Texas official allegedly forced out over intelligent design e-mail

Texas's director of science curriculum, Chris Comer, said she was forced to resign after she forwarded an e-mail about a book criticizing intelligent-design instruction. Department officials declined to comment, but documents obtained through the Texas Public Information Act said, "Ms. Comer's e-mail implies endorsement of the speaker and implies that TEA endorses the speaker's position on a subject on which the agency must remain neutral." USA TODAY/Associated Press

Longer day helps 10 Massachusetts schools boost test scores

Ten Massachusetts public schools that last year lengthened the school day by 25% or more to offer extra reading, writing and math lessons saw student scores increase across the board. Education leaders across the U.S. are weighing whether they should follow suit, and U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., wants Congress to approve legislation to make school days longer. Massachusetts spent about $20 million administering the program, at a cost of $1,300 per student. The Boston Globe

Christmas Shopping for Kids

Find a gift for any kid on your shopping list this season with the For Kids Episode. Gift Picks include the Polar Express Book, Disney Princess Teapot & Little People Garage.

Sudan protesters: Execute teacher

An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons, who has been found guilty of insulting religion.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- Hundreds of protesters brandishing swords and sticks gathered outside Khartoum's presidential palace Friday to vent their anger against a British teacher jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear "Mohammed."

Gibbons has been working at the school -- popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates -- since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool this summer, Boulos said.

He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. CNN

Don't Miss These related articles:
- Teacher charged in teddy bear case
- Bid to stop whipping
- TIME.com: The blasphemous teddy bear
- Web site: Unity High School

Bill would offer parents more Down syndrome information

Doctors would be required to provide more comprehensive medical information about Down syndrome to parents whose fetus is diagnosed with the disorder under a bipartisan bill before the U.S. Senate. Physicians estimate 80% to 90% of such parents currently abort the pregnancy. The Boston Globe/Associated Press

Best Cities to Educate Your Child

Let's agree with wise experts that the quality of education any child gets comes down to just three things: their own motivation, their parents' support, and good teachers. Still, is there a way to compare America's metro areas for education strengths? Consider five factors.

1. School Support
Using the department's data, which come from each of the states, you can combine the metro area's average number of students per full-time equivalent classroom teacher (the lower the better) with its average instructional expense figure for student (the higher the better) to produce some interesting winners: Ocean City, N.J., Ithaca, N.Y., and Honolulu.

2. Private School Options
Yes, you can find a private school at another Department of Education site - and yes, you can rate each metro area's options for private school options. Winners in this category are Washington, D.C., Houston and Atlanta.

3. Library Popularity
Among metro areas, the perennial winners in library turnover are all out West: Portland, Ore., San Jose, Calif., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Salt Lake

4. College Town
Places like College Station-Bryan, Texas; Iowa City, Iowa; Lawrence, Kan.; and Columbia, Mo., come out very high on this criterion. Alas, there's only one game in town in Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University), in College Station-Bryan (Texas A&M), in Lawrence (University of Kansas) and in Columbia (University of Missouri). Something else is needed to reward higher-education variety.

5. College Options
Here, the top-ranking places are one, two and three in size: New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Combining all these criteria gives us the rankings of the top places in America to educate your children - led by Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va., and followed closely by Madison, Wis., and Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Mass.

Tests, meetings drain special ed aid

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Endless rounds of tests and meetings ordered by city hearing officers are blocking special education students from needed help and costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, The Examiner has learned.

About 1,400 children asked the hearing officers for help getting services for their disabilities between November 2006 and October 2007, according to a court-appointed monitor’s analysis obtained by The Examiner. But in 72 percent of those cases, school hearing officers put off a decision and instead ordered new rounds of tests or meetings, the analysis showed.

Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has promised to make special education her top priority and has been given a nearly unlimited budget to do so, but the legislation that created her job shifted most of the responsibility for special education onto the state superintendent’s office, which has only a fraction of Rhee’s budget and even less of its political support. The Examiner

Teen with autism hopes to become an entertainer

The Story of Brittany Maier

Brittany Maier, who has autism and visual impairments, can barely speak, but the 18-year-old pianist performs twice weekly and has written several original songs. "To her, music is a language," said her mother, Tammy Maier. Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.)

