Thanks to clspeace for permission to use this Photo.
Megan Bowen is an Ashworth High School English Instructor. You can read some of Megan’s blog posts by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page. As someone who is always thinking of new and dynamic ways to engage her students, it’s no surprise that Megan has begun hosting classroom discussions on the Ashworth Student Forum. As an English major myself, I’ve personally enjoyed participating in these interactive discussions and have been very impressed by the insightul perspectives students have offered on their latest reading assignments.
If you’re an Ashworth High School student or a parent of such a student, we encourage you to participate in one of Megan’s classroom discussions. Our new student forum provides a terrific environment for students, parents, and faculty to interact—so be sure to join our Forum community today if you haven’t already.
In my years as an early childhood educator, I’ve come to believe that it’s very important to keep your classroom as visually appealing as possible without overstimulating children. Some teachers have quite a problem with this and it looks like a circus run amok in their rooms. While most normal children may be fine with such stimulation, children with ADHD or other issues may be overwhelmed and not able to concentrate. I think a happy medium is attainable. One thing I have noticed over my years of teaching is that ALL schools seem to have that awful fluorescent lighting! It has to be the harshest lighting I know of. Here is a trick you can try to “calm” your room and the children a bit. I swear by it and after using these light covers for one school year, I decided it made the children and me feel so much calmer; I continued to use them the rest of my 7 years of teaching. In fact, on the last day of school, I removed them while the children were playing on the playground and they said they “hated” being in the room without them.
To make a light cover, cut one yard of any solid color fabric (I usually used a 100% cotton fabric used in quilting). Gently lift the ceiling tiles on each side of the fluorescent fixture and tuck the edges of the fabric in, creating a “swoop” of fabric shaped like a “U” hanging down from the light. The fabric should not actually come in contact with the light but should drape below it. I usually draped half of the lights in my classroom using fabric on every other light. I used primary colors and the effect is marvelous. There is still plenty of light for working and the light is transformed into a calming filtered light instead of harsh fluorescent. There have actually been studies on how fluorescent lighting can cause hyperactivity. Try it in your own class one day or suggest it to a teacher you work with in the future!
I’m a 23 year old military spouse. I had some interesting teenage years and was unable to graduate high school.
My husband is a Combat Medic/Practical Nurse and I want to get my diploma and move forward with my future. I’m deeply into graphics, web design, and photography. So, here I am at the junction in the road where I need to tie a few ends from my past up! I’m excited to turn the page…
Hi, my name is Lisa and I just wanted to let Ashworth University know that I’m very thankful for the opportunity to fulfill my dream of graduating high school. I know that you probably hear that a lot, but I really can’t express how much this accomplishment means to me. You have helped me fill a void that I’ve been trying to fill for 10 years and this is the best feeling in the world.
I offer you thanks from the bottom of my heart. You will never know how you helped me not only gain wisdom and knowledge, but also how this experience gave me back the confidence that “I’ve still got it…”
Primary caregivers’ number one question and concern about their preschooler is, “Will my child be ready for kindergarten?” If the child in your care is their oldest, the preschool experience may be their only reference point. If their own childhood education took place in programs based on scripted academic instruction, they will expect their children to be writing their ABC’s, working with math papers, and science projects. This is how they were taught, so it must be the right way. It is your job as an early childhood educator to help these parents and guardians understand the research and reasoning behind your curriculum.
Primary caregivers are so involved with their children that just sharing articles or handouts about developmentally appropriate practices may not be enough to convince them that their children are on track for learning. Some may need a more “hands-on” approach. Let me give you an example.
I once had a father who insisted that his three-year-old write his name several times daily and bring home work sheets of all sorts. I explained that this was not a developmentally appropriate practice, but this father insisted. I decided to host a night for parents and guardians in my classroom. I planned this night in a very different format from others we had offered earlier. The children did not perform, and we did not have a guest speaker. For this special evening, I prepared copies of my lesson plans for each person attending the meeting. In my classroom, I set up every learning area and posted the skills that children could learn as they played in the selected areas.
As the adults arrived, the children were excited to show what they were learning during the day. We began with circle time, and I explained the theme of the week. I then placed the grownups in the learning areas, explaining to them how I wanted them to explore and play just as their children might. It was such an energizing experience! The adults enjoyed the tasks they were doing. One mother made a wonderful collage in the creative art area. A dad and his daughter had a tea party in dramatic play. I circulated around the areas, as I do during class everyday, asking open-ended questions about the projects. This hands-on approach worked with almost everyone.
Do you know who still was not convinced? That’s right—the father of the three-year-old. Dad and child were in the creative art area when I approached him with a prepared sheet depicting an elephant. I asked a simple question, “Do you know how long an elephant’s trunk is?” The dad looked at me as if I had lost my mind and said he didn’t know. I shared with him that an adult elephant’s trunk is 8 feet long and asked if he would learn that concept by coloring a picture of an elephant. The dad shook his head, no. Then, I shared a wonderful handout with Mr. Dad which I will share with you here.
Four things you don’t learn when you color an elephant:
How an elephant smells
How big an elephant is
What color an elephant is
What an elephant likes to eat
This parent began to realize that there is no inherent learning value in the use of coloring sheets. When coloring a patterned picture, a young child learns to color between the lines. And that’s it. This dad became one of my best resources for the rest of the school year. He was still watchful as the school year progressed, but he did grow to understand hands-on learning and the benefits of this type of program for his child.
As pioneers in the online learning field, we here at Ashworth University are very excited to watch the online education format quickly becoming the preferred choice of thousands upon thousands of new students worldwide. With its’ superior convenience, flexibility, and customized learning features; the online learning model is increasingly being seen as the central way to educate and train oneself on your own terms as we move into the future. As our everyday tasks, communications, and experiences continue to move into the “virtual” world, it’s not hard to understand why the online learning revolution has literally transformed the lives of students everywhere.
If you’re interested in discussing your educational options, all you have to do is click here for more information. Our advisors are not sales people. They’re simply here to answer your questions and help you make informed decisions if you think online learning might be a viable option for you. We’ve also just launched the Ashworth University Forum, which is a great place for those interested in finding out what we’re all about to talk with Ashworth students, faculty, and alumni. You’ll find a lot of people just like yourself carrying on conversations there, so be sure to check it out. We look forward to hearing from you!
The following video is lo-fi from a production perspective, but hi-fi from a content perspective, in that the message conveyed is direct, clear, and accessible to an audience of any age. Whether you’re a student or parent from a home school background, we encourage you to consider how you relate to the type of learning lifestyle that informs this video’s central message. Click on the image above to watch. We look forward to hearing your perspectives.
Ashworth High School provides alternative education options to Georgia high school students who have been affected by Clayton County’s regional accreditation controversy.
Ashworth High School is regionally accredited by the SACS, and is also accredited by CITA and DETC.
The following article once again reinforces the importance of Web 2.0 technologies in a progressive educational environment, a message that we have been committed to carrying to our Ashworth University students through our own 2.0 applications such as MySpace, Facebook, Ashworth University Blog, and even our preliminary experiments in Second Life’s virtual world. It’s nice to see the more “mainstream” educational community is finally beginning to recognize that today’s education is web-based, interactive, and network driven. Here at Ashworth, we’re committed to these principles and encourage our students and their families to become as engaged as possible in the Web 2.0 revolution: where everyone is empowered to create, learn, and connect on their own terms.
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