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.

DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.

Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks.

They have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides.

Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.

Czechoslovakia has never existed.

Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.

Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.

American companies have always done business in Vietnam.

Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.

They first met Michelangelo when he was just a computer virus.

Galileo is forgiven and welcome back into the Roman Catholic Church.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.

They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S.

The Post Office has always been going broke.

The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.

One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.

Silicone-gel breast implants have always been regulated.

The rest of the list is available at www.beloit.edu/mindset

Welcome back! Hopefully you have had a chance to relax, do some reading, swimming and just mellowing out.

As the new school year begins, I’d like you to take a look at the past year and what you have accomplished.  I have had the privilege of talking to educators at conferences during the summer and have been impressed with their stories.  I have spoken to teachers, educational assistants, secretaries, counselors, administrators, school security officers – people who work passionately at schools day after day. These are the folks who teach children, engage them in learning and keep them safe.  They do the real work and are rarely thanked for doing jobs that come with so many challenges.

During the past school year, I have visited classrooms and I’m impressed with what I have seen.  Children are learning in classrooms.  Most students left school at the end of the year better readers than they were at the beginning.  Their math knowledge and their awareness of the world have improved.

So before you walk into the school, take a bow.  You deserve it.

Hope you have a productive and successful year.  I will be talking to you.

Franklin

Welcome back.  For many of you it seems that the summer went too quickly.  I understand that having been in the classroom.  Hopefully,  you had a chance to rest and recharge your batteries.

While you were gone, lots of things have happened in the field of education.  One of the most productive is that the Congress passed and  President Obama signed legislation which would stop 300,000 educators from being laid off.

As for me, my latest book, 162 Keys to School Success, was published.  One book dealing with high performing classrooms is at the publisher and I am working on two new books which, hopefully will be published at the end of this year or early 2011.  You will find excerpts from 162 Keys at the Resources Section of my copyright-free website.

Again, my best wishes for a smooth and productive school year.

f