OCT 20 = National Writing Day  www.ncte.org/dayonwriting.  In addition on October 20th an accompanying National Gallery of Writing http://galleryofwriting.org will be unveiled.  This gallery will be a digital archive of samples exhibiting how and why Americans are writing daily.  Accessible through a free, searchable website on October 20th.

By NOV 6 - Nominate outstanding 5 - 8th grader - Nominate your outstanding 5^th-8^th graders to join delegations of distinguished students from across the state of Texas at the Lone Star Leadership Academy, a weeklong, TEKS-based, experiential leadership development program to Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin or Houston/Galveston during spring break* and summer.  The Lone Star Leadership Academy provides opportunities for students to experience grade level curriculum during visits to historically, politically, scientifically and environmentally significant sites with a focus on leadership throughout.  Participants must be in 5^th-8^th grade, maintain an 85 or higher average, be active in school and/or community activities and receive an educator recommendation (your nomination) based on demonstrated leadership ability.  There is no limit to the number of students you may nominate as long as they meet the eligibility requirements.  For more information visit www.educationinaction.org or call 817-562-4957.
 http://www.educationinaction.org/~eiatx84/educators/nominations.php.
*Spring break Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin programs will be offered March 15-19, 2010.

SFA on U-TUBE    Check us out!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JuGRT5NF2I&feature=youtube_gdata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlVa31FrOHQ&feature=youtube_gdata

The states getting more freedom under a pilot program are Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland and Ohio. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plans to make the announcement during a speech Tuesday in Austin, Texas.  The states that won approval have come up with plans to more closely tailor solutions to individual schools' problems and focus resources on schools in the worst shape.

• Senator, Kay Baiey Hutchison
  
• Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education (video)
  
• Louis Gohmert, House of Representatives
• Michelle Chin, Education Policy Adviser fo Senator John Cornyn
  
• Rachel Tompkins, President Rural School & Community Trust
• Mary Kusler, Asst Director of Govt Relations
• and many others...

The summit will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., March 28, 2008, in the Baker Student Union, Grand ballroom, Stephen F. Austin State University, located in Nacogdoches, Texas. The entire summit will also be broadcast live on the Internet.  The on-campus event is limited to the first 225 registrants and will include a complimentary lunch. Online registrations are available to all who are unable to attend on-campus.

U. S. Dept of Education is seeking nominations of teachers across the United States who are improving student achievement, using innovative strategies in the classroom and making a difference in the lives of their students. Teachers across all grade levels and disciplines will be honored as 2008 American Stars of Teaching this fall. To nominate a teacher, go to: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/index.html.
 A list of previous honorees can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/american-stars-teachers.html.
You can read archived news stories about some of our 2007 American Stars at https://www.t2tweb.us/Updates/Archives.asp.

TECHNOLOGY - What's new at OIT
http://www.oit.sfasu.edu/

ESL & Technology - interesting partnership for teaching language http://edrev.asu.edu/brief/july07.html

Schools chartered by a state board of education or a postsecondary institution were more likely to serve Black students than conventional public schools or other types of charter schools. Schools chartered by a state board of education were also more likely to serve students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch than conventional public schools. Conversely, schools chartered by a school district served a greater percentage of students not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch than conventional public schools. More

• Half of all school children under 5 are minorities
• California thinking of getting rid of Teacher Exit exam
• Techies argue over how to modernize global classrooms

BOSTONIANS FLOCK TO UNION'S TOWN HALL MEETING ON NCLB
Dozens of teachers and union activists gathered at the Boston Teachers Union headquarters on April 3 for a candid exchange on how the No Child Left Behind Act is playing out in classrooms. The meeting stretched well beyond the allotted two hours as teachers offered first-hand accounts of key classroom issues related to NCLB. This includes the proliferation of unnecessary and duplicative student testing, an adequate yearly progress measurement that fails to give schools credit for progress and the need to maintain a balanced curriculum at a time when more schools are devoting additional time and resources to math and language arts in a bid to "make the grade." Elementary teacher Paige MacTavish explained how test anxiety at her school has ushered in a regimented climate where recess was deemed an unnecessary luxury and students were forced to observe "silent" lunches: quiet eating periods that would "allow children being tested [down the hall] from being distracted." AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese led the discussion, part of a series of town hall meetings on NCLB that the union is offering in cooperation with its state and local affiliates. The feedback from the field, Cortese said, is an indispensable part of the union's efforts to refine its proposal for getting NCLB right in current regulations and in 2007, when Congress begins the reauthorization process. The union needs to provide federal regulators and Congress with "stories about how NCLB is, and is not, working in your classrooms," she said. She urged participants to continue the dialogue and to stay current with the law by visiting the AFT's "Let's Get It Right" Web site: http://www.letsgetitright.org/
Lively BLOG http://www.letsgetitright.org/blog/   Source: copied directly from Inside AFT--Week of April 10 / you may sign up for these updates here  http://www.unionvoice.org/inside_aft_/join.html?r=Jd1NNcK1puIzE

