FIRST AMENDMENT
TEACHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS THAT MEETS LEGAL MUSTER
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE ACLU PLAY SCROOGE THIS CHRISTMAS
CALIFORNIA TEACHER CENSURED FOR TEACHING HISTORY ACCURATELY
READING:
PREVENTING EARLY READING FAILURE
READING RECOVERY: WEAK FOUNDATION IN PHONICS
SPECIAL EDUCATION
SAINTS OF EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FREE ONLINE, ON-DEMAND STAFF DEVELOPMENT FROM TEACHER TO TEACHER INITIATIVE
FINANCE & SCHOOL POLICY
WHAT'S A TEACHER WORTH?
TWO OF EDUCATION'S MOST CONTENTIOUS ISSUES HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON STUDENTS
THE MAD, MAD WORLD OF TEXTBOOK ADOPTION
SCIENCE
INTELLIGENT DESIGN?
TESTING
TEACHING TO THE TEST ISN'T WORKING
TEACHER UNIONS
FEA FACTION LOOKS TO HALT UNION FEE
TEACHERS' SECRETS
PUBLIC OPINION GOES AGAINST TEACHERS UNION
OTHER VIEWS
OLD BATTLEAXE
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL INDUSTRY: THE ULTIMATE OF CORPORATE GREED AND SELFISHNESS IN THE UNITED STATES
TEACHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS THAT MEETS LEGAL MUSTER
Many have the mistaken view that Christianity is a forbidden topic in public schools. In too many cases, teachers have been misled or even bullied into cleansing their curriculum of all Christian references while references to Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and other religions escape a similar fate. This religious cleansing process makes education sterile, lacking in depth, fullness, and diversity. It is neither appropriate nor legal for the public schools to promote a religion nor to create schools that are religion-free, or Christian-free, zones. Teachers CAN include references to and the symbols of Christmas (such as Christmas trees, religious songs, and nativity scenes) and Christianity in their classrooms if they are aware of and implement guidelines for appropriate instruction.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE ACLU PLAY SCROOGE THIS CHRISTMAS
"Scrooge would make the perfect public-school bureaucrat - except he'd insist on calling it a holiday pudding, playing "Winter Wonderland" as background music, and doing it all in the name of inclusiveness, sensitivity, and church-state separation.
"In the latest manifestation of what Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition calls "secular fundamentalism," the South Orange/Maplewood, New Jersey School District has banned playing the instrumental music Christmas carols."
_______________________________________________________
CALIFORNIA TEACHER CENSURED FOR TEACHING HISTORY ACCURATELY
"A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence."
____________________________________________________
http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendly
Popup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6911883
PREVENTING EARLY READING FAILURE
". . . the strongest current theories of reading growth link together phonemic and sight word-reading skills by showing how good phonemic decoding skills are necessary in the formation of accurate memory for the spelling patterns that are the basis of sight word recognition. . . In this article, I want to lay out two sets of findings: (1) what we know about the kind of instruction that weak readers need in kindergarten through second grade to prevent them from ever entering the downward spiral, and (2) what we know about the effectiveness of interventions that make use of this knowledge."
_________________________________________________________________
http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/fall04/reading.htm
READING RECOVERY: WEAK FOUNDATION IN PHONICS
"Reading Recovery was recently thrown on the chopping block, but not until more than a generation of children were taught the program and precious dollars were spent. . . Timothy Shanahan, who was Chicago's director of reading and encouraged his own city to drop the Reading Recovery program in 2001, told the Isthmus Daily Page, "No matter how it looks to the school board, making that large an expenditure on so few kids without any evident benefit is a serious problem that needs to get addressed. I would strongly suggest redeploying these dollars in ways that might be more successful, and to be just as exacting in looking at those efforts."
_____________________________________________________
http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=
document&documentID=1898§ionID=90&NEWSYEAR=2004
SAINTS OF EDUCATION
" . . . those teachers with the patience to stay true to the task, those teachers with the skill to bring order to the confusion, those teachers with a kind and understanding heart to see all children as capable and worthy, those teachers who teach special education children—these are truly the “saints of education.” . . . Special education presents the biggest challenges to teachers and offers the most rewarding outcome—preparing a less than able child to function in a very demanding teen and adult world. To accomplish this is no small task. It is a job befitting a miracle worker, a guardian angel, a teacher who sees the potential and value of every child."
_____________________________
http://teachers.net/wong/OCT04/
FREE ONLINE, ON-DEMAND STAFF DEVELOPMENT FROM TEACHER TO TEACHER INITIATIVE
Learn about teaching algebra, reading in content areas, differentiated instruction, turning data into information, and more. Earn credit using online videos. (They're also available via satellite TV.)
WHAT'S A TEACHER WORTH?
"The 'teacher famine,' complained New York University education professor Adolphe Meyer, was caused by 'economic cheeseparing. . . . First-rate men and women have long since turned their back on chalk and blackboard; but now it is becoming difficult to attract even those of a lesser caliber.' If the complaint sounds dated, it is. Meyer was writing in 1957.
"Plenty of things have changed since then, including the total amount of money we spend on public education-now, almost $11,000 per student, more than any other country in the world. 'Cheeseparing' today comes less from a parsimonious public than from an inefficient and ineffective salary distribution system, as our three Forum contributors-Lewis Solmon, Brad Jupp, and Julia Koppich-suggest. It is not that average salaries are terrible, but that our best teachers are paid little more than our worst.
