The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/26, Johns) reports that the St. Paul School District has “set out to find high-quality people working in other professions to improve the quality of the district’s teaching ranks and fill teaching positions where they’ve often had to rely on teachers without full licenses.” This fall, “more than 630 people applied for the St. Paul Teaching Fellows Program,” which is funded by “a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.” Forty-one applicants were selected to fill positions in “hard-to-fill subject areas such as special education and science.” According to the Star Tribune, “Of the 41 teachers in the Teaching Fellows program, 26 percent hold advanced degrees and 20 percent are people of color.” Over the summer, “The district gave them a five-week crash course…on teaching in urban settings.” In addition, “the teachers are also taking graduate education courses at Hamline University, so they’ll have a full license after two years.”

In the Classroom

Software Allows Students To Play Games As They Learn.

The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch (11/26, Craig) reports that “Study X, a software program that allows students to play games as they learn, was recently installed on all student laptops at John F. Kennedy High School in Manchester.” With Study X, students can also “print flash cards and generate sample tests in several different formats. Study X has been used to master vocabulary, to aid in memorization and to learn dates and formulas,” and to help “students in a wide variety of subjects.” According to Dr. Patricia McLeese of the Academic Resource Center at Webster University, “the program is helpful to students who are easily bored by routine activities.”

School Building Becomes Canvas For Budding Student Artists.

The Washington Post (11/26, B6, Vargas) reports that art students at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA, have wrapped “the outside of the school in 150-foot-long colored plastic strips. Visible to thousands who drive along Route 50 past Carlin Springs Road, it will remain up at least two weeks.” According to the Post, “Shauna Dyer, who has worked with art teacher Jeff Wilson to oversee the work, described the project as a ‘great opportunity for kids to see how art can grow and extend outside the classroom and really understand the process that Jeanne-Claude and Christo go through. It connects to whatever they do in life, whether they become an artist or an engineer.’”

Canadian Scientist Gives Florida Fifth-Graders Hands-On Lessons In Biology.

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Albucher) reports that for “an environmental learning project…at” James B. Sanderlin Elementary School, educators “recruited Canadian environmental scientist Dr. Don Waite to teach students about biology and the environment through educational singing, lectures, and experiments over a course of three days.” The scientist “splits his time between working for the Canadian government…and leading educational programs for children.” The 24 fifth-graders who participated in Waite’s program “will re-teach what they learned to other fifth-graders.”

Virginia Elementary School Principal Implements Lecture-Free Days.

The Suffolk (VA) News-Herald (11/25) reported that Nansemond Parkway Elementary School principal Keith Hubbard instituted “lecture- and worksheet-free days this year to help students develop creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.” The goal of “Day Without a Desk” is “to make the students connect what they learn through lectures, books and worksheets to something that relates to them. It takes their learning to a higher level,” Hubbard said. “The students have been doing desk-free Fridays for three months now, and teachers at the school said it’s working.” So far, students have made “piñatas out of paper lunch bags” and paper lanterns, while studying Mexico and China. They have also “built motorized racecars using Legos, created salt maps showing the regions of Virginia.”

First-Graders At Washington Elementary School Taste Pies To Produce Pie Charts.

The Wenatchee (WA) World (11/25, Agnew) reported that John Newbery Elementary School first grade teachers Laurie McLaughlin and Tami Woolsey “have held the pie tasting annually for five years. Students try a small piece of each of the pies — this year they came from Costco and Albertsons — and then vote for the pie they liked best.” The activity “is part of the two classes’ math curriculum. Students count up the results of the taste test and turn them into a graph — a pie chart, so to speak. … After the students [make] their tough decision, they” color “a cutout picture of a pumpkin, apple or pecan pie.” Then, they “glue their choice to a chart on [a] wall” in each classroom.

Students At Montana High School Learn About Career Choices By Shadowing Professionals.

The Helena (MT) Independent Record (11/25) reported that “students from the Project for Alternative Learning (PAL)” spent part “of Monday gaining some real-life experience by job-shadowing professionals at businesses around Helena.” According to the Helena Independent Record “students’ interests varied, as did the participating businesses. Some students worked with professionals at St. Peter’s Hospital, many worked with teachers and administrators throughout Helena schools, and others worked at construction companies and restaurants.” PAL principal Don Wood-Foucar “said the experience is a bit like a short internship.”

