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Departments: Resources
At-Risk Kids Get on the Right Track

Long Beach teacher, students chronicle a tale of tolerance.

The Freedom Writers Diary:
How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing To Change Themselves and the World Around Them
With Erin Gruwell
Main Street Books/Doubleday, $12.95, 280 pages

Click here to order The Freedom Writers Diary from Amazon.com.

Flash back to September 1996. Erin Gruwell, fresh out of college, gets her first full-time assignment at Woodrow Wilson High in Long Beach. Her students are 150 freshmen, and most of them, it’s fair to say, don’t really want to be in Gruwell’s English classes.

Now flash forward to December 1999. Erin Gruwell is teaching at a local university, and, has just announced that she is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. And all 150 of the students who began their high school careers with her four years ago—every single one of them—is in college. Many are working to elect Erin Gruwell.

What happened in between 1996 and 1999 is what’s between the covers of this book. It really is a tale of what can happen when students whose academic interests are practically nonexistent hook up with a teacher who believes in them and in herself.

“These were students who were gang members, alienated, kids who didn’t want to talk with one another or work in groups,’’ Gruwell told NEA Today recently. “Early on I intercepted an ugly racial caricature one of the students had drawn. So I decided to build the classes around discussions of tolerance.”

Gruwell chose two books written about teenagers—Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo.

Gradually, the students began to draw parallels between the books’ characters and their own lives. The key was having the students record their thoughts in diaries that led to the students dubbing themselves the Freedom Writers, honoring the South’s original Freedom Riders.

“I remember many nights staying till 11, weekends, too,’’ says Gruwell. “We had a Readathon for Tolerance that raised money to go on field trips.”

Gruwell helped bring Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to her school.

“My classroom became students’ safe haven, much like the attic where Anne Frank hid out or the Sarajevo basement where Zlata went during the war in Sarajevo,” she points out. “The kids wanted to be away from violence and family problems.’’

In their junior year, several of the Freedom Writers journeyed with Gruwell to Washington, D.C. to deliver their stories to Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Their diaries won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award, which is supported by Doubleday books. Doubleday subsequently published the Freedom Writers book.

Funds from the sale of this book go for college tuition for the Freedom Writers and maintain The Tolerance Education Foundation, which Gruwell founded in 1997.

The foundation promotes tolerance education and plans to issue a tolerance curriculum for secondary school students. Write the Foundation at 2029 Century Park East, suite 4000, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Attention: Don Parris.

Erin Gruwell is currently teacher in residence at California State University, where she works with prospective teachers.

Excerpt:
“Ms. Gruwell stood on the desk and began to talk about ‘change.’ I thought, ‘What is this lady trying to do?’… I guess I was offered an opportunity that not many people have… I was always known as the person that was going to be a druggie, or get pregnant before I turned fourteen... Now I have the chance to prove them wrong.”

—Sophomore year: Diary 31

“Remember back in our freshman year, people still didn’t understand the importance of a pen instead of a gun… But look at us now, the sure-to-drop-out kids are sure to reach higher education… These urban kids, however, were never truly given the chance to prove that if only given the opportunity, we could rise to the occasion; and rise to the occasion we have.’’

—Senior year, Diary 142

Books by NEA Members

The Sexually Abused Child: A Parent’s Guide to Coping and Understanding
Kathleen Flynn Mach, MSW Sadly, reports of sexual abuse of children are on the rise. This book describes the important warning signs of abuse for parents and caregivers to watch for. It also discusses topics that include supporting your child and therapy and healing strategies. 83 pp., $9.95 plus $3.50 s&h from Family Insight Books, P.O. Box 148, Williamsburg, MI 49690,800/507-2665.

Kids First! Family Education Program
Jennifer Burton Bauer Teachers can help parents make learning at home fun with this imaginative book. An easy-to-follow resource guide, Kids First! covers the home environment, motivation and self-esteem, homework, study skills and test taking, parent-teacher relationships, discipline and values, reading, and fun learning activities.138 pp., $12.95 plus $3 s&h from Kids First! 13700 Santa Lucia Rd., Atascadero, CA 93422, 805/461-9696.