LISTEN TO BRITTANY'S MUSIC:

"A World On My Own"

"Top Model" contender hopes her success will inspire others

Heather Kuzmich, who has Asperger's syndrome, was among the final five competitors on "America's Next Top Model" before being eliminated from the competition. "I wanted to prove that I could do this," said Kuzmich, who was upfront about her disability. "I also wanted to show other girls who possibly had this disability that it's possible to do modeling and to do what they want to do." ABC News

Coping with Stress in the Special Education Classroom

Meeting the daily learning and behavioral needs of students makes teaching a stressful job. Although not all stress associated with teaching is negative, stress that reduces a teacher's motivation can have deleterious effects such as alienation from the workplace, absenteeism, and attrition. In fact, when special education teachers are highly stressed by the unmanageability of their workload, they are more likely to leave the special education classroom (Miller, Brownell, & Smith, 1995). The ability to successfully manage stresses related to teaching is critical if special education teachers are to survive and thrive in the classroom.

- Coping In Bureaucracies

- Set Realistic Expectations

- Make Distinctions Between Your Job And Your Personal Life

- Exercise Professional Discretion And Increase Your Autonomy

- Don't Expect Praise From The Principal

- Increase Your Efficacy

- Develop Personal Coping Strategies

- Direct active strategies

- Indirect active strategies

New Blog Skin

This was how my blog looked like before I changed my blog template three days ago. The contents still remain the same but I changed the header and the sidebar for several reasons:

- to customize my blog and make it more personalized
- to make it look a little more different than any blogs out there
- to convey more professionalism as an educator for special needs students catering more on my specific audience and readership's information needs
- This is my information portal for special education issues, news and current events in DC Public Schools and across the nation. I want to make sure that those who thirst for these kinds of information find most of the things that they need in my blog
- I'll be more likely to blog when I am satisfied with how my blog looks and feels

I hope all these factors combined will help me attract more readers, retain readers, and draw readers into my circle of satisfied audience.

Oklahoma children with special needs improperly restrained

Students with disabilities were allegedly subjected to inappropriate restraints, according to a lawsuit filed by five Norman, Okla., families. The district's attorney said the district believes it and its employees acted properly and the suit is without merit. Education Week/Associated Press

Practical Strategies For The Special Education Classroom

In my school, we are doing a lot of teacher team meetings and collaborations to help ALL students (including those with special needs) reach their optimum potential. There are several regular education teachers who personally consult me for strategies and accomodations that they can do for special needs students mainstreamed in their classroom.

There are many practical strategies that are effective in the classroom. It is up to the classroom and special education teacher to ensure that appropriate strategies are being used in the classroom to assist individual learning styles and provide success to all students with special needs. It is recommended that a multi-modal approach be used, visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile for optimum success. Here are some of them:

- Classroom Environment

- Time Management and Transitions

- Presentation of Materials

- Assessment, Grading and Testing

- Behavior Management

Delivering an academic program to a room full of unique students is certainly a challenge. Implementing some of the listed strategies will provide a comfortable learning place for all students regardless of their academic abilities.

Fenty, Rhee May Close 24 D.C. Schools by Summer 2010

By Theola Labb¿

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 28, 2007; 9:35 AM

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee are considering closing 19 schools next summer and five others by summer 2010, according to a confidential document prepared by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education.

But to keep those schools operating through June, Fenty (D), in a separate letter to the D.C. Council, has requested $31.6 million. That money also would cover teaching positions slated to be eliminated later because of declining enrollment.

As for teaching staff, the mayor wrote that the system would save an estimated $2.9 million by cutting teachers, aides and assistant principals by next summer. The goal is to make sure that the teaching staff matches the anticipated enrollment, the mayor wrote. The Washington Post

The MultiDisciplinary Evaluation Team

We had our WTU Special Education Issues meeting yesterday with representatives from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the DC Public Schools Special Education Departments. We discussed OSSE priorities focused on improving the special education programs in the district. The Case Managers Pilot Program is one of their priorities, they are planning to hire thirty case managers very soon to serve as special education advocates for our special needs students.