On the Job

Nearly Half Of Math Teachers In High Poverty Schools Do Not Have Certification, Report Shows.

The AP (11/26, Quaid) reports that poor students “are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children’s advocacy group.” Based on data from the US Department of Education, the Education Trust found that “in high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.” Additionally, “in schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.” The report adds that “teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching. … It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline” or “where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.”

        According to the Canadian Press (11/26) the report also points out that “The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades” five through eight. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise (11/26, Parsavand) also covers the story.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/26, Diamond) reports, “Georgia teachers differ with the federal government as to how qualified they are, according to a national report released Tuesday.” A study from The Education Trust, a child advocacy group, shows that even though “about 95 percent of Georgia’s middle and high school teachers met the federal requirement of ‘highly qualified,’ only 65 percent of the teachers said in a survey that they had the appropriate certification.” The data “come from different reports completed during the 2003-04 school year, the last time the teacher survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.” The Journal-Constitution explains, “Georgia teachers are ‘highly qualified’ if they have an academic degree in the subject matter they’re teaching; or if their college course work is equivalent to a major in that area; or if they pass a state content test in the subject.”

        Number of “Highly Qualified” Teachers In Hawaii Increases From Last Year. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/25, Da Silva) reports, “Hawaii is making progress toward getting public school teachers qualified, but those instructors are harder to find in high-poverty campuses where students often need the most help, according to the state Department of Education.” Compared to last year, there “are more qualified teachers in Hawaii’s public schools…but the state needs to do a better job placing those instructors in high-poverty campuses where students often struggle most, figures released yesterday” by the state Department of Education show. “The number of isle teachers federally qualified in all their subjects rose to about 10,839 from 8,997 the same time last year, a 20.4 percent jump, according to the state Department of Education.” Meanwhile, “a report released by the children’s advocacy group Education Trust said that nationally, poor children and minority students are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject.”

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Miller) reports, that students at Zephyrhills High School “were given the opportunity to widen their horizons a bit and travel the world” last week as part of the school’s International Education Week. During lunch periods, some students “lined up for henna tattoos penned by students in the Art Honors class or to have their caricatures done in anime form. Others took a chance at making an origami crane or smacking a pinata that was filled with Thai ginger candy and lollipops coated in chili pepper.” And “Each day on the school’s morning news show, students were taught how to say “good morning” in various languages — Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, and Korean. They also learned to write their names in different script.” Meanwhile, “students in ESOL classes created colorful and informative posters to hang and shared with other students the differences and similarities between the schools here and in their home countries.”

In a blog posting for Newsweek (11/25), Pat Wingert wrote, “Though presidential candidates often say that education will be one of their top priorities, the job of education secretary is often among the last cabinet seats filled. While Barack Obama’s transition team hasn’t floated any names yet, the education establishment–reformers, teachers’ unions, colleges and universities–has no shortage of candidates.” According to Wingert, “What no one knows is whether Obama is leaning toward someone from the more innovative end of the reform movement…or a candidate with close ties to the teachers’ unions.” The innovators “want one of their own in the top spot. Their favorites include New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein” and Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools and founder of the New Teacher Project. However, the teachers’ unions “prefer someone like Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford who acted as a surrogate for Obama during the campaign or former Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina, both reformers who have a long history of working respectfully with the unions on issues like increased teacher professionalism.”

The Sacramento (CA) Bee (11/26, Nix) reports, “Twenty-five Elk Grove Unified School District elementary, middle, and high school students have been named winners in the Internet Safety Video Contest, a collaboration between the school district and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.” According to the Sacramento Bee, “The contest is one component of Elk Grove Unified’s Internet Safety Initiative, which involves a three-pronged approach to educate staff, parents and students about cyber bullying, online predators, and other Internet safety issues, according to a district statement.”

