SPECIAL EDUCATION

Would You Recognize a Troubled Teen?
One of the difficulties parents and educators face when dealing with adolescents is recognizing the difference between a teen going through the normal rebelliousness of adolescence and a teen who is heading down a destructive path. READ MORE

TEACHERS OF THE MONTH

Outstanding Teachers of the Month - June 2003
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SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

Bank Street College Offers Insights About 9/11
by Tom Kertes
“Due to the film’s raw power,” Bank Street College provided “a small, secure place for group discussion” after the showing of “Our School.” Not one person took advantage of the considerate offer. READ MORE

Chess-In-The-Schools: The Royal Game
by Tom Kertes
The thousand-year argument continues to rage about chess being a sport (or not). But there can be no argument about the avalanche of benefits playing chess provides to public school children. READ MORE

Healthy Children Healthy Futures
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo and B.J. Carter
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of obese children continues to rise. Recent data from the National Center of Healthy Statistics shows that nearly 9 million children and adolescents ages 6–19 are overweight. READ MORE

Deaf and Hearing Students Perform
Together as Part of Digital Arts Program
The show will go on at Community School District 25 with a student production that combines live performances and digital demonstrations of classic works such as “The Crucible” and “Romeo and Juliet.” The Digital Arts program stems from a Teaching Matters initiative called “Digital Storytelling” that uses technology to help students understand and appreciate classic literature. READ MORE

Graduating High School:
A Triumph in Learning English
by Adam Sugerman
At the TESOL convention in Baltimore this year, I witnessed enthusiastic groups of professionals who were committed to teaching English while recognizing and supporting efforts to help students preserve their own language. It reminded me of one particular soon-to-be high school graduate. READ MORE

Harlem Children Society:
An Experiment with K-12 Science Education
by Sat Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
I am a research scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. I constantly train and teach young medical students, physicians and other personnel. As a service to the community, I began to extend my services to the public schools in Harlem, giving bright and motivated young kids an opportunity to become initiated directly into the world of science. READ MORE

Schools Chancellor Klein
Welcomes Support for Reform Efforts
Eight city, community and parent organizations held a press conference at the Department of Education’s headquarters in the Tweed Courthouse to express their support for the Children First reform initiatives.
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Report Shows North Carolina
Leading the Nation in Closing the Achievement Gap
North Carolina is a national leader in student achievement gains by African-Americans, Latinos, and white students on national exams according to a report released recently by the Washington, DC-based, The Education Trust. The report, Education Watch, details student achievement and other indicators of student performance in the 50 states. READ MORE

An Appeal for The Children of PS 169 In Manhattan
P. S. 169, The Robert F. Kennedy School, is a special education middle school located on 88th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. The students who attend the school are learning disabled and emotionally disturbed. Some of them are autistic. Most are economically disadvantaged. READ MORE

Diane Ravitch: Censorship of Language Attacked
by Sybil Maimin
The battles over what we teach our children continue, and Diane Ravitch, author, advocate, and professor of education at New York University, has taken a strong stand against “the new literary terrorists from both the left and the right” who demand that certain words and concepts not appear in the texts our children use in school.
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Behind the Silver Screen With Reeves Lehmann
by Jacob M. Appel
The film program at the School of Visual Arts has changed dramatically since Reeves Lehmann attended college in the 1970s. “Back then there was a much, much smaller student population,” he recalled.
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COLLEGES

Students with Strong Technology Skills
In Demand Amidst A Challenging Economy
by Diane Engelhardt
It doesn’t take more than reading the daily newspaper to know that the technology sector is in distress. We’ve seen headlines about companies failing as the stock market remains in a slump and funding sources remain on the sidelines. But does this obvious weakness among technology companies mean that there is no longer a demand for workers with technology skills? READ MORE

Diversity in College Admissions:
A Common Sense Approach
by Luke D. Schultheis
While the worthy debate over affirmative action and quotas in college admissions attempts to reconcile philosophical and political objectives, it does not completely address how to make higher education accessible to many minority students. READ MORE

Colvin New Director of Hechinger Institute
on Education & Media at Teachers College
Richard Lee Colvin, an award-winning education writer with the Los Angeles Times, is the new director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College. Colvin joined the Institute last summer as deputy director. He succeeds Gene I. Maeroff, the institute’s founding director, who will remain with the Institute as a senior fellow. READ MORE

