Teachers // Current

ABC News: Teacher to 4-Year-Olds: 'You Are All Just Stupid Kids'

A Houston mother, who said her daughter was well-behaved at home, was worried about what was going on in her child's... more

bedeboop
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Teacher drug testing may see legal action

Unless members of the Kanawha County school board change their minds about a plan to randomly drug test teachers, the county could... more

JackHerer
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Are Same Sex Parenting Studies Reliable ?

Same sex marriage advocates keep saying that the AAP, the AMA and the APA endorse same-sex parenting based on their extensive... more

soleil10
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Fighting the Taleban with literacy

It's dusty and lacks power and drinking water and the children share books. But it is open, giving several hours of... more

bedeboop
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Students Protest For Education In Italy

Across Italy, students are taking over high schools and universities, protesting planned cuts by the government. In some cases,... more

toreyray
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Another illinois Female Teacher charged with sexual assault on teen boys

Rebecca Daniels, a 37-year-old teacher at Calumet High School, has been arrested charged with sexual assault and abuse for alleged... more

b2r
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Egypt school beating 'kills boy'

An Egyptian teacher at a primary school in Alexandria is alleged to have beaten an 11-year-old pupil to death, according to local... more

unclepete
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Female Teacher Had Sex With Male Student Outside Wal-Mart, Under Bridge, in Hotels

Cynthia Horvath, 45-year-old teacher at Warner Christian Academy, in South Daytona, Florida, has been arrested for allegedly... more

b2r
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Science teacher swims to protect world's oceans

Next spring, Marblehead resident Christopher Swain will dive into the Atlantic Ocean in Boston and begin an 800-mile swim to... more

JanforGore
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LibDems encourage City boys to teach!

The LibDems have proposed that the government take advantage of mass layoffs in the City to boost the country’s increasingly... more

Beta_Boy
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Teachers and Merit Pay: What do you think

Dear Currentors, I am writing an article about Teachers' Merit Pay and how it affects everyone and I would like your... more

kaecvtionr
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Female Teacher Drugs And Sexually Abuses Male Students

Laura Lea Pace, 38, a teacher at Eustis High School in Eustis, Florida has been arrested and charged with five counts of unlawful... more

b2r
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Michelle Rhee stepped into the D.C. public schools in the summer of 2007, just as I was stepping out. After two years teaching 11th grade English in Washington, D.C., through Teach for America, I was ready to pursue opportunities outside of the classroom. At my age, Rhee did the same thing: one of the first Teacher For America corps members, she left teaching after three years to study at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and then started The New Teacher Project, an organization aimed at teacher recruitment. Now, she is chancellor of the D.C. public schools, and the focus of national attention for her take-no-prisoners approach to fixing what is arguably the worst school system in the United States.

While much of the press that Rhee receives focuses on such accomplishments as closing 23 under-enrolled schools, restructuring 26 others, and firing 46 principals and assistant principals, it is her long-term emphasis on boosting teacher quality that stands out for many educators—some of whom are quite critical of her readiness to blame ineffective teachers for problems in the District’s schools.

In his recent Atlantic profile of Michelle Rhee [“The Lightening Rod,” November, 2008], Clay Risen describes Rhee’s belief in the primacy of the teacher’s role in raising student achievement:

Many people believe that teachers and the classroom are only one part of a vast web of relationships and environments that determine educational success. … In [Rhee’s] opinion, external factors simply underline the need for better educators. … “As a teacher in this system, you have to be willing to take personal responsibility for ensuring your children are successful despite obstacles,” she told me. “You can’t say, ‘My students didn’t get any breakfast today,’ or ‘No one put them to bed last night,’ or ‘Their electricity got cut off in the house, so they couldn’t do their homework.’” This sort of moral certitude is exactly what turns off many veteran teachers in Washington. Even if Rhee is right, she seems to be asking for superhuman efforts, consistently, for decades to come. Making missionary zeal a job requirement is a tough way to build morale, not to mention support, among the teachers who have to confront the D.C. ghetto every day.

But for a certain kind of educator, Rhee’s ideas about teaching hit home. Many younger teachers, particularly the kind coming from programs like Teach for America, decide to go into teaching for reasons having to do with social justice and empowerment. And while these programs have been criticized as “band-aids,” because the teachers make only a short commitment, Rhee sees them as important sources of motivated and ambitious educators—people who might not ordinarily have been encouraged to go into education. Rhee certainly wasn’t—as a government major at Cornell, her family was surprised and more than a little disappointed when she announced her intention to join Teach for America instead of attending law school.

---More at Link--

Survey on Teacher Pay:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=e8fwQWlvTXay4tueDJmkmw_3d_3d

Do you think public school teachers should have merit pay?Michelle Rhee stepped into the D.C. public schools in the summer of 2007, just as I was stepping out. After two years teaching... more

kaecvtionr
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1 month ago

Teacher who slapped pupil can continue teaching

Trevor Towers, the teacher who slapped a student on her bottom in 2004, has been found guilty of professional misconduct but can... more

ClareW
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1 month ago

Youth Activism: Philly Students Front and Center

Philadelphia student activists made the news in a terrific Philadelphia Inquirer article this week for their efforts to ensure that ongoing teacher union negotiations with the school district would focus on what matters most: student learning.

At stake in the union contract negotiations are some pretty typical issues: teacher pay, length of contract, work hours. Specifically, the city's new schools superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, wants to increase the length of the school day and raise pay for teachers in hard-to-staff subjects and schools. While both ideas are widely regarded as having positive impacts on student achievement and closing the gap between wealthy and low-income students, the unions have been reluctant on both fronts. The union is also bargaining for a long-term contract, while Superintendent Ackerman is looking for a one year deal--purportedly because she would like to become more familiar with the district before signing a longer teacher union contract.

One student commented on the ongoing negotiations and how they have tended to miss the issues that matter most for students -- such as getting high quality teachers into every Philly classroom regardless of the school's achievement levels, socioeconomics, and racial breakdown-- saying, "I've seen students cut class and come to my classroom to avoid bad teachers. The system of teacher distribution in Philadelphia is broken."

What is fascinating about this news item is that the student protestors, more than two dozen organized by the Philadelphia Student Union who gathered outside an elite magnet school in the city to deliver their message, got quick responses from the negotiating parties. The Superintendent's spokesperson issued a statement saying, "The district's top priority in negotiating the current contract is ensuring that we place teachers where children most need them." She went on to say that Superintendent Ackerman would welcome sitting down with students and parents at the negotiating table if the unions approved it.

Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union president, Jerry Jordan, did not express his support for the idea of student participation in the negotiations. However, he did point out that the union "has always taken a position of watching out for kids." One may wonder how this position of watching out for kids can possibly be consistent with refusing to let them have a voice in these issues that direly affect their education.

What might it look like if low-income and low-performing schools were staffed by caring teachers who are committed to their students? Maybe something like this (a staff video made to congratulate graduating students in a Bronx middle school):Philadelphia student activists made the news in a terrific Philadelphia Inquirer article this week for their efforts to ensure... more