TeacherDrivenChange

Slight improvement in Dropouts

California saw a slight improvement in dropout rates over last year, but state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said newly released figures remain too high. During the 2007-2008 school year, about one in five public school students, or 20.1 percent, dropped out of high school in California. That's compared to 21.1 percent the previous year, data released today shows.  Read on   .   .   .

Life in the Garden

What connects good health, ecology, environmental issues, vocational education, exercise, systems thinking, collaboration and teamwork, water issues, agriculture, humane education, and critical thinking? A garden! That's right, a garden. Think about it. We have so many students that have no idea where their food comes from, how plants grow, the relationship between good health and the food they eat, and the important role plants play in our lives. As most teachers know, learning is a lot more than standards and tests. Learning is creativity, wonder, excitement, and most of all passion. Does your school have a garden? Do your students see trees and plants each day?  Do they realize that life is precious and that it can begin with a tiny seed? A garden can be as simple as the weight of a petal or as complicated as a solution to our survival. If a major goal of public education is to prepare students for life, what better place to start than in a garden. From P to 12, all of our students need to know that their world is more than cement, blacktop, and plaster.  Click here for more information on starting your own school-community garden. The IFT would like to know what your think. Click the comment section below and record your ideas.