The Teaching Now blog explored the latest news on the teaching profession, from practical classroom tips to raging policy debates. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching, teaching profession, and curriculum.
Teaching Profession
Thank a Teacher on Nov. 25
StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project, is asking people to give thanks to their favorite teacher on Nov. 25.
Reading & Literacy
Pop Culture's Place in the Classroom
This will be my last writeup on NCTE. Overall, I have to say it was an impressive conference, especially content-wise (the logistics were a bit hectic for me, but perhaps that's to be expected with about 7,000 attendees and 50 concurrent sessions during each time slot).
Curriculum
Book Notes: Steve Jobs Blasted Teachers' Unions, Planned Digital Textbook Feature for iPad
Apparently Bill Gates isn't the only personal computing pioneer to have expressed strong concerns about the ability of America's public schools to prepare students for the economic future—and to lay a good part of the blame on teachers' union regulations. Toward the end of his
Reading & Literacy
NCTE Pushes Collaboration With New Literacy Education Center
Take a look at Catherine Gewertz's blog post about the new National Center for Literacy Education, which NCTE announced the launch of at its conference. NCLE will offer free Web-based resources for teachers on the Literacy and Learning Exchange starting in 2012, as well as recognize and support schools and districts that implement "communities of practice"—much like PLCs—to conduct inquiries about student learning. It's still a bit hazy how the nearly two dozen partner organizations will all be involved. But Kent Williamson, executive director of NCTE, said the NCLE will be a "network of networks" and act as a "ground-up model" of reform in which school teams learn from each other. More on this down the road as the initiative's classroom and policy impacts become clear.
Education
Formative Assessment Keys: Feedback, Feed Forward
The NCTE conference has ended. Now that I'm no longer chasing presenters between hotels or waiting in crowded lobbies for crawling elevators, I'll catch up on some blogging.
Families & the Community
Have Parents Thrown Teachers Under the Bus?
Recent education reform initiatives have focused heavily on the alleged shortcomings of the teaching profession. But New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman points to new research suggesting that there's considerable room for improvement outside the classroom as well. He quotes from a multi-country study that looked at the relationship between parents' engagement in their children's learning and results on the much-discussed Program for International Student Assessment:
Education
Teacher Talk, 'Kids,' and the Power of Advertisement
Live from NCTE in Chicago
A few musings from the last two days.
A few musings from the last two days.
Education
Live From NCTE in Chicago
Just a quick heads up that I'll be doing some blogging from the National Council of Teachers of English's annual conference, which is being held over the next couple of days in Chicago.
Teaching Profession
Should Your Value-Added Rating be Public?
An issue brief from the Center for American Progress argues that publicly identifying teachers in connection with their value-added student test-score ratings (a la The Los Angeles Times) may actually undermine efforts to improve teacher quality. By giving too much weight to one, not entirely perfect measure of performance, the brief argues, public value-added ratings could alienate teachers from more holistic evaluation efforts and possibly ward off others who are interested in the profession. "The bottom line is this," the brief's authors write: "Teachers need to be part of reforms but releasing names this way only leads to conflict and runs counter to the need for collaboration."
Curriculum
Tearing Down Writing Instruction
Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews argues that writing instruction in most schools today is "academic and lifeless." Nor does he think the new common core writing standards—redolent, in his view, of "clerical work"—will help matters much.
School & District Management
Study: Readers Use 'Visual Dictionaries'
A new study finds that skilled readers do not rely on sounds at all when reading but rather retrieve words purely from a "visual dictionary."
Professional Development
Note to Principals: Don't Leave Talent in the Parking Lot
The Harvard Gazette has a report on a panel discussion marking the 30th anniversary of The Principals' Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The discussion was titled "The Future of Leadership: Perspectives on the Principalship." Among the takeaways:
Federal
Celebrating International Education Week
Need an excuse to take your students on a cultural outing or to organize a multiethnic potluck lunch for the class? This would be the time to do it. International Education Week, an annual initiative of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education that started back in 2000, runs through the end of this week.