Zipper, The Kid with ADHD
Caroline Janover This funny yet realistic tale about a boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) will encourage children with the disorder to find ways to manage their behavior and give their friends a look at what it’s like to have the disorder. The book includes an appendix of information about ADHD, along with a list of support organizations, and a reading list.164 pp.,$11.95 plus $4 s&h from Woodbine House, 6510 Bells Mill Rd, Bethesda, MD 20817. 800/843-7323.

“Mommy…this is hard for me”: A Perspective on the Student with Special Needs Who Is Included Within the Regular Public School Classroom
Michael C. Abraham Follow the educational experiences of a boy with special needs, Timmy, from his first day of kindergarten through his high school graduation. The discussion, along with Timmy’s story, takes a close look at many issues teachers must face with inclusion. 71 pp., $12 plus $5 s&h to Educational Systems Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 96, Kearney, NE 68848, 308/234-6261.

Thought Exercises: A Guide to Assist in the Development of Thinking Skills
Phyllis Reed with foreword by Jack Canfield, president of Self Esteem Seminars From setting goals to thinking about happiness, this book helps students develop necessary critical thinking skills. Thought Exercises will encourage students to explore the conse-quences of their actions, form opinions, and establish their own values.82 pp., $15.95 plus 8 percent s&h from P.O. Box 3247, Fullerton CA 92834, 714/447-0349.

New from the NEA Professional Library

Assessing Learning in the Classroom (Revised Edition)
Jay McTighe and Steven Ferrara.
NEA Professional Library. 37 pp., $5.95, #2070-7-00-WB

Why do we test? The authors believe the primary purpose ought to be to inform teaching and improve learning. Assessing Learning in the Classroom offers hands-on information that can help demystify the testing process.

You’ll find the principles of effective classroom assessment, key questions to ask in planning, a framework of different approaches and methods, new evaluation and communication methods, and a glossary of assessment terms. You’ll also find sample rubrics and rating scales that can be adapted for a variety of content areas.

This first book in the NEA Student Assessment Series is a basic primer for educators interested in examining methods to effectively and fairly assess their students.

For more information or to order, call 800/229-4200. To order on the Web, go to www.nea.org/books.

Excerpt
The field of student assessment, from methodology and techniques to the use of results, is changing, affecting the work of education employees. These changes have created new options and new concerns, especially in the use of assessment results. The authors believe that the primary purpose of classroom-based assessment is to inform teaching and improve learning, not to sort students or to justify a grade. Effective classroom assessment is ongoing. Effective teachers recognize that assessment results can inform them about the effectiveness of their teaching as well as the degree of student learning.

TV Tips

KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, DC, provides the TV Tips listings. For more information on children's shows, check out the KIDSNET Web site.

Dear Home: Letters from World War II
The History Channel, Friday, March 17, 6-7 pm ET. This documentary examines how Americans dealt with the emotional trauma of World War II by looking at actual letters written by servicemen and their loved ones at home. The program is presented in conjunction with The History Channel’s ongoing Save Our History campaign to help raise funds for the planned World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. For study guides and an online letter archive, as well as ways students can participate in Save Our History, visit historychannel.com/classroom or call 1-877-87-LEARN.

Between the Lions
PBS, Monday-Friday, 10:30-11 am ET, premieres April 3. Targeted to beginning readers aged 4-7, this new program uses a combination of music, stories, animation, live-action, and puppetry to introduce kids to the joys of reading. The program features a family of lions who run a library where books, words, and story characters come to life, making the reading process accessible and entertaining for young viewers. Designed with the help of teachers and literacy experts, the program’s core curriculum is supported by an extensive outreach network of educational organizations. The companion site, pbskids.org/lions, includes details about these outreach partners as well as interactive games and stories, songs, recommended book lists, and educational support for teachers and parents.

