by Mary Beth Spann, Guest Author As we begin a new school year, it’s impossible to escape voices that insist our efforts to educate our kids are failing. Sometimes we’re even guilty of it ourselves. It’s easy to fall into the trap of complaining about the state of education in general and of pitting traditional
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This idea was submitted by Alicia, a 3rd Grade Teacher, in Hammond, Indiana. To discover what we needed to do to help our school “Go Green!” we conducted a building-wide audit designed to expose areas that could benefit from our attention. We examined our lighting system, our water system, the appliances we have in place,
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Today, as the United States solemnly remembers the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 10 years ago, we cannot help but to think of those who were lost and those left behind. There are few words to express the horrors of that day or the solidarity that arose within the country
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Schools are beginning to revolt.  The somewhat quiet rebellion is taking place as more and more districts around the country find themselves struggling to meet the No Child Left Behind yearly adequate progress standards.  Are they unrealistic goals or underperforming schools looking for a way out?   For those not in the classroom, No Child
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There was an article by Greg Toppo in USA TODAY on August 15, 2011 that interviewed journalist Peg Tyre on her new book, The Good School:  How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve.  While the article talks about Tyre’s motivation for writing the book and what parents can expect by reading it,
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The field of education and the profession of teaching has been taking a beating lately.  With fierce discussions over union rights and performance pay, it is has been difficult to keep political agendas at bay.  The recent events in the Chicago public school system have started to force the nation to examine education like never
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It seems that all across the country there have been debates about teaching and how states are handling unions.  Amidst the debates and voting, teachers must still go on.  Lessons must be prepared, classes need to be taught, and enthusiasm must be shown to help motivate students to learn.

With Tuesday’s public address to the country’s teaching force through a “Dear Colleague” letter by the National Department of Education, the topic of bullying is being discussed more than ever.  The Department of Education warned teachers of their legal obligation to stop student-on-student “racial and national origin harassment, sexual and gender-based harassment, and disability harassment.”
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On Thursday, October 14th, Really Good Stuff treated a couple of Philadelphia area teachers to see the education reform documentary, Waiting for Superman.  A mother-daughter pair of teachers, Jean and Anne Martin, joined us on an exceptionally stormy evening to find out first hand what the movie entailed.  They shared their reactions with us in
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The idea of Singapore Math may be new, or even unheard of, in many public school systems across the country, but it is a program that has been embraced and accepted by America’s homeschooling community for years. Its popularity has grown in the United States as student achievement in mathematics has continued to be outranked
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