Articles written by Greg Cruey

West Virginia is piloting a new teacher evaluation program this year intended, in part, to comply with Federal grant rules. It includes student test scores.

Aug 8, 2011 - Greg Cruey

Android's open source software makes it more vulnerable to malware and viruses than most mobile operating systems. But there are apps to protect your phone.

Jun 14, 2011 - Greg Cruey

Policy makers often look at charter schools as a model for school improvement. So it's ironic that many charter schools are applying for SIG grants.

Jun 14, 2011 - Greg Cruey

A smartphone can consolidate many of your devices. With Android's expanding app market, a phone can replace everything from your calculator to your Garmin.

May 29, 2011 - Greg Cruey

A handful of the schools that receive funding through a school improvement grant become charter schools. Why don't more schools adopt this model?

May 21, 2011 - Greg Cruey

School Improvement Grants have become the leading mechanism for dealing with failing US schools. This year over 500 schools used the Transformation Model.

May 17, 2011 - Greg Cruey

The School Improvement Grant has been an obscure federal program. But in 2009, its funding was radically increased. Now over 850 schools have a SIG grant.

May 15, 2011 - Greg Cruey

After 32 years, one of America's leading educators retired from public service this month. Dr. Steven L. Paine took a position with McGraw-Hill.

Jan 13, 2011 - Greg Cruey

One of the keys to teaching writing at any grade level is making sure that your students know (and use) the five-step writing process.

Sep 11, 2010 - Greg Cruey

Google just changed the way it creates results. It may take a few days, but the world's netizens will probably conclude that Google Instant is no big deal.

Sep 9, 2010 - Greg Cruey

A recent clinical report on head lice from the American Academy of Pediatrics has educators rethinking school no-nit policies.

Aug 15, 2010 - Greg Cruey

When visiting Bangkok, everyone visits Wat Phra Kaew ( the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn), but there are many other good temples to see.

Nov 2, 2008 - Greg Cruey

David Carradine made it famous. Jet Li helped Deng Xiaopeng make it a tourist attraction for today's world. But the Shaolin Temple has been around for 1500 years.

Nov 2, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Dona Paula Beach is one of the easiest in India to visit. Transportation from the capital, Panaji, is relatively easy to arrange and accommodations are plentiful.

Nov 1, 2008 - Greg Cruey

If pictures of Tioman Island seem reminicient of French Polynesia, there's a reason for that: the island was used in the filming of the movie "South Pacific."

Nov 1, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Macau has a variety of temples worth seeing if you have more than a day or so to spend in the city. Among them, Kun Iam temple predates the arrival of the Portuguese.

Oct 25, 2008 - Greg Cruey

On October 12, 2002 a bomb exploded in the Sari Club in Bali's Kuta Beach area, killing over 200 tourists. Many were Australian. But there were victims from 22 countries.

Oct 12, 2008 - Greg Cruey

The Cedars Resort near Bcharre is the best place to see the huge and majestic Cedars of Lebanon. The trees there are known as Arz el Rab - the Cedars of the Lord.

Sep 12, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Your Facebook page can get you fired. Just because you think your social network homepage is set for privacy, that doesn't mean parents at your school can't access it..

Aug 17, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Everything that we think of as a computer today is really just a device that connects to the big computer that we're all collectively building, according to Tim O'Reilly.

Aug 17, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Knol: a unit of knowledge. It is also, according to Google, an authoritative article about a specific topic. Many observrs expert that it will become the next Wikipedia.

Aug 16, 2008 - Greg Cruey

There are over half a million ethnic Ossetians. They speak a language from the Iranian family (like the Pashto langauge of Afghanistan). Most are Christians.

Aug 16, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Shangri la or paradise? The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is an exotic and inviting destination where people are happy and life is generally good.

Aug 14, 2008 - Greg Cruey

You may have never heard of Dagestan or Abkhazia. They are small political entities left over from the Soviet era. There are about a dozen of them in the Caucasus.

