What Teachers Are Talking About This Week
July 14, 2016 | Sign up to receive The Teachers Edition.
 National Summer Learning Day
To raise awareness about the importance of opportunities for youth over the summer months, including providing access to learning activities, jobs, and meals, leaders from ED and the Administration will participate in Summer Learning Day today. Events are being held around the country to get the word out to teachers, community leaders, parents, and students about how critical summer learning is in reducing violence and closing the achievement gap. ED has launched a Summer Learning Portal with access to additional resources and tools to help design and implement effective summer learning programs, as well as a video with great six tips on Facebook and Twitter to help avoid the #SummerSlide.
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Secretary John King spoke out about the tragedies in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Minneapolis last week. He said, "All of our hearts break for the loss of life over the last few days around the country. We mourn the loss of life of police officers [Thursday], mourn the loss of life of folks in interactions with police [last] week, mourn for our country and the pain and division that we are experiencing." Speaking to a group of educators, he invited them to "reflect on the role that educators will play in trying to explain the unexplainable to young people all across the country."
There are no grades until kids turn age 15, no timetables, and no lecture-style instructions. Classes are titled "responsibility" and "challenge." In the challenge course, students are given 150 British pounds (approximately $200) and told to take a self-driven adventure. At the Evangelical School Berlin Centre, the model is driven by a desire to instill in students the ability to motivate themselves, a skill the headmaster says is particularly needed in our changing society. There's a long waiting list and kids who previously struggled in school are finding success (Oltermann, The Guardian).
Teaching candidates need more of an upfront investment, so say administrators from the Bank Street College of Education in a New York Times op-ed. The writers share the benefits of yearlong co-teaching residencies, where candidates work alongside accomplished teachers while studying child development and teaching methods. They suggest that much of the money to sustain these programs could come from reallocating existing funding from professional development, substitute teachers, and teaching assessments.
 Glue for the Future
Who knows what some of the jobs of the future will be, but most American parents - 9 in 10 - want thier kids to study computer science in school. Lisette Partelow, a contributor to U.S. News and World Report, argues that computer science expertise will be crucial to our children's futures. While there is some disagreement about expanding computer science education in K-12 schools, gaining a basic understanding of how computer systems work will be an asset for most students.
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New Guidance Encourages Well-Rounded Education
Yesterday, ED released a new resource for state
and local district officials and educators, highlighting the ways in which
federal funds can be used to better support humanities-based educational
strategies in the coming school year. The Dear Colleague Letter defines humanities education to include, among other subjects, social
studies—including history, civics, government, economics and
geography—literature, art, music, and philosophy, as well as other non-STEM
subjects that are not generally covered by an English language arts curriculum. The new resource details ways that states and districts can use federal funds to expand access for students to a rich, rigorous and more well-rounded education.
What to Know, What to Read, and How to Create Change
ASCD's flagship magazine, Educational Leadership, tackles the topic of “How to Be a Change Agent” in its summer issue and features contributions from educators including 2015 National Teacher of the Year Shanna Peeples and Maddie Fennell, ED's Teacher Leader in Residence. The contributors look at the complex situations our schools and the teaching profession face and ask, “What must be changed?” and “How can we improve on what we do?” ASCD also has a summer reading list for educators, with recommendations on books for all different needs,
including redefining student success, and teaching and learning.

5. "Our schools should never set up classrooms to be great testing environments. Focus should always be on the learners" (Teacher, Texas).
4. "Good classroom design is about empathy. Learning environments must reflect heartbeat of students" (Administrator, New Jersey).
3. "Technology will never replace the value of a great teacher. It will, however, shape how we define great teaching" (Administrator, Missouri).
2. "If you have been made a leader, you have to pay that forward" (Administrator, New York).
1. "We integrated our schools, but we forgot to integrate our curriculum" (Teacher, Washington D.C.).
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