The Ultimate Guide: Human Body
Discovery Channel, Monday, March 20, 9-10 pm ET. This visually striking documentary takes viewers inside the functioning of bones, skin, eyes, ears, and the brain, using microscopic and endoscopic filming, extreme close-ups, computer-generated graphics, and MRI scans of brain activity to reveal how the overall human mechanism functions. The program examines such phenomena as the connection between sense and emotion, the production of DNA in the cell, and the brain’s unique adaptability. Visit school.discovery.com for lesson plans and more information on the “Ultimate Guide” series.

Dying To Be Thin
PBS, Tuesday, March 21, 9-10 pm ET, check local listings. This episode of the documentary series NOVA examines the growing problem of eating disorders among young girls in the United States. Millions of Americans each year suffer from anorexia, bulimia, or binge-eating disorders in pursuit of an impossible body image. Most keep their disorders secret, creating a high risk of serious complications or death. This program considers the complex social and health-related factors that lead to eating disorders and the therapies that can help bring relief. Visit www.pbs.org/nova for lesson ideas, teachers’ discussion, and transcripts for all NOVA programs.

Education: A Public Right Gone Wrong
PBS, Friday, March 24, 9-10 pm ET, check local listings. In this edition of the provocative current events series “National Desk,” journalist Larry Elder investigates some controversial issues in the American public education system, which some say has deteriorated before bureaucracy and mismanagement. The program considers proposed reforms from all sides, including school choice, public vouchers, charter schools, private scholarships, home schooling, and tax credits.

Scientific American Frontiers: Mediterranean on the Rocks
PBS, Tuesday, March 28, 8-9 pm ET, check local listings. This ecological and archaeological profile of the Mediterranean Sea explores its role in the history of civilization, the varieties of life it supports, and the environmental threats it faces. Host Alan Alda joins scientists as they search for a dangerous species of algae, build an ancient style of reed boat from natural papyrus, and search for shipwrecks in high-tech subs. Visit www.pbs.org/saf for teachers’ materials and transcripts for all Scientific American programs.

30x30 Kid Flicks
HBO Family, Daily, 4:30-5 pm ET. This half-hour series features short films, videos, and animated pieces written, produced, and directed by kids aged 8-18. The program demonstrates how effective filmmaking can be as a means of expression when children are encouraged to create their own innovative dramas, comedies, and documentaries. The programs also go behind the scenes to examine the young filmmakers’ techniques, and the companion site, www.hbo4kids.com, offers advice and suggestions for viewers interested in creating their own films.

Women’s History Month Biographies
A&E, weekdays throughout March, 7-8 am ET, check local listings. To help celebrate Women’s History Month, A&E Classroom is offering several “Biography” programs about important women in history and American culture, including Anne Frank, Amelia Earhart, Madeleine Albright, Gloria Steinem, Cleopatra, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Thomas, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Helen Keller. Study guides with program descriptions, vocabulary lists, discussion questions, and activities are available for many of the programs at www.aetv.com/class.

Announcements

Take Our Daughters To Work Day
April 27, 2000, marks the eighth annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day. This year, the Ms. Foundation for Women is offering new tools for teachers to incorporate issues of work, family, caring, and student’s own personal and professional goals in the classroom.

The Working It Out series is designed primarily for students aged 9-15, but can easily be adapted to meet the needs of older or younger students. It contains two guidebooks with lesson plans and activities. Class Activities for Coeducational Groups consists of exercises that address the needs and concerns of girls and boys.

With more than 19 million girls across the nation at their parent or mentor’s workplace, many boys will remain in the classroom. The second book, Especially for Boys, contains specific activities that teachers can use to address the particular issues or concerns of boys that may arise as part of the educational activities associated with Take Our Daughters to Work Day. $10 for the two books plus $4 s&h. Ms. Foundation for Women, P.O. Box 890350 Charlotte, NC 28289. 212/742-2300.

For more information on Take Our Daughters to Work Day, visit http://ms.foundation.org.

