November/December 2005
Teacher Magazine, Vol. 17, Issue 03
Education
For Your Students
Following are application dates for student contests, scholarships, and internships. Asterisks (*) denote new entries.
School Climate & Safety
Picking Up the Pieces
Outside of New Orleans, a high school battered by Hurricane Katrina reopens. But for many displaced students, life is far from being back to normal.
School & District Management
Crescent Wrench
As schools in the suburbs begin to reopen, New Orleans’ own system remains in limbo. For years, the Crescent City’s district has been immensely troubled—both academically and managerially—and the devastation wrought by Katrina has led everyone from community leaders to U.S. congressmen to consider starting with a clean slate. “We’re not going to rebuild a failing system,” Louisiana superintendent of education Cecil Picard told Education Week, Teacher Magazine’s sister publication, in an e-mail. But change doesn’t come easily—or without controversy.
Education
Opinion
The Occidental Tourist
For the author of a book on education, a junket to Japan became an opportunity to better understand two cultures connected by the horrors of war.
Teaching Profession
Endangered Species
Age-old societal pressures and new worries are making male teachers, always in the minority, even more uncommon. Some groups are trying to turn the tide.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Opinion
Got Mail
While e-mail links teachers with parents, a surprising number don't use it at all.
Education
Older—and Wiser
In her ongoing blog, Hanne Denney, a 47-year-old “career-changer," relects on the challenges and rewards of starting over in teaching.
Education
It's All in the Family
As they learn more about themselves, older elementary-age kids find out the meaning of family—those they were born into as well as those they make. This spirit of self-explorationis reflected in several new novels for 8- to 12-year-olds.
Education
Opinion
Diverse Experience
I read with great sadness and indignation the interview with Sarah Sentilles, particularly her indictment of Teach for America [“Training Days,” , Books, August/September]. Her complaint is that folks who enter Teach for America are simply there to pad their résumés, then move on to what they really want to do.
Education
Opinion
Listen and Learn
I greatly appreciated your recent article on Guitars in the Classroom [“Striking a Chord,” August/September]. I first realized the tremendous kid-appeal of music when I walked into a classroom with my guitar in 1972, and I’ve been teaching with music ever since.
Education
Opinion
You Know the Drill
Rail Road Flat and NCLB, a place and an idea that created the perfect storm—a lost community adopts “drill and kill” as a means to an end [and] test scores as the sole indicator of school success [“One-Track Minds,” August/September].
Education
Opinion
Wrap Sessions
In reading the article on student involvement at Kennebunk High School [“Vocal Arrangement,” August/September], I was astonished to discover high school classes discussing how to have safe oral sex using Saran Wrap. Surely we can muster sufficient judgment to determine that parents are not sending their children to school so we can encourage already-rampant promiscuity by conducting “how-to” sessions on sexual issues.
Social Studies
Go West
Roxane Rollins takes kids back to the Wild West, down to the root beer in the saloon.
Curriculum
Russian, With Love
The end of the Cold War ended most schools' interest in the language, but one district in Connecticut soldiers on.
Classroom Technology
Ramblin’ Man
Kentucky native Joe Bowen isn't just crossing the country by bicycle. He's bringing elementary school kids along for the ride.
Reading & Literacy
Opinion
Reality Check
A teacher learns that perfecting students' prose only goes so far.
School & District Management
Opinion
Misunderstood Youth
Fifty years after it was first published, The Blackboard Jungle is still considered a classic—for reasons other than you might think.
School Climate & Safety
Can’t Touch That
From bracelets to tagging classmates "it," new no-nos keep surfacing.
School Choice & Charters
Split Decision
Public schools are finding new reasons to segregate the sexes.
School & District Management
Here and There
Some homeschoolers wanting to sample a class or two are being told they have to take the whole meal.
Education
Opinion
Whaddaya Know?
Who's buried in Grant's tomb? Our education system makes it difficult to care.
Student Well-Being
Straight Talk
Kevin Jennings doesn't speak for gay, lesbian, and transgender students. Instead, the longtime activist helps them find their own voices.