| News about teaching and education excellence |  |
- Seattle teachers' group calls for "day of action"
Teachers nationwide are being asked by the Seattle Education Association to participate in a "day of action" Wednesday, when they are urged to "hold meetings, rallies, take photos and wear red to show support" for a group of teachers in Seattle who are boycotting state standardized tests. The teachers say the state's Measures of Academic Progress test does not effectively measure students' success and wastes time. Critics of the anti-testing boycott, however, say the action was prompted by the MAP exam's role in teacher evaluations. The Washington Times
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 | IRA CONVENTION 2013: Register Today!
Join the celebration in San Antonio, Texas from April 19-22, 2013. Our exciting slate of Featured Speakers and more than 500 dynamic sessions will give you the knowledge you need to make an even greater difference in your classroom. Click to learn more about speakers Rick Riordan, LeVar Burton, Dr. Debbie Silver, & Mo Willems.
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 | Practical Strategies to Stop Bullying Before It Starts
Create a safe and inclusive classroom where learning flourishes while you stop the small, mean "gateway" behaviors that can escalate to bullying. "Teacher-friendly from start to finish. Including lessons makes this book even more valuable to teachers and their schools." (4th grade teacher). Learn more and order. |
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| Schools Today |  |  |
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- Opposition to common core grows in a few states
Opponents of the Common Core State Standards are centering their attention on Colorado, Idaho and Indiana, and are citing successes in Utah, which last year withdrew from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Alabama similarly has withdrawn from the two consortia tasked with developing tests aligned with the standards. Supporters of the standards, adopted by a majority of states, say opposition is small and has largely been unsuccessful. Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)
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- Why parent involvement should extend beyond questioning grades
 Parent involvement is more complicated than educators might think, writes Alfie Kohn, author of 12 books on education and human behavior. Rather than just ensuring that parents are tuned into students' work in the classroom, teachers also must help parents focus on critical thinking and enthusiasm for education -- rather than asking about students' grades, Kohn writes in this blog post. "Parents should aim higher than helping teachers to make children toe the line," Kohn writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Education
(2/4)
| Developing Leaders | | |
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- Why instructional coaching improves instruction
Instructional coaching assists teachers by asking open-ended questions and modeling practices that guide teachers to developing their own solutions for classroom dilemmas, educator Ben Johnson writes in this blog post. "Through coaching, true teacher empowerment is possible, but perhaps most importantly, the skills that are modeled by the administrator on the teacher are exactly the constructivist skills that teachers can employ with their own students," Johnson writes. Edutopia.org/Ben Johnson's blog
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| The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
Move beyond the "how to write" and get students thinking about the "why"—by focusing on the reader. Writing Power gives you dozens of lessons based on five thinking strategies--Connect, Question, Visualize, Infer, and Transform—to help students engage readers' thinking. Preview the entire book!
I See What You Mean is a practical guide to incorporating visual literacy—maps, diagrams, tables, graphs, and charts—throughout your curriculum. Author and visual literacy expert Steve Moline guides teachers with activities and scores of examples that naturally progress from simple to complex and concrete to abstract. Click here now for details!
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| Policy News | | |
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- Md. district considers lifting ban on social media
Officials in Anne Arundel County, Md., are considering two proposals that would end a ban on the use of social media in the classroom and set boundaries for appropriate use by students and teachers. Under the policy, sites such as Facebook and Twitter could be used only for instructional purposes, and teachers could create school-related social media sites if they are approved by administrators. However, communication between teachers and students would be banned except when monitored by school officials. The Washington Post/The Associated Press
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