Special Education case management is actually a team effort and responsibility. The goals of case management are to ensure that the student's educational program is cohesive, coordinated, responsive to the student's identified needs, and carried out in accordance with the laws and regulations that apply to the education of students with disabilities.

How is their role different from the special education coordinators'? Even sped coordinators find their roles vague until now.

We have to have at least one case manager per school that serves special needs students, assisting all the MDT members (including special ed teachers, regular ed teachers, related service providers...) with their needs to help ensure that our students' potentials are being maximized.

Just to review and revisit the MultiDisciplinary Evaluation Team's Role in the IEP Process according to IDEIA 2004:

A. Function and Purpose = Major functions

B. Multidisciplinary evaluation team members and their roles
(a) Administrators
(b) Regular education teachers
(c) Special education teachers
(e) Students
(f) School psychologists
(g) Related Services personnel and others...

C. Rights of parents and students = Procedural safeguards

Autism is universal

Autism Is a lifelong disorder which can affect a person's communication and social interaction skills, to make him tend to be alone, away from others. Symptoms may include:

• Delay speech/inability to speak
• Behave in an odd & unpredictable way
• Difficulty coping with change or frustration
• Responds inappropriately in a social situation...

Does the Chancellor's record matter?

Re: Rhee

Jonathan Tilove of the Newhouse News Service wrote a pretty good summary of the controversy around DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. As one interviewed for the story, based on what I've posted on the subject here in ebizbizz, I've got two comments.

Does the Chancellor's record matter?

Perhaps the most important substantive point about Tilove's story is the fact that he could find no record supporting Chancellor Rhee's claim of radically improving student performance in her two-year experience as a Teach for America recuit in Harlem Park, a Baltimore school managed by proto-Edison Education Alternatives, Inc. Rhee agrees that no record can be found. Tilove is right to focus on the claim because it is the basis of the Chancellor's arguments for school success. Education Week

Should DC Schools Chancellor Rhee Hire Friends or Put Work Out to Bid?

Washington Post staff writers Theola Labbé and V. Dion Haynes report that DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is considering contracts with nonprofit Charter Management Organizations (CMO) for schools in or approaching restructuring status.

According to (DCPS spokesperson Mafara) Hobson, Rhee told the parents and teachers she met with Monday that three nonprofits potentially could run some D.C. schools: St. Hope, a charter operator in Sacramento; Green Dot, which operates 12 charter schools in the Los Angeles area; and Philadelphia-based Mastery Charter Schools. Education Week

New organization to focus on Response to Intervention

A $14.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant will help create a National Center on Response to Intervention to compile research and expertise on the new early intervention policy for educators and parents. Education Week

Bush names nominee to head U.S. special-education office

An attorney who has worked in disability rights and led U.S. Education Department disability-research efforts has been nominated to be the department's next assistant secretary for special education. Tracy R. Justesen, 39, awaits Senate approval; his twin brother is the department's assistant secretary for vocational and adult education. Education Week

Honors college student tackles Tourette syndrome

Alicia Vanasse, 24, is a college honors student and president of her school's communications club; three years ago, such progress was unimaginable for Vanasse as she attempted to control severe Tourette syndrome. But a new drug regimen and a congressional internship built Vanasse's confidence, and an adviser helped her explain her tics to professors and classmates. "I've always been 'that girl with Tourette's,' " Vanasse said. "But here I've been given the chance to just be Alicia." The Providence Journal (R.I.)

Experts join parents in call for better gifted education

Resources are increasingly being diverted away from gifted and talented children, experts say, echoing complaints by some parents that NCLB has left gifted children behind. "Because it's all about bringing people up to that minimum level of performance, we've ignored those high-ability learners," said Nancy Green, executive director of the District-based National Association for Gifted Children. "We don't even have a test that measures their abilities." The Washington Post

Pinoy teacher driven to suicide in Baltimore

News Article: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=99655

It happened twice this year, it's in the papers, see another article from ABS-CBN Interactive sent by a colleague from the Middle East.

