Table of Contents | September 2005
Editor's Note: A Fresh Look at Education
With another summer behind us, it's time to implement healthy changes to stale curriculums.
Letters: Teaching the Teachers
Preparing teachers to teach.
Dispatches: Handle with Care: Starting Off on the Right Foot
The first day of school offers new hope for old dreams
Sage Advice: Aid for Substitute Teachers
How do you help a substitute teacher help your students (and vice versa)?
Features
Big Ideas for Better Schools: Ten Ways to Improve Education
Ideas for students, teachers, schools, and communities.
Time Out: Rethinking the Hours America Spends Educating
Time is a resource we still haven't figured out how to use wisely.
Hip-Hop High: Rhythm and Lyrics Teach Everything from English to Algebra
The musical language of the street has new fans: teachers, who are using it as a syncopated tool to inspire kids to learn.
Cool Schools
This Old School: Students Reenact History
Students step back in time at the nation's most enduring one-room schoolhouse.
How to Breathe Life into History
Get the subject out of the textbook and into your students' world.
Design
Diamond Ranch High: Can a School Be Too Cool?
It's an architectural marvel, but as a place to teach and learn, this prize-winning school is still a work in progress.
Thom Mayne: Inside His Diamond Mind
The iconoclastic Mayne proves to be as provocative in making conversation as in designing buildings.
Heart and Soul
Clowning Around: There's a Comedian in Every Classroom
The class clown can ruin the mood to learn, but with a little understanding and a riff of your own, you can stop these jokesters from bouncing off the walls.
Muse: Comic Relief: Comic Books Aren't Just for Entertainment
How the comics can help students learn to love reading.
Head of Class
Act Like a Teacher: Learning How to Enliven the Classroom
By polishing their thespian skills, educators can make their classes more exciting.
Field Trips: Events For Educators
Places to go, things to do, people to see.
Read. Release. Repeat.: An Online "Bookstore" Encourages Book Recycling
If you love a book, set it free.
Day 1: What to Bring on the First Day of School
A field guide to the fully equipped student.
Recess
Trek 'n' Treat: New Zealand's Spectacular Milford Track
If you like trekking in style through spectacular scenery, this hike's for you.
Sitting Pretty: Get Creative with Your Seating
Choose from these chairs for one of the best seats in town.
Natural Vision: Learn How to Improve Your Eyesight
A series of simple exercises may free you from wearing eyeglasses.
Teaching with "Flare": Unusual Trinkets for Teachers and Students
Ideas for keeping the classroom fresh.
