In the words of Austin Powers, "Allow myself to introduce... myself" - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

DataDoxy · 09-12-2014, 08:47 AM

Hi!

I am a Mathematics Educator and an Educational researcher. I have ten years of classroom teaching experience, two years of teaching university undergraduate classes, and two years of teaching graduate classes in education. My research includes the neuroscience of learning with a focus on the teaching and learning of mathematics and problem solving for all learners. I also study trends in education with a strong focus on 21st Century Education.

I am here to offer a space to answer questions and start discussions about all things related to learning and education.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?....

pseudoreality · 09-12-2014, 09:06 AM

Alright, I'll bite. How come kids are taught about things like the French Revolution, but nothing with respect to the fundamentals of the world around them? Why aren't students taught things like where their water comes from or how their furnace works?

Bingo · 09-12-2014, 09:32 AM

Welcome aboard DataDoxy, though I wish this existed when I was struggling mightily with grade 10 math!

Hopefully our membership offers up a swack of interesting questions and your venture on Calgarypuck is both successful and long tenured!

Thanks for supporting Calgarypuck!

Oh and can you bring the recycling and garabe bins in when you leave?

Street Pharmacist · 09-12-2014, 09:43 AM

Opinion on Omega 3? I haven't found any compelling we evidence, but have had a few patents ask for it as their kids teachers have told them it helps

undercoverbrother · 09-12-2014, 02:54 PM

Sliver will one day stumble upon this thread.......and when he does....

Sliver · 09-15-2014, 02:21 PM

...he'll say: welcome to the forum, DadaDoxy. Nice to have you aboard!

undercoverbrother · 09-15-2014, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sliver

...he'll say: welcome to the forum, DadaDoxy. Nice to have you aboard!

Sycophant.

Drury18 · 09-17-2014, 12:13 AM

Hi,

I have a question as I've come across something new with my child's teacher this year. They just started Grade 3 and in a 3/4 split and came home to tell me the teacher has a behaviour chart posted in the front of the class where the names are posted with a coordinating colour. They've attended this school for the previous 3 years and none of the other teachers had these charts. The teacher is also brand new to the school and I believe a first year teacher as well. Previous teachers have always been discrete about issues and would take children aside and do things in an one on one manner and then talk to the parents afterwards or leave a note in the agenda. The chart is one of the "Green = Good, Yellow = Okay, Red = Bad, Purple = Call Home".

As parent/teacher's are coming up, I wanted to have a discussion with the teacher about this system as I don't agree with a public discipline system like this for children as it causes some to feel more stress and shame then they should (as proven in a couple of studies regarding this method of classroom discipline) as well as opens children up for bullying if they are always seen on the "bad" list. I am not sure how to approach this conversation.

Is this method used by many teachers? What would be the appropriate way to voice my concerns about this system?

Finger Cookin · 09-17-2014, 06:30 AM

When does Bingo Jr. get his own subforum?

Tyler · 09-19-2014, 11:43 PM

Creating a sub-forum for your wife? Oh Bingo..

DataDoxy · 09-21-2014, 04:14 PM

Tyler... Trust me, I have earned it

Azure · 09-21-2014, 04:27 PM

Its not a terrible idea. Lots of parents here, and having a dedicated forum to talk about educational topics is a big plus.

calgarygeologist · 09-22-2014, 03:15 PM

Do school's try to label or push kids into "development" programs so that they can get additional funding?

The reason I ask is because my kid just started kindergarten and he is young for his class (turns 5 in December and there are some kids who will be turning six before he turns five.) His teacher mentioned that she wants him to undergo some sort of speech evaluation because he has trouble with some words, sounds, letter (such as yellow coming out as lellow.) After doing some reading and research online apparently many of the speech issues he is displaying are common at his age and not resolved until later (5 or 6 years old.) The concern is what happens if the speech evaluation identifies him with some sort of issue and he gets put into some sort of delayed or slower program based on a wrongful opinion (ie. the school wants additional funds so they are tagging kids with "problems")?

DataDoxy · 09-24-2014, 06:24 PM

I understand your concerns regarding testing. First, you are right that many kids who are 4, 5, and even 6 years old have trouble articulating certain sounds. This was the case for my nephew who is now twelve and speaks very well. However, this can be an early sign of later speech, hearing or other issues, although that is most certainly not always the case! As I said earlier, my nephew had a lot of trouble with his speech until he was seven and he has no issues today.

So... Here are some options for you. You can have your son tested which can happen two ways; the school can assess him, or you can have him assessed privately. It is important to know that if the school assess him, they retain the data for his file. Now, just because they keep the data does not mean he can be put into a particular program or that additional funding will be granted to the school if he is in fact, "coded". From what I understand you, the parent, gets to sign off on this before anything can happen, so you do have control of how the data is used. (I recommend verifying the school policy on this before agreeing to any testing just in case their protocol is different). It is also important to keep in mind that if the school owns the data, it will remain in your child's file during their school career and can be referenced by his teachers. The second option is to get your son tested privately. This way you own the data. Then, you can choose to bring the results to the school or keep them for yourself. If something is found out and you decide to bring the results to the school, you can ask them what your child's options are in terms of support or special programs. If you do not like the answers you are getting, you can walk away with the data in hand and it will not go in your child's file.

Your other option is not to assess at this point. This way you can wait it out for a bit longer to see how things progress. Or, get a second opinion. To answer your question about funding... schools do get extra funding if/when kids are coded but this money is used to help them, not to benefit the school in general.

Hope this helps.

calgarygeologist · 09-29-2014, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DataDoxy

I understand your concerns regarding testing. First, you are right that many kids who are 4, 5, and even 6 years old have trouble articulating certain sounds. This was the case for my nephew who is now twelve and speaks very well. However, this can be an early sign of later speech, hearing or other issues, although that is most certainly not always the case! As I said earlier, my nephew had a lot of trouble with his speech until he was seven and he has no issues today.

So... Here are some options for you. You can have your son tested which can happen two ways; the school can assess him, or you can have him assessed privately. It is important to know that if the school assess him, they retain the data for his file. Now, just because they keep the data does not mean he can be put into a particular program or that additional funding will be granted to the school if he is in fact, "coded". From what I understand you, the parent, gets to sign off on this before anything can happen, so you do have control of how the data is used. (I recommend verifying the school policy on this before agreeing to any testing just in case their protocol is different). It is also important to keep in mind that if the school owns the data, it will remain in your child's file during their school career and can be referenced by his teachers. The second option is to get your son tested privately. This way you own the data. Then, you can choose to bring the results to the school or keep them for yourself. If something is found out and you decide to bring the results to the school, you can ask them what your child's options are in terms of support or special programs. If you do not like the answers you are getting, you can walk away with the data in hand and it will not go in your child's file.

Your other option is not to assess at this point. This way you can wait it out for a bit longer to see how things progress. Or, get a second opinion. To answer your question about funding... schools do get extra funding if/when kids are coded but this money is used to help them, not to benefit the school in general.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the post. I was concerned about the "coded" part and how that might carry on over the years and potentially limit the educational experience. The linguist/speech therapist provided some comments last week and they will look at the situation a bit over the next little while but won't be doing any real evaluations or anything like that.

tete · 09-29-2014, 01:56 PM

I hope I'm not overstepping jumping in on this convo, but another reason why a teacher might bring up this early on is due to a lot of the speech therapy funding is focused on the early years and there are a few cutoffs for funding - often around age 6-7. So if they can identify potential issues early, you/they can apply for funding of speech therapy and have it covered for a while, instead of leaving it until it's too late for funding. I haven't had to navigate this issue personally, but I've had a number of friends who have.

DataDoxy · 09-29-2014, 05:21 PM

You are not overstepping at all and you raise a good point... It is important to know how long someone can wait (if that is their preference) before it is in fact too late. My advice is to make sure this comes up in the conversation at your school as different institutions have different rules regarding funding restrictions.

me_dennis · 05-25-2015, 03:43 PM

Question from the soon to be parents - I've been told that I should start thinking about where to register my soon to be child for school. I honestly hadn't thought about this because it's at least 5 years away, but I've heard some schools (such as FFCA) has a 5 year waitlist just for kindergarten. Also, I believe our designated elementary school has a wait list as well.

My questions are:
- What is FFCA, and what's so special about it? Is it part of the public school system? The website says it's a "charter school". What exactly does this mean?
- If our designated school is full, how do waitlists work? Do I just register to be on the waitlist as soon as my child is born?
- I've read that there is a new school (K-9) being built in my area in 2017. How do I go about putting my child on the waitlist?

Thanks in advance!