Parental Involvement Pledges

Does your state or school district have Parental Involvement Pledges? Florida has one, you can view it here. Do you want think every state should have pledges or would you be against this? Let us know what you think!

5 Things Schools Should Implement

We found 5 practices that could be useful to all schools. Check them out here.

Number 2 is "Reading as a high school graduation requirement."Does your high school have a reading requirement? Or would you like your school to implement one? As always let us know what you think!

Halloween Fun

Are you looking for some fun Halloween math activities? We found a site that has lots of great ideas. Check it out here. What types of Halloween activities are you doing in your classroom? Let us know!

Are Teachers Making The Grade?

In Tennessee teachers are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. They are graded by a four page checklist which includes their performance on how well handouts are passed out. Check out the full article here.  Do you think grading teachers this way is effective? Does your state use this rubric for grading?  Is there a better way to grade teachers? Let us know what you think!

Who is able to run PA school districts?

 Superintendents in Pennsylvania no longer have to be educators in order to get the job. Act 24 gives people with a business or finance degree eligibility to run a school district. Check out the article here.   Do you think this good change or a bad change? Do you want your state to adopt these changes? We like hearing your thoughts. Let us know what you think!

Let's Quote It

We often post educational quotes on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/martinpublic)  but we thought it would be fun to make a collection of quotes for our blog. If you have any quotes you would like to contribute just let us know and we will add it to this list.

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow." -Anthony J. D'Angelo

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence." - Abigail Adams

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." -Robert M. Hutchins

"To be able to be caught up into the world of thought - that is being educated." - Edith Hamilton

"Education is the most powerful weapon whichyou can use to change the world" - Nelson Mandela

Top 100 History Speeches

Do you want to liven up your history class with some audio, video, or even the text of famous historical speeches in the 20th century? We found this awesome website that has the top 100. Check it out here. Do you think these will be helpful for your history classes? Drop us a line and let us know what you think!

The Digital Age

Does your school utilize online testing? An Indiana mandate requires at least two grade levels at each school to take their ISTEP (Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress) test online. Check out the article here. Should online testing replace state test students are required to take? What are the benefits and drawbacks of online testing? Share your thoughts and opinions with us!

Teacher's Channel

Have you seen the new YouTube Teacher's Channel? We think it's a great resource to get students even more engaged in the classroom. There are lots of educational videos and the best part is that it's free! You can check out it here. Do you use YouTube videos in your classroom already? Do you think the Teacher's Channel with help even more? Let us know what you think!

Physical Education Cuts

School 35 in Rochester finds creative ways to add physical activity in the classroom due to gym teacher cuts. The state requires students from kindergarten to 6th grade must get 120 minutes of physical activity a week. City schools do have at the minimum a part time gym teacher, but classroom teachers must pick up the slack to reach the full 120 minute requirement. Michael Ram's student's in the forth grade act out meanings of words as way to get them moving. Check out the whole article here. What do you think about the gym teacher cuts and having the classroom teachers supplement the rest of the physical education? Tell us what your opinion is!

Halloween

We realize that it's a little over a month until Halloween, but stores are already prepared with candy and costumes, so we thought we should be prepared too. Teachers, do you have any fun Halloween lessons planned? We found a site filled with Halloween bookmarks, ABC's, word searches, word scrambles, mazes, recipes, and lots of other neat stuff. Check out the website here. We hope this is helpful. Let us know what your going to be doing in your classroom for Halloween!

New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights

New Jersey has an Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights in effect to protect students. It's to protect students from HIB: harassment, intimidation, and bullying. This anti-bullying  law is said to be one of the toughest in the US. To check out what the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights is all about, and to to see how one school is implementing it view the full article here. Let us know what you think about the law! Do you want this implemented in your school?

Education Reform: What Iowa wants to do

The topic of Education Reform has been in the news for months. We came across an interesting article that states Iowa's ideas for implementing a reform in their state. They want 11th graders to take the ACT, and they want high school exit exams. To see what other things Iowa wants to change you can see the full article here.  Does your state have a reform plan? What do you think should change? As always we are curious to see what you think. Get involved in the conversation and let us know!

