Well, panic not good knaves -- (lord, I've suddenly gone Shakespearean!!) -- for help is on the way. Here's a study guide to help you prepare for those upcoming math exams. Follow the guide and I can almost guarantee success -- but you have to follow it precisely and efficiently -- after all, that's what math is all about -- precision and efficiency.

AUNTY TAMMY'S GUIDE TO WRITING MATH EXAMS:

As with all important stuff in life, preparing for this exam is a three-tiered undertaking. You have to work on:  your study habits, your lifestyle your performance on the exam.  Approach this task as if it were preparation for some sports event -- a volleyball game or a golf match. In either of those two cases, you'd practice, watch your eating and sleeping habits as well as keep yourself out of messy emotional situations if possible -- and then you'd play the game with extreme awareness -- pacing yourself -- so as to play your best.  Well that's exactly what you want to do in preparation for this exam.

1. Study Habits:
If you can't study when you're at your best -- at least don't cram when you're tired. Carefully balance the on/off -- learning/digesting cycles so that you don't end up so exhausted -- you're just wasting time -- you're not learning or retaining a thing!! Work for 20 minutes and take a 10 minute break. And really make it a break!! If you play an instrument, play a few songs (that's what I do) -- if not -- go shoot some aliens in your favourite video or computer game -- but give yourself digestion time!!
Then go back to the books.

Talk your studying out loud. You can't very well do this if you're in the library (you could whisper) but whenever you can -- talk your math.   Speaking the words reinforces the memory threefold -- you have to think it, say it and hear it. It works!! Try it. Say stuff like "I'm using the quadratic formula to find the roots of a quadratic equation". You'll have a lot less trouble remembering hings.

Practice -- do tons of questions -- the more you do, the better the pattern stays in memory. Doing math is like riding a bike -- you have to practice. If your text book doesn't have enough questions, get a library book and do only the questions that have answers in the back so that you can check your work. Good idea is to work out the examples that the text presents so that you can check all the steps in the solution.

List the topics to be tested. Once you do this, it's no longer just a math test -- it becomes a test on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing rational expressions -- or solving quadratic equations using factoring, completing the square, or the quadratic formula. Now you've got an agenda for your study sessions so you can cross off topics as you complete them.

2. Lifestyle:
Don't stay up late studying. Better to get some sleep and study in the morning when your body is rested. This won't work for those poor souls who take 3 or 4 hours to awaken mentally -- but if you can handle it -- this tactic works well!

Take care of yourself physically and emotionally. Eat those comfort foods!! Don't overdo it but don't deny yourself either. Cut out the coffee -- drink fruit juices, mineral or spring water or even tea rather than coffee. The caffeine makes you edgy and you can't concentrate as well. If you must have coffee -- do decaf. Don't decide to break up with your girlfriend or fight with your parents the night before the test. Nothing screws up the think-lines worse than emotional static.

Think positive! Here in Quebec, we don't say "do your best" -- we say "fais ton possible" which means "do your possible". Shoot for realistic goals and then surprise yourself by surpassing them.

3. Writing the Exam:
Read all the questions and then do the ones you're sure about first. You don't have to do an exam in the order it's given. Do it in whatever order is to your advantage. Once you've piled up enough marks to pass, then you shoot for that 80% or 90%.

If you've memorized formulae and are afraid you'll forget them, write them down the second you get paper to write on. You don't have to try to remember those memorized details until such time as you're doing a question on that topic.

When reading a question, underline or highlight the important details. Label the task to be perfomed on paper or in your mind. If you think "aha, I've got to solve this quadratic for its roots and substitute those values into the formula for area" you'll have a plan of attack and won't be mystified each time you finish a step in the process.

If you get stuck on something -- leave it!! Do something else -- then come back to it when you've finished everything you can do without getting stuck. If you run out of room to complete the question, write the teacher a note indicating where the rest of the question's solution can be found. Don't waste time putting yourself into a state of panic.

Follow these simple rules and you'll not only find that you're passing your math exams, you'll be amazed at how high your marks are.

~ Tammy Bailis, Montréal, Québec
BA (McGill U.)
Masters in Teaching Mathematics (Concordia U.)
Author: Sinostrology: A Guide to the Zoo (published 1998 by The American
Federation of Astrologers); (French version published 1990 by les Editions
de Mortagne)
E-mail: piglet@vif.com

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~ Bonnie Bracey's Information Superhighway~
TECHNOLOGY, NOT A SILVER BULLET, BUT A TRANSFORMATION OF LEARNING...

