A group calling themselves the Badass Teacher Association (BAT) launched a campaign on Monday against America’s federal education policies, Takepart.com reports. The 15,000-plus strong Internet group spent Monday making hundreds of calls to the White House switchboard to tell President Barack Obama to replace Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. Instead, the teachers want a lifetime educator who better understands and empathizes with teachers and parents. The White House call was the first action since the group started about a week ago with an initial 100 members on Facebook. The group is part of an ongoing revolution in education in which teachers, parents, and students are exasperated and exhausted by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top proposals and the testing they require, the Common Core State Standards, and school closings…
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
Barriers to girls’ education abound in rural schools
Today we visited the San Miguel School. It is an example of community dedication, responsibility and exemplifies a commitment to education that impressed me, Takepart.com reports. Classes are completely clean with curtains, running water, and an education perspective beyond the scope of understanding. I have visited several rural schools worldwide, but the hard work and inspirational message that Free the Children conveys in the community is unique. Free the Children introduced us to Maria Angelina. Maria Angelina is a single woman in her thirties. She is passionate for her community life and her traditions. She was born in Pulingui, and couldn’t attend school as a child because of economic reasons and because she was born and raised in a “macho society,” where girls are not allowed to go to school…
…Read MoreOp-Ed: Rookie teachers need way more support
Steve Jobs once said, “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” One of the most effective ways to use modern technology in education is in observing teaching to greatly influence the effectiveness of educators, TakePart reports. Reflection is vital for teachers to improve their craft as professionals. However, it can be difficult to objectively examine one’s teaching skills. For new teachers, it can be particularly challenging…
…Read MoreWhat happens when a rich and poor school share the same campus?
I’ve been teaching for 13 years, and I think the number one thing that would make our profession just a little bit easier is collaboration, says a contributor for TakePart.com. I was shocked during my first year of teaching to see how little teachers shared information. I found myself searching for those that would help and I didn’t find much. People have always asked me what I thought our school was missing. Was it funding? No, our school has soared since the budget has been cut. Was it leadership? We have gone through more than seven principals in 13 years. Leadership that sticks around sure does help, but I think the number one thing that can turn a school around is true collaboration. When I’m at a workshop and people share things about their schools and how well they collaborate, I want to work with them. I want to join a team of professionals who work together to help students achieve. I want to turn things around and make my own school better. I am in awe when I go to conferences and whole teams of teachers from schools are there together, because I am usually alone…
…Read MoreWatch: Selfless kindergarten teacher gives student a kidney
When Wendy Killian’s son was one day old, his life was saved by a blood platelet donor. From that day forward, Wendy vowed to help the parents of a critically-ill child if given the chance, TakePart.com reports. Recently, Wendy got that opportunity. A former student, 8-year-old Nicole Miller, was born with one kidney. Rapidly, that one kidney is failing. Nicole suffers from branchiootorenal syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes malformations of the ear and cysts in the neck, hearing loss, and malformations of the kidney, according to the Mansfield News Journal. Nicole and her parents were running out of options.They reached out to everyone they knew and 18 people offered to donate a kidney to the little girl. Unfortunately, none of them were a match. Then last year, Nicole’s kindergarten teacher stepped forward…
…Read MoreIt’s time teachers move beyond the dusty old grade book
America is abuzz about education technology, TakePart.com reports. Teachers trade tips about new tools on social networks; the media frequently report on how schools are using it to improve learning outcomes; and just last week, educators, thought leaders and other innovators convened at SXSWedu to talk tech in education. From MOOCS and personalized learning to big data and BYOD, attention is on the next trend with the potential to “transform” education. However, that attention may be misplaced. To effect meaningful change, we must push past the hype and get back to basics: what are the real (not invented) needs and challenges of schools and how do we leverage modern technology to address them? When we consider this, sometimes the most impactful solutions are not radically new discoveries, but those that improve upon existing tools…
…Read MoreCan a school project make a difference in a community?
The Industrial Revolution isn’t exactly the sexiest of topics for high school students, TakePart.com reports.
“In education today, kids want to see the practicality of what they are learning,” says Andrew Holly, a social studies teacher in Grand Rapids, Mich. “The Industrial Revolution obviously isn’t that engaging in its historical sense to kids, so we tried to make it about things they care about in their lives.”
Holly and his fellow teachers embarked on a project at Kent Innovation High School to create a school-wide project using the Industrial Revolution as a link to 21st century social and political problems. It was a perfect project for Kent Innovation High School, a school that focuses on project-based learning in a team environment. At Kent, which first opened to 108 ninth graders in September 2011, students spend two thirds of their day at the new school focusing on four cores: English, math, science and social studies. The classes use projects, which depart from the age-old conception of the boring school project, as their learning tool……Read More
Why even art teachers have a problem with standardized testing
Gray is the color between black and white and it can be created in many ways. There is cool gray and there is warm gray. There are light grays and dark grays. The question is, how do I make the right gray? Do I add one percent black to white or 99 percent white to black? Asks a TakePart.com contributor. As an art teacher, I can give my students a written test to see if they remember the formula, or I can give them a paintbrush and paint. Standardized tests are supposed to be more acceptable than non-standardized tests. They are created to gather data about answers to predetermined questions in order to determine the students’ performance and intelligence. In art education, it is not so simple to measure the creative process, performance and aesthetic responses in student learning. I am not concerned about the percent of colors my students use to make gray. I am concerned whether or not they understand the technique and can demonstrate it correctly…
…Read MoreMyEDmatch: Where teachers and schools hook up
If Match.com can pair a couple destined to be together, could a similar site match teachers with the right school? Asks TakePart.com. According to Munro Richardson and Alicia Herald, the answer is yes. The two reformers are the founders of myEDmatch—a website launching on February 25 that will make it easier for teachers and schools to “meet their match.” How it works is simple: Educators and schools build profiles that include virtual portfolios, sample teaching (or introductory school) videos, and class curricula. Taking this one step further, the teachers and schools are asked about their beliefs around education. This, Richardson thinks, is the glue that will hold the two parties together. There is all this talk about teacher quality and teacher effectiveness, Richardson said in an interview, but there is one important issue that’s missing from the discussion. If a teacher does not fit in with a school’s “mission and culture,” Richardson says, “it will not work out.”
…Read MoreOpinion: ‘The Road Out’ of poverty begins with great teachers
In a rundown Appalachian town, Deborah Hicks once dreamed of an education that would take her far away from the life she knew. She was a precocious little girl who was angry about the harsh poverty that surrounded her, TakePart.com reports. Despite not receiving a strong education at her local public school, she had the grit and determination that would eventually get her out. Hicks studied to become a teacher, and when she got her degree, she set out to help girls who grew up as she did. In her beautiful and tragic book, The Road Out: A Teacher’s Odyssey in Poor America, Hicks chronicles this journey. After taking a teaching job in Cincinnati at a local university, she stumbled upon a severely poor community that used to be a “haven for southern white migrants from Appalachia in the postwar decades.”
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