Obama appoints Shakira to education commission

President Obama has appointed Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll—the Colombian singer better known around the world as Shakira—to a presidential commission on education for Hispanics, the Washington Post reports. If you are wondering why, it turns out that the multiple Grammy-winning Shakira has been involved in promoting early childhood education in Latin America for years, and, not incidentally, she endorsed Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign…

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The plight of great teachers

Let’s say you are a teacher, and not just any teacher. You are one of those special teachers we hear about in news and policy discussions—the supposedly rare educator who has passionate disciplinary expertise, a tool bag full of teaching strategies and genuine caring for their students, says Nancy Flanagan, an education writer and consultant focusing on teacher leadership, for the Washington Post. You became an educator because you want to make a difference, change the world, raise the bar. You love teaching, finding it endlessly variable and challenging. You plan to spend a long time in the classroom…

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