"When you look at the world today, there's no doubt that technical literacy is as important as "reading, writing, and arithmetic" to our students. New technologies now pervade daily life. Today, some estimate that nearly 200 million people are now online worldwide -- not only for e-mail, but to shop, listen to music, watch live video footage, or trade stocks. There are now 830 million web pages you can visit, and by 2003 there may be 8 billion."  ( Larry Irving, of the Dept of Commerce.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/edtech12799.htm)

There are still teachers, parents, and community questioning the use of technology in schools. Most people using technology in schools,are using it as a tool, we know there is no instant solution to most of the problems in education.

CHANGE ?
Bob Metcalf says "The Internet promises to transform learning, but only by changing the outmoded institutions that the educational establishment is comfortable running. The Internet demands that these institutions change or die. If history is any guide, die they will, most of them, but not before a destructive rearguard fight."  Why isn't education changing.. ?

PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION
As the world becomes more technoliterate, there are teachers who still resist technology for good reasons. They do not have proper support, training, time to learn, use and incorporate the new technology in an efficient way into their learning landscapes. They may not have access to good pedagogical models and the transformation of education using technology is a difficult journey without pedagogical models and professional development.

TIME
Why? One reason is a lack of time.  There are several research projects that show that teachers do not have quality professional development time.  The public has little or no understanding of why teachers need this time.

* The fixed clock and calendar is a fundamental design flaw that must be changed.  Academic time has been stolen to make room for a host of nonacademic activities.  Today's school schedule must be modified to respond to the great changes that have reshaped American life outside school.  Educators do not have the time they need to do their job properly.  Those and many other reasons as outlined in two different reports on the use of time, help us to understand why teachers resist.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/index.html

ACCESS
For many teachers, access was a problem.  The problem of access is being solved. Slowly, but surely, schools are being connected recent data released from the National Center for Education Statistics shows the Nation's goal of connecting schools and libraries by 2000 may be realized. By the fall of 1998, 89% of public schools were connected to the Internet and 51% of classrooms are now wired as well.  We have the erate to thank for the tremendous progress.  "We're making significant strides to get technology to the place where children learn -- the classroom," U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said.  "The 'digital divide' is closing in our nation's schools, but we have to close the continuing divide in our nation's classrooms."

PEDAGOGY
George Lucas, uses the media to help create change for educators,by promoting this kind of learning--where students are challenged and engaged, learn by doing, have access to interactive technologies, and are supported by inspired teachers and by members of the broader community. His idea is to tell the stories, and transform using powerful ideas as in Live and Learn.  His educational foundation is also crafting a new project, which will show and share pedagogical models.

Inventions of the twentieth century have the potential to influence society as much as did the printing press. The computer, video, and telecommunications of various kinds are having an impact on every aspect of our society: work, leisure, entertainment, household tasks.  These inventions are also transforming the way we approach knowledge and sources of expertise.

Today, people are no longer required to read about an event; they can see media versions of it unfold before their own eyes and make their own interpretation.  Consequently, the ability to obtain and interpret information quickly and accurately is even more important than in the past.

There is no longer a question about whether the new technology will be used in schools.  Nearly everyone agrees that students must have access to computers, video, and other technology in the classroom.   Many believe these technologies are necessary because competency in their use is an important feature of career preparation; others see equally important outcomes for civic participation.  Most importantly, a growing research base confirms technology's potential for enhancing student achievement.   What is less certain is how and when these technologies will change the nature of schooling itself.

For example, the technologies are already providing an alternative curriculum for students that is scarcely acknowledged by the formal school curriculum.  Nevertheless, they have been mainly employed as additions to the existing curriculum.  Teachers are employed who know how to use them, but knowledge of and skill in the use of technology has not been necessary for all teachers.  These attitudes are surely short-sighted if technology infusion is to take root.""

Despite the technology changes in society, being a teacher in American schools too often consists of helping children and youth acquire information from textbooks and acting as an additional source of expertise.  Teachers are provided role models of this approach to teaching from kindergarten through graduate school;  their teacher education courses provide hints for making textbook-oriented instruction interesting and productive, and as teaching interns, they both observe and practice instruction based upon mastering information found in books.

