More on OCILE

Schools, parents and even students who are interested in the Off-Campus Outdoor Learning Experience programs can visit the San Diego County Office of Education's Web site for more information on the program.

Information about sixth-grade camps at Camp Cuyamaca and Camp Fox are available, as well as a program brochurean essay contest entry form (to win scholarship money) and information on how teacher can earn four units of university credits for participating in the OCILE programs.

For more information on any questions or comments regarding the OCILE programs, see the staff directory.

OCILE programs at San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park

Technology ideas for teachers

It's no surprise that technology has crept into the lives of nearly everyone in Western civilization and beyond. And, increasingly, children are often outsmarting their parents when it comes to computer programs and cell phones. Wacona Elementary school in Georgia has its own Web site -- not very common for San Diego schools -- and has a specific page that focuses on what technology-related activities teachers can teach to their elementary schools.

These ideas include a "Smart Board," a kind of host where students can share their PowerPoint creations with each other, Web Quests, inquiry-oriented lessons on the Web, top-10 lists for teachers, how to teach students to take digital photos, make Web pages and more.

Fire in Oceanside

Last night, a fire -- whose causes are still under investigation -- set off a two-alarm blaze at San Rafael Elementary School in Oceanside, Calif. The school has been closed since 2006 because of declining enrollment and fears that the campus would not survive an earthquake.

It's interesting that a school that's been closed for two years is still standing, vacant rather than being turned into something else or sold. I'm sure Oceanside could sell the land to private ownership (unless that's not what they want to do), and I realize it's expensive to bring a school up to standards or turn the campus into some other city-owned venue, but having an abandoned school just seems creepy.

Example

Typing whatever you want

New museum for kids

In honor of the New Children's Museum's official Web site's color scheme and my upcoming classroom presentation on how to use HTML to spruce up your blog (when the tools aren't working or you don't feel like using them) this post will be in pink.

The New Children's Museum in San Diego will replace the former Children's Museum/Museo de los Ninos San Diego (wonder why the new name doesn't include /Nuevo?).

The mantra of the museum is to inspire kids to think, play and create. The museum will provide field trips, classes and camps. For information on such activities, the Web site directs you to e-mail jnoland@thinkplaycreate.org.

Opening day is Sunday, May 4 from noon to 4 p.m. and all opening-day activities are free.

200 West Island Avenue
Downtown San Diego
Corner of Front Street and West Island Avenue
www.thinkplaycreate.org

Final project

For my final project — which will include pictures, a sound-slideshow, a video package and, of course, a print story — I originally wanted to focus on what San Diego companies (such as the water and energy companies) are doing to reach out and educate local students on conservation and other important or unique-to-San Diego issues.

The San Diego Zoo has a recycling program, and the San Diego Water Dept. had an exhibit at the Natural History Museum this past weekend, so yesterday, I headed over to the two locations to take some pictures and video clips. My sister fixed her camera just in time, so it worked out.

I also heard about something that a number of San Diego County schools do for their students in middle school (though I need to find out if this also extends to elementary and high school students): Classrooms literally move to the zoo and Balboa Park for a full week. Students learn about issues relevant to these places in lieu of going to class on their normal school campuses.

So that's what my new project will be about. As soon as I get the pictures off my camera, I'll put some on here.

Teachers get a lesson from the zoo

This summer, high school life science teachers from all over the country will get the opportunity to spend three full days and two nights at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park for the Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) Summer Institute.

Of course, they have to apply first. Applications are due May 31 and selected teachers will receive a $500 stipend.

Global amphibian decline, the recovery of the California condor, the bushmeat crisis and the conservation of biodiversity in San Diego County are just some of the subjects that will be focused on at the institute this August.

Teachers will sleep in tents at the Wild Animal Park, take part in lectures and hands-on activities, and, most importantly, have new perspectives and experiences to bring to their students in the fall.

Maybe money does grow on trees

Students at Morse High School in San Diego are learning the value of growing their own food, and they're getting paid for it. The San Diego Women's Foundation offers $400 to students who complete the eight-week program. More on this can be found at signonsandiego.com

“I'm just not a big fan of worms. The smell of it is immensely horrendous,” Reginald, 16, (pictured above) said of the droppings, which are used as plant food.
Photo from signonsandiego.com

Girl Scouts make for some interesting news

It's that time of year for Girl Scout cookies. Seeing the colorful boxes and teal-vested troop members brings up the topic of scout- and club-involvement at an early age.

