Group items tagged

a small autonomous underwater vehicle to cross the atlantic from NJ to spain. Classes can follow along. Right now you can send a message to be carried by the robot

This was a fun piece that you all helped me write for the Atlantic. I asked you, my friends, on Twitter, Facebook, and Google plus about why you became a teacher. The response was overwhelming as you shared why you got into (and stay in) teaching. Your words are powerful and inspired me to be more. Thank you.

"The North Atlantic Ocean has spawned more hurricanes and tropical storms over the last decade than it has since a similarly stormy period 1,000 years ago, according to a new study." This article would be excellent for some discussions in science about climate change.

"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

the Atlantic asked me to write about why I became a teacher. I left the business world to move into teaching. Not because I had to (I was a successful business woman) but because I wanted to. Please feel free to share your story. Here's mine.

You can connect with your students. Here are five ways I strive to do this in my own classroom. (In a piece I wrote for the Atlantic.com) 95% of what you accomplish is because of your habits. What are the habits in the classroom that will help you reach more students?

How AP courses enhance stratification within schools between AP versus non-AP courses.

Here are some best practices that I have created for myself, to facilitate both my own learning and my students' passion to learn.

Such a great story about why NORAD tracks Santa. I love this story. What a great story to share with adults. (Shhhh.)

It's a complicated question. Economic data is showing that only our best a brightest are receiving an economic benefit from the academic part of education. More that half going to college are making a poor economic decision. How academic is your group? Is there something they could do to prepare them to lead a more satisfying life?

A great interactive map showing current tropical storm activity and TS and Hurricane paths and predictions.

Great piece!

Article by Amanda Ripley - looking at Teach for America data and anecdotes.

Great teachers, he concluded, constantly reevaluate what they are doing. Superstar teachers had four other tendencies in common: they avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully-for the next day or the year ahead-by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.