French Teacher Conference
The second annual French Teaching Methodology and Quebec Culture Program will be held on June 25 through July 2, 2000, in Montreal and Quebec City. This conference is intended for teachers and future teachers of French who would like the opportunity to master a variety of teaching methods and to create instructional activities integrated with Quebec culture. All courses and participant interaction will be conducted entirely in French. Undergraduate, graduate, and in-service credits are available. $50 advanced registration is required. The $750 program fee is due by June 25, 2000. On the Web at http://homepages.together.net/~lhostel. For more information, call Elizabeth White, 518/561-0093 or E-mail lhostel@ together.net.

Budding Inventors
This summer students across the country will run wild with their imaginations at a camp designed to inspire new creations. Camp Invention is a hands-on, one-week camp that is designed for children entering second through sixth grades. More than 400 schools nationwide will partner with the program to inspire inventiveness in more than 27,000 campers this summer. Working together, the Camp Invention program provides the curriculum, materials, training, central reservation system, marketing, and staff compensation, while local host schools provide the space and the staff. Campers develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills through five fun-filled, activity-oriented thematic modules that integrate science, math, history, and the arts. For more information visit them on the Web at www.invent.org.

Census 2000
Stand up and be counted! “Making Sense of Census 2000” is this year’s Census in the Schools Project and offers a number of resources for educators, students, and even principals to make learning about the Census fun and exciting. The goal of the project is to develop awareness, participation, and support of Census 2000, which, among many things, helps determine the allocation of resources for schools. The Census Bureau, in conjunction with Scholastic Inc., offers a kit for principals to help encourage teachers and parents to be involved in the counting of America’s people. The project also includes free materials available to teachers such as lesson plans, a giant wall map of the United States, and a teacher’s guide with grade-specific materials. All educational materials are available on the Web at http://www.census.gov/dmd/
www/schindex.htm. Or Contact Scholastic/Census 2000. 555 Broadway, Room 478, New York, NY 10012, 800/296-5923, Fax 212/343-4867.

Embrace Space
Blast off into an exciting adventure in the cosmos on Space Day 2000. May 7 is the fourth annual celebration of the achievements, benefits, and opportunities of space exploration. Senator John Glenn invites students in grades 4 through 6 to climb aboard a comprehensive learning experience in cyberspace to celebrate the day called Design Challenges. From February 1 through March 31, students in teams of four tackle any of three space problems: space walk talk, water recycle, and x-treme fitness. On May 7, schools from around the globe will join a Web cast on-line to show off their “stellar” solutions. For complete descriptions of the Design Challenges and how to send your students’ results to Challenger Center for official recognition, log-on to www.spaceday.com.

Web Winners

Fun With Forests
“Wood” You Believe It? Trees are one of our greatest natural resources and now you can investigate them online with a new Web site. Developed for grades 4 through 5, Educational in Nature is designed to foster understanding and environmental awareness in the classroom. A Forest Is…, Birds & Forests, From the Forest, and the Forester’s Job are the four topics explored with teacher guides, activities, and words to know sections.

Amazing Space
Interested in learning more about space? The Association for Research in Astronomy teams scientists and K-12 educators with this site. Featuring a galaxy of links and teaching resources on the Hubble Space Telescope, planets, stars, and more, this Web site is a must-see for those interested in grants, education projects, and the latest news from outerspace. You’ll also find a link to apply for the Space Telescope Science Institute Education Outreach Program. It is a yearlong internship for secondary education teachers developing educational programs with the organization’s Outreach Office. The deadline to apply is March 20, 2000.

Study Guides and Strategies
Often a student’s ability to master writing and studying is the key to success. Study Guides and Strategies is an online manual to help teach students how to learn. These tips and tricks can assist with test taking, studying, writing essays, participating in the classroom, and more. High self-esteem is as easy as the click of a button.