Aug 13, 2008 - Greg Cruey

The Caucasus Mountains is a geographic region where four countries form the bounday between Europe and Asia - Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

Aug 11, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Istanbul's Blue Mosque was built partly as an effort to show Christians that Ottoman culture could produce something to rival the Hagia Sophia.

Aug 8, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Solzhenitsyn stands among the great names in Russian literature - Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Sholokhov and Gorky. His works brought 20th Century Russia to the world.

Aug 3, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Respect and Protect is a comprehensive program designed to stop school violence. Does it work? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Jul 31, 2008 - Greg Cruey

If you grew up with a disk in your hand and an MP3 player in your pocket, you're a digital native. Digital natives are different. They learn differently...

Jul 10, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Social skills are difficult to impart to many students with autism or Aspergers. The social story has become an excellent new tool for teaching those valuable skills.

Jul 1, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Once the haunt of Archer & Anna Hyatt Huntington, this botanical garden south of Myrtle Beach is now the home to over 1,200 art works. It is a beautiful, relaxing place.

Jun 30, 2008 - Greg Cruey

If you're looking for a piece of history to visit while you're in Myrtle Beach, there are few better places to visit than Atalaya Castle at Huntington Beach State Park.

Jun 28, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Hugo Kerr's new book on literacy instruction is a good introduction to some of the important ideas in the teaching of reading today. But it is not without controvery.

Jun 28, 2008 - Greg Cruey

It may not matter what conclusions are in the recently publish Reading First Impact Study. A number of flaws have been pointed out in the study's design.

May 15, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Lasagna is one of the most flexible Italian dishes. Whether you use a traditional beef recipe, a vegetarian recipe, or something more adventurous, it turns out great...

May 3, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Base 10 blocks can make abstract ideas like place value and regrouping visible and tangible for your primary school students when the time comes to teach subtraction.

Feb 28, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) have become familiar to us. Either one creates problems, but having both is not uncommon.

Feb 21, 2008 - Greg Cruey

If you get caught, plagiarism can end you college career. But if you don't get caught, plagiarism can be the reason your college never succeeds in teaching you to think.

Feb 18, 2008 - Greg Cruey

The idea of an independent Sikh state ("Khalistan" to its modern proponents) dates back to the 1600's. That idea weakens and strengthens, but never seems to go away.

Feb 17, 2008 - Greg Cruey

A complex of temples about 350 miles southeast of New Delhi, near the village of Khajuraho, is one of India's most popular tourist destinations.

Feb 17, 2008 - Greg Cruey

It looks like rice, but this tender pasta can be used to make some excellent vegetarian side dishes. And it is among the easiest of pastas to work with.

Jan 26, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Base 10 blocks can make abstract ideas like place value and regrouping visible and tangible for your primary school students when the time comes to teach math.

Jan 19, 2008 - Greg Cruey

The 21st Century Learning Initiative is a growing effort to bring together ideas on school reform, constructivist learning theory and modern brain research.

Jan 18, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Many migraine sufferers are oblivious to the fact that their migraines are caused largely by the foods they eat. But it's not hard to identify foods that cause migraines.

Jan 15, 2008 - Greg Cruey

There are a huge number of foods that trigger migraines in some people. And while some are easy to identify, others require you to read the ingredient labels...

Jan 15, 2008 - Greg Cruey

If you've never considered the possibilities that grilled cheese provides, the time has come to consider how this easy sandwich can be made to seem almost gourmet.

Jan 13, 2008 - Greg Cruey

Old fashioned drill and practice is being replaced in the classroom with games that are often competitive in nature and help motivate children to master skills.

Dec 3, 2007 - Greg Cruey

Everyone knows the game. It is for exactly that reason that bingo is such a useful game to play in the classroom. The thrill of shouting out "BINGO!" lasts a long time.

Dec 3, 2007 - Greg Cruey

The Soi Cowboy is part of what makes Bangkok what it is. It's not pretty. It's not culturally flattering. But it's very popular with tourists.

Nov 29, 2007 - Greg Cruey

From Russia to Ethiopia, Manila to São Paulo, people just looking to make a buck are looking for a way to market women. The mail order bride industry is it.

Nov 29, 2007 - Greg Cruey