What Teachers Are Talking About This Week
May 5, 2016 | Sign up to receive The Teachers Edition.
 Last Year's Winner Reflects on Her Year
Shanna Peeples gave up her crown as reigning Teacher of the Year this week. Beforehand, though, she reflected on what she learned this year. In an interview with the Deseret News, she touches on topics including technology, Common Core, and teacher morale.
When asked why college grads aren't going into teaching, she says, "When I've talked to students and asked them why they are choosing other majors, they say they are getting the message that going into teaching means you check your creativity at the door and check your intelligence at the door."
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 The filmmakers at the Jubilee Project asked students of all ages to imagine a world without teachers. In this tear-jerker video, you'll hear how important our work is. Without teachers, there would be "chaos," "ignorance," and a world that's "sad because I wouldn't learn anything." As we commemorate Teacher Appreciation Week, spend three minutes watching one of our favorite videos of why teachers matter. And if you've got another couple of minutes, check out this Post-Lesson Interview with teacher Ethan Davis, who like an athlete who just scored a touchdown, answers an eager reporter's questions just moments after stepping away from the front of the classroom.
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As the plane neared its destination, the pilot announced that he wouldn't be able to land unless all passengers were seated. A little boy was lying in the aisle and refused to move -- until a special education teacher moved in to save the day. She lay down on her stomach facing the boy, comforted him, and got him back in his seat so the plane could land. "I just want people to know that all teachers have these amazing, incredible skills that can be called on in many settings at any time," says special educator Sophie Murphy (Marshall, Sydney Morning Herald).
Danielson Worries Teacher Evals are Becoming Checklists
In an Education Week editorial, Charlotte Danielson, whose ideas have transformed teacher evaluation systems around the country, calls for replacing the emphasis on "rating" the vast majority of effective teachers with an emphasis on professional learning. She shares her concern with "the transformation of teaching from a complex profession requiring nuanced judgment to the performance of certain behaviors that can be ticked off on a checklist" and offers principles for developing a professional learning system.
 The Center on Education Policy conducted a national survey of public school K-12 teachers that shows how teachers are managing the many changes currently taking place in their schools. The study found that although
teachers are drawn to the profession for mostly selfless reasons and are
engaged in some positive activities within their own schools, many are
concerned or frustrated about aspects of their job including the focus on
testing, changing demands from outside the classroom and teachers' perceptions
that they lack a voice in major decisions.
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More than 1,000 young poets are vying to win a poetry contest. What sets this contest apart is that applicants to the Words Unlocked contest are all juvenile detainees. Read through their words and you'll see how their words are as powerful and deep as any other young writers. Writes one young poet in Macon, Georgia: "I am a caged up animal / longing for freedom. / I am a boy / a small caterpillar / transforming into a man." (Dwyer, NPR).
 Cute Kids Tell Why Moms Matter
In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, Teachers Edition couldn't resist the opportunity to share cute kids' reflections on why moms matter:
- "She gives me bandaids when I get hurt."
- "My mom's my best friend. My B.F.F."
- "Even when I'm being bad, she always sees the good in me."
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 Music Makes Math, Science Learnable
Legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock joined Secretary King at ED last week for a roundtable discussion of a new website that features free resources for teachers, bringing together the best apps and lessons in math, science and music. Designed for students, kindergarten through college, MathScienceMusic.org offers teachers resources and apps to use music as a way to understand other subjects. Hancock, who double-majored in music and electrical engineering at Grinnell College, joined researchers to discuss how music can be better integrated into lessons on math, engineering and even computer science, ahead of International Jazz Day, April 30.
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Students at H.D. Cooke Elementary School (Washington,
D.C.) are learning Arabic as part of a
State Department-sponsored exchange program that places teachers from China and
Egypt in classrooms throughout the United States to teach their native
languages. Flora Lerenman, an
English-as-a-second-language teacher at Cooke who helped coordinate bringing teachers to the school, said it has been incredible to
see how rapidly both the Spanish- and English-speaking students have picked up
on Arabic (Stein, Washington Post).
 5. "To this day, I can name every teacher I had K-12. Not because I have a great memory but because I had great teachers."
4. "In time, they grow. Some fast, slow slow. Set goals, they reach. I know, #WhyITeach" (Teacher, Minnesota)
3. "Teachers don't speak policy-ese. It's not what we were trained for. It's not where our backgrounds lie. But we still need the opportunity for input" (Teacher, Idaho).
2. [When you're a top teacher], everyone looks at you like, 'What are you going to do next?' We need for districts to incentivize teachers to have pathways that keep people in the classroom" (Teacher, California).
1. "We have to let people of color know, 'There's a place for people like you in teaching.' It's not like there are all these unemployed minority teachers out there" (Teacher, Connecticut).
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