Free or Inexpensive

Media Ethics
Students and teachers in high school and college can take an in-depth look at the media with Media Ethics: Where do you draw the line? Using a case study approach to understanding news coverage and journalistic decision-making, this guide also comes with transparencies. $25 includes s&h from Newseum Attn: Education Center, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209, 703/284-3545, fax 703/522-4831. On the Web at www.newseum.org.

Science Experiments
Make learning about science fun and easy with one of the least expensive materials known to humankind, paper. 100 Science Experiments with Paper takes a hands-on approach to learning about air, balance, heat, chemistry, light, motion, math, water, and more. $14.95 plus $4 s&h from Sterling Publishing Co. Inc, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, 800/367-9692. On the Web at www.sterlingpub.com.

Women Leaders
Aung San Suu Kyi, Standing Up for Democracy in Burma is the first of a biographical series titled Women Changing the World. Students will discover Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who rallied citizens against the oppression and poverty brought on by the totalitarian regime that took power in Burma in 1962. $9.95 plus $4 s&h from The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 212/817-7915, fax 212/817-1593. On the Web at www.feministpress.org.

Bookpeople
Learn how to make visits from authors exciting with Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators and Storytellers, Real Space, and Virtual Links. From successfully choosing the right guest to using technology to maximize budgets, this book will help teachers and media specialists make professional presentations inspiring and productive. $26.50 plus $3 s&h from Libraries Unlimited, Inc. P.O. Box 6633 Englewood, CO 80155-6633, 800/237-6124. On the web at www.lu.com.

Home-School Communication
Make meaningful connections between the classroom and home with Parent Power, Energizing Home-School Communication.This comprehensive resource kit includes a rich collection of materials on a wide variety of topics, including reproducible essays in English and Spanish, tips for generating media attention for school outreach efforts, strategies for working with parent volunteers, and more. The book also includes a CD-ROM. $35 plus $4 s&h from Heinemann 361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912, 800/793-2154. On the Web at www.heinemann.com.

Music Education
You’ve seen the Grammy® Awards, now learn about the music business with Grammy in the Schools® Career Handbook. From interviews with artists to video directors to music therapists, students will learn the in’s and out’s of the “biz.” Free plus $3 s&h from The NARAS Foundation, Education Division, 3402 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405. 301/392-3777. On the Web at www.grammy.com.

Delilah’s Dilemma
Are there itchy heads in the classroom? Delilah’s Dilemma, written by a school nurse and NEA member, can help young students learn about head lice and how to prevent it as Delilah effectively deals with the often emotional issue. $7 plus $2 s&h from Helen Locke, 4988 Beechwood Dr., Greenville, OH 45331, 937/548-0803.

Fruit and Veggie Music
It’s cool to eat fruits and vegetables with Dole’s new “Jammin’ 5 A Day Songs” cassette tape. A blend of rap, hip/hop, gospel, and pop songs promises to get elementary school kids excited about eating fruits and vegetables. Free. Send a request on school letterhead to DOLE Food Company, 155 Bovet Road, Suite 476, San Mateo, CA 94402. On the Web at www.dole5aday.com.

Dry Ice Investigations
In a series of 11 sessions, sixth through eighth graders can learn how to conduct their own dry ice science experiments with Dry Ice Investigations. The guide also helps solve the logistical problems of obtaining and storing dry ice for the classroom. $21 plus $4 s&h from Great Explorations in Math & Science, University of California Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA 94720-5200, 510/642-7771, fax 510/643-0309.

Weather
The biggest weather phenomenon of the century is explained in the book El Niño and La Niña. As part of a series of books about weather from the Weather Channel, colorful pictures and easy-to-understand language help students understand this unusual weather occurrence. $3.99 plus $3.62 s&h from Simon & Schuster, 100 Front St., Riverside, NJ 08075, 800/223-2348. On the Web at www.simonsayskids.com.