Xiang Lanxin Named Kissinger Scholar at
Library of Congress
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Xiang Lanxin, professor of international history and politics at the Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales in Geneva, Switzerland, as the new Henry Alfred Kissinger Scholar in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, effective Sept. 2. Billington made the appointment upon the recommendation of a six-person selection committee consisting of members of the academic community and high-ranking foreign policy experts. READ MORE

Graduation is Sweeter the Second time Around: NYIT
It’s never too late in life to go back to school or to begin a new career track. Proof of that are two recent New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) graduates—both African-American women of a certain age—who received advance degrees this spring. READ MORE

New York State Judicial Institute Opens at Pace University School of Law
Thirty years ago, only 13 organizations were providing education to help U.S. judges keep up with pressing social issues that had an impact on their courts. READ MORE

Polytechnic University Announces Establishment
of Honors College
The faculty of Polytechnic University voted overwhelmingly to approve establishment of a new Honors College. The inaugural Honors College class, the Class of 2007, will enter Polytechnic in September, 2003. READ MORE

Stanley Teitel:
CCNY Alumni Association’s Educator of the Year
by Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D.
At the National Arts Club, The City College of New York Education Alumni Association honored one of its outstanding graduates, Stanley Teitel (’71) with its Educator of the Year award. Mr. Teitel is currently principal of Stuyvesant High School, a position he has held since 1999. READ MORE

PARENT GUIDE

Fatherhood Initiative In Twelve Communities
The Department of Youth and Community Development announced that 12 community-based organizations have been awarded contracts under a new Fatherhood Initiative. “This is a significant new program that we are introducing” DYCD Commissioner Jeanne B. Mullgrav remarked, “father absence is very visible and well documented, both in the vast numbers and in the detrimental impact that it has on children.
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About Writing…
The way to improve student writing is to ask students to write… and then ask them to write some more! If students do enough writing it begins to feel like a natural thing to do… a way to express who you are… a lot like talking, but more formal. READ MORE

In Praise Of Parents: It’s Tradition!
by Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
This month and last month, we honor the most important people in a child’s life: mom and dad. Many of us follow long-time traditions on how to spend the day. If you are the parent of a child you may have challenge of maintaining traditions you’ve kept in honoring your own parents and helping your children become involved in their owns traditions of showing their own appreciation. READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

Dental Professor wins
County College’s Top Teaching Award
A dental professor recognized as a role model in teaching, departmental leadership and dentistry has won the top instructional award available to Camden County College faculty READ MORE

Dog Bite Prevention
Children make up 60 percent of the 4.7 million bitten by dogs each year. Dog bite attacks occur year round and can be harmful and sometimes deadly. READ MORE

Ludwig W. Eichna, M.D., 94,
Medical Educator and Innovator
by Herman Rosen, M.D.
Dr. Ludwig W. Eichna, former Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, was memorialized at a recent ceremony at Downstate Medical Center. READ MORE

Mount Sinai School of Medicine:
Fastest Growing Research Program in NYS
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is ranked 22nd among the nation’s 125 medical schools in receipt of funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH awards to Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Government FY02 totaled $142.2 million. READ MORE

Mothers Giving Birth Donate Record Number
of Life-Saving Umbilical Cord Bloods
Mothers giving birth at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and The Brooklyn Hospital Center—both members of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System—voluntarily donated a record number of life-saving umbilical cord bloods to New York Blood Center’s National Cord Blood Program last year, representing 41 percent of the Program’s one-year cord blood donations. READ MORE

MUSEUMS

Children’s Museum of Manhattan Begins 30th Anniversary Celebration with 4 Interactive Exhibitions
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) presents NYC’s most exciting and enriching schedule of fun, hands-on activities and exhibitions as well as live performances that kids and families can enjoy all summer. Kids can always meet a new friend or see an old one while doing cool things at CMOM this summer. READ MORE

Museum on the Water is the Location for Summer Fun
by Krista Kohlhausen
Looking for a place where you and your students can spread your wings and discover first hand what it’s like to travel on the sea, fly in the air, and float in space? Then join us on the Intrepid Sea•Air•Space Museum this summer for an exciting, enriching experience. READ MORE

BOOKS

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations READ MORE

Math Wonders to Inspire Teachers & Students
by Merri Rosenberg
As someone who last took a math class nearly 30 years ago as a high school junior, I have to confess that this wasn’t the kind of title that I’d normally pull from the shelves. READ MORE