Colleagues, those who are abroad can tell you that teaching in a foreign country is not as great as you think it is. Initially, you can not take your family with you, they are your only immediate support system here. Though you have the support of the FilAm community, your colleagues, some relatives, the tight sincere embrace of your family members is incomparable to theirs, enough to save you sometime from the cruel effects of stress and depression that you will surely go through when you are teaching abroad. I've been through this stage, I survived and thrived, but I still go through the pain and suffering over and over everytime I see the eager faces of my newly arrived co-Filipino teachers. The adjustment period is not over yet.

To all of you who are abroad, about to leave, or are contemplating on leaving your family behind to teach and to make a difference in another place, hold your family close to your heart. Let them be your inspiration to survive and thrive. They need you as much as you need them, be strong for them.

We in the Pinoy Teachers Network sympathize with the Baltimore Filipino Teachers, we had several fun get togethers with them. Irene and Fe will forever remind us to be always there for a colleague through thick and thin. As long as we live, they too shall live, for they are a part of us, as we remember them.

At the rustling of leaves and the beauty of Autumn...
We remember them.


MARISOL ANGALA

(for Pinoy Teachers Network)
Washington DC
Fall 2007

Education Quotes 10

The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.-- Ralph M. Sockman

Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are still greater.-- Albert Einstein

How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.-- Alexander Dumas

I think the world is run by C students.-- Al McGuire

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.-- Abraham Maslow

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.-- Aristotle

Higher education must lead the march back to the fundamentals of human relationships, to the old discovery that is ever new, that man does not live by bread alone.-- John A. Hannah

I teach therefore I am.-- Anonymous

Effective teachers seek feedback and consensus on their decisions and make sure that students understand.-- Linda Shalaway

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.-- Margaret Mead

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Oral reading tests may result in inappropriate placements

Oral reading tests fail to distinguish children who have trouble understanding words from those with language-based disorders, according to a new study published in the November issue of Reading Psychology. The use of such screening tests can result in students being inappropriately placed or delay treatment for learning disorders, researchers say. The study suggests the use of silent reading tests and limited use of oral screenings. ScienceDaily

Accept no Boundaries

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Education cost money, but then so does ignorance.-- Claus Moser

The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers not because he is obstinate but because he knows others worthy of consideration.-- Allan Bloom

Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing.-- Albert Einstein

Freedom of teaching and of opinion in book or press is the foundation for the sound and natural development of any people.-- Albert Einstein

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones.-- Henry David Thoreau

Grade school is the snooze button on the clock radio of life.-- John Rogers

The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.-- B.B. King

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.-- Benjamin Franklin

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.-- George Bernard Shaw

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.-- B.F. Skinner

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Toys for Special Needs Children

Hey! For your Christmas shopping, say goodbye to the stuffed animal.

Giving purposeful and fun toys to children with special needs is getting easier. Toys “R” Us, for instance, provides an annual “Toy Guide for Differently Abled Kids,” complete with symbols that indicate the skill-building benefits of each toy.“I think it’s important to know what types of things a toy provides to a child - sensory, fine motor, gross motor (skill development) - and we can pass that on to the customer,” said Kathy Mabry, owner of Village Toy Shop in Canton and Easton.

Though it’s important for children with special needs to get toys they can use, it’s equally crucial they have fun playing, Mabry said.

“Our biggest mission is to try to get toys into the hands of kids with special needs that they can play with their friends and family.”

Here are a few great toy gifts for the differently abled child, also available at Amazon.com, just click on the names below:

• Gross motor muscles get a workout in the Jump ’n Slide Bouncer.
• Signing Time Videos encourage communcation for all children.
• See Me Sensory Balls are perfect for tactile stimulation and hand/eye coordination.
• Alex Toys Tissue Paper Art promotes sensory, tactile and artistic play. Comes with six self-stick patterns, 500 tissue paper squares in a rainbow of colors and four giant wiggly eyes.
• My Tabletop Easel has a chalkboard on one side and wipe-off board on the other, to help kids develop communication, fine motor skills, sequential thinking and spatial relations.