Teachers may be forgiven if they cling to old models of teaching that have served them well in the past."  But now is the time for change.   http://www.ncate.org/projects/tech/TECH.HTM

~ Bonnie Bracey, Arlington, Virginia USA
Independent Consultant http://www.bracey-pearl.org/
US Educationalist & Presidential Advisor on Education & Technology.
The President's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Board,
URL: http://www.iitf.doc.gov/members/members.html
read: Minutes of the Committee on Applications and Technology .
URL: http://www-12.nist.gov/cat/cat-min/941027.html
Member of Vice President Gore's Globe Institute
A member of the Challenger Center Faculty:
A Christa McAuliffe Educator for the National Foundation of Education.
URL: http://www.technos.net/journal/volume1/sb3grewa.htm
Author of The Challenge of Introducing Technology.

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~Dr. Robert Kizlik's Teacher Education 101 ~
TEACHER EDUCATION?
From time to time, in courses I teach, something comes up that I find utterly amazing.  Just last week in an undergraduate course on methods and principles of teaching elementary social studies, I was using an example from science (biology) to illustrate an idea about social studies.  In describing the concept, I referred to the term photosynthesis.  Immediately, I knew there was something amiss.  So I asked, in a general sort of way, how many knew what photosynthesis was.  The silence of the response was deafening. A short discussion ensued about the importance of subject matter content for elementary teachers, as I assumed that college juniors and seniors would have some idea of this rather fundamental term.  Several students responded that such content was irrelevant at this point in their teacher education program because they could simply learn such content "on the fly" as it were when they begin teaching.  What they wanted to know is the pedagogy that would be on the final exam. 

This scenario has occurred dozens of times in my career.  For the most part, elementary education majors are convinced that subject matter content is less important than larning about pedagogy and classroom management techniques.

They honestly believe they can learn whatever subject matter content is required in a sort of "on-the-job" way.  When I asked them if they would consider having an operation performed by a surgeon what had to "read-up" on the procedure the night before, I think they began to see my point.  Without doubt however, this rather pervasive belief on the part of an upcoming generation of elementary school teachers can undermine any attempt at serious reform and improvement in the depth and breadth of what our children learn as a result of formal schooling.

As part of what I do, I maintain a discussion forum on the subject of teacher education on Delphi.  To illustrate my point, here is a posting from a few months ago:   Gee, it seems in my college the rules keep changing every time you turn around.  We have to take so many classes on teaching LEP students and on multicultural education that they seem to overshadow learning how to actually understand and effectively teach the SUBJECT-MATTER CONTENT for which we will someday be responsible.

See you next month.

~ Dr. Robert Kizlik, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University
Social studies, curriculum, educational technology, thinking skills
Member, Phi Delta Kappa, ASCD. Editorial Board, International Journal of
Instructional Media
Publications include articles on dropout prevention, thinking skills,
writing objectives, teacher education and the popular culture, curriculum
innovation, and using standardized test scores to predict academic success.
My web site is ADPRIMA: Serious educational tools and information.
URL: http://www.adprima.com
E mail: bobk@adprima.com

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~ Life is One Big Classroom with Joan Berger ~
SPRING HAS SPRUNG

It's Spring and life is flourishing all around us.  Perhaps you are about to embark on a study of plants or a study of animals and their habits during this season.  As Spring sweeps across the Northern Hemisphere, you can witness the changes that occur and the impact they have on all living things.

To aid you in this study, I suggest a wonderful Internet project and site at Journey North- http://www.learner.org/jnorth   Everything you will need can be found within this one web site. Although the project is coming to a close in June, you will be able to adapt whatever you find to your present class lessons.

One significant sign of Spring is the migration of a variety of species of living things.  You might want to involve your class in studying these species and in tracking their migration. Some suggestions are bald eagles, caribou, humpback whales, loons, manatees, monarch butterflies, orioles, hummingbirds, robins, leatherback sea turtle, and the whooping crane. Learn about their habitats, their source of food, and their mating habits to see why they migrate. See how this determines the area they will relocate to.

You can include a study of astronomy and the spring sky in your area.  Investigate how animals may utilize the Earth's magnetic field in navigating.

If photoperiod is changing faster at one place compared to another, what do you know about its location?  And here, of course, is a wonderful opportunity to include your map and globe skills into your activity.  For many more ideas on how to incorporate the progression of Spring into your curriculum, contact Journey North at 18150 Breezy Point Road, Wayzata, MN 55391, or email jnorth@learner.org, and be sure not to miss their web site, chocked full of wonderful links and
activities for this topic.

