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Website of the Week
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This was one of my favorite website when I taught 5th grade. You have to pay for a subscription, but there are some free videos on it as well. The kids love them and they are appropriate for any grade level and subject.
BrainPop
If you know of any great websites that you just can't live without, please share! Reply to this email with the link.
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PEN of Florida
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PEN Website
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Some Schools Will Block or Delay Obama's Pep Talk for Students
By Michael Alison Chandler and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 4, 2009
Parents who want their children to hear President Obama's back-to-school message Tuesday might have to keep them home. School systems from the Washington suburbs to Houston are balking at airing the speech to all of their students. Loudoun County and Charles County have no plans to show it at all.
Logistics, rather than politics, are driving many of the decisions, especially in Northern Virginia, where Tuesday is the first day of school.
The speech, which will be broadcast live from Wakefield High School in Arlington County, was planned as an inspirational message "entirely about encouraging kids to work hard and stay in school," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals nationwide encouraging them to show it.
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THE FUTURE OF READING
A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like
Lorrie McNeill gives her middle school students a wide choice of reading in Jonesboro, Ga
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: August 29, 2009
JONESBORO, Ga. - For years Lorrie McNeill loved teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird," the Harper Lee classic that many Americans regard as a literary rite of passage.
But last fall, for the first time in 15 years, Ms. McNeill, 42, did not assign "Mockingbird" - or any novel. Instead she turned over all the decisions about which books to read to the students in her seventh- and eighth-grade English classes at Jonesboro Middle School in this south Atlanta suburb.
Among their choices: James Patterson's adrenaline-fueled "Maximum Ride" books, plenty of young-adult chick-lit novels and even the "Captain Underpants" series of comic-book-style novels.
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Obama Education Views Can Sway Public, Poll Says
By Dakarai I. Aarons and Debra Viadero
Published Online: August 31, 2009
A popular president's strong stances on education issues can shift the public perception of those issues, according to a new national survey released today by the journal Education Next and the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University.
The national survey, conducted earlier this year, found that knowing President Barack Obama's opinion on education topics gave a boost to those who said they supported particular goals, including an 11 percentage-point increase in support for charter schools and a 13 percentage-point increase in those backing merit pay for teachers.
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FCAT faces Passover, Easter conflicts
September 01, 2009
By LINDA TRIMBLE
Education Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- All parents have heard the standard instructions from teachers to make sure their children are in school and well-rested on FCAT testing days.
Now that advice could be on a collision course with religious traditions as the state's high-stakes tests are scheduled during Passover and the week leading up to Easter in 2011, prompting protests from school board members in some areas of Florida.
"It's not very sensitive to people of faith," said the Rev. John Gill, president of the Halifax Area Ministerial Association and pastor of Tomoka United Methodist Church in Ormond Beach.
Florida Department of Education spokesman Tom Butler said officials are aware of the concerns. "Our intent is to find either a legislative fix or something we can do internally to see the testing dates can accommodate those holidays," he said.
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Undermining a Success Story
Maryland law lets a teachers union jeopardize a high-achieving charter school.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
APPARENTLY not content with their part in stifling needed change in traditional schools, teachers unions are now setting their sights on undermining public charter schools. A case in point is the high-performing KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore. Union demands for higher teacher pay are causing the school to lay off staff members and curtail instruction. Urban education is short on success stories, so union leaders need to come to their senses and -- equally urgent -- Maryland lawmakers must change the law that gave rise to this perverse situation.
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Now Accepting Campus Representatives for the 2009-2010 School Year
PEN is accepting campus reps for the 2009-2010 school
year. As a campus rep, you serve
as the PEN contact for your school.
For each new teacher you recruit, you receive $25.
If you are interested or
for more information, email Lindsey Bailey at Lindsey@penfl.org
or call the PEN office at 800-311-7770.
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