Friday, October 30, 2009

Time to Visit North Carolina!


Right now, our Senor Director of Programs and Partnerships, Jill Rosenblum, is down in Greensboro, North Carolina. She's at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Jill is showcasing our newest program there, Foundations of Algebra. Designed, written, and piloted with North Carolina educators, Foundations of Algebra prepares struggling students for Algebra 1 and beyond. It's aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and can be used in 9th grade as a semester or a full-year course.

Definitely Not Your Father's High-School Science Class


Forensic science is all the rage on TV, what with C.S.I. and similar shows. Makes sense that it would percolate down to the high-school classroom, too. Teachers across the country are now using the cool parts of forensic science -- you know, the blood, the fingerprints, all that -- to teach basic science.

Sean Cavanagh reports on this phenomenon in a recent article in Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/28/09forensics_ep.h29.html?tkn=PQQFA0Hu7sxGMDVWXWtNmgy65xvOiTLMBWKp

And it's nice to see our new Hands-On Science: Forensics featured in the article as one of the resources educators are using!

Friday, October 16, 2009

It's Show Time!




This is the time of year when many subject-specific teacher associations have their annual gatherings. Today, October 16th, is particularly conspicuous: Walch Education representatives are exhibiting at the Florida Council of Teachers of English, the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics! Whew!

We're showing samples of, among other products, the Georgia Math 2 suite, the Maryland Algebra/Data Analysis program, and our Critical Literacy series. If you'd like to see a sample of any of these, or just find out more about Walch Education products, let us know. You can always reach us through Customer Service at (800) 341-6094, customerservice@walch.com.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Blood, Glass, Garbage...Forensics!


With all of the interest in television shows about forensics (C.S.I., etc.) -- and there are plenty of middle- and high-school classes on the subject -- it's nice to see our Hands-On Science: Forensics title pick up a nice review.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) regularly takes a look at new science titles in the classroom. On September 8, they recommended our Forensics title, saying, among other things, that it "...offers teachers a wealth of activities that are aligned with NSES content standards...Each activity gives instructional objectives, NSES correlations, vocabulary, materials, helpful hints, and scoring rubrics...Hands-On Science: Forensics provides teachers with a total package for implementing forensic lessons that are relevant and engrossing for students." You can read the full recommendation here.

Hands-On Science: Forensics includes 20 activities that introduce students to the science of crime scene investigations. Sample topics include:

  • Blood pattern analysis


  • Glass fracture patterns


  • Photographing a crime scene


  • Searching through garbage


  • Microscopic fibers

The program is proving popular in middle schools, high schools, and adult ed/community college settings. For more information, contact (800) 341-6094, or customerservice@walch.com.

Video Games as a Teaching Tool? That's Right!

Our popular Media Literacy series explores how different media have developed, how they influence us, and how they can be used to teach critical skills in the classroom. The series has looked at media such as television, the Internet, newspapers --

-- and now, Video Games and Virtual Worlds! For many students, the online gaming and simulation worlds are far more interesting and "real" than the actual world we inhabit. OK, then, if that's the case, how can educators respond? We've developed this program, formally called Thinking Critically About Video Games and Virtual Worlds, to hekp students -- and teachers-- interpret, analyze, and evaluate interactive digital entertainment.

The program includes 48 lessons, zeroing in on topics such as:
  • The role of violence in video games

  • How video games affect parent-child relationships

  • Video games and players with disabilities

  • Scams and cheats

  • Linden dollars and other virtual world currency

  • What messages video game developers and sponsors are sending

Educators are using this new title in media, design, and computer classrooms, as inter-disciplinary resources in language arts or social studies classrooms, or to address the National Educational Technology Standards. You can find our more at (800) 341-6094, or customerservice@walch.com.

New Georgia Web Site Focuses on Education

Walch Education has just launched http://www.walchgeorgia.com/. The new site focuses on our programs and partnerships in the Peachtree State.

We've partnered with many of the leading districts in Georgia, including Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Lumpkin counties. The site highlights some of our work with those districts, and the resulting programs.

Want to know more? Then you should talk to Andrea Newman, our Regional Partnership Manager in Georgia. She's at (404) 543-2478, anewman@walch.com.

Lexile Measures Make the Difference in Walch's New Georgia English/Language Arts Program


Our Georgia Academic Support Program for English/Language Arts, High School, has been very popular in the Peachtree State. Now, Georgia educators have more evidence of the program's strength.

Metametrics, a leading educational measurement company, has applied its Lexile Framework for Reading to the 92 reading passages in the program. The average measure, 887L, places the majority of those reading passages squarely within a 9th-grade reading ability.

In other words? As Walch's Director of Education, Susan Graham, notes, "This demonstrates that the Georgia Academic Support Program for English/Language Arts, High School, is appropriate for a range of abilities. We're supporting Georgia educators with the data, and assurance, they need, that this program works well in diverse high school classrooms."

In Georgia, students receive a Lexile score along with their regular score for the CRCT Reading or GHSGT English/Language Arts tests. Educators using the Georgia Academic Support Program for English/Language Arts, High School, can now see just how each reading passage in the program matches student reading ability.

By the way, the Georgia Academic Support Program for English/Language Arts, High School, was recently cited as a "Recommended Learning Resource" by the Georgia Department of Education.

Getting Ready for the New York Regents Exams - Something New

If you're a student or educator in New York State, you know all about the Regents Examinations, or as they're usually called, "the Regents," a series of comprehensive high school exams.

In our opinion, too many programs prepare students for the Regents with short-term test-prep drills. Result: students who get a blip of insight into how to take the test, but who lack a true understanding of the material and the skills thathelp them interpret and think through what they've learned.

That's why we developed the Academic Support Program for English Language Arts, NY State Regents Prep. Yes, it has assessments and answer keys modeled after the Regents Exam, to give students practice. But it also has:
  • More than 80 hours of correlated instruction

  • More than 40 lessons correlated to IRA/NCTE Standards for English Language Arts

  • Strategies for direct instruction, differentiatd approaches, alternative assessments, and extending learning

And the whole program comes packaged in an easy-to-use, completely reproducible 3-ring binder. Throw in a CD-ROM with all of the content on a PDF, and you can see why the program is a boon for New York educators. Want to find out more? Call us at (800) 341-6094, or email customerservice@walch.com.

Walch Team Grows with Maryland Hire

We've added to our team with Rorye Jordon, our new Regional Partnership Manager in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area. Rorye lives in Maryland, and she'll work with existing accounts and new partnerships.

Rorye is a find, and we're very lucky to have her aboard. She has been a teacher in the Baltimore City Public School System and has taught at Baltimore City Community College. She's also worked as Regional Education Quality Manager for Education Station, a partner of Sylvan Learning.


Among the programs Rorye will be focusing on in Maryland will be:

If you're a teacher or district administrator in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia, and you're looking for affordable, flexible ways to boost student success, talk to Rorye. She's at (443) 255-8125, rjordon@walch.com.