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 This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching, teaching profession, and curriculum.
Teacher Preparation
Teachers Are Not Social Workers
Teachers should spend less time worrying about students' problems at home and more time creating a positive learning environment at school, wrote Edutopia blogger Ben Johnson.
Education
Teacher Bashing Gone Too Far
In discussing a proposed new alternative licensure program, a Minnesota legislator—chair of the House Education Reform Committee, no less—makes reference to the qualms of the "teacher Gestapo", i.e, the Nazi Germany secret police.
Teaching
Algebra, Reality TV-Style
A new public television multimedia project for teens combines algebra instruction with hip hop, fashion, video games, and reality television.
Teaching Profession
National Teacher of the Year Finalists Announced
The Council of Chief State School Officers has announced the four 2011 National Teacher of the Year finalists.
Families & the Community
Are Teachers Being Cyberbullied, Too?
The National Association of Headteachers in the United Kingdom says it is receiving an increasing number of calls from its members saying they are being defamed by parents on social networking sites.
Families & the Community
Texting: The Solution to Truancy
A high school student has proven there's a way to reduce chronic absenteeism—and it's not by taking parents to court.
Reading & Literacy
America's Word Gap
Commenting on an NPR story on the disparity in language exposure between poor children and children in professional homes, urban educator Dan Brown questions how much individual teachers can do close student achievement gaps. He writes:
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
'Teacher Attack Day' No Joke Amidst Recent Violence
Last week, six middle school girls in Nevada were arrested for planning to participate in a "Teacher Attack Day" organized through Facebook.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Can Textbook Errors Enhance Learning?
After the Washington Post exposed dozens of errors in Virginia history textbooks, several districts removed them from schools to prevent the impairment of learning. But Post ed columnist Jay Mathews thinks the mistakes would actually enhance learning.
Classroom Technology
New Ed. Book: 'Teach a Man to Fish' Is So Yesterday
Will Richardson highlights a new book co-authored by innovationist John Seely Brown, "A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change."
Curriculum
Play First, Work Later?
Something is missing from most early childhood and elementary school curricula, according to a growing number of educators, psychologists, and scientists: play time.
Classroom Technology
Brave New World Dept.
Last week we highlighted some news about how South Korea is introducing robot teachers in kindergarten classes. This week, Education Week reported on a teacher-training program that uses virtual, computer-generated "students."
Curriculum
Debating 'Everyday Math'
On Doug Noon's Borderlands blog, high school teacher Karl Fisch defends the use of conceptually-oriented math programs like Everyday Math in elementary schools.
School & District Management
Autism Study Debunked, Again
The 1998 British study linking autism to childhood vaccines--a finding that caused a wave of panic among parents and led to a sharp drop in vaccination rates--has been declared a fraud.