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B.C. school district seeks $1-million loan to operate schools in China
Nechako Lakes district recently requested $1 million in loans to operate B.C.-certified schools in China.
Click here to read the full story, from Janet Steffenhagen’s blog.
Do video games teach kids ‘new literacy’?
When you check in with your kid, who is now into hour three of his Halo marathon, you repeat that well-worn phrase your mother used on you about killing brain cells and trading in the controller (well, it was a joystick back in your day) for a book. A new article on PBS’s Mediashift web portal presents a different argument: our definition of literacy is outdated. Kids may be learning a “new literacy” through playing video games.
CT (Certified Teacher) Designation denied
B.C. teachers will not receive a professional designation. The government nixed the idea over the summer, disallowing a bylaw proposed by the B.C. College of Teachers (BCCT) that would have allowed teachers to place the letters CT – for certified teacher – after their names, just as nurses use RN and engineers, P. Eng.
Click here to read the full story, on Janet Steffenhagen’s blog Report Card.
Simple quiz helps identify children’s developmental delays: BC study
According to a recent BC study, a simple questionnaire can help parents identify developmental disabilities among their pre-school children.
Click here to read the full story.
Teachers’ Use of Digital Technology in Secondary Music Education: Illustrations of Changing Classrooms
This journal article appears in the July 2011 issue of the British Journal of Music Education (28,2).
Abstract: The music industry in the 21st century uses digital technology in a wide range of applications including performance, composition and in recording and publishing. Much of this digital technology is freely available via downloads from the internet, as part of software included with computers when they are purchased and via applications that are available for some mobile phones. Such technology is transforming music and the way people approach many traditional music activities. This paper is about transformative practices that are underway in some secondary school music classrooms. Practices are being shaped by the culture of the schools and the students that they recruit. We describe the perceptions and practices of nine music teachers in four New Zealand secondary schools with regard to digital technology and how they are changing their work in their classroom. Data collection techniques include interviews, observation and a questionnaire. The data were subjected to two stages of thematic analysis. Grounded analysis was used to allow the teachers’ voices emerge. This was then followed by the application of five themes identified in the literature on pedagogic change prompted by teachers’ adoption of digital technologies.