MM 2003 - Abby Johnson

  MAD on Ice to return to El Dorado this year Story via: Magnolia Banner News https://www.magnoliabannernews.com/news/2020/oct/27/murphy-arts-district-announces-mad-ice-return-year/                           Pam Griffin, President and CEO of the Murphy Arts District, has confirmed the return of MAD on Ice for the 2020 season. For the second year, the Murphy Arts District will be hosting this ice-skating activity in the city of El Dorado, Arkansas. The event will be open to the public starting on November 20 and ending on January 3 of 2021. The ice-skating is available to both children and adults, and the operational hours for the regular week as well as the holiday hours will be posted on eldomad.com/madonice .             I got very excited when I saw this announcement, because I think a fun activity that the whole family can enjoy is j...

  Charlie Brown holiday specials only to be streamed on Apple TV this year                 The famous Charlie Brown holiday specials – It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas – will only be streamed through Apple TV through the rest of 2020. Apple announced the news on Monday, explaining that this was part of an “expanded partnership with WildBrain” which is Peanuts Worldwide and Lee Mendelson Film Productions. 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' won't air on ABC this year, moves to Apple TV+ https://t.co/NnaPUbgMuS — Enquirer (@Enquirer) October 20, 2020             Apple apparently already had plans to create new Charlie Brown content. However, even though Apple is streaming these specials free for anyone, many fans of the Peanuts enterprise our very disappointed. For so many people, watching these holiday spec...

  What's Trending?           Today on Twitter, most of the hashtags or topics that are trending are ones with political intent behind them. This is understandable, seeing that we are in an election year. Both news sources and just regular citizens are being very outspoken on many political topics as we are down to the final days before the 2020 election.      One of the first hashtags that I saw trending on Twitter is #FloridaForBiden. This hashtag is about how many people in Florida are now pushing for Joe Biden in the Presidential race. I thought this was interesting seeing how Florida has voted in the past. While they have been won by both Democrat and Republican candidates in the past, people commonly see Florida as a red state. If Florida turns blue, this could be a crucial moment in determining who the next President of the United States of America is. First day of early voting in Florida. #NoMoreTrump #FloridaForBiden pic.twitt...

  China ‘censorship’ forces closure of Genghis Khan Museum Exhibit in France  Story via: Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/china-censorship-forces-closure-genghis-khan-museum-exhibit-france-1538970      Censorship is an ongoing controversy within the journalism and media field. Some people may think that censorship is not a relevant topic anymore, while stories like this one prove those people wrong. On Wednesday, it was reported that a history museum in Nantes, western France, would be delaying its Mongol Empire exhibit. The delay comes after Chinese authority demanded that certain words be left out of the display. Thea words include “Genghis Khan”, “Empire”, “Mongol”. Pressure from Beijing also requested to have control over the exhibit’s brochure  and maps.        This incident does not come as a surprise to many as Beijing is increasing its pressure on Mongolians in the northern inner Mongolian province. The people in the province li...

 Numeracy and Education     Numeracy is the ability to understand and work with numbers. Most people might automatically think of math when they hear the word numeracy, but this subject is also important in many other parts of education. A study by The Sydney Morning Herald  shows that almost 1 in 10 Australian trainee teachers fail to meet literacy and numeracy standards that they need in order to graduate. https://www.smh.com.au/national/one-in-10-trainee-teachers-fails-required-literacy-and-numeracy-tests-20200925-p55zaj.html On the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students, or LANTITE , 84% of students meet standards for both subjects on their first time taking the test. However, 11% only meet one of the standards and 5% meet neither. Because of this, many reports are recommending that the students take the test before beginning their degree, instead of keeping it as a requirement to graduate. This is a great example of how numera...

  New bipartisan bill plans for $1 billion for civics education By: Education Week https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/09/1_billion_for_civics_education.html          A new bipartisan proposal would not only increase the federal government's investment in civics education, but will also require states to participate in the nation's only gauge of student learning in civics and history every two years. Currently, the government’s investment, known as the American History and Civics grants, comes to about $5 million annually. This money goes towards things like teacher professional development. This new proposal would bring about $1 billion towards the development of history and civics. The bill was proposed by  Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Rep. Tom Cole and already has the support from many social studies and civics organizations. The proposal states that the majority of the funding would go towards supporting four different grants. First...