Kentucky’s News-Democrat (11/25, Cassady) reported, “Over 200 students were absent from Logan County High School Friday after rumors of fights and hit lists circulated through the student body and into the community.” Meanwhile, “school administrators and office staff spent much of the day reassuring parents that everything was fine at the school and dealing with the few students actually involved in the situation.” After what was believed to be “a fight between two students,” students began to spread rumors, mostly via text message, “about things like a hit list of students who were to be jumped and certain groups wearing camouflage clothing on Friday. By Thursday evening…word had spread into the community and people began to panic.” Principal Casey Jaynes said that that “no incidents were reported at the school Friday and…there was no reason for people to keep their children out of school because of safety issues.”

Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin (11/25, Mann) reported, “The committee working toward recommending budget cuts of more than $10 million to Rochester schools met Monday, suggesting, among other items, that maintenance and lawn budgets be reduced.” Other “highly-supported” suggestions included having classrooms cleaned “every other day rather than each day,” which would potentially save the district $1 million, and “reducing electric, water and utility costs by five percent. That includes turning off lights more often when buildings are closed and turning down the heat, now around 70 degrees, in all buildings.” The Post-Bulletin notes, “Before finalizing recommendations in mid-December, the committee will review possible cuts in four more areas — instructional staffing, instructional programming, transportation and human resources.”

California’s North County Times (11/26) reports, “Students in wealthier school districts tend to be in better shape than those in poorer areas, according to state fitness tests released Tuesday.” In addition to performing “better on academic tests,” state data shows that students in “affluent [California] districts such as Poway Unified, Carlsbad, and San Dieguito Union…can also do more sit-ups and push-ups.” This year, “About half of the students in those districts passed state fitness tests…compared with about a third statewide. The series of six physical fitness tests are given each year to all public school students across the state in fifth, seventh, and ninth grade.” They “assess aerobic capability, body composition, strength, flexibility and endurance.”

In the Los Angeles Times‘s (11/25) L.A. Now blog, Seema Mehta wrote, “Nearly two dozen protesters were stationed this morning in front of Condit Elementary School in Claremont, the site of a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition that is under fire because kindergartners dress up in handmade pilgrim and Native American costumes.” About half of the protesters were “parents who supported the costumes. The other half were “parents who opposed the outfits.” According to Lt. Dennis Smith of the Claremont Police Department, “their discussion grew so heated that school officials called police, who separated the protesters on separate sidewalks.”

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/26, Johns) reports that the St. Paul School District has “set out to find high-quality people working in other professions to improve the quality of the district’s teaching ranks and fill teaching positions where they’ve often had to rely on teachers without full licenses.” This fall, “more than 630 people applied for the St. Paul Teaching Fellows Program,” which is funded by “a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.” Forty-one applicants were selected to fill positions in “hard-to-fill subject areas such as special education and science.” According to the Star Tribune, “Of the 41 teachers in the Teaching Fellows program, 26 percent hold advanced degrees and 20 percent are people of color.” Over the summer, “The district gave them a five-week crash course…on teaching in urban settings.” In addition, “the teachers are also taking graduate education courses at Hamline University, so they’ll have a full license after two years.”

The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch (11/26, Craig) reports that “Study X, a software program that allows students to play games as they learn, was recently installed on all student laptops at John F. Kennedy High School in Manchester.” With Study X, students can also “print flash cards and generate sample tests in several different formats. Study X has been used to master vocabulary, to aid in memorization and to learn dates and formulas,” and to help “students in a wide variety of subjects.” According to Dr. Patricia McLeese of the Academic Resource Center at Webster University, “the program is helpful to students who are easily bored by routine activities.”

The Washington Post (11/26, B6, Vargas) reports that art students at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA, have wrapped “the outside of the school in 150-foot-long colored plastic strips. Visible to thousands who drive along Route 50 past Carlin Springs Road, it will remain up at least two weeks.” According to the Post, “Shauna Dyer, who has worked with art teacher Jeff Wilson to oversee the work, described the project as a ‘great opportunity for kids to see how art can grow and extend outside the classroom and really understand the process that Jeanne-Claude and Christo go through. It connects to whatever they do in life, whether they become an artist or an engineer.’”

