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Ideas and Opportunities!
Innovation in education
For inspiration, check out teachers' entries to the PBS
Teachers Innovation Award.
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/innovators/?utm_source=Edutopia&utm_medium=Ad&utm
_campaign=innovation
Quick links:
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Smithsonian Ocean Portal: web 2.0
technology
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Texas Book Festival's fiction writing contest (7/2/10)
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NEA, AACTE
release joint policy papers on teacher quality
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Nominate an outstanding young educator
(8/10)
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$50,000 in grants
for raising environmental awareness
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RTI State
Database now available
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Free webinars on RTI
for English language learners
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Free, accessible
library from Bookshare
•
Professional
development online from TEA
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Learning
disabilities webinars, information
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School
improvement grants
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Good news about
public schools
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NEA Academy:
flyers
Information on students with
disabilities
Disability.gov connects students with disabilities,
parents and educators to information on a
variety of topics from early childhood education to
post-college and beyond, including making the transition
from high school to post-secondary education or work; laws
that protect the rights of students with disabilities;
classroom supports and accommodations; and scholarships and
other forms of financial aid.
http://www.disability.gov/education
Information
on learning disabilities
The Texas Center for Learning Disabilities offers webinars
and articles.
http://www.texasldcenter.org
TSTA's parental involvement booklet
http://www.tsta.org/teaching/current/Parental-Involve-Bro-web2.pdf
Useful links:
A site where kids
learn to be smart consumers
In this virtual mall, students can play
games, design ads, and chat with
customers and store owners. They’ll
learn key consumer concepts, such as how
advertising affects them, how consumers
benefit when businesses compete, how
(and why) to protect information, and
how to spot scams.
www.ftc.gov/youarehere
Conflict: an inevitable part of life
What matters is how you handle conflict. Do you resolve
conflicts the way you want? Take this simple survey to find
out how you normally handle conflict.
www.tsta.org/teaching/current/
ConflictManagementInventory.pdf
American Civic
Education Teacher Award entries due Feb. 16
NEA cosponsors the American Civic Education
Teacher Awards, given annually to three K-12
teachers of civics, government, and related
fields who have demonstrated special
expertise and enthusiasm in motivating
students to learn about the U.S. Congress,
the Constitution, and public policy. Winners
receive an all-expenses-paid trip to
Washington, D.C., to participate in an
educational program that includes meeting
members of Congress and other key officials,
observing committee hearings in Congress,
and visiting sites such as the National
Archives and the U.S. Supreme Court.
more
Call for submissions for National
Gallery of Writing
National Board Certified Teachers are encouraged to participate in
the National Gallery of Writing.
more
Bubble Wrap: The Competition
The
fourth annual BubbleWrap® Competition for Young Inventors in grades
5-8 is on. Contestants will demonstrate engineering design,
problem-solving, and entrepreneurship with bubble wrap.
Awards of up to $10,000 and a trip to New York City.
The deadline
is March 3.
more
About Christopher
Awards
The Christopher Awards are annually given to films,
television programs and books that “affirm the highest
values of the human spirit.”
www.christophers.org.
Wake up! living in the rhythm
Evidence suggests that teenagers are indeed seriously
sleep deprived. A recent poll conducted by the National
Sleep Foundation found that 60% of children under the age of
18 complained of being tired during the day, according to
their parents, and 15-20% said they fell asleep at school
during the year. Over half of students report being most
alert after 3:00 in the afternoon.
Sleep affects how students
learn. It also relates to a teacher’s effectiveness. Here
are some ideas to help you with your own sleep patterns:
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Circadian Rhythm. The circadian
cycle signals your brain to wake and sleep, so stick to your
body's circadian rhythm. "It's the natural way to avoid
fatigue," explains Harvard Medical School research fellow
Patrick Fuller.
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Sleep consistently. Periodic
sleep marathons will just throw you further out of balance.
"[G]o to bed and get up within the same 30-minute time span
every day," says Fuller. "If you need an alarm to wake up,
you're sleep deprived.”
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Follow the clock. Avoid caffeine
after mid-afternoon, more than two alcoholic drinks a day,
or aerobic exercise an hour before bed, says Fuller. "It
will just confuse your body's natural clock."
A study published in
the journal Sleep shows that a school-based sleep
intervention shows promise in addressing adolescent sleep
problems. It has a high retention rate, it is
cost-effective, and it has potential for promoting healthy
sleep knowledge and practice. The program did help
adolescents normalize their sleep patterns for a few weeks,
and it taught them how to make sleep an aid to learning and
functioning.