Education Reform
Explore Kentucky’s statewide student assessment and high-stakes teacher accountability program with Accountability, Assessment, and Teacher Commitment, Lessons from Kentucky’s Reform Efforts. Policy makers, school administrators, teachers, teacher educators, parents, and more will learn about the classroom realities as well as the consequences of state-mandated reform. $21.95 plus $3.50 s&h from SUNY Press c/o CUP Services, P.O. Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14851, 607/277-2211. On the Web at www.sunypress.edu.

Diversity Calendar

July
Anniversary of the Signing of the A.D.A., July 26
July 26 marks the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act that occurred in 1990, which brings civil rights to persons with disabilities. It provides for reasonable accommodation in work situations and also provides standards for physical accessibility to buildings and public transportation for people with disabilities. On the Web at www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm.

Pioneer Day, July 24
Also known as Days of 47, Mormons celebrate Pioneer Day to honor the U.S. pioneers who came across the plains to Utah. It commemorates the first settlement, led by Brigham Young in 1874. It is celebrated with parades and reminiscing about the pioneers and one’s ancestors. On the Web at www.uvol.com/pioneer/homepage.html.

August
Korean Liberation Day, August 15
Korean Liberation Day is celebrated for different reasons by North and South Korea. In North Korea, this celebration marks the surrender of Japan in 1945, ending WWII and the Japanese rule of Korea. In South Korea, it marks the surrender and also the creation of an independent government.

Women’s Equality Day, August 26
Women’s Equality Day in the U.S. was set aside in 1974 to honor the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, which granted women the right to vote. On the Web at www.feminist.org/ other/wed.html.

Sept.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month, from September 15 to October 15, celebrates the contribution of Hispanic-Americans to our society. According to the U.S. Census Bureau about 20 million people in the United States are of Hispanic origin. Teaching about the contributions of Latinos helps students understand the ethnic diversity of the country and builds pride for the Hispanic community. Educator resources on the web at www.education-world.com/alesson/ lesson023.shtml.

Citizenship Day, September 17
Citizenship Day honors the more than 100,000 people from other countries who become U.S. citizens each year. President Harry Truman, in 1952, moved the day from May to September 17th because this day is the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. This day also celebrates the Constitution because it is not only the Supreme Law of the Land, but also one of the oldest working documents in the world. On the Web at www.patriotism.org/citizenship/.

Reading
How To Create a Passion for Learning

Mixing reading instruction that's fun and exciting, with periods of being 'read to,' sets the stage for creating lifelong readers, says teacher Andy Baumgartner.

Tips from two teachers on how to kindle a love for reading with thrills, not drills.

Adults will often read out loud to youngsters. But that habit can wane as children grow older. As children develop a sight vocabulary and the ability to decode words, it's common for adults to be thrilled that these students can now read silently, read to themselves.

Becoming able to read to oneself is indeed a developmental achievement. But it's being read to that inspires a love of reading. I have seen this in children that I have taught from elementary through high school.

A read-aloud experience, I've learned, is enjoyable for a lifetime.

Try not to get overwhelmed with using each moment of class time to assess and test. It's important to convey a sense of the enjoyment of reading to students.

Reading is not just decoding or memorizing the letters that are linked together by sounds and pronounced as words. Reading is understanding a message. Reading is an experience.

I model for parents how to use their voice and expressions to "get into" the book. They often look embarrassed. Some will ask, "How do you do that without feeling self-conscious?"

I answer that it's more fun for me to read a text that way. I want to make the book come alive, to inspire students to think about it and to imagine, too.

To develop your read-aloud skills, start with a book you enjoyed as a child. The students will sense your fondness for the story.

Forging a personal link to a book, building the desire to read--these are important steps to reading success.

Do not crush these steps by having children read alone. Use them to lead to reading times you share, to hearing the stories together.

Hope Blecher-Sass
K-2 English
as a second language teacher
James Madison Primary School
Edison, New Jersey
www.HopeBlecher-Sass.eBoard.com

Children should be exposed to a wide variety of literary styles. In childhood, the art in the illustrations and the art in the words are both equally important.

