Jennifer

Bring a Cross Curricular Approach to Your Instruction with Resources from TGR EDU: Explore

2 weeks ago Jennifer

A cross-curricular approach to learning is an effective way to introduce students to multiple subjects and help them build critical thinking skills.

An effective cross-curricular learning activity will have students apply various skills while also learning about real-world applications. TGR EDU: Explore, a program from TGR Foundation and Discovery Education, offers free trans-disciplinary resources to teachers.

Teachers, consider the following example lessons and take note of how each makes a connection between students, careers and the world. Use these (or similar) activities to maintain instruction through a trans-disciplinary approach.

Life Science, Mathematics and STEM

Lesson: Entomology Explorations

Students will

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Low-Achieving Boys Opt for STEM Careers More Than Most Girls Do – Inside School Research

2 weeks ago Jennifer

Gender gaps in the most male-dominated science fields don’t come from men outperforming women academically in those subjects, but from the simple fact that overwhelmingly more boys than girls opt for those careers in spite of lackluster science skills.

Boys and girls with the very highest math and science skills chose to major in physics, engineering, and computer science—three fields with a 4-1 male-to-female ratio in the workplace—at roughly the same rates, finds a new study in the journal Science. But the gender gap widened for students at all other achievement levels, and young men stay in the fields longer

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How not to lay off teachers

2 weeks ago Jennifer

Though it serves one of the wealthiest suburbs of Boston, the Public Schools of Brookline district has been in turmoil for several years, marked by a succession of superintendents.

An interim was just named to replace another interim who resigned; when a new superintendent is chosen next year, he will be the fourth district leader in two years. (In fact, the town of Brookline itself has leadership challenges, with key positions in the local government vacant.)

Last year, the school district was rocked by controversy over kindergarten curriculum, with more than two dozen teachers saying that the move toward more

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Want to Maximize Student Learning When Schools Reopen? Minimize Classroom Interruptions – Teaching Now

2 weeks ago Jennifer

During even the most normal school year, there are a lot of little interruptions to teaching and learning each day—a tardy student walking into class, an announcement over the loudspeaker, a call to the classroom phone. 

Those interruptions can add up to the loss of between 10 and 20 days of instructional time, a new study finds. And as schools across the country prepare to welcome back students in the fall after a disrupted spring, they will need to address what is expected to be significant learning loss. Reducing external interruptions in the classroom could be one way to

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Do School Police Make Black Students Feel More or Less Safe? – Inside School Research

2 weeks ago Jennifer

In a decade of increasingly common mass school shootings, including active-duty police in schools has gained ground as a way to improve both actual and perceived campus safety. But continuing nationwide protests over police violence and racial disparities have highlighted questions of whether students of color actually feel safer for having officers around.

In the Los Angeles Unified school district, which is in the middle of a fight over whether to cut the budget for school resource officers, a new analysis by University of California, Los Angeles, researchers suggests disruptive incidents in the district overall are increasingly related to

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Can Teachers Really Do Their Jobs in Masks?

2 weeks ago Jennifer

Students raise their fingers to answer their teacher Sandrine Albiez, wearing a face mask, in a school in Strasbourg, eastern France May 14.

—Jean-Francois Badias/AP

There’s a lot of uncertainty about how schools will eventually return to in-person instruction. But in many places, teachers will likely be encouraged—or required—to wear masks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all school employees wear cloth face coverings, and many school and district leaders are incorporating that guidance into their reopening plans. Some states, including California and Texas, are providing millions of masks for teachers in an attempt to

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Will the 2021 Nation’s Report Card Be Another Coronavirus Casualty? – Inside School Research

2 weeks ago Jennifer

The congressionally mandated tests dubbed the “Nation’s Report Card,” have measured the progress of U.S. students in reading and math for five decades, come fire, flood, and budget cuts. But the combination of a global pandemic and nationwide economic instability could throw off the 2021 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The National Assessment Governing Board, which supervises the NAEP, will hold a special session next week to gauge the prospects for administering the tests next spring, which are scheduled to cover reading and math in 4th and 8th grades.

In a May meeting, Peggy Carr, NCES’ associate commissioner,

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Rise in covid-19 cases could prevent states from reopening schools

2 weeks ago Jennifer

South Carolina State Superintendent Molly Spearman just released final recommendations for districts to consider as they plan for the new school year even as the state is experiencing a sharp rise in covid-19 cases. More than 1,000 were reported on Monday, adding to a sharp spike in June.

In fact, nearly half of the states have seen a rise in cases this month as they were opening up in various stages, with a big surge in the South and West. And 10 states have recently seen the sharpest rises since the pandemic began months ago.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)

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Other News

Experts say face masks are essential — but some schools won’t require them this fall

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Why schools must re-open for the most vulnerable students —

2 days ago Jennifer

Girl Scouts is Fueling the Future of STEM

2 days ago Jennifer

Why this 1852 Frederick Douglass speech — “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” — should be taught to students today

4 days ago Jennifer

Teacher: ‘Parents need to go to work’ does not stop covid-19 at school entrance

6 days ago Jennifer