DCPS has a new general council

James Sandman, starts up a new job early next month – as the general counsel for D.C. Public Schools.

His arrival at DCPS comes at a busy time. The school system recently had some legal trouble, including a U.S. district judge’s accusations of “stunning ignorance” by DCPS attorneys in special education litigation. Sandman who has two children in private high schools, says he is making the switch in a large part due to his admiration for the schools’ new chancellor, Michelle Rhee. The Blog of Legal Times

Hillary pledges to raise autism funding to $700 million

Ryan Moore, of South Sioux City, Neb., smiles as he listens to Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speak to local residents during a town hall meeting, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall - AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday said she would offer better autism-training for teachers, expand autism research and improve early-detection efforts. "It's time we had a government and a president that recognized the seriousness of autism and addressed it head-on," she said. "We can help people with autism live rich and full lives." The Des Moines Register (Iowa)

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION: Documented Accomplishments

I found another book that I would recommend to my colleagues. I used this book as another reference for my Entry 4 Documented Accomplishments, this portfolio entry is one of my highest scored entries.

This book is the first manual to present clear, manageable, step-by-step practical procedures and tips on how to organize a professional portfolio to document the achievement of nationally developed standards for teachers. Key Topics: This book introduces the national teacher standards and then guides readers through the portfolio development process in a logical, sequential manner from the initial stage involving the collection of potential artifacts to the final step of constructing a Presentation Portfolio. A professional portfolio is a vehicle that will enable teachers and prospective teachers to gain a large measure of control in charting their own professional growth and then demonstrating to others in a convincing way the competence that has been achieved.

I recommend this book to all professionals working in the field of education.

* Please check the right sidebar for more of my National Board Certification candidacy.

Education Quotes 8

What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.-- Confucius

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.-- Gandhi

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.-- Eartha Kitt

You learn something every day if you pay attention.-- Ray LeBlond

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.-- Chinese Proverb

I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.-- Dudley Field Malone

You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.-- Marvin Minsky

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.-- John Lubbock

People learn something every day, and a lot of times it's that what they learned the day before was wrong.-- Bill Vaughan

Nothing is more powerful and liberating than knowledge.-- William H. Gray III

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Girl, 3, with autism sells finger paintings

Siobhan Forrester usually creates her artwork from her highchair, even though her masterpieces are selling for up to $50 and her work is on display in a Rhode Island gallery. The 3-year-old artist began painting as therapy to accustom her to touch, but now a portion of her sales are going to autism charities. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Israeli, Palestinian teachers yearn for peace

The sun sets over Gaza City, Thursday (AP photo by Adel Hana)

In classrooms on the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, teachers attempt to counter intolerance amid violence and even death. "Instead of only teaching computer science I also have to be a psychologist and a social worker," said Israeli teacher Atara Orenbuch. The Jordan Times/Reuters

Education Quotes 7

Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm.-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Learning is not a spectator sport.-- Anonymous

In an effective classroom students should not only know what they are doing, they should also know why and how.-- Harry Wong

The important thing is not to stop questioning.--Albert Einstein

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.-- Mary McLeod Bethune

A gifted teacher is as rare as a gifted doctor, and makes far less money.-- Unknown

A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.-- Thomas Carruthers

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.-- William Arthur Ward

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.-- John F. Kennedy

The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Happy Thanksgiving!

The year has turned its circle,

The seasons come and go.

The harvest is all gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

The fields, their yellow grain.

So open wide the doorway-

Thanksgiving comes again!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Education Quotes 6

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.-- Thumper's father (Bambi 1942)
A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him.-- James Baldwin

We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.-- Dan Quayle.

