NEA Today articles from March 2000

NEA Today archives from March 2000

Letters.
March 1, 2000... STUDENT RIGHTS I am as appalled as anyone by student violence in schools, and I understand the need for procedures to prevent such violence. However, some of those preventive measures seem to be trampling the First Amendment rights of...

Tough and Tender, Please.
March 1, 2000... Children need better schools --and better childhoods For teachers, miracles are an everyday fact of life. These children we teach, these beautiful, sometimes exasperating children, are a lot more to us than a test score--they are miracles...

Trading the Boardroom for the Classroom.
March 1, 2000... Frustrated? Tired? Thinking about greener pastures in the corporate world? This New Jersey teacher has been there. It's late in the afternoon, your classroom feels like an oven, and your head is still spinning from that postobservation...

Who's the Mentor?
March 1, 2000... Everyone knows veteran educators have a lot to offer new teachers. But new teachers, despite their lack of experience, often have ideas that even the most veteran teacher can put to good use. Just ask these NEA members. Karen Jensen is...

Should new teachers get the toughest assignments?
March 1, 2000... yes The bright faces of brand new, fully credentialed teachers ought to be in the toughest classrooms. These teachers are young, they're strong, and they have the latest in skills and pedagogy. They are not burned out, aren't about...

In Congress: An Opportunity To Help Kids.
March 1, 2000... President Clinton's new budget proposes the largest one-year increase in aid to education ever. A frequent visitor to America's public schools--and we're not talking about the guy who fixes your copier-doesn't like what he's been seeing....

HEROES & ZEROES.
March 1, 2000... * Successful businessman that he is, University of Connecticut alum Ray Neag knows about investments and returns. So it might not surprise any school employee that Neag made a huge gift, $21 million, to UConn's School of Education--the...

An `A-Plus' Plan Gets an `F'.
March 1, 2000... Florida NEA members challenge Governor Jeb Bush's plan to improve education: vouchers and school grading. It isn't smart politics to talk about "raising teacher standards," ending social promotion, and grading public schools based on...

THE BOTTOM LINE.
March 1, 2000... INEQUALITY: The average real income of high-income families grew 15 percent in the 1990s, while middle-income families saw their incomes rise just 2 percent, not enough to make up for income declines in the 1980s. For more: www.epinet.org....

Report Card.
March 1, 2000... NAME GRADE COMMENTS Brockton A Fantastic neighbors. This coalition (Massachusetts) of lenders and city officials worked Housing Project with Brockton Education...

Time We Got Paid What We're Worth.
March 1, 2000... With NEA help, New York community college ESP win pay upgrades. In another workplace, New York State NEA member Phoebe Forbes might be called a business manager Among her other duties in the business office of Jamestown Community College,...

Do'ers Profile.
March 1, 2000... PAM LILLIE * Name and profession: Pam Lillie, elementary Spanish and "Movement in Spanish" teacher. * NEA local affiliate: Michigan Education Association Local 1. * Latest accomplishment: As chair of Local 1's political action...

Testing High Stakes Testing.
March 1, 2000... Texas court OK's `discriminatory' graduation exam. In a landmark decision, a federal court in Texas has given the green light to a state requirement that high school students pass an academic skills test in order to graduate. Despite...

John Merrow On the Education Beat.
March 1, 2000... This veteran journalist and former teacher talks about what it takes to get quality media coverage on today's critical education issues, For 25 years, reporter John Merrow has covered every education issue from accountability to...

Helping Students Grieve.
March 1, 2000... What educators can do when a student in mourning comes to class. More than three-quarters of a million children in the United States live with a widowed parent. One out of every 750 high school-age students dies every year. One out of 20...

Kids Will `Kick Butts' This April.
March 1, 2000... Innovator: Matt Myers Job: President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a group devoted exclusively to reducing tobacco use among children Bright Idea: Educators play a critical role in influencing kids to choose a tobacco-free life,...

Time for a Longer School Year?
March 1, 2000... What role does time play in learning and instruction? What are the benefits and drawbacks of extending the nine-month school year? Patricia Gandara, associate professor of education at the University of California, Davis, and editor of The...

NEA Innovators.
March 1, 2000... Looking for new and creative ways to use the technology in our classroom? Try the Etools, a weekly E-mail feature on the NEA Web site. The Etools are practical, ready-to-use ideas submitted by educators, explains Sheila Adjahoe, part...

An Invitation To Talk About Being Left Out.
March 1, 2000... Innovator: Loretta Long Job: Best known in her role as "Susan" on "Sesame Street," also a former public school teacher, college professor, educational consultant, motivational speaker--and, now, children's book author Bright idea:...

The Great Thinking Machine Show.
March 1, 2000... New Jersey educators create a hot new language skills game that has 95 percent of their students scoring in the 93rd percentile for reading, Exoskeleton. Metalinguistic. Photosynthesis. These are million-dollar words that would make Regis...

