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When you walk into a successful math classroom, what should you see, hear, and feel? Math Sense helps teachers self-assess, distills the key components of a good lesson, and offers ideas for improving classroom spaces, discourse, and engagement. Preview the entire book! |
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- Getting the most out of high-tech feedback from students
 Students today are inundated with digital feedback, asserts teacher Kristen Swanson, who shares in this blog post three ways students can maximize the feedback they get. First, she suggests having students lay out a goal for their work beforehand and examine feedback while they review their initial goal. She then suggests setting specific times in which to consider digital feedback and have students consider ways they have adapted to feedback. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Education
(2/19)     
 | Strategies for Writers Free Resources Website
Strategies for Writers offers clear, concise lessons that simplify instruction and enhance students' writing. Our Free Resources Website provides mini-lesson presentations, ready-made activities, grade-level- and genre-specific text exemplars, and much more! Learn more and download over 50 free resources that you can start using today. |
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| Schools Today |  |  |
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- Md. district touts peer evaluations of teachers
School district officials in Montgomery County, Md., say they are concerned about the fate of their current peer-evaluation model, following the state's rejection of its plan to evaluate teachers. The district's plan was rejected, along with eight other districts in the state, in part for not placing enough emphasis on standardized test scores in assessing teachers' performance. District officials say their model, in which experienced teachers observe and evaluate first-year or struggling educators, has proven effective. The Washington Post
(2/19)
| Developing Leaders | | |
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- Professional development shifts internally in Calif. district
The Long Beach, Calif., school district has adopted a training system in which classroom teachers work collaboratively to improve teaching and learning, a shift from outsourcing professional development. "Our system is really invested in building internal capacity," said Jill Baker, the district's assistant superintendent for elementary and K-8, plus chief academic officer. "What that means is teachers become leaders and trainers. We're not bringing someone in from the outside. We're teaching teachers within to go back to their school sites to train others." The Hechinger Report
(2/19)
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| The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
3-Minute Motivators is a collection of over 100 simple, fun activities for any grade that will help you use "a little magic" to take a quick break, engage students, and refocus them on the task at hand. Click here to browse Chapter 1 online!
Experience a primary classroom where literacy learning goes hand-in-hand with amazing thinking about social issues, inquiry, and working together toward common goals. Many Texts, Many Voices shows you how to incorporate multiliteracies—digital, visual, and critical—with sample lessons, text sets, rubrics, and more. Preview the entire book!
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| Policy News | | |
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- Minn. state senators reconsider test mandate for teachers
Some lawmakers in Minnesota are reconsidering a requirement that teachers pass a reading, writing and math test to earn their teaching license, a mandate they passed a year ago. State Sen. Kevin Dahle, DFL-Northfield, said he is sponsoring the effort to repeal the law because some top teachers are unable to pass the exams because of learning disabilities, language difficulties and other issues. Other lawmakers say they are seeking a compromise that will retain the tests. Duluth News Tribune (Minn.)/The Associated Press
(2/20)
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--John Berryman,
American poet and scholar
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While the need for student remediation in college has been in the spotlight recently, two reports find that many students enrolled in remedial courses might not need them. Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education have found that colleges need to improve the way students are assessed for college-readiness, rather than relying on standardized placement tests. 