~ Joan Berger, Roslyn, New York USA
Internet Educational Consultant
fax (516)826-0358
E-mail: jberger5@concentric.net
http://www.concentric.net/~jberger5

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~ Michelle Young's Multicultural Mosaic~
OUR MAGIC BOXES

What makes a kitchen so special that we invite close friends and relatives into the kitchen?  At least in the United States of America, if we have a back, or kitchen, door, people close to us seem to gravitate to that door as if a magnetic force draws them there.  A stranger would never be so bold or presumptuous.  What is it about the kitchen?  Is it the kitchen itself, the intimacy, the table?

I recently asked a friend who lives in the Southeastern United States these questions, and she answered, "Being social always revolves around food. Down here, a popular backdoor sign reads 'backdoor friends are always best."  Food and socializing...

It hit me this morning that the kitchen may be the soul of the home.  Here, one can sense heritage, customs and cultures.  Food is certainly part of culture; but if we carry the idea of the soul, of heart, of the home resting in the kitchen--in an intimate environment we don't always recognize as intimate--we begin to see other things about the importance of the closely knit environment.

In my childhood home, all activity seemed to start at our kitchen table.  While the matzo ball soup or spaghetti sauce simmered on the stove, a variety of ideas often gave birth to a myriad of planned activities for the near future.  Conferences, where we attend seminars, workshops and presentations, often serve as kitchens on a larger scale.  We sit in intimate circles and listen or actively participate in an ongoing discussion that will allow our ideas to take more shape and definition.

In October 1998, I was a co-presenter at the international National Association for Multicultural Education in St. Louis, Missouri, where I had the pleasure of  attending what I'd call a "kitchen" atmosphere workshop, "Psst! Pass It On!"  The pot in that workshop boiled over with treasures!

Here, two instructors offered ways in which teachers could turn individual family cultural folklore into memorable and enjoyable classroom projects.  "The Magic Box" was one of my favorites.

"The Magic Box" will seem to be nothing more than a game of pretending, but the project's success actually lies in your ability to pretend.  By going through physical motions, the project becomes so real in your mind, that you begin to see and describe what you see and feel.  My Magic Box, for instance, was the richest, deepest navy velvet--so deep, it was nearly purple.

During the workshop, the participants pulled their magic boxes from their pockets.  Like the others in the room, I pulled mine out, and slowly, I expanded mine until I could place it on the floor in front of me.  Then carefully, I, like the others, removed a special item from my past.

We shared our memories of these individual items with the people sitting closest to us.  I shared mine--a brass miniature mortar and pestle on an engraved tray--with my neighbor, who told me about her grandfather's violin.  Immediately, we had a connection, and we began to talk about the similarities in our memories.  For us, the connection was even greater because we discovered we had nearly identical cultural roots.

But discovering a new friend was just one of the workshop's perks. There was still more to do, and soon, each participant was giving the group a synopsized description of the item found in each box.
One of the instructors developed a poem, using the descriptions each of us in the room had contributed to this next segment of our project.

It was an exciting workshop filled with ideas, memories, and culture, and the room buzzed with that excitement.  But the Magic Box portion of the workshop wasn't considered over until we, as methodically as when we'd started, placed our special treasures back into the boxes, collapsed and folded the boxes, and returned them to our pockets.

Facilitated learning comes from a kitchen environment in the classroom.  Students aren't memorizing what they're learning, at least not in the usual sense of the word, but they're learning in ways they won't easily forget!  A simple tool like The Magic Box can be used a tool in the classroom, not only for what seems like a simple project or exercise, but for the far richer learning that comes from its ability to help us to visualize our shared customs and experiences.

We can use Magic Boxes for a variety of projects and exercises, even about how the multitude of cultures uses foods most of us call common--potatoes, eggs, breads, and so on.  Common foods will offer still more cultural lessons, and with something as simple as an egg, the learning experience can be rich not only for your students, but also for you.

What you choose to use as your search inside The Magic Box is all up to you, your imagination, and the kitchen environment you'll find in the classroom.  Through shared home and classroom experiences, we can break down intercultural walls while we search our common bonds.

~ Michelle Young, New York State, USA
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/stradbroke/2/index.html
co-author, _Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: Meeting the Challenge of Our
Multicultural America & Beyond_ (Caddo Gap Press, 1996); _Multicultural
Moments from Around the World_ (1997); author, _Daydream: To Our Mosaic
World_, in progress for K-12; TIPS columnist; SRHS Trivia Trek host

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~ The Library Connection with Audrey Ciuffo ~
AUTHOR STUDY - VERNA AARDEMA

Since I am in the position of purchasing the books for my library, I get to pick and choose books and authors that I like, while satisfying the needs of my K - 8 school.  As I have gotten more familiar with books and authors over the years, I feel that some favorite authors have become like friends to me.

