3.2.1. on cheat codes, love as a creative force, and how to make something great.
3.2.1. James Clear
Banning Cell Phones in Texas
Cellphones are “extremely harmful” to student learning and mental health, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath said Sept. 18. Morath encouraged state lawmakers to prohibit students from using cellphones in all Texas public schools.
“If it were in my power, I would’ve already banned them in schools in the state,” Morath said during a Senate Education Committee hearing. “So I would encourage you to consider that as a matter of public policy going forward for our students and our teachers.”
School districts across Texas have recently tightened their electronic device policies, with some requiring students keep cellphones, smart watches and headphones turned off and out of sight while on campus.
Middle School Students still Lagging
Middle schoolers are still lagging months behind pre-pandemic achievement levels in science, according to newly released test scores. Disturbingly, their losses in the subject have actually grown since the worst days of the COVID crisis.
The scores, released Tuesday by the nonprofit testing group NWEA, serve as more evidence of a trend that has stood out in earlier data: Students who were still in elementary school when the pandemic began are experiencing particularly worrisome setbacks as schools try to chart a path to academic recovery. Meanwhile, today’s elementary schoolers have nearly returned to the levels of learning last seen in 2019.
Validating Employee Input
Recent studies have shown that the vast majority of employees feel their voices are not being heard in the workplace. In fact, a staggering 86% of employees believe that people at their organization are not heard, while another survey revealed that 60% of employees believe their views and opinions are simply ignored.
As a leadership executive coach, I know that being heard is one of the most important things for employees, and it should be a top priority for leaders. Therefore, I’ve identified seven proven strategies that can help you, as a leader, create the kind of culture where your employees feel heard and respected.
More Implications from Covid
New research may help educators and families zero in on exactly how the COVID-19 pandemic caused such an unprecedented academic slump, suggesting that the culprit lies in something basic and crucial: children’s ability to think, remember and problem-solve.
And here’s a twist: The same core difficulties are bedeviling teachers too.
The findings, contained in a new working paper, are believed to be the first to identify brain changes as an explanation for why students have suffered, both inside and outside the classroom, since the pandemic drove millions out of the classroom.
Cultural Literacy is Important
The Texas Board of Education’s recent public hearing on the state’s proposed new curriculum sparked intense debate. Critics expressed concerns that it crosses a line into proselytizing for Christianity, or fails to give equal time to other religions. But these well-intended criticisms overlook a crucial point: The state’s curriculum, dubbed Bluebonnet Learning, isn’t the only thing that’s “Bible-infused”; so is English. Our language is redolent with concepts, phrases and allusions drawn directly from the Bible and other touchstones of Western thought and culture that speakers and writers assume their audiences know and understand. Knowing these things is critical to reading comprehension.