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Albucher) reports that for “an environmental learning project…at” James B. Sanderlin Elementary School, educators “recruited Canadian environmental scientist Dr. Don Waite to teach students about biology and the environment through educational singing, lectures, and experiments over a course of three days.” The scientist “splits his time between working for the Canadian government…and leading educational programs for children.” The 24 fifth-graders who participated in Waite’s program “will re-teach what they learned to other fifth-graders.”

The Suffolk (VA) News-Herald (11/25) reported that Nansemond Parkway Elementary School principal Keith Hubbard instituted “lecture- and worksheet-free days this year to help students develop creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.” The goal of “Day Without a Desk” is “to make the students connect what they learn through lectures, books and worksheets to something that relates to them. It takes their learning to a higher level,” Hubbard said. “The students have been doing desk-free Fridays for three months now, and teachers at the school said it’s working.” So far, students have made “piñatas out of paper lunch bags” and paper lanterns, while studying Mexico and China. They have also “built motorized racecars using Legos, created salt maps showing the regions of Virginia.”

The Wenatchee (WA) World (11/25, Agnew) reported that John Newbery Elementary School first grade teachers Laurie McLaughlin and Tami Woolsey “have held the pie tasting annually for five years. Students try a small piece of each of the pies — this year they came from Costco and Albertsons — and then vote for the pie they liked best.” The activity “is part of the two classes’ math curriculum. Students count up the results of the taste test and turn them into a graph — a pie chart, so to speak. … After the students [make] their tough decision, they” color “a cutout picture of a pumpkin, apple or pecan pie.” Then, they “glue their choice to a chart on [a] wall” in each classroom.

The Helena (MT) Independent Record (11/25) reported that “students from the Project for Alternative Learning (PAL)” spent part “of Monday gaining some real-life experience by job-shadowing professionals at businesses around Helena.” According to the Helena Independent Record “students’ interests varied, as did the participating businesses. Some students worked with professionals at St. Peter’s Hospital, many worked with teachers and administrators throughout Helena schools, and others worked at construction companies and restaurants.” PAL principal Don Wood-Foucar “said the experience is a bit like a short internship.”

The AP (11/26, Quaid) reports that poor students “are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children’s advocacy group.” Based on data from the US Department of Education, the Education Trust found that “in high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.” Additionally, “in schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.” The report adds that “teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching. … It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline” or “where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.”

        According to the Canadian Press (11/26) the report also points out that “The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades” five through eight. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise (11/26, Parsavand) also covers the story.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/26, Diamond) reports, “Georgia teachers differ with the federal government as to how qualified they are, according to a national report released Tuesday.” A study from The Education Trust, a child advocacy group, shows that even though “about 95 percent of Georgia’s middle and high school teachers met the federal requirement of ‘highly qualified,’ only 65 percent of the teachers said in a survey that they had the appropriate certification.” The data “come from different reports completed during the 2003-04 school year, the last time the teacher survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.” The Journal-Constitution explains, “Georgia teachers are ‘highly qualified’ if they have an academic degree in the subject matter they’re teaching; or if their college course work is equivalent to a major in that area; or if they pass a state content test in the subject.”

        Number of “Highly Qualified” Teachers In Hawaii Increases From Last Year. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/25, Da Silva) reports, “Hawaii is making progress toward getting public school teachers qualified, but those instructors are harder to find in high-poverty campuses where students often need the most help, according to the state Department of Education.” Compared to last year, there “are more qualified teachers in Hawaii’s public schools…but the state needs to do a better job placing those instructors in high-poverty campuses where students often struggle most, figures released yesterday” by the state Department of Education show. “The number of isle teachers federally qualified in all their subjects rose to about 10,839 from 8,997 the same time last year, a 20.4 percent jump, according to the state Department of Education.” Meanwhile, “a report released by the children’s advocacy group Education Trust said that nationally, poor children and minority students are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject.”

