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It's Always Time
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tips on making NEA's Read Across
America a yearlong celebration.
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Disciplinary Alternative Education
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Bunnytown Promotes Read Across America
As part of
NEA’s
annual Read Across America project (www.nea.org/readacross),
Disney Channel produced
a Public
Service Announcement exclusively for Smart Television Alliance
promoting reading with characters from
the
comedic
hit Playhouse Disney series
for
preschoolers, “Bunnytown.” http://www.smarttelevisionalliance.org/
site/PageServer?pagename=bunnytown
Nominate a Star of Teaching
The U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative
is accepting nominations for 2008 American Stars of Teaching.
Parents, students, colleagues, school administrators and others can
nominate an exemplary teacher who they believe has the qualities to
be an American Star of Teaching.
http://www.t2tweb.us/AmStar/Nominate.asp
Own Your Own Future Launches
Own Your Own Future is a student outreach
campaign to encourage Texas youth to stay in school, graduate, and
pursue their passion. It was launched Feb. 21 by the Texas Education
Agency through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The
flagship component of the integrated campaign,
www.OwnYourOwnFuture.com, is designed to show teens that
graduating from high school is the first step toward college and a
career.
H-E-B Chair: 'Public Schools Have an Incredible
Challenge'
Charles Butt, chairman and CEO of H-E-B, is also a great
supporter of public education, through H-E-B's Excellence in
Teaching Awards, which carry up to $25,000, and through Raise Your
Hand Texas, a pro-public education group of business and community
leaders. Here's an excerpt from Butt's recent interview with the San
Antonio Express-News.
Q: What do you think about the
accountability movement and standardized testing?
A:
There are some areas in which
there are analogies between business and education and there are
many areas when there are not analogies. In this case, I do think
that there is an analogy. Years ago, decades ago in business,
accounting was something that was just a record of the past and it
really wasn't a guide to the future. And then new techniques
developed -- new metrics, new approaches to measuring progress and
so forth of every kind in every aspect of business activity. Many
companies used that brilliantly and some companies that didn't use
it fell aside. But some companies overused it and they got tangled
up in their socks because they got so tied up in measurement and
accounting that they forgot to serve the customer, and they took up
so much of their people's time in filling out reports and measuring
how Team X did against Team Y or Jim did against John, that they
didn't do a good job for anybody. We need to back up, rethink it,
and get a system that is right for the parents, right for the
students, right for the school, right for the government entities
involved, right for the public -- that everybody can understand and
that helps the student, that's not in business to penalize the
student or to make the schools look bad, which some people like to
use it for. So, yes I am for accountability and testing, but I think
we've gone overboard and need to rethink the whole thing.
Read the whole San Antonio Express-News
interview at
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/
MYSA050507.excprohebutt.en.782c2cf8.html.
Fulbright
Teacher Exchange Programs
The Taiwan Teacher Exchange application deadline is
March 3, but there are always a variety of opportunities in the
offing. Read about the programs and download applications at
http://www.fulbrightexchanges.org/View/ViewOtherOpps.asp.
Want to Be a Summer
Park Ranger?
The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) 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. They perform various duties
depending on their interests and the needs of the park,
including developing and presenting interpretive programs for
the general public, staffing the visitor center desk, developing
curriculum-based materials for the park, or taking on special
projects.
Then, during the school year, these
teacher-rangers bring the parks into the classroom by developing
and presenting curriculum-based lesson plans that draw on their
summer's experience. In April, during National Park Week,
teacher-rangers wear their NPS uniforms to school, discuss their
summer as a park ranger, and engage students and other teachers
in activities that relate to America's national parks.
For additional information about the Teacher
Ranger program go to
http://www.nps.gov/wupa/forteachers/trt.htm.
Response to Intervention: What It Is, How It Works
TSTA's Teaching & Learning Staff has information for you.
more
Nominate Someone
for the Texas Women's Hall of Fame
Categories for nominees include leadership, historic
preservation, health, physical fitness, education and performing
arts.
more
“Harry Potter”
Author Is Top Pick for Substitute Teacher
The people have cast their votes. The celebrity America would most
like to have as a substitute educator for a day is J.K. Rowling,
creator of the “Harry Potter” fantasy series.
Perhaps students at “Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry” were to thank for the last-minute surge
that broke a virtual three-way tie for first place. With 25% of the
vote, Rowling grabbed top honors in the second annual Substitute
Educators Day poll sponsored by NEA. The runners-up include
Microsoft founder Bill Gates (23%) followed by golf superstar Tiger
Woods (21%), “Ugly Betty” actress America Ferrera (18%) and
blockbuster movie director/producer Steven Spielberg (13%). NEA
received more than 4,500 responses to the poll, which was conducted
in advance of Substitute Educators Day, part of American Education
Week, Nov. 11-17. The poll comes at a time when school
districts are facing a shortage of substitute educators. In a survey
completed by Utah State University, 96 percent of the nation’s
school districts said they had trouble recruiting and keeping
substitutes.
"9 Ways to Have
Success at School"
This report is full of tips to help guide parents and children
struggling with ADD/ADHD through the school year more effectively,
and with less time and aggravation. The report is available as a
FREE download at:
http://www.adhdschoolreport.com.
