Make Way for a Student Influx

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, many families chose not to rebuild and left the area, heading for Texas. A good number of these families settled in the greater Houston area. This sudden migration placed a great strain on the pubic school districts that had to scurry to find portable classrooms and hire additional teachers and staff to meet the needs of the onrushing new student population.

Thanks to Hurricane Maria, the same thing is about to happen in Puerto Rico.

Many of the families affected by the storm and who are able, will be leaving the island for the mainland. Many of these people may never return to Puerto Rico.

They are heading to live with relatives and friends who live in the continental United States. According to my estimation, many of these families will be coming to Florida and New York, two states with substantial Puerto Rican populations. They will enroll their children in the local public schools so that the student’s can catch up with their education. Most students have already missed two weeks of school and according to some reports; schools on the island may not reopen this year at all.

School administrators of districts about to be impacted need to be proactive and get ready. Teachers and counselors will need to be empathetic to the needs of these children who have been uprooted by the cruelty of nature. It will be a trying time for all. Different curricula, the need to establish new friendships- all will need to be addressed. Public school educators in  this country have a knack for being resourceful. This will  be one more time when all of our collective resources will have to be marshaled and extend a hand to fellow Americans.

c.2017  J. Margolis

Teachable Moments From Harvey and Irma

As of this writing some students in Florid public schools are still not in class due to the ravages of Hurricane Irma. They will have missed almost two weeks of class time. For many of these children being in school is the last thing on their mind. Many families lost their homes and their possessions. Others are relying in government agencies or charitable organizations to provide them with food and clothing. One wonders what the phrase “ Getting back to normal” will mean.  I have always maintained that school is as much a social institution as it is an educational one. Teachers and classmates will need to come together to serve as a support network for those suffering from loss. For many, including first- responders and volunteers, there is the risk of depression and PTSD. They will need support too. I saw an interview this morning on TV with a couple in Texas, both who are teachers, and were flooded out for a second time in recent years. What is to become of them? How can we, the greater education community, come together to help folks like them?

Somewhere down the road is the new normal. We, as the education community, will have to find a way to make fractions and parts of speech relevant again. Until then, stay safe, and be of use.

c.2017 J. Margolis

an apology

To our friends and readers. We are currently being chased by Hurricane Irma. We will resume posts once we get situated. For those in Irma's path  and to those who suffered from the effects of Harvey, please stay safe.

J. Margolis

Those who Read Will Know

One of my personal prize possessions is my library. I have hundreds of books on a wide variety of topics. With the advent of eBooks and Kindle, there were prognosticators who predicted that the book could become obsolete. That has not happened. What has occurred because of the Internet and social media, people are reading less. We can access magazine articles, read a paragraph (or two) and then move on. According to a Washington Post article this summer, a study completed by Neilson concluded that the average American spends more than 10 hours a day consuming all types of media. According to the Post story, Warren Buffet admitted to reading 500 pages a day-well beyond the scope of most of us. Other celebs had tried to read on average 5 hours a week. What is a realistic goal for you? What about for your students?

I once had a professor who remarked, “ Those who read will know and those who don’t won’t.” We need to instill a genuine curiosity in students and encourage them to read. Last week I was on a local college campus to participate in viewing the solar eclipse. There were well over one thousand people there, including many children. I was encouraged to hear families discuss the elements of the eclipse and what they had read about it prior to the big event. There are many teachable moments that occur during the course of a school year. Use those moments as opportunities to encourage your students to read. Filter out the distractions and READ.

c. 2017 J Margolis

A Revolutionary Idea- Public Education for All

  For those of you who live in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the new Museum of the American Revolution is a “Must See.” If you are a teacher or administrator in an area school, a field trip for your students would be a meaningful experience. There are interactive kiosks; a chance to dress up in colonial attire and students can board a model of a privateer vessel.

One of the information panels that caught my eye was entitled “ Educating Citizens.”

It read “ After the a Revolutionary War, many Americans believed that education was the best way to secure their republic.” They held that only people who had been taught to think critically could rule themselves without a king.”

 In fact Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician in colonial Philadelphia and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a treatise on the importance of education.

"Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic" was written in 1786. Rush observed, “Education must take place in the United States.  A general, uniform system of education needs to be established that would be adequate for all of the essential purposes of citizenship.” 231 year later his observations are still true. If we are to continue to succeed as a nation, we must have an educated population.

As you prepare for the coming school year, keep these notions in mind, as you get ready to meet your students. We wish you much success and satisfaction in gthe coming school year.

c. 2017 J. Margolis

Book Review- “Shame Nation”

I recently had the opportunity to preview a book that is going to be published in October. “Shame Nation” takes an introspective look at the rise of online hate and shaming both in the United States and around the world. One of the facets of the book is to look at cyber bullying. This has become an epidemic among school students that has unfortunately led to the tragic suicides of a number of students.

The authors have defined shame in three parts:

“1) a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety

2) a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute

3) something that brigs censure or reproach” (page 8)

As we approach the start of a new academic year, this book is a MUST READ for teachers. We live in a society filled with negativity and given that computer and cell phone use is so prolific, anyone (even teachers) can become a an online victim almost instantaneously.

Monica Lewinsky will pen the foreword of this book. Her one quote printed thus far observed “ There is a very personal price to public humiliation, and the growth of the Internet jacked up that price.”

The authors of this important work are Sue Scheff and Melissa Schorr. Both are published authors. Ms. Scheff is the founder of Parents Universal Resource Experts and has been involved with working with teens.

Publication information’

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Price- $25.99

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 978-1-4926-4899-4

c. 2017 J. Margolis