Reading, writing and running to a new profession. As I prepared to enter the field of education, both institutions I attended — Victoria College and Sam Houston State University — told us that Texas had a massive shortage of teachers.
This shortage was especially pronounced in critical areas like math, science and foreign language. After six years behind the desk, I can definitely see this shortage and its causes: Low pay, mediocre insurance and benefits, an emotionally demanding workload, the unspoken requirement of personal investment on a financial level, constantly changing regulations written by people who have not entered a public school classroom since their own high school graduations.
Education isn’t for the faint of heart. Teachers, especially Texas teachers, endure these things as just the trappings of working in education. DeVos represents a movement to privatize public education. Watch this teacher's brutal resignation speech to her school board. In Kansas, the Shawnee Mission Board of Education adopted a three-year unilateral contract for teachers that their union fought against.
On Monday, middle school teacher Amanda Coffman tendered her resignation from the school district with this powerful and emotional statement to the board. Someone should hire Coffman as a highly-paid speech writer, pronto. (Shawnee Mission Post) You can major in cannabis at this university. Officially. College students have been majoring in cannabis for decades, but it’s finally legit at Colorado State University-Pueblo. Boston Police Union throws a tantrum over Black Lives Matter at school week. NEA Calls For More Accurate Measure of Special Educator Workloads. The National Education Association (NEA) is advocating for schools to shift to a workload analysis model for special education professionals that would more fairly measure their growing responsibilities today and the heightened intensity of their work.
The model would replace the traditional caseload structure that is based on the number of students with Individual Education Programs (IEPs) that are assigned to each educator, which critics say does not adequately account for a shift toward more consuming inclusionary practices and mounting pressure to meet academic standards. “This is important to special educators because we want to provide the best academic and social emotional support for our students,” says Sharon Schultz, a former teacher, administrator, and professor in special education who has worked extensively on the model through an NEA resource cadre addressing issues related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Painting Like a Pro - Step 1. 80% is the Prep Work - Pretty Handy Girl. After years of painting rooms, I have perfected the process and can tell you that 80% of a professional paint job is in the preparation.
My Child's IEP Isn't Working. Now What? Are you concerned your child’s IEP isn’t working?
Are you worried that even though the teacher is following the plan, your child still doesn’t seem to be making the progress you expect? Dear Teachers: You're Not Fooling Me. Dear Teachers, As a mom to a gaggle of kids, I’m a little consumed this time of year.
'Stop killing teachers with planning and marking' Just about every teacher will recognise the sad truth: they are working longer and longer hours week after week.
(It would appear that this is now recognised by the Department for Education, too). The most profound question to address is whether these extra hours spent in the school are actually improving the quality of teaching and learning. Member-Created ESSA Resources - The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Why the New Education Law Is a Game-Changer. As Congress reformed the No Child Left Behind law in December, much attention was paid to the additional responsibilities the new law gives the states and to its reduction in the burden of over-testing of students.
What is not well known is that the Every Student Succeeds Act could shift more than $2 billion of federal funds annually over the next four years toward building evidence on what works in education. It also invests in proven efforts that give America's students greater odds of developing, learning and graduating from high school ready to succeed. This all may sound like common sense, but it is actually quite rare in public policy. And we think it is a game-changer for education.
Remember "Moneyball"? The law keeps America on its march toward a 90 percent high school graduation rate by 2020 through effective use of data and accountability. Florida School Ditches Common Core - Soars To Number One. A school in Florida that dumped the Common Core program in favor of traditional teaching methods has soared to the number one position in the State’s top schools list, according to government statistics.
Mason Classical Academy, a charter school in Naples, Florida, decided against forcing kids to learn the Obama endorsed Common Core method of teaching, due to the way it deliberately dumbs down children and created unnecessary and complicated methods for working out relatively simple problems. Naturalnews.com reports: They have rejected the backward approach of Common Core, which sees kids memorize entire words in kindergarten before later being introduced to phonics once they are in elementary school.
By that point, their brains are already used to whole words, which makes grasping the concept of phonics and applying it far more difficult than it needs to be. Why Teachers Are Walking Out – Known.