On behalf of the Asbury Park Education Association, I want to wish everyone a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the time with your families.

Our quarterly newsletter will be distributed next week so please be sure that you get your copy and read through it thoroughly.  There is a lot of valuable information contained within it.  Our yearly financial report will also be enclosed as well as a final reminder for the annual APEA Winter Celebration.  Make sure that you purchase tickets by Friday, December 5.

WPLG-TV Miami, FL reported, “Only days after a South Florida high school girl was fatally shot” outside Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, “more than 1,000 students marched in Fort Lauderdale Sunday to call for an end to bullying. The Thousand Youth March for Humanity was held at Huizenga Plaza.” According to WPLG, the rally “ended with performances by music groups and students. Organizers planned the march for months, but Wednesday’s slaying of sophomore Amanda Collette added to the issue of school violence.”

        Slain Student Mourned In Florida. The Miami Herald (11/16, Moskovitz) reported that the “seats and aisles of Dillard High School’s auditorium in Fort Lauderdale held close to 700 people Sunday to remember 15-year-old Amanda Collette, who was gunned down by a classmate in a school hallway Wednesday. … Teah Wimberly, 15, who is accused of killing Collette, sat Sunday in the Broward Regional Juvenile Detention Center. She is charged with first-degree murder.” According to the Herald, “Friends of the girls say Wimberly and Collette exchanged a series of emotional text messages Tuesday in which Wimberly said she loved Collette, but Collette rejected the advances.”

In Making the Most of Small Groups, best-selling author Debbie Diller helps you get organized, form groups, and differentiate instruction as you teach comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary.

In a front-page story, the New York Times (11/13, A1, Dillon) reports that DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has “proposed spectacular raises of as much as $40,000, financed by private foundations, for teachers willing to give up tenure. Policy makers and educators nationwide are watching to see what happens to Ms. Rhee’s bold proposal. The 4,000-member Washington Teachers’ Union has divided over whether to embrace it, with many union members calling tenure a crucial protection against arbitrary firing.” The Times notes that in the absence of a response by unions about the proposal, Rhee is moving forward with plans to “fire ineffective teachers, including those with tenure. The union is mobilizing to protect members, and the nation’s capital is bracing for what could be a wrenching labor struggle.” Rhee’s plan would not abolish tenure, but would rather make it harder to get and offer incentives for voluntarily going without. “In an interview, Ms. Rhee said she considered tenure outmoded,” and argued that it helped adults, but not their students.

The New York Times (11/12, A1, Hu) reports that “the Chinese and Korean families that flocked to Jericho [NY] for its stellar schools shared their Jewish and Italian predecessors’ priorities on excellent education.” However, “the new diversity of the district has revealed a cultural chasm over the meaning of parental involvement. Many of the Asian-Americans whose children now make up a third of the district’s enrollment grew up in places where parents showed up on campus only when their children were in trouble.” Jericho schools are now “trying to lure Asian parents into the schools with free English classes and a multicultural advisory committee that, among other things, taught one Chinese mother what to wear and what to bring to a bar mitzvah.” Meanwhile, the Parent Teacher Association “has been trying to recruit more minority members and groom them for leadership roles

Literacy expert Tony Stead’s new book, Good Choice!, is a complete guide to making independent reading a key part of your literacy program. You’ll see how to establish routines, organize your classroom library, help kids select books, encourage home reading, and provide authentic response options.

Carmines

162 Main Street, Asbury Park

Friday – November 14, 2008

3:00 – Visit with old friends and meet new ones!

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Holiday Bash

Friday, December 13

Langosta Lounge on the boardwalk in Asbury Park

Buffet dinner and a 2 hour open bar

$20.00 for APEA members ($10 back day of the party)

Details will follow!

For more information visit our website:

www.asburyparkea.net

With On the front of its Metro section, the Washington Post (11/10, B1, Johnson) reports that in St. Mary’s County, MD, “where nearly one-quarter of ninth-graders had to repeat at least one class last year, school officials this year have launched an unusual experiment: Fairlead, a one-year program aimed at increasing the school system’s graduation rate by intensive mentoring and close instruction.” Lesson plans at the Fairlead Academy “revolve around real-life experiences, such as plotting data from cellphone bills to learn about graphing. Students are exposed to career ideas through guest speakers and monthly field trips.” According to Superintendent Michael J. Martirano “the idea for the program came from the Alexandria school system, which places all ninth-graders in a separate school for the crucial transition year between middle and high school.” With Fairlead, school officials aim to help ninth-graders “catch up on skills they did not master in middle school and earn at least five credits so they can advance to 10th grade at their regular high schools.”

In a differentiated classroom, assessment guides practice. In Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Rick Wormeli explores the key principles of differentiated assessment and grading, with practical advice on tiering assessments, creating good test questions, supporting school-wide change, and much more.

The Washington Post (11/6, B1, Chandler) reports, “As pressure mounts to prepare elementary students for high-stakes tests and for algebra in middle school,” some “elementary schools are turning to math specialists or coaches to add expertise to a teaching workforce dominated by generalists who, studies show, are vastly under-prepared in math.” Experts say that “elementary teachers often relish their reading lessons but lack the same confidence when it comes to math. Specialists attempt to fill the knowledge or enthusiasm gap by working with classroom teachers to improve skills. In some schools, they take over math instruction.” In the past ten years, the number of math specialists has grown, the Post points out. Although critics contend that math specialists have not been proven to be effective, some states such as Virginia “are taking an interest.” Last year, the Virginia Board of Education recommended “that one math specialist be required at elementary and middle schools for every 1,000 students,” but the proposal was not approved.

Independent Reading Inside the Box shows how K-6 students can use a single piece of paper–the “Reading 8-Box”–to strengthen and monitor their comprehension, language, and thinking skills. Filled with student samples, reproducibles, and rubrics.

Leading the News