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Website of the Week
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The screen Actors Guild Foundation brings Storyline On-line, streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children's books aloud! Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson ideas.
Storylineonline.net
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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Arne Duncan: Colleges of education must improve
Said President Obama's education secretary, in a speech Friday:
So I think that teaching should be one of our most revered professions, and teacher preparation programs should be among a university's most important responsibilities.
But unfortunately that is not the case today. In far too many universities, education schools are the neglected stepchild. Often they don't attract the best students or faculty. The programs are heavy on educational theory--and light on developing core area knowledge and clinical training under the supervision of master teachers.
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Choice of electives enhances learning
SAIL High School teacher Sheri Nilles went from teaching an advanced art class one period to a gardening class the next.
She quickly switched gears from teaching students how to draw self-portraits to lecturing about mulch and composting before taking the class to the back of the school to work on the garden.
But according to Nilles her hectic schedule is a small price to pay to allow students a variety of electives to choose from.
Other than art and gardening, students can take classes like photography, drama, tai chi, video production or juggling to fulfill the seven and a half elective credits all high-school students must complete for graduation.
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Report card links 30,000 jobs to Obama stimulus; South benefits from construction bump
WASHINGTON (AP) - Businesses reported creating or saving more than 30,000 jobs in the first months of President Barack Obama's stimulus program, with military construction leading the way and states in the South and Southwest seeing the biggest boost, according to a government oversight board.
The numbers in its report, released Thursday, are based on jobs linked to less than $16 billion in federal contracts and represent just a sliver of the $787 billion stimulus package. But they offer the first hard data on the early effects of the program. Until now, the White House has relied on economic models to argue that the program created jobs and eased the recession. Critics point to rising unemployment to argue it wasn't worth the cost.
Obama has set a goal of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.
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Class size requirements: Full compliance closing in and looking costly, educators say
posted by LesliePostal on Oct 12, 2009 12:00:12 PM
Florida estimated its school districts would need to hire 6,447 new teachers -- at a cost of more than $391 million - to fully comply with the state's controversial class-size law by the start of the 2010-11 school year.
Many Central Florida educators said Monday that the state's estimates are too conservative and that the number of teachers, and the cost, likely will be much higher. Brevard, for example, said it might need 350 more teachers than the Florida Department of Education suggested, while Seminole said it might need 50 more.
The class-size law, approved by voters in 2002, is being phased in, with the requirement that by 2010 there by a hard cap on the number of students in any classroom -- no more than 18 in the youngest grades, 22 in the middle ones and 25 in high school classes.
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Florida holds steady in national math testFlorida's public school fourth graders maintained their better-than-the-national-average ranking on a national math test this year, results show.
The state's eighth graders continued to improve, posting the higest scores ever for that grade level, though they still lagged behind the national average.
This year, 40 percent of the state's fourth graders were proficient or better -- which is the goal -- on the national math test and 86 percent were at least at a basic level, according to the 2009 math results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Nationally, 39 percent were proficient or better and 82 percent were basic or above.Read more
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Just for Fun:
Math Call to 911
little girl calls 911 for math help
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