Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Smartboard in Every Classroom in Gaston County Schools (NC)!

Gaston Schools get $2 million gift for technology
Amanda Memrick,  Gaston Gazette  5/19/10

"It’s goodbye chalkboard, hello SMART Board at Gaston County Schools with a campaign designed to put interactive technology in every classroom."


$2,000,000.00 was donated by Ron and Katherine Harper.


"What is a SMART board? A SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard. SMART Boards work by using a projector to display what’s on a computer onto the whiteboard, which then acts as a large touch screen. Students can write words, move objects around and have a hands-on experience with a lesson."
help-gaston-smart-county
Smart Technologies

Note:  There is an interactive whiteboard in every classroom in one of my schools.  Many teachers find that once they start teaching with a SmartBoard or similar interactive whiteboard, they can't imagine going back to teaching without them.  They provide teachers with a way to deliver multi-modal instruction, and in turn, this seems to engage the attention of the students.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Kids,Teens, Young Adults and Money: Words of Wisdom from the Frugal Dad blog & related resources on the web

It occurred to me that most high school students don't get much instruction about daily life tasks related to budgeting, basic financial planning, and so forth. Not many college-bound students are encouraged to take "life-skills" courses,  and for some reason, it seems that parents of high-achieving, bright students assume that financial know-how skills will somehow emerge with maturity.

It doesn't, and it is likely that if a parent has difficulty managing money, the offspring will as well!  Not to worry....

Seth Sandler, an enterprising 20-something, shared a link from the Frugal Dad website , 44 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Life by Age 30, which is a must-read for every teen, young adult, and parent.

The Frugal Dad website has a treasure trove of advice for young people - and their parents. Here is a short list of a few of his posts:

11 Nearly Effortless Ways to Save Money Every Month

How to Teach Teens about Money

All posts about Kids and Money

RELATED
Financially Literate Youth (FLY)
JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
JumpStart's National Standards for K-12 Financial Literacy (pdf)