Classroom

The 7- and 8-year-olds in Theresa Dau's second- and third-grade class said they've been using computers for as long as they can remember. But the shiny new Apple computers in the three-week-old computer lab at Glenoaks Elementary School are something special, students said, and not just because of their $50,000 price tag. "I like it because they're much bigger than the old computers," said Julia Tharp, a third-grader. "It's fun because usually they are more square and thicker, now they're thinner, and faster too. " From an instructional perspective, they're effective teaching tools, Dau said.

Parents, did you know that today, President Obama is planning on speaking to our children during school hours? Just like last year, the president is going to tell our children to study hard, stay in school and take responsibility for their education. My question is, why is that the president's responsibility? Isn't that what we as parents do? And are we sure that is all the president is going to say? Last year, you may remember that the president had a huge blow-back when the country learned he was planning to speak to the nation's children during school hours.

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level. Garrett Salzman (St. Francis High, 2008) senior catcher, Macalester College baseball: Salzman proved he could handle the workload not only on the field, but in the classroom as well. The biology major registered a 3.88 grade-point average this academic year and earned a spot on the District 6 Academic All-District Baseball Team at the NCAA Division III level. The accolade is awarded to the country's top student-athletes for their combined work with studies and athletics.

LA CRESCENTA — An all-day technology conference at Clark Magnet High School on Saturday drew at least 1,000 teachers looking to better integrate technology in the classroom, but only about a dozen participants actually showed up in person. That’s because keynote presentations made periodically throughout the day were broadcast over the Internet, allowing educators nationwide to listen in and chat with presenter Hall Davidson, director of the video-based learning organization the Discovery Education Network.

Roughly 150 parents and children walked from the small campus of the Armenian Sisters Academy in Montrose to Crescenta Valley Park Saturday morning to raise money for adding “smart boards” in the school's classrooms. The walk days before the election encouraged a few locals to dress their dogs in patriotic-themed costumes, which was why Sola, a 13-year-old Bedlington Terrier, was dressed as the Statue of Liberty with a cloth crown atop her head. La Crescenta parent Nayree Tanossian brought her daughters Lily, 5, and Nancy, 3, to walk the two miles to the park where there would be a juggling stilt walker.

CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON "The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right thing, but enjoy the right things; not merely industrious, but to love industry; not merely learned, but to love knowledge; not merely pure, but to love purity; not merely just, but to hunger and thirst after justice." -- John Ruskin Leaves are changing colors, fall is in the air, and children are busy in school. I remember enjoying teacher's conferences and back-to-school nights when our daughters were younger, and remember how much influence their teachers had on them.

The Valley View Education Foundation accomplished two technology goals with one fundraising campaign when the school opened a retooled computer lab filled with 35 flat-screen, dual-processor iMacs on Friday. The iMacs were a significant upgrade to the computer lab itself, and Valley View Elementary classrooms benefited, too, because the eMac computers that had been in the lab could then be shifted into the classroom, said Dan Abboud, the president of the school’s foundation.

A classroom of Fremont Elementary School third-graders put on masks Tuesday and acted out their favorite fables for parents, faculty members and kindergartners. Teacher Patricia Harrold's class took on the roles of four children's fables -- "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "Belling the Cat," "The Old Lady and Her Maids" and "The Frog at the End of the Rainbow" -- and wore masks designed by Harrold's husband, an artist and photographer. "We were studying fables ... and I felt the children would understand them better and enjoy them more if we acted them out," she said.

Gretchen Hoffman Gov. Gray Davis has signed a bill by state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Glendale) that aims to keep registered sex offenders out of the classroom. The law, which was signed Wednesday, goes into effect immediately. Scott put his weight behind SB 1656 after learning about a teacher who was fired from one school district after accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced. That teacher later got a job with another school district, where he allegedly targeted other children, Scott said.

Rosemont parents got an education from their children during Wednesday night?s Open House. ?You see this is what I have to do everyday,? said a student as he rushed his mom from classroom to classroom. The night was a chance for parents to learn what their children have been doing over the past school year. ?Come in and play,? invited science teacher Joanne D?Abusco. Her room was like a Disneyland of science. Visitors could learn of centrifugal force and perpetual motion or get a jolt of static electricity.

