Lessons and Ideas

Close the achievement gap with direct vocabulary instruction. One promise of public education is to level the playing field for the rich and poor. Unfortunately, the system is not entirely fulfilling that promise. The socioeconomic achievement gap has been an issue for decades, but a recent study released by Stanford University sociologist Sean F. Reardon, shows that the gap has widened by 40% since the 1960s. Achievement gaps can be mystifying and confounding because so many cultural and economic factors contribute to them. The layers are complex and interwoven enough to make the problem seem insurmountable, but progress can be…

  Post Civil War America was a period of reconstruction. Rapid economic growth and a population boom characterized an era that became known as the Gilded Age. Many entrepreneurs, chief among them John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and Jo Pulitzer, capitalized on this economic boom. Their questionable business tactics and their single-minded quest for wealth and power, however, had people harping on them and calling them "robber barons." These men were accused of shady business tactics, as well as using the middle class as a stepping stone and dominating the US political and business world with monopolies. The term…

Over the course of four years, from 1861 to 1865, eleven slave states from the South seceded from the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America. South Carolina led the charge, seceding just one month after Lincoln's victory in the White House. Six more soon followed. Here are the first seven states that seceded from the Union: South Carolina Mississippi Florida Alabama Georgia Louisiana Texas The final four states that seceded from the Union: Virginia Arkansas North Carolina Tennessee To hear more about the Civil War from key participants Nat Turner, John C. Calhoun, Harriet Tubman…

Review the Biggest Buzzwords of the Week! When you follow national and worldwide affairs, you get access to championship celebrations, fights for the presidency, protests, international incidents, toxic food and scandalous allegations. Each week, we’ll highlight the top buzzwords or terms that your students might not have known or even heard until now. All these words are featured in the most recent edition of The Week in Rap. And once they beef up their vocab, the news will make a lot more sense. THIS WEEK stranded (adjective) -- left behind or cut off Why it matters: Over 100 dolphins have been…