What video games can teach us about making students want to learn
by James Paul Gee

Why is it that many children can’t sit still long enough to finish their homework and yet will spend hours playing on the computer? Video games are spectacularly successful at engaging young learners. It’s not because they are easy. Good video games are long, complex, and difficult. They have to be: If they were dumbed down, no one would want to play. But if children couldn’t figure out how to play them—and have fun doing so—game designers would soon go out of business.
To succeed, game designers incorporate principles of learning that are well supported by current research. http://www.edletter.org/current/gee.shtml

Sampling: San Antonio, TX 6/15/2005 Kylene Beers
Robert E. Probst  Teaching Struggling Readers: From Comprehension and Vocabulary to Response and Analysis
 Houston, TX 9/24/2005 Frank Serafini  The Reading Workshop: A Framework for Reading Comprehension Instruction
 Dallas/ Ft. Worth, TX 11/2/2005 Katie Wood Ray  Supporting Our Youngest Writers: Studies in Process, Genre and Craft for K-2
 Dallas/ Ft. Worth, TX 1/20/2006 Lucy Calkins  Units of Study Across the Year in a Primary Writing Workshop: Grades K-2  Houston, TX 3/8/2006 Carl Anderson  Assessing Writers

Alternative routes into teaching got a boost recently with the release of a study that shows that students of Teach For America (TFA) teachers performed as well as, or better than, students of other teachers. TFA is program that places recent college graduates in short-term teaching positions at schools in low-income rural and urban communities. These graduates are selected through a competitive application procedure and undergo a five-week summer training program to prepare them for their teaching positions. The program has generated significant controversy because of the minimal training that participants receive, as well as the short-term design (participants agree to a two-year commitment to teaching).

"The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to introduce students to the concept of calendars and time-keeping in general. Be sure to teach younger students the "knuckle" method of remembering which months have 30 days and which have 31. (Start with January on the knuckle of your index finger; February is the space between, March is the next knuckle, and so on. The knuckles represent the longer months, the spaces the shorter months.) The origins of the names of our days and months -- an opportunity to introduce ancient mythology! -- will likely be interesting to students of any age. For older students, consider exploring the astronomy that's at the core of our calendar system." http://www.education-world.com/alesson/lesson045.shtml

"In the history of civilization it was Socrates who first brought before the world the clear issue of freedom of teaching. In his old age he was accused of "corrupting the youth" and of "neglecting the gods." From that day to this, however, by common consent man­kind has condemned his accusers and freed Socrates. No sensitive person can read unmoved the account of that last prison day on which he drank the hemlock—a true martyr to the best that mankind knows, the desire to make the youth of his city more intelligent in their think­ing about duty and country....

How Socrates was right and his accusers wrong we can now under­stand perhaps even better than did Socrates himself. The Greek people, in a period of rapid change somewhat like our own, had outgrown their mythological gods as well as their traditional thinking on many other points, but not all of them were yet ready to admit this even to themselves. Many, for example, ridiculed the new opinion that the clouds rather than Zeus bring rain...What Socrates did was to lead the Athenians, young and old, to think—to examine afresh their old ideas—that they might have a surer basis on which to found their social and ethical conduct. It is interesting to our further discussion that Socrates seldom told his hearers what he thought. He mostly asked questions to make others think...

Our times are changing.    New problems arise.    Ap­propriate new laws and other institutional changes must from time to time be made.    In a democracy, the people have to decide.    To decide wisely they must be socially intelligent.    For citizens to be adequately intelligent our schools must begin with the young to make them more and more socially intelligent as they grow older." 
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=7624

Content will be tested by sample audience of primary and secondary teachers, head teachers, school governors and classroom assistants. The pilot will include tests of web, interactive TV and broadband content, produced by Victoria Real, the company working with Education Digital Ltd to produce the interactive elements. Interactivity would then feature strongly in the full channel, assuming approval for launch is granted.
Examples include:
how gifted teachers bring the curriculum alive
best classroom resources
hot tips on how ease the workload

"They tell you to lay down on your stomach and put your hands behind your back," said Alva. "And they handcuff your hands or duct tape them.Â…And then they'll put shackles around your feet and connect your feet and hands together behind your back."

Banned Books Week celebrated every September http://www.ala.org/bbooks

Approximately 750,000 students nationwide will participate in NAEP assessments this year.  NAEP does not provide results for individual students or schools but will produce a picture of student academic achievement at the national and state levels.
For more information about NAEP, visit NCES' NAEP web site at: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/
If you have a child who has been selected to participate in NAEP, find relevant information at:http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/parents/
Demonstration booklets for the 2003 assessment, including sample test and background questions, visit: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp