January/February 2006

Teacher Magazine, Vol. 17, Issue 04
Education Events
Following are dates for workshops, conferences, and other professional de velopment opportunities for teachers. Some events may include administra tors, policymakers, parents, and others. The list is organized by region, though some events are national meetings. Registration deadlines may close be fore the date of the event. Asterisks (*) denote new entries.
February 1, 2006
5 min read
Graham Dey's honors research students start their study of the stars by looking at the earth.
Photo Courtesy of Graham Dey
Science Over and Under
By studying petroglyphs and the stars, Graham Dey takes students into the past.
E. Merle Watkins, December 21, 2005
1 min read
Curriculum Opinion Boys to Men
A middle school health video sparks an unexpectedly frank discussion on sexuality. Includes audio download.
Dennis Donoghue, December 21, 2005
5 min read
School Climate & Safety Opinion The Big Picture
A former state ed commissioner makes a case for boosting teacher pay and class size.
Saul Cooperman, December 21, 2005
6 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Worlds Collide
True learning happens only when schooling and the "real world" collide.
Ronald A. Wolk, December 21, 2005
3 min read
Teaching Opinion Rounded Edges
Computers alone won't help kids compete in a global job market.
Alan Warhaftig, December 21, 2005
3 min read
Education Grants
Following are application deadlines for grants and fellowships available to individuals and schools. Asterisks (*) denote new entries.
December 21, 2005
6 min read
Education For Your Students
Following are application dates for student contests, scholarships, and internships. Asterisks (*) denote new entries.
December 21, 2005
9 min read
Education Then and Now
Visitors to teachermagazine.org discuss the generational divide in the teaching profession.
December 21, 2005
1 min read
Education Awards
Following are application deadlines for awards, honors, and contests available to teachers. Asterisks (*) denote new entries.
December 21, 2005
2 min read
Teaching Profession Picket Fencing
Once as familiar in the back-to-school ritual as falling leaves, teacher strikes seem headed for a winter freeze.
Joetta L. Sack, December 21, 2005
3 min read
Education Overheard
Notable quotes on teaching and schools from around the country.
December 21, 2005
1 min read
Education Kids Books
Kids entering their teen years often face demands that require newfound inner strength, a recurrent theme in recent books for the 12-and-older crowd.
December 21, 2005
2 min read
Science Separation Anxiety
Growing up in St. Petersburg, Florida, Christine Rosen attended the Keswick Christian School, where the Bible was the primary textbook — and the sole authority on the origins of life on Earth. Rosen recounts her struggle, as a young girl, to reconcile her experience at a secular summer science program with Keswick's strict creationist teachings.
December 21, 2005
9 min read
Teaching A Walk in the Woods
Henry David Thoreau's legacy can best be experienced by a stroll around Walden Pond, as another carpenter-turned-author shows a group of students each year.
Daniel Robb, December 21, 2005
12 min read
Curriculum Chapter & Verse
One of the most influential critics who helps shape what goes into textbooks is a conservative Christian who works out of an east Texas strip mall.
Sean Cavanagh, December 21, 2005
14 min read
Teaching Native Intelligence
Two new programs in Washington state make American Indian culture the core of schools' subjects—and success.
Richard Seven, December 21, 2005
8 min read
Rookie educators such as Michael-Jon Rodney often quit within a few years. But experts say Suzanne McLean and other mentors increase retention.
Rookie educators such as Michael-Jon Rodney often quit within a few years. But experts say Suzanne McLean and other mentors increase retention.
David Kidd
Teacher Preparation Watch Over Me
Teacher-induction programs seem to work best when mentors are given enough time and resources to do their jobs well.
Denise Kersten Wills, December 21, 2005
4 min read
After Yarmouth, Maine, got its share of the 37,000 laptops issued statewide, the distrct bolstered its training course for teachers, though it didn't require them to use the technology.
After Yarmouth, Maine, got its share of the 37,000 laptops issued statewide, the distrct bolstered its training course for teachers, though it didn't require them to use the technology. "If they use one program, that's a start," says coordinator Alice Barr (above).
Gabor Degre
Classroom Technology To Each His Own
When the state of Maine issued 37,000 laptops to its middle school students, teachers needed time and training to get used to the idea of one-to-one computing.
Edgar Allen Beem, December 21, 2005
9 min read
After funding cuts ended his longstanding math enrichment program, Escalante returned to his native Bolivia, where he teaches and supports American educational causes from afar.
After funding cuts ended his longstanding math enrichment program, Escalante returned to his native Bolivia, where he teaches and supports American educational causes from afar.
Marc Longwood
Mathematics Q&A Still Standing
Now semiretired, Jaime Escalante explains what it takes to stand and deliver.
Jerry Jesness, December 21, 2005
5 min read
School & District Management Long Way Home
As West Virginia has consolidated hundreds of community schools over the past few decades, students are spending more of their time riding the bus.
Peter Slavin, December 21, 2005
12 min read
International Dispatches
School news from points across the globe.
December 21, 2005
2 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Esprit de Corps
After reading the article in the Current Events section on JROTC [“Under Fire,” October 2005], I would like to know where Arlene Inouye—a language specialist—gets her information. My daughter is a level 2 cadet in the JROTC program at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio. Never has she been taught to use physical violence to solve a problem.
December 21, 2005
4 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Watch Words
Normally I enjoy your magazine very much. It comes directly to our school, and all of the teachers read it as time allows in the faculty lounge.
December 21, 2005
2 min read