This year, though, there seems to be a lot of bad news when it comes to Girl Scouts in the news.

First, there's the whole switching-bakery thing that has resulted in some pretty below-par cookies.

Then, there's the Girl Scout "volunteer" (an older male, which is odd in the first place) who was accused of molesting a young child. Supposedly, he passed a background check with the Girl Scouts program, which has to make you wonder how thorough they really are.

On a side note, when I worked for a middle school over this past summer as a youth development specialist for the Center for Community Solutions, my interview and background-check process lasted more than a few weeks and included several interviews, fingerprinting, drug testing, and they spoke with each of my three references for more than 10 minutes each.

Then there's a bit of a bizarre project Girl Scouts have undertaken: Collecting old socks and stuffing them with cat nip, then giving them to stray cats. Don't get me wrong, it's sweet, and I love animals, but now there are just a bunch of dirty, herbed socks laying around alleys or what? The program is called Operation Happy Sock and was started in 2004.

Preparation for the global world

It's no secret that our world is increasingly becoming more globalized. Countries such as Japan and China are producing electronics, cars and a myriad of other products and toys that children here in the U.S. enjoy on a daily basis.

It's important for children to know where their favorite things are coming from and who's making them, but it's also a good idea to have some background knowledge from the culture that's producing these things.

In the seventh grade, I learned all about Japan, as there was a Japan unit in my language arts class. My teacher familiarized us with the overall landscape/map of Japan, major cities, historical events, and we even had a Japanese food day and learned how to use chopsticks. Which brings me to the meat of this post:

How to use chopsticks:
(Watch About.com video)


How to make oragami
There is a site, Origami KinderCrafts that has step-by-step illustrations (brightly colored and cute, too) for how to make popular oragami that I grew up making (fortune tellers, jumping frogs), as well as more unique creations, such as a "hexaflexagon" and butterfly.

In fact, there is a whole Japanese Crafts section of the site, featuring how to make a Japanese garden, hanging fish and more.

How to make sushi:
Don't let your kids wait 'til they're 19 (like I was) to try sushi for the first time. Yes, some kids are picky and may be grossed out by the whole raw-fish aspect (they don't have to know, though), but having an appreciation for different culture-based foods may help in building and strengthening an open mind to aspects of all different cultures.

Now, there are tons of resources online for how to make sushi, but I liked Tawnee Prazak's (last year's managing editor of The Daily Aztec) article on how to make (and enjoy) sushi.

Skateboards in the classroom?

In my recreation class the other day, we had a guest speaker, Paul Schmitt of PS Stix (Schmitt Stix) skateboards. Now in his 40s, Schmitt has been making skateboards since he was 14. Originally from Costa Mesa, Calif., Paul lives and works in San Diego, and has a factory in China and one opening in Tijuana, Mexico soon.

Schmitt will only use Maple wood from the Great Lakes region because of the conditions that allow the trees to have such great strength. His company produces boards for major brands, such as Element, another company he helped found.

At the beginning of his lecture, I was amazed at the astounding number of skateboards produced on a weekly basis and felt sorry for all the trees being cut down. But he later went on to explain that they are being as environmentally friendly as technologically possible right now. All extra wood not used for the skateboards is used as lumber for making furniture, and the factory where the boards are made is completely self-sustaining and uses all recycled water and energy.

He extended his love of skating and environment to education. Students can petition their schools to offer the CreateAskate program, a 5- to 10-day program (40 to 80 minutes per day) where students literally make their own skateboards. The best part? The students plant a tree in their school or a nearby park at the end of the program.

Click the play button to watch what the program is like in action:


Video from the CreateAskate Web site.

Teaching conservation online

What are San Diego companies and organizations doing to reach out to their community's youths? More importantly, what are the people who work for vital organizations, such as the county water department and energy companies, doing to teach children about conservation in an age of dwindling resources?