As a child grows older, the language, the message, and the significance of the book take precedence.

In our desire to improve reading instruction, too much of the pleasure of reading is being sidelined by an over-emphasis on "drill and kill" skill instruction.

Phonics, decoding, and improving comprehension are all important parts of reading instruction, but they need to be played down until after the child has a true understanding of what books are, what purpose they serve, and why it is important to learn to read.

Avid readers do so as a hobby because they find pleasure in the activity!

Reading instruction for young children ought to consist of short, exciting, fun skill activities surrounded by longer periods of being "read to" and of practicing the other communication skills of listening, speaking, and experimenting with writing.

Andy Baumgartner
Kindergarten teacher
1999 Teacher of the Year
A. Brian Merry Elementary School
Augusta, Georgia

Reading Resources

• The U.S. Department of Education is holding a Satellite Town Meeting on Reading March 21. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together communities, teachers, and parents to help create strong reading programs for students. For information, check the Internet at www.ed.gov/inits/stm/1999-2000.html.

• Helping Your Child Learn to Read, also from the Department of Education, is a handy resource for your community. This guide helps parents understand that teaching and learning aren't mysteries that unfold only in school--they also happen when parents and children do simple things together. For free copies, write to the Consumer Information Center, Dept. 504F, Pueblo, CO 81009 or call 888/878-3256. The full text of this guide can be reviewed on the Web at www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Reading/index.html.

• A new publication from the International Reading Association--Making a Difference Means Making It Different: Honoring Children's Rights to Excellent Reading Instruction--offers guidelines for reading programs from the perspective of the rights of students. It's available on the Web at www.reading.org.

  A second publication from the International Reading Association, Adolescent Literacy: A Position Statement, is available through the online bookstore at the IRA Web site, www.bookstore.reading.org/.

People
On Top of the World

Photo by Barbara Wentworth

Wisconsin teacher climbs Mt. Everest and sets students' sights on fitness.

Ever wanted to fulfill a dream that was as big as a mountain? The students at Magee Elementary School have done just that, through teacher Barbara Wentworth's physical education program. Last November, Wentworth climbed Mt. Everest, in a three-week expedition, and her students "climbed" just as high.

For the past nine years, Wentworth has engaged her students in an annual fitness destination goal. Last year they "climbed" Mt. Everest by logging fitness miles they accumulated outside the classroom and converting them into feet.

"Having a healthy, active lifestyle is what it's all about," says Wentworth.

Wentworth's Everest lesson was actually about more than fitness. In an interdisciplinary approach to learning, the students also met David Breashears, the director of the IMAX movie "Everest, Mountain Without Mercy," and learned about Himalayan art and culture, temperature, and nutrition.

The students also followed Wentworth as she climbed miles above sea level and reported back to the school through digital pictures and recorded audio broadcasts that were uploaded to a Web site.

"The project was the greatest experience of my life, both professionally and personally," she says.

For more information on Wentworth's Everest program, visit www.kmsd.edu/everest.htm.

Lesson in Learning

Photo by Ohio Education Association

For Linda Hallenbeck, Ohio's first "teacher-in-residence," the journey from her fifth-grade classroom at East Woods Elementary School to an office in downtown Columbus's Riffe Center has been a challenging and delightful one.

A National Board Certified teacher and winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics, Hallenbeck's role is to bring an educator's perspective and sensibilities on education issues to Governor Bob Taft.

During her nine-month tenure, Hallenbeck will be responsible for chairing the governor's Teacher Advisory Committee, a voluntary 24-member board, and conducting Teacher Town Meetings throughout the state to help teachers improve their work and enhance their professional development opportunities.

Hallenbeck will also continue working on the development of OhioReads, a volunteer-based reading program created to improve the reading skills of Ohio children before fourth grade.

For Hallenbeck, the best part of teaching is the children.

"They have such wonderful minds," she says. "They have such a capacity to explore and to shape ideas."

