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November 19, 2015 | Sign up to receive The Teachers Edition.
The Teachers Edition will be on break next week, November 26. Happy Thanksgiving.
In This Issue
 Participants share feedback on a teacher-driven idea at the Boston Teach to Lead summit earlier this year.
Teach to Lead
For too long, teachers have been told what to do as it relates to their classrooms and their students. The Department of Education, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and ASCD want to help you take the reins. Hundreds of ideas have accelerated into action at five Teach to Lead summits held around the country over the course of the last year. The next summit will be in Baltimore during February and you can be there. Submit your idea before Dec. 13 and check out the amazing ideas that have been brought to life by others.
Much looks different in these photos of classrooms around the globe from Reuters photographers, including these from Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Brazil, and Pakistan. But much also looks the same. Kids face forward toward the teacher, books are in front of them, mouths are closed. No matter whether schools are well-resourced or not, some habits sure do persist (Strauss, Washington Post).
 Applications Open for 2016-2017 Teaching & Principal Ambassador Fellowships
Each year the Department of Education hires a cadre of practicing teachers and principals to share their expertise as ED works to develop and implement policy. Now is your chance to get involved, learn about federal education policy, and even impact it. Applications opened this week and close on December 14th. Learn more at: www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship
and www.ed.gov/programs/principalfellowship.
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The Teaching Profession
Teacher Evaluation
The American Education Research Association issued a statement last week cautioning districts about using value-added measures to make high-stakes decisions about educators. They note that "there are potentially serious negative consequences in the context of evaluation that can result from the use of VAM based on incomplete or flawed data, as well as from the misinterpretation or misuse of the VAM results."
Happening Today
ED Assistant
Secretary Michael Yudin and AFT Associate Director
Lisa Thomas will co-host a live online Q&A
session for teachers nationwide today at 5:30 pm ET. Teachers are encouraged to tweet (with first name, city, and #RethinkDiscipline), or post by
YouTube comment, questions regarding classroom management practices, alternatives
to suspension and office referrals and the role of teachers in reforming
school discipline.
 Video Worth Watching
Sugata Mitra, working for a software company in Delhi, cut a hole between his building and the slum next door, putting out an Internet-connected computer for kids in the community to use. Overnight, they began using it for their own browsing and research. Now, his idea has taken off and is changing what education looks like in some places. PBS NewsHour's Paul Solman followed Mitra to a Harlem elementary school where kids decided on a question and tried to figure out the answer. See how they did.
Dr. Victoria K. Reese
Editor's note: The following is part of a series reporting on excellent African American educators. Educators were selected by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
 Dr.
Victoria K. Reese is an Elementary School Teacher (K-5) in Montgomery Public
Schools (Montgomery, Ala.). She is also the President of the
Montgomery County Education Association. In addition, Dr. Reese is the
Community Facilitator of the National Education Association Professional
Practice.
Why and how did you decide upon a career
in education?
Reflecting
on my past as a child, I knew the impact educators had on the lives of their
students. Serving as an educator allows me the opportunity of changing the
future of students, and opening their eyes to their exceptional potential.
What is the one thing you most celebrate
about your students?
The
one thing I celebrate most about my students is their unique gifts. I see each
student as a precious jewel with his or her unique cut.
In what ways do you encourage parents,
family members, and other caring adults to support the learning and development
of African American students?
I
believe it is crucial to build an effective partnership with parents or
guardians of my students. These one-on-one relationships open the doors of
trust between the classroom and home. When families know that you are an educator
with a heart, they are willing to be actively engaged in the learning
environment.
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Trailblazing Teens
 Time Magazine's list of the 30 most influential teens includes 13-year-old Memphis bow-tie entrepreneur Moziah Bridges, pop culture icons, athletes, and the young man who made headlines when he brought a clock to school. Shout out to the teachers who kindled the creative flames of these young people.
Education Policy
A new study from the RAND Corporation shows that students in schools using personalized learning strategies made greater academic progress, over the course of two years, than a comparison group of similar students. According to the study, schools with the greatest achievement gains reported strong implementation of student grouping strategies driven by data and responsive to student needs; provision of data to students and including them in discussions of the data; and learning spaces that support personalized learning strategies.
In each issue, Educational Leadership's "Tell Me About" column publishes a collection of brief contributions from readers describing their experiences related to that issue's theme. The upcoming February issue will be themed “Helping ELLs Excel,” and they want teachers to tell about an English language learner who made substantial progress -- and how that growth was possible. Click the link to share your 200- to 300-word story before the Nov. 23 deadline.
 Kicking Summer Slide to the Curb. From California to North Carolina and Massachusetts to Florida, students attending summer learning programs organized by BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) showed significant gains in reading and math skills, new test results show.
History Rewrite. What if a moment in history hadn’t happened? What if dinosaurs were still alive? Disney Pixar offers free activities to help kids think
about history-changing moments
and the power of kindness,
in honor of The Good Dinosaur release on November 25. Resources include an educator and parent guide and a
Dinosaur trivia game.
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 Wisdom from educators heard by ED
5. "All us rural teachers ask is for policymakers to come out and spend some time with us to see the world through our lens." (Teacher, Colorado)
4. "If we’re not putting good teachers in each class, we’re sabotaging our nation’s future." (Teacher, South Carolina)
3. "You want to hear the truth about a school's culture? Talk to the students." (Teacher, Pennsylvania)
2. "Our jobs are not about money. They're about love for humans." (Teacher, Illinois)
1. "It just became hypocritical when I was doing things to other people's children that would never have been good enough for mine." (Principal, California)
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