Idea Exchange.
March 1, 2000... Snacks for Subs I always leave a couple of quarters for the substitute to have a juice, pop, or snack on me. Some days, they're called very early in the morning and have long drives ahead of them. This is just one way of saying that I...

How do you keep students from cheating?
March 1, 2000... To keep my fifth graders from cheating, I have each student design an office on the first day of school. The office is made by stapling two manila folders together at the top and bottom. Students can then add designs to their office...

`Real Science' Tackles Pollution.
March 1, 2000... Idaho's Cascade Reservoir--to some, an environmental sore spot. To Clint Kennedy, a great hands-on lab. How can teachers encourage students to be problem solvers instead of mere textbook readers? For science teacher Clint Kennedy, the...

How do you raise morale among teachers and support staff?
March 1, 2000... We work to improve staff morale by having a Wellness Committee. Each month, the committee puts a piece of fruit in each staff member's mailbox. And we host exercise nights, where the staff and their families can walk, use the weight room, or...

How To Create A Passion For Reading.
March 1, 2000... Tips from two teachers on how to kindle a love for reading with thrills, not drills. Adults will often read out loud to youngsters. But that habit can wane as children grow older. As children develop a sight vocabulary and the ability to...

Teacher Preparation: Accredit to the Profession.
March 1, 2000... Fewer than half of the nation's teacher ed programs have received a critical seal of approval. An NEA-backed campaign is working to change all that. Far too many U.S. classrooms lack a fully qualified, fully licensed teacher--this at a...

ESP ON THE TEAM.
March 1, 2000... TEAMWORK Counting Everyone Education support staff and teachers in Mesa, Arizona, are lending support to efforts to make their local Census 2000 count as accurate as possible. This March, when tens of millions of households...

Draw Your Own Opinion.
March 1, 2000... I recently worked with two other teachers--and a computer-savvy student--on a comprehensive Web site that explores persuasive writing and editorial writing. You can check it out at http://library.thinkquest.org/50084. The site, called...

Walk on Water.
March 1, 2000... Sixth graders in Hawaii build a winning Web site--and discover their own multiple intelligences. Who: Wanda Harris, sixth grade lead teacher, Lanikai Elementary School, Kailua, Hawaii E-mail: ...

People.
March 1, 2000... On Top of the World Wisconsin teacher climbs Mt. Everest and sets students' sights on fitness. Ever wanted to fulfill a dream that was as big as a mountain? The students at Magee Elementary School have done just that, through teacher...

Bad Teeth: A Bite Out of Learning.
March 1, 2000... Oral health problems last year caused students to lose 52 million hours of classroom time. Dushanka Kleinman, the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institute of Health, recently...

Mutual Fund Managers Make The Calls, You Pay the Taxes.
March 1, 2000... Q: I did not sell any stocks or mutual funds in 1999, but l still have taxable gains. How did this happen? A: This is one of the frustrations of mutual funds. You may not have sold any shares last year, but the mutual fund manager still...

THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY.
March 1, 2000... THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing To Change Themselves and the World Around Them With Erin Gruwell, Main Street Books/Doubleday, $12.95, 280 pages Flash back to September 1996. Erin Gruwell, fresh out...

BOOKS by NEA Members.
March 1, 2000... The Sexually Abused Child: A Parent's Guide to Coping and Understanding Kathleen Flynn Mach, MSW Sadly, reports of sexual abuse of children are on the rise. This book describes the important warning signs of abuse for parents and...

FREE OR INEXPENSIVE.
March 1, 2000... Media Ethics Students and teachers in high school and college can take an in-depth look at the media with Media Ethics: Where do you draw the line? Using a case study approach to understanding news coverage and journalistic...

Assessing Learning in the Classroom (Revised Edition).
March 1, 2000... Assessing Learning in the Classroom (Revised Edition) Jay McTighe and Steven Ferrara. NEA Professional Library. 37 pp., $5.95, #2070-7-00-F Why do we test? The authors believe the primary purpose ought to be to inform teaching and...

TV TIPS.
March 1, 2000... Dear Home: Letters from World War II The History Channel, Friday, March 17, 6-7 p.m. ET. This documentary examines how Americans dealt with the emotional trauma of World War II by looking at actual letters written by servicemen and...

WEB WINNERS.
March 1, 2000... Fun With Forests "Wood" You Believe It? Trees are one of our greatest natural resources and now you can investigate them online with a new Web site. Developed for grades 4 through 5, Educational in Nature is designed to foster...

in the Light Lane.
March 1, 2000... Making War On Words After an especially grueling eighth-grade basketball game, I was listening to my players complain about the game. I stressed all season not to blame the referees, yet one point guard moaned about calls that should...