SDG&E has a kids page that features activities, such as crossword puzzles and word searches, as well as poster contest winners and information about saving energy and who works for SDG&E.

The county water department also has a poster contest. The deadline for first- through sixth-grade students is March 26. It also features a downloadable activity book (PDF) that can be printed and given to any child who enjoys coloring books and the like.

Special education isn't receiving special attention

In fact, it's receiving very little attention for such an important and necessary variable in the education system. Especially in San Diego.

More specifically, the training for special education aides is not given enough attention. The Voice of San Diego has an article about the growing need for special education and lack of training for special education aides.

This reminds me of a very good friend of mine, Phoebe. She's from a completely different generation, much further on in her life, and she is one of the smartest people I know. She got her degree in art and later decided she wanted to work with children, specifically those with "special needs" -- I believe she works with both hearing- and sight-impaired preschoolers. She loves it and recommends it to anyone.

I, too, have worked with special needs children, though I did not receive any special training or even any warning, for that matter. I worked at a middle school last summer as a "youth development specialist," a fancy title for a 6-to-6 aide. However, a large portion of the children had some kind of mental or learning disability, and I found working with them very enjoyable.

How much extra training do you think is really necessary? Are today's aides competent? Should these special children be separated from "normal" kids?

Kids Together Inc. is a great resource for parents and teachers of children with disabilities and the issues revolving around inclusion, or mixing them into "normal" classes

The keyboard is the future

Initially, this post was to be about the importance of learning how to type on a "QWERTY" keyboard.

Remember learning cursive in elementary school and hearing about how you would need to know cursive in middle school because they don't let you print? Yeah, that was a lie. But typing is something that is increasingly important, what with laptops, the fact that nearly everything is on the Internet, etc. etc. So I think that typing should be a priority in academia.

I learned how to type in the sixth grade in a computer enrichment class that used the Mavis Beacon program. That was probably one of the most simple and helpful programs, and I'm sure it still is, with its upgrades and later editions.

Another site I stumbled across is BBC's "typing school," an online typing school geared toward children ages 7 and older, featuring brightly colored sea animals and a "dance mat."

I had no idea that the BBC had all kinds of schools, aimed at pre-schoolers, grade-schoolers and high schoolers. There is a wide array of subjects, too, from science and literacy to business and art.


(Photo from BBC's schools homepage)

Play is more important than being fit or smart

It's no secret — and certainly not new news — that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants California kids to be fit.

In 1990, former President George Bush appointed Gov. Schwarzenegger Chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, where he traveled the 50 states to address the need for more after-school alternatives. In 2002, he victoriously supported Proposition 49, the After-School Education & Safety Act.

Now, Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren is donating $8.5 million to THINK Together, a non-profit after-school provider serving about 20,000 students at more than 180 sites in school districts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It offers academically enriching afterschool programs that receives funds from Prop 49 and is endorsed by Schwarzenegger.

In the article from Business Wire, Schwarzenegger says:

“I’ve always been a big believer in after-school programs.
"The danger zone for kids is from 1 o’clock to 6 o’clock, because that’s when they are often unsupervised. That’s when they can get into all kinds of trouble with gangs and drugs, if no one is paying attention to them.
“This funding by Donald Bren will make a substantial positive difference for thousands of students. Facts show that high-quality, well-organized after-school programs help kids do better work in the classroom.
“The students in Santa Ana and Eastern Los Angeles County now have a brighter future, because of the guidance they will receive with THINK Together and the opportunity to have something positive and productive to do after school.”

However, if children are too bombarded with academics or forced activities after they've already been in school all day, it has the potential to seriously inhibit their individuality.

Jean Piaget, late and renowned Swiss psychologist, believes that play is an important part for developing children. In an article in TIME Magazine, more about Piaget and his work is described.

I say, let the children play ... as long as they're in a safe environment with good, trustworthy people/friends, they shouldn't be forced to sit through yet another class or play a sport they're not interested in after being in school all day.

*Arnold picture from allposters.com; Piaget picture from notablebiographies.com

Gendered classrooms promote stereotypes

I sort of stumbled into the women's studies department because I was looking for an upper-division GE class that would satisfy the cultural requirement here at SDSU. I took a class, enjoyed it enough and needed a minor — and my teacher happened to be the head of undergraduate studies — so I got myself signed into the minor.

