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Three. BILLION. Dollars. That’s the amount American teachers spend out of their own pockets to purchase school supplies for their students each year. That’s why TakePart has partnered with DonorsChoose for a Back-to-School Challenge through the month of September.
Check out the infographic to learn more and donate to your favorite classroom project!
Via: TakePart.com
Take Action: Support These Classrooms in Need with The TakePart Back-to-School Challenge
With kids around the country heading back to school, SodaHead.com, the web’s largest opinion-based community, asked its users about their thoughts on technology being used in schools, including when tablets and laptops should be allowed, thoughts on cell phones/texting in class and the potential change over to e-Books. In addition, the poll asked respondents about their favorite and least favorite subjects in school and their opinions on the importance of a college education for getting a job.
The survey results are posted below in infographic form – scroll down below the graphic for the text of the results:
LAPTOPS:
The majority of respondents feel that laptops should not be allowed in school until high school. 18 percent think it’s OK for laptops to be used in elementary school, 25 percent feel they should be allowed in middle school, 33 percent are OK with laptops being introduced in high school, while 18 percent think that students should wait until college to use laptops. Only 7 percent feel that laptops should not be used at all in an educational setting.
TABLETS:
Regarding tablet use in school, the results were very similar. 17 percent are OK if kids use tablets in elementary school, 20 percent think that kids should wait until middle school to use tablets, while 31 percent feel that high school is the right setting to introduce tablets in the classroom. 19 percent feel that students should wait until college to use tablets in class, while 13 percent don’t think it is ever appropriate for tablets to be used in class.
TEXTING AND CELL PHONES:
In terms of texting in class, only 18 percent think this is OK, while 53 percent feel it is not OK and 29 percent feel that texting should only be allowed in case of emergency. Regarding whether cell phones should be outright banned in school, 28 percent said yes; 41 percent said no, but that they should be turned off; and 25 percent said they should not be banned because sometimes it is a necessity.
SHOULD EBOOKS REPLACE TEXT BOOKS?:
With e-Books gaining popularity, the public is still hesitant to make textbooks digital, but there are signs of a gradual shift. While 36 percent don’t want to shift to e-books in the classroom, 28 percent are for the switch, while 36 percent are ready for e-books to be in some classes.
FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES:
The poll also asked about respondents favorite and least favorite high school classes. English took the title of favorite class with 22 percent of the vote, followed by history at 21 percent and science at 18 percent. The least favorite class was overwhelmingly math with 40 percent of the vote, followed by physical education at 17 percent and English at 16 percent.
IMPORTANCE OF COLLEGE FOR GETTING A JOB:
The poll also asked respondents if they thought college was important to secure a good job. While 70 percent of high school students and 74 percent of college students do feel college is important to get a good job, only 50 percent of full time workers and 48 percent of those that were unemployed felt that college was important for getting a job.
Full details of the poll are available at: http://www.sodahead.com/survey/featured/school-survey/?results=1
Thanks to SodaHead for the content! No compensation was received.
Eating a square meal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Don’t worry, I’m not planning to send Ryan, Nathan, or Kaitlyn to military school! When I was a kid, it was always kind of a joke, you know – ‘you’d better shape up or we’ll send you to military school’. The truth is, a military academy can give teens in troubled situations the support they need. This guest post from Alex outlines a typical day at a military academy.
Attending a military academy is designed to instill values in your teen that will last a lifetime. From the structured setting and daily routine of these institutions, rise tomorrow’s leaders with strong character and a firm foundation in leadership and values of responsibility, accountability, and motivation. While most believe that attending a military boarding school is meant for those with troubled pasts, it is actually designed for young men and women who wish to take complete control of their future through a disciplined education, character development, and leadership training.
For teens coming from homes with busy working parents, a deceased parent, or for any teenager needing structure, attending a military academy is a great way to get the support needed to become successful. In addition to cadets simply wishing to take control of their future, cadets choose to attend military academies to find support, direction, and preparation for college and beyond.
Many prospective cadets, as well as parents, have questions and concerns regarding the typical day in the life of a military cadet. The following is a general description of how an average military cadet can expect to spend his day in an academy:
Early Rise
For most military academies, students rise early, often around 6:00 a.m. in order to have their rooms and themselves cleaned and themselves fed before class begins promptly at 8 a.m.
Academia
Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. students can expect to be in class. Some schools have courses daily on a 45 or 55 minute basis, with or without block scheduling on selected days to offer extended class periods. Teachers are highly attentive throughout the day, and are more than willing to offer extra assistance to students during and after school should they need it. Also, some schools offer after-school tutorial programs to assist students with more complex questions, homework assignments or test preparation.
Athletics
After class, all students participate in some form of athletics prior to dinner. Not all students need to be a part of an organized sport, but all are expected to perform some athletic activity for a couple of hours. Participation is highly encouraged at military academies.
Dinner and Free Time
After athletics, dinner is served in a Mess hall, after which cadets are given free time. Most students use this time to relax and prepare for the next day.
Study Hall
In conjunction with mandatory study time, cadets who fall behind on homework are also required to attend study hall to make sure that they are academically successful. Here they take the time to study and complete any homework or group projects. Most military academies use a system of merits and demerits and cadets quickly learn to stay on top of homework so they can study in their dorm room as opposed to going to the mandatory study hall.