That is the difference between good teachers and great teachers: good teachers make the best of a pupil's means; great teachers foresee a pupil's ends.-- Maria Callas

A word as to the education of the heart. We don't believe that this can be imparted through books; it can only be imparted through the loving touch of the teacher.-- Cesar Chavez

 

The highest result of education is tolerance.-- Helen Keller

My heart is singing for joy this morning. A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mild, and behold, all things are changed.-- Anne Sullivan

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.-- Unknown

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.-- Clay P. Bedford

Take a deep breath, count to ten, and tackle each task one step at a time.-- Linda Shalaway

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Growing preschool-tutoring market worries some development experts

3 year old Sanjana Rao learns numbers with tutor Lilian Yu at the Columbia West Kumon Center in Columbia, Maryland.

Preschoolers and kindergartners are among the fastest-growing markets for after-school tutors as anxious parents hope the early assistance will help their children get into the best colleges. Some child-development experts worry the trend is age-inappropriate, but a recent study may bolster the movement: Entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills was the best predictor of later academic success among nearly 36,000 U.S., Canadian and British preschoolers, according to the researchers' findings. TIME

New Zealand researchers develop "virtual" teacher

An animated "virtual" teacher able to respond to children's moods may be a potential breakthrough for long-distance tutoring, according to this article. The three-dimensional image, which was designed to teach math to 8-year-olds, was created by Massey University researchers based on their observations of real teachers interacting with students. The New Zealand Herald

Education Quotes 5

Children need models rather than critics.-- Joseph Joubert

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple.--Amos Bronson Alcott

It is the responsibility of every adult... to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them and that they are not alone-- Marian Wright Edelman

Education is more than filling a child with facts. It starts with posing questions.-- D.T. Max

If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.-- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.-- Abraham Lincoln

It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teachers -- they help us to learn.-- John Bradshaw

It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted.--Linda Conway

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.-- Albert Einstein

Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand… what he learns and the way he understands it.-- Soren Kierkegaard

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New Zealand researchers develop "virtual" teacher

An animated "virtual" teacher able to respond to children's moods may be a potential breakthrough for long-distance tutoring, according to this article. The three-dimensional image, which was designed to teach math to 8-year-olds, was created by Massey University researchers based on their observations of real teachers interacting with students. The New Zealand Herald

New site allows users to test DNA, explore genetic risks

A new Google-funded Web site will allow users to have their DNA analyzed for $999, explore how their DNA compares with others and participate in scientific studies. Creators are working with Autism Speaks to eventually tackle genetic research. USA TODAY/Reuters

DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee: Quo Vadis?

Listening to John Merrow’s November 19 report on DC Schools’ Chancellor Michelle Rhee on the PBS radio version of The News Hour took my breath away. Yes, her audacity has refreshing features. But it's also frightening.

In the space of a few minutes Merrow shows Rhee:

• Removing principals within days of arriving on the scene – she actually gives one the news for subsequent broadcast to a national audience.
• Declaring war on her own central office.
• Arguing for the right to fire staff and teachers at her sole discretion.
• Dismissing the idea of any compassion for employees, in the name of student performance.

The Chancellor is a bit short on a concrete strategy towards this end, but the report suggests it is the k-12 equivalent of “march or die” – perform or step aside. Education Week

Record number of New York City teacher resignations

Some 4,606 certified New York City teachers resigned in the 2006-07 school year, more than in any year recently, according to the city's teachers union. An official at the city's education department disputed the numbers' accuracy, and called the release of the figures a "media stunt." The New York Times

Education Quotes 4

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.-- Bill Bernbach

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.-- Aristotle

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.-- Alec Bourne

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.-- Aristotle

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten-- B. F. Skinner

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.-- Gail Godwin

Education is the best provision for old age.-- Aristotle

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.-- Confucius

The mark of a true MBA is that he is often wrong but seldom in doubt.-- Robert Buzzell

If I were asked ... to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of Americans ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.-- Alexis de Tocqueville

 

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Jobs for adults with disabilities can be hard to find