Related links:
'Autism
Speaks' toolkit
NEA is partnering with Autism
Speaks to share information about
their free online School and Community Toolkit. It's packed
with information and ideas to help create a welcoming and
accepting community for children with autism. There
are resources for the entire school community –teachers,
administrators, paraeducators, office staff, bus drivers,
nurses, custodians, peers and parents.
www.autismspeaks.org/school
Pennies
for the planet
This program helps young people get involved with
conservation. Students
and their families learn about conservation projects around
the U.S. that need help. Kids learn why
conservation matters, and how volunteering and charitable
giving can make a difference in protecting the
environment. www.penniesfortheplanet.org
Smithsonian's online cultural heritage tours
The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies
offers a series of free, online cultural heritage tours that
invite educators, families and students to explore the
Smithsonian’s rich array of heritage-related treasures.
www.SmithsonianEducation.org/Heritage
Hip Hop news makes learning Fun
Rappers summarize the weekly news.
www.theweekinrap.com
Fulbright
teacher exchange programs
The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program provides
opportunities for overseas experience. It's open to educators and administrators
responsible for curriculum development in humanities, languages and area
studies.
http://www.fulbrightexchanges.org/View/ViewOtherOpps.asp.
Diversity-Democracy
The National Diversity Education Program asked "Why and how is diversity the foundational
and functional basis for American democracy?" The
result is an innovative, accessible approach
for teaching diversity.
www.janm.org/about/depts/education/ndep.php
Thinkfinity resources and free professional development
Thinkfinity offers "endless possibilities for
learning," a comprehensive collection of resources,
and free professional development.
www.thinkfinity.org
College for Texans
One place
with all there is to know about going to college or
technical school in Texas, including admissions,
financial aid, and free test prep.
www.CollegeForTexans.com
Presidential
treasure trove
This is an interactive Presidential Timeline filled with
digitized artifacts and historical archives from all of
the U.S. presidential libraries. www.presidentialtimeline.org
Free
from the Government
Find teaching and learning resources from federal agencies at
http://www.free.ed.gov.
Curriki
Curriki is a nonprofit dedicated to improving education by
empowering teachers, students and parents with universal access
to free and Open Source Curricula. Curriki is building the first and
only Internet site for a complete course of instruction and
assessment for K-12.
www.curriki.org
Physicians' tobacco
education program
Tar Wars is a tobacco-free education program for fourth- and fifth-grade
students that is owned and operated by the American Academy of Family
Physicians.
www.tarwars.org
Resources for the learning disabled
This website is for 8- to 12-year-olds who struggle with learning.
www.SparkTop.org
Beach in a Box: Texas State Aquarium outreach
programs
Experience the Gulf of Mexico in your classroom; see "Outreach Programs."
http://www.aquariumteacher.com/educator/programs.html#outreach
Free 'Best Practices' guide on math
This guide features a compilation of research on the value of mentoring,
combined with 15 case histories of programs, each of which includes
information on program design and results. Click
here for the guide. If you prefer a hard copy, please send an email to
ASA@ACTFND.org
Read and Renew Picks for Educators
Take a break from policy tomes or curriculum planners and check out this
slew of education-themed books NEA has compiled. You'll find reads for
rejuvenating the spirit, refreshing skills, freeing your imagination, and
sharing with kids.
www.nea.org/neatoday/0605/readandrenew.html
TEACH
Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim 's
half-hour documentary follows the challenging and rewarding first year
experiences of four public school teachers.
www.teachnow.org
Free Online Grade Book
Grade Connect has created a free online
grade book and course management system. Any teacher, school, district
or system is welcome to use it. www.gradeconnect.com
Grants for Youth Service to Communities
Grants and awards
support and motivate youth, teachers, service-learning coordinators and
youth-serving organizations to plan and implement projects for Global Youth
Service Day and on-going service throughout the year.
http://ysa.org/AwardsGrants/tabid/58/Default.aspx
Free Shakespeare Materials
The National Endowment for the Arts's free packet of Shakespeare-related educational materials,
including an educational video, "Shakespeare in Our Time."
www.vpw.com/partner/shakespeare
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Since 1975, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund has awarded more than 61,000
scholarships in excess of $115 million to Hispanic students from all 50
states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
www.hsf.net
Want to Be a Summer
Park Ranger?
The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher Program links National Park
units with teachers from low income school districts. Under this
program, selected teachers spend the summer working as park
rangers, often living in the park.
http://www.nps.gov/wupa/forteachers/trt.htm.
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