Dr. Canada TED Talk

One point made by Dr. Canada is that innovation isn't present in schools and that schools have stayed the same for the past 56 years.  I think that this is a problem that is still present but there is more starting to be done about it.  Schools are starting to integrate more technology and procedures to incorporate the needs of more students.  Another point he made was that students lose ground over the summer and how year-round school should be considered.  I think this is an interesting point and I think that students could benefit from it. I know personally coming back from summer I do lose a lot of information that I learned and wasn't able to retain through rehearsal so extending shorter breaks throughout the years and not having that big break over summer could be really beneficial.  One of his last points was that tests are given to students to see where they are at and then they don't get the results back until the next year.  By the time they get their results back the information isn't as relevant and they don't use them.  I think this is such a waste of billions of dollars and a waste of time that is used to take these tests.  Schools are already struggling with money and hearing this is shocking.

Crossword Lesson Plan

On the New York Times website, I saw lessons using crossword puzzles.  I can see using a crossword puzzle in multiple ways to help teach or reinforce content that is being taught.  The first idea that came into my head was using a crossword puzzle to help teach vocabulary words.  The "clues" would be the definition of the vocabulary word and the vocab word would be the answer that they had to fill in.  This would help the students learn the definition of the word as well as the spelling.  I think crossword puzzles are a great way to help teach because it is a fun and engaging thing for students to do that they will enjoy and that will help them retain the information.