Roughly 150 parents and children walked from the small campus of the Armenian Sisters Academy in Montrose to Crescenta Valley Park Saturday morning to raise money for adding “smart boards” in the school's classrooms. The walk days before the election encouraged a few locals to dress their dogs in patriotic-themed costumes, which was why Sola, a 13-year-old Bedlington Terrier, was dressed as the Statue of Liberty with a cloth crown atop her head. La Crescenta parent Nayree Tanossian brought her daughters Lily, 5, and Nancy, 3, to walk the two miles to the park where there would be a juggling stilt walker.

Burbank and Glendale teachers this week created three-year plans for incorporating the arts in the classroom as part of a highly competitive process in which they were awarded a total $30,000 each. Of the 44 school districts that applied for the competitive workshop hosted by the Los Angeles-based Arts For All, 12 districts were chosen. Arts for All promises each district a $20,000 grant in 2013 and a second $10,000 matching grant in 2014. By Tuesday afternoon, Glendale and Burbank had outlined plans tailored to their district's needs.

The photograph depicting two naked women kissing emanated from the student's cellphone screen, visible to everyone in the classroom. Glendale High School math teacher Taline Arsenian confiscated the device, placing it in a locked drawer. The student subsequently became uncooperative, Arsenian said, and she informed him he could retrieve his phone at the end of the school day. “Apparently, he went to an administrator and told on me,” Arsenian said. “The administrator came back to my room at lunch time and ordered me to give it back to him.” The incident underscores inconsistencies in disciplinary practices within Glendale Unified - from school to school, if not from employee to employee - in addressing the omnipresence of electronic devices in the classroom.

Three of four Glendale Unified high school librarians will be reassigned to classroom teaching positions as the district works to address ongoing budget challenges, officials confirmed this week. The reassignments come three months after Assistant Supt. for Human Resources David Samuelson announced that budget constraints were forcing the district to reevaluate its library services. The teacher-librarians at Glendale, Hoover and Crescenta Valley high schools, credentialed by the state to both teach and provide library services, will return to the classroom for the start of the 2012-13 school year, Samuelson said.

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level. Garrett Salzman (St. Francis High, 2008) senior catcher, Macalester College baseball: Salzman proved he could handle the workload not only on the field, but in the classroom as well. The biology major registered a 3.88 grade-point average this academic year and earned a spot on the District 6 Academic All-District Baseball Team at the NCAA Division III level. The accolade is awarded to the country's top student-athletes for their combined work with studies and athletics.

For years, Chris and Jennifer Davis have given their students the task of interviewing senior family members as part of an oral history project for the couple's humanities class at Clark Magnet High School. But the cheap recorders used to collect the audio data were increasingly insufficient. So earlier this month, Chris Davis turned to the nonprofit website donorschoose.org , where he posted a request for eight, high-quality digital recorders and a description of how they would be used.

The La Cañada Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to begin dismissal proceedings against high school math teacher Gabrielle Leko, following complaints that she made derogatory ethnic slurs in her classroom. The action is effective starting Feb. 27, but board president Scott Tracy said a settlement could happen before that time. “Until that time, the board will continue to peruse all options, including a settlement that would result in the employee's separation from the district at the end of the current academic year,” he said.

The spring semester has just begun in Glendale schools and for the first time in my 23-year teaching career I have a student teacher who is teaching all my English classes.   This is something I've wanted to do for the longest time, but the right arrangement could never be worked out. I enjoy working with young teachers. A few years back I taught credential courses at Cal State University, Northridge and liked engaging with up and coming teachers. It also gave me a chance to share with them things that I have learned in the teaching profession.

Dunsmore Elementary School students displaced last week by chemical fumes released during the cleanup of a decomposing animal were expected to return to their classrooms today, district officials said. Two teachers who became ill during the incident remain on medical leave, while Principal Karen Stegman and a maintenance worker were examined Friday and cleared to continue working, officials said. No students were harmed. School staff noticed a peculiar odor on Sept. 20 and asked maintenance workers to investigate.

Dunsmore Elementary School students displaced last week by chemical fumes released during the cleanup of a decomposing animal were expected to return to their classrooms Wednesday, district officials said. Two teachers sickened during the incident remain on medical leave, while Principal Karen Stegman and a maintenance worker were examined Friday and cleared to return to work, officials said. No students were harmed. The episode began on Sept. 20 when school staff noticed a peculiar odor and asked maintenance workers to investigate.