PUSH is Taking Education Beyond the Classroom

For Oak Canyon Junior High students in Lindon, Utah, learning has become an inter-disciplinary adventure. Better known as the PUSH (Preserving Utah’s Science and History) program, enrolled students have participated in previous projects which include: presenting a business fair, a film festival, and even writing for children in lower grade levels. Of course, not every student at Oak Canyon has the privilege of participating in the PUSH program. There are only 114 spots for the 250 students who apply each year.

To learn more about PUSH Click Here

Is Twitter Useful for Educators?

What can educators learn from Twitter? Lisa Nielsen, The Innovative Educator, suggests eight reasons an innovative educator would or should use Twitter. From finding people, to getting instant answers to questions, personal or professional, Lisa suggests Twitter is a meaningful place to learn and interact with other educators.

To see Lisa’s eight reasons Click Here

Can Diversity Be Taught In the Classroom?

For a Long Island Middle School Class diversity is not just a topic in passing conversation, it’s a class offered to any student wanting to learn more about the stereotyping in their everyday world.

“It’s a concern that students are not prepared for what they’re going to face when they leave the school district, particularly in more homogenous communities,” said Timothy G. Kremer, the executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, who supports the elective.

Some might argue, “How can you grade a class on diversity?” or “Is it possible to teach a class on diversity without biases interfering?”

To learn more about this class on diversity read the full article at The New York Times

Can Middle-Class Schools Help Low-Income Students?

Some athletes might say, “To be the best, you have to train with the best.” A study in Montgomery County Schools is making a similar claim that when high-poverty students attend school with middle-class students outside their neighborhoods, they perform better in school, particularly in math. The reasons behind this result are still to be determined. Could it be the middle-class students somehow motivate the high-poverty students more than their peers at high-poverty schools? Could it be because of an improved learning environment not found at a high-poverty school?

Is economic integration a solution for high-poverty students?

To read the full article Click Here

Q&A with Waiting for "Superman" Director, Davis Guggenheim

Last week in L.A., Ben Goldhirsh (from GOOD) sat down with Waiting for "Superman" director, Davis Guggenheim, to ask him about the film that has attracted attention all over the U.S.
To read the entire transcript of the Q&A Click Here

President Obama Renews White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics

On October 18, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics hosted a summit on Hispanic education. The next day, President Obama signed an executive order to renew the initiative. The initiative first began as an executive order signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.


The summit attendees included school administrators, college presidents, and Latino advocates, while topics included reduction of the dropout rate, improved connections between pre-K-12 and postsecondary education, and passage of the “DREAM Act.”

To learn more about the summit and the initiative Click Here

President Obama Speaks at White House Science Fair

On Monday, President Obama welcomed students from all over the U.S. to the first ever White House Science Fair. He mentioned key initiatives that had commenced within the last year, such as Race to the Top and Change the Equation and how those programs are a step in the direction of improving the nation's ranking in the world in the subjects of Math and Science.

As he continued, he encouraged fair attendees and all students to further their education in the STEM subjects. He was sure to point out that the most common education background of CEOs of S&P 500 companies was not business, finance, or economics—it was engineering.

"Anybody with a good idea can prosper. Anybody with talent can succeed." —President Obama

Watch President Obama's speech below:

Charlotte Danielson's New Online Course—Talk About Teaching

In her new online course, Talk About Teaching, Charlotte Danielson brings her expertise to educational leaders everywhere through the online platform PD 360. With her expert techniques, administrators and educational leaders will learn to conduct effective professional conversations that will help improve student achievement.

To learn more about the techniques in Charlotte Danielson's Talk About Teaching Click Here 

NY Times Looks For Technology in Classrooms

Wednesday, The New York Times published an invitation to all teachers to send in videos about how technology is changing their classrooms.

"If you are a teacher who has been thinking about how technology is affecting teaching and learning, we want to hear from you. We’re interested in seeing real-life examples from classrooms that show technology’s promises and its perils."

To find out more and to learn how you can submit a video from your classroom Click Here

Secretary of Education and Other Education Officials Announce National Education Reform Conference

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten the president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, announced plans to hold a national education reform conference on labor-management collaboration next year.

This conference will include participation of national, state, and local union leadership as well as school superintendents and school boards from across the country. Speaking of the successful districts where administrators and union leaders are seeing effective collaboration, Secretary Duncan said, "We need to learn from these successful collaborative efforts and build upon them across the country."