Fun Things For Back To School

Here are 3 fun projects to try!

1. Scratch art paper
Have your students make their own scratch art paper. It's fun to do and your student's will feel so proud of their work. See the link here.

2. Paper Puppets
This one is perfect for bringing a story to life. These super easy to make puppets will have your students imagination's running wild. See how to make them here.

3. Parachute Guy
Recycle all those plastic bags buy making parachute guys or girls with your students. The site even provides a template. See the fun project here.

We hope you enjoy these projects. Let us know if you try them out with your class!

The importance of colors.

We ran across this interesting article about the importance of colors in surrounding environments. It gives the best colors to use in the classroom, and it even gives the best colors for teachers to use when sending home letters:

"Stationery
Send notes to parents about student progress or behavior (friendly rose or peach).
Send reminders  (orange or yellow).
Send requests for donations or assistance in the classroom  (friendly green or blue)."

See the whole article here.

We hope you find this article as interesting as we did. As always, let us know what you think!

The Grand Canyon Diploma

Some schools in Arizona are trying out the Move On When Ready initiative. This program, which offers more-intense curriculum, allows students to take exams after only two years enabling them to graduate high school as sophomores with a Grand Canyon Diploma.  This gives students the opportunity to enter community college, or the students can choose to take more advanced classes and then apply to a 4 year university. Check out the full article here. Do you think other states should implement this? Let us know what you think!

Cell Phone Use in School

How do you feel about cell phone use in school? We found this article that has a completely different view of cell phone use in schools.  A High School in Burlington, Massachusetts has many innovative ways of using cell phones in the classroom. They text Google for new information, and they even take polls with their cell phones! You can check out the full article right here.

States are starting to require classes in financial literacy

Missouri, Utah, Tennessee, and now Virginia require students to take a one credit course on financial literacy. Check out the article here. Are you happy about this change in your state, or do you want to have this class taught in your state? Let us know how!

Facebook in the classroom

We ran across this article that has 50 benefits of using facebook in the classroom. See the article here. Do you use facebook in your classroom?

Back to School

Many of you are counting down the days until the school year starts, and for some school is back in session. We found some fun things to do during the last few days of summer vacation. This list is even better because the things are free!  A Seattle kindergarten and first-grade teacher, Todd Bohannon, came up with a very good list. To see the article check out the link here. How are you spending your last days of summer vacation?

Cheating on State Tests

There have been a lot of stories recently about schools cheating on state standardized tests. The first cheating scandals happened at schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Later on an investigation was launched about a possible cheating scandal in DC. There's another state now being questioned. To see what state it is and read the full article check it out here. Is there too much performance pressure placed on educators? As always we want to know what you think!

Social Media in The Classroom

A New Jersey principal is using social media to engage students. You can check out the article here. The article even gives Principal Eric Sheninger's Twitter handle. What do you think about schools using social media? Often many of these sites are blocked so students can't access then during school hours. Do you think this is a beneficial way to reach the students? As always, we want to know what you think!

CEO's Investing in Education

Obama asked corporations for donations to help improve the educational system. "Bank of America  pledged $50 million "to help the unemployed, returning veterans and people with disabilities connect with training programs and community colleges." You can check out the article here. Microsoft made a $15 million pledge "to invest in research and development for learning technologies." What do you think about corporations funding education? What other corporations do you think will pledge money? Let us know what you think!

Three American girls win top honors at a science fair

Three girls from the United States won tops honors at a global science fair. You can view the article here. There are many studies that say girls lose interest in science and math as they progress through school. These three girls however seem to be very interested in science. So what do you think? Have the results of these studies changed over the years? Are girls keeping their interest in science?

What will happen to cursive writing?

The Indiana Department of Education will no longer require public schools to teach cursive writing. You can check out a link to the article here. Does this mean future generations will never use cursive writing? What does this mean for the future of legal documents, job applications, checks, and every other document that needs to be formally signed?  Let us know what you think!