"What is remarkable is that Solmon, a former education dean, Jupp, a union leader, and Koppich, a 'new union' advocate, agree that the debate is no longer whether to throw out the single salary schedule by which most of our teachers are paid, but what to replace it with." Solmon, Jupp, and Koppich offer 'provocative-and concrete-proposals for paying teachers what they are worth while providing students with an education they deserve. As Jupp says, 'We are in an exceptional moment, one where the single salary schedule can no longer support the pressures placed on it.'"
TWO OF EDUCATION'S MOST CONTENTIOUS ISSUES HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON STUDENTS
Survey finds only moderate impact from budget cuts, and surprising support for tests
"While much has been written about the dispiriting effect of budget cuts on extracurricular activities and about the stress associated with high stakes tests, a new survey finds that most young people are coping surprisingly well. In fact, nearly two out of three say that the elimination of programs and activities due to budget cuts has not affected them at all, and that standardized tests are worthwhile.
"'A close look at these findings shows that today's students may be far more resilient about accepting -- and perhaps overcoming -- the challenges they're facing in schools struggling to do more with less,"\' said Jefferey Fix, Vice President and General Manager of Educational Communications, Inc., the publisher of Who's Who Among American High School Students and Who's Who among America's Teachers. 'Who's Who Among American High School Students has been conducting these surveys for almost 40 years and these are some of the most positive findings we've seen. It's apparent that administrators and teachers overall are doing a remarkable job in creating supportive learning environments despite these challenges.'"
For more information about the Who's Who 2004 Survey, please see http://www.whoswho-teachers.com/1whoweare/mediacoverage.aspx
THE MAD, MAD WORLD OF TEXTBOOK ADOPTION
"Statewide textbook adoption, the process by which 21 states dictate the textbooks that schools and districts can use, is fundamentally flawed. Textbook adoption distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission. The adoption process cannot be set right by tinkering with it, concludes The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption, the latest release from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Rather, legislators and governors in adoption states should eliminate the process and devolve funding for and decisions about textbook purchases to individual schools, individual districts, even individual teachers."
_______________________________________________________________
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=335
INTELLIGENT DESIGN?
A special report reprinted from Natural History magazine
"Three proponents of Intelligent Design (ID) present their views of design in the natural world. Each view is immediately followed by a response from a proponent of evolution (EVO). The report, printed in its entirety, opens with an introduction by Natural History magazine and concludes with an overview of the ID movement." Website also includes lesson plans.
______________________________________________
http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/nhmag.html
TEACHING TO THE TEST ISN'T WORKING
"It was hoped that by 'teaching to the test' for two and a half months, student performance would improve and schools would be labeled better performing. Unfortunately, the final result was devastating. Every Providence middle school, instead of becoming an improving school, ended up falling under one or more sanctions under the NCLB law. . . The current predicament of Providence middle schools is not due to a lack of taxpayer dollars and financial support, but rather poor short-term fixes that do not work."
______________________________________________________________
http://www.projo.com/metro/content/projo_20041201_oppskul.979ac.html
FEA FACTION LOOKS TO HALT UNION FEE
"Driven by dissatisfaction with NEA-Alaska, four past officers of the local teachers' union are seeking a means for members to vote with their checkbooks. The three most recent past presidents of the Fairbanks Education Association, along with the past vice president, have spearheaded a petition drive to force a vote on whether teachers should be able to choose whether they can opt out of paying for union operations."
_____________________________________________________________
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2567055,00.html
TEACHERS' SECRETS
"Critics of New York City's 250-page teachers contract hate teachers. At least, that's the story from the city's teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers — as opposed to, say, actual teachers. . . Of course, teachers' views aren't uniform. But the public usually hears only from teachers who support the contract — because the union has created a culture of intimidation that prevents many teachers from speaking out, lest they face retribution from their colleagues. The teachers I contacted on this for the most part either wouldn't talk or spoke only on condition of anonymity. Here's what some of them had to say:"
_____________________________________________________
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/20936.htm
PUBLIC OPINION GOES AGAINST TEACHERS UNION
"The Washington Education Association's definition of success appears to be as strange as its definition for fair. Someone get the union's leaders a dictionary, asap. . . What the WEA press release failed to mention was that several, make that many, of its election dreams did not come true on Nov. 2, despite the union's vast spending. . . If success is one out of six races, the WEA is champion of the universe."
__________________________________________________
http://www.columbian.com/12022004/clark_co/218055.html
OLD BATTLEAXE
"Once upon a time, some of the best teachers (usually elementary and female) were typed as 'Old Battleaxes' who were stern, demanding, and made students toe the line and work hard. In a column in The Boston Globe some years ago, however, a community leader said that if the schools help keep a child alive and help him think he can do anything he wants, then public education is worthwhile, even if public education does not equip him with the tools to accomplish anything.
"Since the women’s liberation movement has opened more doors for tough-minded and competent women to be in places other than elementary or high school classrooms, they have chosen other paths. Now potential Miss Battleaxes are more often prosecuting attorneys, surgeons, financial analysts, CEOs or Senators, and her place has been taken by teachers who want their students more than anything to feel accepted, encouraged, even perhaps admired just for who they are already."
__________________________________________
http://www.educationnews.org/old-battleaxe.htm
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL INDUSTRY: THE ULTIMATE OF CORPORATE GREED AND SELFISHNESS IN THE UNITED STATES
"Dennis W. Redovich’s diatribe against Wal-Mart’s supposed 'corporate greed' ('Wal-Mart: The ultimate of corporate greed and selfishness in the United States and the world,' Sept 27, 2004) was probably intended to make readers angry. It should make them laugh instead."
_________________________________________________
|