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Miller) reports, that students at Zephyrhills High School “were given the opportunity to widen their horizons a bit and travel the world” last week as part of the school’s International Education Week. During lunch periods, some students “lined up for henna tattoos penned by students in the Art Honors class or to have their caricatures done in anime form. Others took a chance at making an origami crane or smacking a pinata that was filled with Thai ginger candy and lollipops coated in chili pepper.” And “Each day on the school’s morning news show, students were taught how to say “good morning” in various languages — Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, and Korean. They also learned to write their names in different script.” Meanwhile, “students in ESOL classes created colorful and informative posters to hang and shared with other students the differences and similarities between the schools here and in their home countries.”

In a blog posting for Newsweek (11/25), Pat Wingert wrote, “Though presidential candidates often say that education will be one of their top priorities, the job of education secretary is often among the last cabinet seats filled. While Barack Obama’s transition team hasn’t floated any names yet, the education establishment–reformers, teachers’ unions, colleges and universities–has no shortage of candidates.” According to Wingert, “What no one knows is whether Obama is leaning toward someone from the more innovative end of the reform movement…or a candidate with close ties to the teachers’ unions.” The innovators “want one of their own in the top spot. Their favorites include New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein” and Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools and founder of the New Teacher Project. However, the teachers’ unions “prefer someone like Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford who acted as a surrogate for Obama during the campaign or former Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina, both reformers who have a long history of working respectfully with the unions on issues like increased teacher professionalism.”

The Sacramento (CA) Bee (11/26, Nix) reports, “Twenty-five Elk Grove Unified School District elementary, middle, and high school students have been named winners in the Internet Safety Video Contest, a collaboration between the school district and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.” According to the Sacramento Bee, “The contest is one component of Elk Grove Unified’s Internet Safety Initiative, which involves a three-pronged approach to educate staff, parents and students about cyber bullying, online predators, and other Internet safety issues, according to a district statement.”

Kentucky’s News-Democrat (11/25, Cassady) reported, “Over 200 students were absent from Logan County High School Friday after rumors of fights and hit lists circulated through the student body and into the community.” Meanwhile, “school administrators and office staff spent much of the day reassuring parents that everything was fine at the school and dealing with the few students actually involved in the situation.” After what was believed to be “a fight between two students,” students began to spread rumors, mostly via text message, “about things like a hit list of students who were to be jumped and certain groups wearing camouflage clothing on Friday. By Thursday evening…word had spread into the community and people began to panic.” Principal Casey Jaynes said that that “no incidents were reported at the school Friday and…there was no reason for people to keep their children out of school because of safety issues.”

Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin (11/25, Mann) reported, “The committee working toward recommending budget cuts of more than $10 million to Rochester schools met Monday, suggesting, among other items, that maintenance and lawn budgets be reduced.” Other “highly-supported” suggestions included having classrooms cleaned “every other day rather than each day,” which would potentially save the district $1 million, and “reducing electric, water and utility costs by five percent. That includes turning off lights more often when buildings are closed and turning down the heat, now around 70 degrees, in all buildings.” The Post-Bulletin notes, “Before finalizing recommendations in mid-December, the committee will review possible cuts in four more areas — instructional staffing, instructional programming, transportation and human resources.”

California’s North County Times (11/26) reports, “Students in wealthier school districts tend to be in better shape than those in poorer areas, according to state fitness tests released Tuesday.” In addition to performing “better on academic tests,” state data shows that students in “affluent [California] districts such as Poway Unified, Carlsbad, and San Dieguito Union…can also do more sit-ups and push-ups.” This year, “About half of the students in those districts passed state fitness tests…compared with about a third statewide. The series of six physical fitness tests are given each year to all public school students across the state in fifth, seventh, and ninth grade.” They “assess aerobic capability, body composition, strength, flexibility and endurance.”

In the Los Angeles Times‘s (11/25) L.A. Now blog, Seema Mehta wrote, “Nearly two dozen protesters were stationed this morning in front of Condit Elementary School in Claremont, the site of a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition that is under fire because kindergartners dress up in handmade pilgrim and Native American costumes.” About half of the protesters were “parents who supported the costumes. The other half were “parents who opposed the outfits.” According to Lt. Dennis Smith of the Claremont Police Department, “their discussion grew so heated that school officials called police, who separated the protesters on separate sidewalks.”

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Teaching Tips & Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.