Success Story: Marius "Mimi" Kothor

Via Mary Ann Zehr at Education Week, I came across the story of Marius "Mimi" Kothor, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from her native Togo at age 10 and is about to graduate with honors from high school. If you're looking for a pick-me-up, this should do the trick.

I like these comments from Zehr:

What's interesting to me about the story is how it took a very long time—until high school—for Kothor to find her educational stride. More than a year after her arrival, Ellingwood said she was shy and seemed depressed and some teachers suspected she had a learning disability. Over time, she was able to catch up with her peers and excelled as a student. She didn't have a learning disability.

What struck me was the influence of Lyne Ellingwood, an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher assigned to Mimi. Ellingwood refused to believe that there was something wrong with Mimi that hindered her learning, as others asserted.

Ellingwood, meanwhile, took Mimi's education personally. She enrolled her in special weekend English clinics at Nazareth College, found a way to make payments and drove the little girl to her intensive lessons.

Mimi had two things that all struggling students need: a tireless advocate and plenty of time. You will enjoy the news story and Ms. Zehr's blog post, with a lengthy comment by Ellingwood herself.

TED Talks for Teachers

A person can find their way to TED.com and stay for hours and hours. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and it was started in 1984 as a conference that brought people in those fields together. In the years since, it has become a symposium for all kinds of great ideas. The site features hundreds of "talks," presentations by great thinkers and experts in all kinds of fields.

Take a look at three great examples, and let me know if you find other great ones (and you will).

Jay Walker on the world's English Mania
"Mathematics is the language of science, music is the language of emotion, and now English is becoming the language of problem solving."




David Merrill Demos Siftables
"One of the interesting things about this kind of application is that you don't have to give people instructions. All I have to say is, 'Make words' and they know exactly what to do."



Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity
"My contention is the creativity now in education is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."

Every Test Is A Reading Test

I was perusing Teacher Magazine's Blog Board and found a link to a great blog called Learn Me Good, written by "Mister Teacher," a 3rd Grade math teacher in Texas. He is preparing his students for their standardized tests and notes that after 3rd Grade, students may not ask for questions to be read or explained to them, even if they are English language learners. He notes:

So what it comes down to is that these kids are taking a series of reading tests. Some of them are ABOUT math or ABOUT science, but they don't strictly assess those subject areas as much as they assess whether or not the child can read the questions, some of which are highly complicated.

Mister Teacher is referring to the rules in Texas; I am sure they vary from state to state. In any event, his point has a lot to say about the importance of literacy and the pitfalls of assessing our students with standardized tests.

Again, Learn Me Good is a really good education blog; if you like math, funny t-shirts, or insights like the one above, check it out.

(Picture: "Testing" - CC)