Lights Out
After dinner and free time, most military academies then have an hour or so reserved for reflection time, room inspections, uniform inspections, grooming, and residential meetings where students can interact or question their residential staff. Taps is the traditional signal that it is time for lights out.
While this may seem like a more rigorous schedule to those who aren’t used to a well-structured routine, the everyday life of a military cadet offers several benefits that would not be available through a traditional school system. A few of these benefits include:
-One on One Support: Each cadet that enters a military academy is given much more personal support than they ever would in a traditional school setting. In addition to teachers willing to monitor academic success and offer after school tutorials to struggling students, much like a college professor with open office hours would, academic counselors are also assigned to each grade level to ensure a child’s academic, emotional, and social success. These individuals will become a daily part of their life.
Not only do cadets have adult mentors and counselors, but they also have peer counselors that can make being away from home much easier to cope with, as well as help them accelerate their academic and social growth. These peer counselors serve as mentors, and are often valuable resources for new cadets.
-Numerous Opportunities for Leadership Positions: The best military boarding schools, such as the Army Naval Navy Academy in California, strive to make strong leaders of all their cadets. They want their graduates to be self-motivated individuals who actively seek to solve problems greater than themselves and choose to lead companies and other institutions. To help cadets develop this foundation in leadership, military academies provide numerous opportunities for cadets to obtain leadership roles within the corps of cadets.
-Academic and College Counseling: At many public schools, students receive academic counseling only if they are failing and college counseling only when they are late in their junior or early in their senior year. This type of counseling is hardly enough, and barely keeps students accountable for their futures.
Military boarding school cadets, however, receive continuous academic and college counseling from the moment they enroll to make sure that they are on the path to success. Cadets learn accountability and how to manage their own future under the guidance of trusted professionals.
Choosing to send your son or daughter to a military academy is a big decision, and one you should make together, but it is ultimately a choice that could dramatically improve the quality of your child’s future. If you are interested, take a bit more time to review the academies located within your area to see if any seem fitting for your teen and his or her future goals.
A post from my friend Deb at Mom Of 3 Girls titled This is why we don’t watch tv in the mornings… prompted me to write this post, because our stories are so hilariously similar! Thanks for the post idea, Deb!
Kaitlyn’s bus is technically supposed to come at 7:44 a.m. But, depending on traffic and weather and whether or not the kids who get picked up before Kaitlyn are actually there or not, the bus can come as early as 7:40.
We are supposed to stand at the end of the driveway where the driver can see us so she knows to stop. Which means walking out to the driveway at 7:39 and then…waiting. Five minutes is a long time when you are just standing there with a wiggly five year old!
I think it was the third day of school when the driver figured out that if she doesn’t see us in the driveway, she should stop the bus in front of the house and wait. Because there are some mornings when I think Kaitlyn is all ready to go, but then something goes wrong.
Recent examples include not being able to find her fleece hoodie anywhere (it was later found in her room), a last-minute request for a cup of milk (she doesn’t eat breakfast at home unless she’s really hungry, the school serves free breakfast), and of course, the missing shoes.
Kaitlyn has two pairs of shoes. Yes, I realize that’s not very many, but we are on a tight, tight, tight budget, so it’s necessity around here, not vanity. One pair of black mary janes and one pair of tennis shoes is what she has. Most days she wears the tennis shoes.
Last week, it was 7:38, and I could not find EITHER pair of shoes anywhere. I was looking in every room of the house, Kaitlyn was looking in her room, and then I heard a horn honking. That’s right, the bus driver was parked in front of the house, honking the bus horn. At 7:40 in the morning. I’m sure my neighbors were thrilled.
After the second horn honk (sorry, neighbors!), I suddenly spotted a bit of tennis shoe poking out from under the couch. I reached down, pulled out both shoes, shoved them in Kaitlyn’s hands, ran with her to the front door, and sent her out to the bus, across the front lawn, in her socks-covered feet with her tennis shoes in her hands.
If bus drivers get together for coffee after they drop all the kids off, I guarantee you I was a topic of conversation. I am going to need to give that bus driver a REALLY good Christmas present for all the trouble she goes through to get my kid to school every day!
In no way can I call these bentos, but “brown bag” doesn’t really fit either since I’m using reusable containers with as little for Kaitlyn to throw away as possible. I bought a set of EasyLunchboxes because the site said the lids were easy-open and kid friendly, and they are. I’m actually having fun making her lunches in the morning, and she has fun helping me choose what to put in them!
This was her very first school lunch! Turkey and cheese, grapes and blueberries, cherry tomatoes and a dill pickle cut in half. Plus an 8 ounce bottle of milk (Country Fresh brand, sold at Walmart) and a package of mini muffins that was supposed to be for snack time in the afternoon, but she ate the entire thing at lunch. There was not a single crumb left!
Second lunch, packed by Chris – Turkey and cheese again, a granola bar, a small baggie of Barbara’s Snackimals, baby carrots and dip (found at Walmart), apples, and milk.
Third lunch, packed in a BrightBin container. BrightBins have a top section for a sandwich, then a bottom section with three compartments. I packed a PB&J in the top
Kaitlyn decided she doesn’t like using these, because she has to open the top, take a bite of sandwich, close the top, take a bite of fruit, etc. She wants to stick to the EasyLunchboxes.
Let’s talk school lunches in the comments – what do you pack in your kid(s) lunch?
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