In the many women's studies classes I've taken since then, we've learned about the sexism and bias in everything from science to media. For instance, in my "Women in Media" journalism elective, taught by Martha Lauzen, we learned that, initially, young boys and girls do develop different skills at different rates. This is why, generally, boys tend to be better at math than girls, who are usually better at English. This is only because they develop the skills necessary for those subjects at different times and often pursue what they're better at. But if girls were encouraged to keep practicing their math skills, for instance, there is no proof that men will always inherently be better at the subject.

You get the idea.

Now, in trying to find a story about Philadelphia middle schools switching back to the elementary-school-style, one-classroom-all-day model, I found a story instead about gendered classrooms. A man named David Chadwell thinks that boys and girls will learn better separately. He uses "theories" such as boys don't hear as well as girls as proof that this is a good thing.

This kind of separation in public schools seems ridiculous because it promotes the idea that girls and boys are different and that they can't learn the same things equally.

Not your typical fundraiser

We surely all can remember being propositioned by a third-grader to buy cookie dough, or maybe the sixth-graders down the street knocked on your door to ask if you'd like to buy some magazine subscriptions.

Usually, public schools encourage their students to sell such products to raise money for the school, or maybe it's a particular program at the school. Well, in light of the water crisis affecting the southwest and Southern California, some Inland Empire schools are selling drought-tolerant mini-gardens that also attract butterflies and songbirds. The program is a pilot project of Cal State San Bernardino's Water Resources Institute, according to the article in Press-Enterprise's Inland News section.

The article notes that parents often learn about conservation efforts and issues, such as recycling, through their children. This is just one more way children can help educate those around them of how to help not only the environment, but also how to save money and protect our dwindling resources. Perhaps some San Diego schools could implement this fundraising program.

The Gardener's Supply Co. lists some of its readers' favorite drought-tolerant plants on its Web site.

One problem with the plants, though, that PE's article says needs to be addressed with buyers, is that the plants need a lot of water and should be planted before the dry heat waves come in around May.


Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Photo from www.gardeners.com

Lessons from the zoo

The Education Department's mission is to increase the knowledge and appreciation of animals and plants in people of all ages through a wide variety of educational programs and services.—www.sandiegozoo.org


On the San Diego Zoo's Web site, there is a link to an "Education" section. This part of the site is a helpful resource to teachers and parents alike, or even kids who want to get involved in learning about and helping wildlife. When I was in elementary school, I was part of the Sydney's Koala Club (or the kids' version of the Zoological Society of San Diego membership), and was quite active in saving the rainforests through letters I mailed out to who knows where.

The point of all this is, activism or simply a project here and there can be very valuable to children in a number of ways. First of all, they're learning more than Hannah Montana's latest song lyrics or which video game has the most violence. Second, in this age of "going green," it's important for youth to have an appreciation of the species we are trying to protect — from plants and animals, to recycling our cans, bottles and papers. Finally, being involved in a project, such as those offered through the San Diego Zoo, can help children make friends and feel a part of a community, helping to build self-esteem and an identity.

For more information on the types of information and programs offered through the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, visit the Education section of the zoo's Web site, or call (619) 557-3962.

Visit the Zoo Blogs or check out the Photo Journal to see what it's like to be involved with the zoo.

Photo credits:
1) Koala (sandiegozoo.org)
2) Recycling symbol (vims.edu)
3) Child in garden (prairienursery.com)

Why take education outside?

Living in San Diego provides so many unique opportunities in education. Whether you're a parent or teacher looking for a creative way to teach your children/students something, or you're an adult who's looking to gain more knowledge in a subject that interests you, a plethora of opportunities are right here in San Diego.

Here, we have the beaches, mountains and desert at our fingertips, as well as museums, schools, zoos and aquariums to help further educate us on our surroundings. Diverse, populated communities, such as North Park and Downtown are home to Balboa Park and a handful of great museums and cultural experiences. Unincorporated communities, such as Alpine, Palomar and Campo offer the chance to learn about our Indian reservations, astronomy and regional plant and animal life.