Poetry Contest Opens
International Library of Poetry has announced that $58,000 in prizes will be awarded this year in the International Open Poetry Contest. Poets from the New York area, particularly beginners, are welcome to try to win their share of over 250 prizes. READ MORE

Children’s Book Reviews:
Summertime is a Breeze with these Fine Books.
Read and Enjoy!
by Selene Vasquez READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Music in the Subways
by Michelle Accorso & Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
It was 9:30 am, a bit past the morning crush of riders heading to work on a typical day in New York City. At the downtown platform of 86th Street and Lexington Avenue, Richard Mirayes, playing acoustical guitar and singing to the admiration of some passers-by, was impervious to the screeching of the trains. Trained at Santa Monica College, he started lessons at the age of 8 and by age 12 was playing drums in bands. At age 14, he began to record and sing in the background to Frankie Valle. READ MORE

MOVIES AND THEATER

Together Features Beijing Symphony
by Jan Aaron
First we meet Liu Xiaochun (Tang Yun), the 13-year-old prodigy violinist featured in Chen Kaige’s, Together. He is living in a provincial town where his father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi), is bringing him up. From here, the two travel via calm, idyllic waterways to hectic Beijing. Because the teen won a music competition, they are heading to an audition at a music school there. READ MORE

METROBEAT

Fifteen New Reading Resources
In Arts, Language Arts, Science, & Social Studies Added To “Free” Website READ MORE

Your Neighborhood Parks
Have A Lot To Offer This Summer
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
With the warm weather months upon us, more and more New Yorkers are getting out to our parks to enjoy ballgames, picnics, concerts and other forms of recreation. In addition to great zoos and botanical gardens, New York City has by far the largest system of city parks in the nation, with more than 1,500 parks, beaches, playgrounds and gardens covering more than 26,000 acres. And we’re working hard to add to New York’s network of parks in every borough, and to make our existing open spaces even more beautiful and inviting. READ MORE

Legislature Makes the Right Choice for Schools.
Veto Overrides Restore $1.1 Billion to Education
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
Year after year, Governor Pataki has tried to slash education spending, and year after year, the Assembly restores it. In fact, prior to this year, the Assembly had successfully restored $2.8 billion of the Governor’s education cuts. READ MORE

CAMPS AND SPORTS

Asphalt Green
by Carol Tweedy
Asphalt Green is the premier health and fitness non-profit in New York City, serving 42,000 people each year. The sports and fitness activities offered are available to 12,000 neighborhood children absolutely free and depend on generous contributions in order to support the free community activities. READ MORE

Surf Camp
The summer surf camps located in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina are like no other programs in the world. For a week, your child will be immersed in the “Sport of Kings” while learning about incredible coastal ecosystems. All surf camps have a student to instructor ratio of 3:1, and are staffed with avid surfers educated in marine sciences.
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TECHNOLOGY

Avaion Software’s FatFinger 2.4
by Mitchell Levine
As great as laptop computers are for mobile education, they still have some disadvantages for practical deployment in a contemporary educational setting. Since the concept of the “one to one computing standard”—or one mobile device for every student, teacher, and administrator—is to ensure equal opportunity for techno-literacy, it’s an unfortunate fact that the very classrooms that most need access to the technology, have the least space to make use of it. READ MORE

Otterbox Armor 3600
by Mitchell Levine
Almost anyone who’s become a serious handheld user has noted a number of wonderful things about those fascinating little digi-boxes: their convenience, versatility, and profound impact on their personal productivity. Unfortunately, one big liability is usually quickly evident—their delicacy. Making them fast, capacious, and flexible apparently doesn’t leave a lot of technical capital left over for making them rugged. READ MORE

Texas Public Schools Improve Scoring
in the “Difficult to Teach” Sciences of Anatomy and Physiology
As a wide- open healthcare field prods a growing number of students to seek careers in the industry, educators are finding more effective tools and techniques to teach a traditionally difficult subject. READ MORE

EDITORIALS

Graduation: A Time to Rejoice, A Time to Reflect
by Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
June is a month of many emotions. For college graduates, it’s a time to discover if academic accomplishments can be translated into meaningful jobs and balancing personal budgets. For high school graduates, the excitement of college, new friends and mastery of college level courses lie ahead. READ MORE