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 This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching, teaching profession, and curriculum.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
N.Y.C. Seeks Changes in Disciplining Teachers Accused of Sexual Misconduct
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed new legislation that would give local school districts or the chancellor—as opposed to hearing officers—the final say on whether a teacher accused of sexual misconduct is fired, according to a press release.
Professional Development
Teachers' Incredibly Shrinking Summer Break
Memorial Day Weekend Special: A Washington Post article reports on the apparent gradual erosion of the teaching profession's most envied perk—the summer break. With the nation's economy still staggering and promised salary increases on hold, the article says, many teachers opt to take seasonal jobs, continue working second jobs, or teach summer school in order to stay afloat. Some also seek to bolster their prospects for those supposed salary increases by taking courses toward advanced degrees or special credentials. Then there are the ever-present—and, the unions point out, sometimes unpaid—lesson-planning duties, staff training activities, review sessions, and curriculum-development projects. "I wouldn't trade anything for summer," says one teacher quoted in the story. "But by the time I come back for the first day of school, I feel like I need a vacation."
Teaching Profession
Teaching Standard English While Embracing Dialect Diversity
The growing numbers of second-generation Latino students attending U.S. schools pose new challenges for teachers, according to a Fox News Latino report. These students are often fluent in English but use speech infused with Spanish accents, rhythm, and usage that they pick up in their Latino communities. By the same token, they struggle with the standard English that is generally needed to perform well on standardized tests and other school assignments.
Assessment
Feeling the Test-Prep Pressure
Worried that her students aren't ready for upcoming English Regents exam, the normally droll NYC teacher Miss Eyre finds herself coming a bit unglued:
Education Funding
Tight Market: One Teacher's 7-Year Job Hunt
A news outlet in Ann Arbor, Mich., reports on a local educator—a former nonprofit professional in her 40s with an MA in education and an endorsement in learning disabilities—who has been looking for a full-time teaching position for seven years now.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Student-Data Dashboards of the Future
Greg Limperis, supervisor of instructional technology in Lawrence, Mass., says current school data-system dashboards are too voluminous and static to meet the instructional needs of today's teachers. So he envisions an alternative that is more timely, interactive, and mobile:
Teaching Profession
Understanding Teacher Burnout
Are you heading toward teacher burnout? Over on Edutopia, Rutgers University professor Maurice Elias highlights recent research on contributing factors and warning signs. He also suggests that resolving burnout generally isn't just a matter of taking a couple of days off to refresh or somehow bucking up and putting a smile on your face. You may need to confront deeper issues related to school culture:
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Do School Rankings Mean Anything?
Our Classroom Q&A blogger Larry Ferlazzo's school, Luther Burbank High in Sacramento, Calif., has been named on Washington Post columnist Jay Mathew's list of America's Most Challenging High Schools, which ranks schools based on the number of students included in advanced or college-level courses. We'd say congratulations, but Larry seems to have mixed feelings about the honor—while his principal apparently reacted to the news by calling such school rankings "meaningless" and "quite possible destructive. ..." For Larry, the recognition is particularly bittersweet—and ironic—since, he says, the school is slated to lose 21 teachers to layoffs this year.
Teaching Profession
'Worst' Math Teacher in NYC Questions Ranking
Carolyn Abbott, a 7th and 8th grade math teacher in New York City, is one unhappy educator. According to a post by sociologist Aaron M. Pallas on The Hechinger Report, Abbott's score on the New York City Department of Education's Teacher Data report has ranked her the worst 8th grade math teacher in the city.
Curriculum
Common Standards: Why the Grudge Against Stories?
As has been widely reported, the College Board named David Coleman, the architect of the Common Core standards, as its in-coming president this week. The news has brought renewed attention to a statement Coleman made during a 2011 speech to the effect that, out in the working world, you will rarely hear a request like "Johnson, I need a market analysis by Friday, but before that I need a compelling account of your childhood." (You probably won't hear people being called by their last names at work nowadays, either, but that's a different story.)
Teacher Preparation
TFA Critic Hints at Plans to 'Disrupt' Training
Gary Rubinstein, author of the blog post "Why I Did TFA, and Why You Shouldn't," which went viral after it was posted in October, buries an enticing tidbit in his recent blog post:
Reading & Literacy
Good Riddance to the Five-Paragraph Essay?
In his blog The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher, Ray Salazar argues that the five-paragraph essay should be tossed out the window.
Teaching
The Most Important Part of Teacher-Evaluation Reform
Writing in The Hechinger Report, California math teacher Kyle Hunsberger reminds school leaders and policymakers that revamped teacher-evaluation systems—especially those relying heavily on student test scores—will only be as effective as the infrastructural supports that gird them:
Families & the Community
Report Card Bill: Parents Grading Themselves
Tennessee has created a new measure proposing that parents of students evaluate themselves on report cards.