Several of the progressive labor-management agreements include those from Baltimore; Delaware; New Haven, Connecticut; Denver; Pittsburgh; Evansville, Indiana; Detroit; Montgomery County, Maryland.

To learn more Click Here

Effective Classroom Instruction—Teaching with Verbs vs. Nouns

Technology is seen and used differently in every generation. One key factor in effective classroom instruction then would be the method of teaching to today's students keeping in mind the way they see technology. Marc Prensky, CEO of Games2train, posted an article on Today's Campus asking teachers "Are you lecturing about nouns or facilitating learning with verbs?" He uses the term "digital immigrants" to describe those who view digital technology as a series of tools and "digital natives" to describe those who see technology as a means of getting things done. Many of the today's students would be considered digital natives, therefore requiring a unique approach to instruction by teachers. He explains the difference between teaching "stuff" and facilitating action—communicating and doing.

To learn more and to see the list of 21st century skills expressed as verbs Click Here

Free Common Core (ELA) Webinar from Scholastic

Scholastic is offering a free webinar, Understanding the Common Core State Standards in ELA on Monday, October 25, 2010.

Description: Join Scholastic to learn more about the specific requirements of the standards and also receive an overview of Expert 21, a new English Language Arts curriculum that will help schools implement the standards in Grades 6-8.
To learn more or to register Click Here

Monday Teacher Appreciation Video

Let's face it; everyone can use a little appreciation now and then. At the beginning of this new week we thought we would show a little appreciation to all the teachers who take the time to educate minds, young and old.

To watch the video, click HERE

Note: The YouTube video has been converted into a SafeShare video to help with viewing at schools that have YouTube blocked.

A Different Kind of Online School

We've all heard about the new trend toward online classes as an alternative avenue for traditional schooling. However, unlike schools who offer classes that students can take from home, this school is combining the convenience and variety of online course subjects with interactive people-to-people elements as well.

Complete with breaks between classes, a lunch period, and a boardroom and other meeting areas, MC2, a cyber high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is not taking all of the social elements out of the school day for its approximately 90 students enrolled for the 2010-'11 school year.

To learn more visit the Journal Sentinel

Tools For Teachers From cellphones.org

Teachers are working every day to keep up with their students in a world with increasing technological tools. Now there is a way for teachers to keep up with their students and get the information they need in an instant. In 2009 cellphones.org posted a list of 100 mobile tools for teachers on their blog. Although technology changes every day, we thought teachers, even in 2010, could benefit from this useful list.

100 Mobile Tools For Teachers

What other technological tools have you found useful as a teacher?

Equity 101 Session 8

Practice

Thursday, October 7 at 9 a.m. (PDT), 10 a.m. (MDT), 11 a.m. (CDT), 12 p.m. (EDT)

How does practice need to change in order to accomplish equity with all students? Our traditional teaching practices are insufficient for today’s ever-diversifying student body. Engage in this informative webinar about what administrators and teachers need to do in order to assure that pedagogy supports the learning of all students. Based on the successful practices of highly diverse schools that have eliminated achievement gaps, the Practice component of the Equity Framework will lead you towards equity.

Learn More

Register

•Follow Curtis on Twitter @curtislinton

•Follow the Equity 101 conversation with #equity101 on Twitter

Free ELL Webinar from WestEd

Online training is becoming more and more prevalent as school districts strive to save money. This webinar may be a solution for school districts that have had to cut travel budgets for teachers to attend conferences about ELLs. On October 27, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time WestEd will be offering a webinar with Diane August, a senior research scientist for the Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics, and Timothy Shanahan, a professor of urban education at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Learn more at Education Week

A Possible Remedy For Rural Community Teacher Shortage

Urban, suburban and rural areas alike have been faced with teacher shortage. With budget cuts and layoffs school districts might be wondering how to keep the best teachers in their schools. In a recent article published by The Huffington Post rural communities are looking to "their own" to find quality teachers. "Small, rural communities are grounded in tradition and have deep roots," said Catherine Kearney, president of the California Teacher Corps. "Someone who understands those traditions makes a huge difference."

Read the full article at The Huffington Post

Principals Are Honored In October—National Principals Month

The U.S. Senate passed S. Res 607, a resolution drafted by NAESP and the National Association of Secondary School Principals to designate October 2010 as National Principals Month. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, introduced the resolution, which honors elementary, middle, and high school principals for their passion and dedication to students across the country.

Find out more and read the entire article at NAESP

Did you have a principal who made a difference in your childhood?

Is there a principal you work with now that makes a difference? Let us know!