Bullying
Prevention
Childhood bullying is a significant problem across the country. It
can cause school absenteeism, mental and physical stress, poor
school performance, poor self-esteem, and, in some cases, school
violence. Statistics show that 160,000 children in the United States
miss school each day as a result of being bullied. Find classroom and community
activities and materials, and online training at
http://www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org. In addition, the NEA
Professional Library (go to
www.nea.org/bookstore and search for "bullying") offers these
great resources to help you "bullyproof" your school or classroom:
-
Bullyproof (an educator's guide
with suggested lesson plans)
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Quit it! (focused on K-3
activities)
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Linking Bullyproof (strategies
for grades 4 and 5)
Engineering Design Challenge
Plant Growth Chamber
During the 2007-2008 school year, join NASA's Engineering Design
Challenge to design, analyze, build and assess plant growth chambers
as part of a standards-based activity related to the STS-118 space
shuttle mission. Growth chambers, much like the space plant chambers
students will design and build, are part of the education payload on
STS-118. The first Educator Astronaut, Barbara Morgan, and her
fellow crewmates took two growth chambers along with 10 million
basil seeds. These seeds will be exposed to microgravity and brought
back to Earth to be used in classrooms throughout the nation.
Engineering Design Challenge Flier
Physical Fitness Challenge
NASA's Fit Explorer project is a scientific and physical approach to
human health and fitness on Earth and in space. While
using standards-based classroom science activities related to the
STS-118 shuttle mission and human spaceflight in general, students
will learn about NASA's exploration mission and the requirements of
living in space. They will perform physical activities, including:
Base Station Walk-Back, Spacewalking, Jumping for the Moon,
simulated crew strength training and a mission control exercise. The
Fit Explorer project will run from fall 2007 through summer 2008.
Be a Fit Explorer Flier
Updated
TAKS Calendar
Texas Education Agency has posted the Student Assessment Testing
Calendar for 2007-08.
more
NEA Academy Launches!
NEA has launched the new NEA Academy website, devoted to
supporting the professional development of teachers and education
support professionals. The site will feature web-based lessons,
classroom tips, and professional development courses, including the
popular classroom management course "I Can Do It " as well as the NEA Teacher Toolkit and career information.
“The site is in its infancy,” says Jan
Collins, NEA CIO and CEO of the Academy. “We have plans in store to
add exciting courses such as Effective Courses in Diverse Classrooms
as well as more lessons and classroom tips. Stay tuned – NEA
Academy is new, fresh and exciting.” more
Texas Gets a "D" on Teacher
Prep Programs
Texas Education Agency reports that Texas received a “D” from the
National Center for Teacher Quality on educator preparation programs
offered in the state. This was at a work session conducted yesterday
for board members of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC).
The board members, a lot of them newly appointed, heard reports from
staff regarding the number of programs currently approved by the
board, the number of hours each program required for fulfillment of
the program, the number of applicants for the last three years
enrolled in programs around the state, and the number that failed to
fulfill the requirements to become certified as educators.
One board member stated that the numbers
and statistics were staggering, and questioned staff whether there
was anything the board could do to make educator preparation
programs more accountable in Texas. TEA staff discussed with the
board members possible options through the rule making process, and
all agreed that more accountability is necessary either fashioned
after charter school accountability which could also include a
rating system so that applicants are aware of which programs are
better than others.
It appears that more attention will be
focused on educator preparation programs by SBEC in future meetings
with the proposal of new rules regulating these programs more
strictly. -- Portia Bosse
10 Minute Business Cards
If you’ve been thinking about printing your own business cards,
Staples Copy & Print centers can now create and print personalized,
full-color business cards in as little as 10 minutes.
NEA Gives Educators Tools to Handle
Autism
NEA's The Puzzle of Autism explains common autistic
characteristics and suggests effective classroom strategies for
improving the communication, sensory, social and behavioral skills
of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The guide:
-
Provides educators with a general
understanding of ASD;
-
Explains the characteristics exhibited
by students with ASD;
-
Suggests evidence-based effective
strategies for students with ASD; and
-
Identifies resources where additional
information on ASD can be found.
Copies can be purchased from NEA’s Professional Library:
http://store.nea.org/NEABookstore/
control/productdetails?item_id=1148100
The complete guide can be downloaded at
http://www.nea.org/specialed/images/autismpuzzle.pdf
Grants Available for Mentors to Beginning Teachers
The Request for Application for the Beginning Teacher Induction and
Mentoring grant was authorized by House Bill 1 to fund certain
activities of mentoring programs designed to increase retention of
beginning teachers. The program is designed to allow eligible
campuses to assign a qualified mentor teacher to each classroom
teacher who has less than two years of teaching experience. All
school districts and open enrollment charter schools in Texas may
apply for a grant on behalf of one or more eligible campuses based
on criteria set in the RFA to establish or enhance a beginning
teacher induction and mentoring program. Go to
http://www.tea.state.tx.us and click on "HB 1
Implementation."
College for Texans Website
Looking for one place to find all there is to know about going to
college or technical school in Texas? Go to
http://www.CollegeForTexans.com. Admissions, financial
aid, and free test prep are just a few areas found on the site.
How to Renew Your State Certification
The State Board for Educator Certification site walks you through
the
steps to renewing your state certification.
Free Professional Development Opportunities
Get more tips on the
Ideas, Contests, Freebies page!
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