One who fits this category is Verna Aardema.  The reasons that I like and feel her books are worthwhile are varied.

First of all, she writes for a wide audience.  Her books can be used with preschoolers through high school, depending on the specific story.  Most of her folktales and other stories are based on African folklore.  It seems amazing that she has never been to Africa because her stories are so authentic. That is because she reads many books about the area from which the folktale originates.  She becomes an "expert" about the geographical location where the story takes place.  Because of that, her folktales and stories work.  They are enjoyable to read and to hear read aloud.  They all have an element of humor in them.  Sometimes there is great pathos and drama, as evidenced in "Bimwili and the Zimwi,"  Dial Press, 1985.

That one has been a perennial favorite of my son, Gregory since he was six years old.  It has magic, as well as the theme of sibling responsibility.

Another favorite of children in my school is "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain," Dial Press, 1981.  This is another example of a cumulative story.  Young children enjoy the repetition of the story events.  It tells of how an African herdsman brought an end to a drought.  So while children are enjoying an entertaining story in rhyme, they can also learn something about the social sciences.  She is very prolific, having published more than twenty-five books in her long career.  At eleven years old, she decided to make writing her career.  In high school she wrote school news for the paper.  She took writing courses at Michigan State College.  She started writing stories for children because she needed to make up stories to get her daughter to eat.  That began it all. 

Just think back to a camp experience and try to turn those activities into curriculum. This is so much fun and our kids loved it!!! 

~ Amanda Smith Caudill, Cynthiana, Kentucky USA
sixth grade Language Arts Teacher
Harrison County Middle School
http://www.harrison.k12.ky.us
E-mail: acaudill@harrison.k12.ky.us

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~ Technically Speaking with Kathleen A. Catapano ~
GETTING INVOLVED WITH WRITING….

Using the computer to support writing activities is not a new idea but a good one that merits some comments on why it is so effective for teaching.  Writing on the computer allows the student to focus on the creation and development of ideas without immediate concern for the structure and restrictions of formal writing.  Writers can work on developing their ideas before turning to the process of organizing them into well-structured sentences. Refining grammar and spelling can be saved for last.

Editing is an integral part of the writing procedure and doing it on the computer facilitates and coordinates the job.  The tedium of rewriting entire papers in order to reword a few sentences or correct specific grammar mistakes is eliminated.  Revisions are easily made to specific areas within the document. Best of all, the final product looks great!  It is neat and clear and more accurately reflects the efforts of the writer than a handwritten work that may be sloppy or illegible because of the fatigue a youngster experiences from rewriting things several times.

Encourage your students to create their essays using a word processor individually or as a class project.  After the first few experiences, you will see their focus shift from the technology to the development of their subjects.  They may even begin to enjoy writing as they become more and
more successful!

~ Kathleen A. Catapano, Brooklyn, New York USA
Educational Technology,
Medgar Evers College - CUNY
E-mail: catapano@mec.cuny.edu

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~ Including the Physically Handicapped With Sheila Estes ~
DESKS OF WRATH

One of the most frustrating matters regarding the physically challenged is that what works for one disability can be a hindrance to another.   A student using a wheelchair requires wide aisles and space from obstacles while someone walking in long-leg braces needs shorter walking distances
and objects nearby for support.  Adaptations must be made after careful consideration of the individual’s specific needs.

Several special needs students will be able to transfer onto regular desk chairs.  However, as in my son’s case, a few lack the strength for that move. Some power chairs can accommodate a lap desk as the working surface.  His chair’s armrests are too short so this type of desk did not offer enough stability.  The joystick’s positioning also makes it impossible to move close enough to a regular table or desk.

The first year a specialized desk was needed at his school, the Vocational Arts classes designed and built free standing desks from Formica and metal. These had a special cutout for his joystick and had to be lifted over the control for each use.  They proved to be impractical and caused damage to the control box. A better solution has been the use of a hospital bedside table.  A narrow board was bolted on one side of the bottom framework so a plastic basket could be attached for books and small objects.  This is easily rolled to each class and requires a minimum of space.

Send in your ideas.  Share a tip with us!
To send in your tip to:  tips@jrydevelopment.net

==== CALL FOR IDEAS ===================