Some 14.3 million U.S. adults have some form of physical, mental or emotional disability that restricts their ability to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While some are able to find employers willing to accommodate their limitations, others languish on waiting lists or rely on friends or relatives. Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)/McClatchy News Service

Schools underreporting violence

Widespread underreporting of violent incidents is undermining the NCLB provision to identify "persistently dangerous schools," according to an audit by the U.S. Education Department's inspector general. Only 46 U.S. schools carried this designation in the past school year. The Washington Post

Education Quotes 3

We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.-- Anonymous

When will the public cease to insult the teacher's calling with empty flattery? When will men who would never for a moment encourage their own sons to enter the work of the public schools cease to tell us that education is the greatest and noblest of all human callings?-- William C. Bagley

The kids in our classroom are infinitely more significant than the subject matter we teach.-- Meladee McCarty

Teaching is not a profession; it's a passion.-- Unknown

Your heart is slightly bigger than the average human heart, but that's because you're a teacher.-- Aaron Bacall

Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.-- David M. Burns

A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discoverers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.-- Linnaeus

A teacher effects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.-- Henry Adams

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.-- Mark Twain

It is books that are the key to the wide world; if you can't do anything else, read all that you can.-- Jane Hamilton

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Who Moved My Cheese

I love this book! It's a charming story of a couple of mice and little men who diligently search for cheese in a maze. The obstacles they meet, and the reality of their personalities cause great growth along the way. I'm surprised at myself looking into each character, and finding myself, and loved ones there.

This book is for anyone who is comtemplating change in their life, or who is looking for a way to better accomplish tasks at hand. It's not filled with psycho-babble, or self help jargon, but rather lets you explore the characters, and relate in an entertaining way. This book is one of th easiest reads, with the most personal growth pay-back I've ever encountered.

Taking Action for DCPS Special Education

D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) currently leads the nation in the percentage of special education issues resolved through costly, adversarial hearings.

That's not a good thing.

Reducing the number and cost of these disputes between parents of special education students and DCPS would allow funding to be redirected where it really counts--to the classroom--and would help these students quickly get the services they need.

When we issued our report on the need to repair the system for resolving special education disputes in DCPS, we called it A Time for Action.

Now is the time. DC Appleseed

Education Quotes 2

The secret of teaching is to appear to have known all your life what you learned this afternoon.-- Anonymous

They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.-- Anonymous

The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.-- Joseph Campbell
I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.-- Chinese Proverb

In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards.-- Mark Twain

Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.-- W. B. Yeats

The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.-- Robert Maynard Hutchins

There is a brilliant child locked inside every student.-- Marva Collins

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.-- Henry B. Adams

Information cannot replace education.-- Earl Kiole

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Good schools, like good societies and good families, celebrate and cherish diversity.-- Deborah Meier

Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.-- George Evans

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.-- Doris Lessing

What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.-- Martina Horner

Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.-- Plato

As a teacher I feel I have a moral obligation to help the children in my classroom grow toward becoming full human beings and to feel successful. Teaching cognitive skills is not enough...-- Jean Medick

Learning to teach is a bigger job than universities, schools, experience, or personal disposition alone can accomplish.-- Sharon Feiman-Nemser

In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.-- Lee Iacocca

Don't set your wit against a child.-- Jonathan Swift

It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts... it is to teach them to think, if that is possible, and always to think for themselves.-- Robert Hutchins

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NYC plans to dismiss underperforming teachers

New York City's Education Department announced the creation of a new entity called the Teacher Performance Unit, designed to gather the necessary evidence required to fire underperforming teachers, even those who are protected by tenure. United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten characterized the plan as "disgusting." The New York Times (11/15)

Do we see a pattern here? DC Schools Chief Wants to Fire Ineffective Teachers

Teamsters Call for End to Staff Shortages in D.C. Public Schools

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamster public school employees today urged Washington, D.C., Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to double the operations budget to end staff shortages and provide facilities with needed equipment and supplies.

Members of Locals 639 and 730, which represent about 1,500 public school employees, testified at a budget hearing that well-staffed and well-equipped schools are important steps in helping children get the best education. EarthTimes