Hallenbeck grew up one of 13 children on a farm in a small Iowa town. When it came time for college, Hallenbeck had the encouragement of her family and a close teacher.

"My mission," she adds, "is to do what's best for all Ohio teachers because when you do, you do what's best for all Ohio students."

Starting Again at 65

Photo by Hawaii State Teachers Association

For 39 years, Hawaii NEA member Ku'ulei Ihara has taught in a very different classroom, the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. She's the staffer who arranges for students and teachers to tour the museum and helps plan visits so they fit with teachers' learning objectives.

The museum houses an extensive collection representing Hawaii's natural and cultural history.

"One thing I've learned being here all these years," explains Ihara, "is to be adaptable and embrace change."

Ihara demonstrated her adaptability when she began training at age 65 to become a crew member for the Polynesian Voyaging Society. Society members take extensive trips in native Hawaiian canoes. For Ihara, joining the society meant working out daily, including using weights. Ihara's first trip was from Seattle to Vancouver and then down to San Diego.

Having lived up to that challenge, Ihara still enjoys helping kids understand the native Hawaiian culture.

"The key is being flexible and calm," explains Ihara, "so the kids pick up on that and understand they're in a museum."

Custodian Connects With Kids

"Ready... aim...fire!" is the shout you'll hear during a reenactment on the battlefield at the Fort at Number Four in Charlestown, New Hampshire. That's where you'll find military veteran Wayne Mitchell, the fort's lead historical interpreter and founder of the Upper Valley Living History Society.

A custodian at Woodsville High School, Mitchell goes the extra mile to take his love of history off the battlefield and into the classrooms. Dressed in authentic clothing, with ornately original equip- ment, Mitchell portrays soldiers from the Revolutionary, Civil, and French and Indian Wars. Mitchell also explains such topics as how the fort got its name.

"Number Four was the name of an agricultural settlement in colonial times," he notes. "The settlements were numbered by the Colony of Massachusetts according to their distance from Ft. Dummer."

Mitchell takes pride in encouraging his own children to learn about their heritage. His kids and other members of his extended family participate with him in reenactments.

"We don't just do military events," he says. "We do demonstrations of everyday life. We show how blacksmiths made tools and how farmers harvested crops. We demonstrate how women spun wool and cooked."

Mitchell also helps educators by putting them in touch with other historical reenactment groups and other educational resources.

"It's important for children to be able to see and touch history," he says.

Students Book Club RIF

Photo by John Miller

At Club RIF, you won't find palm trees or tropical drinks with pink umbrellas--just 1,800 high schoolers excited about reading and a teacher with the energy and enthusiasm to match.

NEA member Pat Heck, a corrective reading teacher at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona, is one of Reading Is Fundamental's 1999 Volunteers of the Year. In 1988, Heck launched a RIF program that involves students of all reading abilities in fun, book-based activities.

"Several of my corrective readers speak very limited English, a few are visually impaired, and some read below the fourth-grade level," says Heck. "No matter what their reading level is, they work on Club RIF assemblies, and we train them to become reading buddies for young children."

Club members sponsor read-a-thons, all-school book distributions, and an annual carnival. They're one-on-one reading buddies to 150 second graders at nearby Salk Elementary School. They also tutor over 1,300 children each week and distribute books at two Native American communities, a homeless shelter, and to children of migrant workers.

"When these students are teaching children how important reading is, they sell themselves on the idea," says Heck. "They start to read; they finish a book. On standardized tests, I've seen them gain two or three years in one semester."

Nearly two-thirds of Red Mountain's 2,5000 students participate in Club RIF's various activities. "We started out with five kids" says Heck, "and now it's taken on a life of its own. I teach my kids the importance of reading, and they acquire confidence, leadership skills, the importance of teamwork, and pride in getting a job done."

My Turn
Trading the Boardroom for the Classroom

Frustrated? Tired? Thinking about greener pastures in the corporate world? This New Jersey teacher has been there.

By Frank Verducci, Jr.

Unhappy with his job in business, Frank Verducci, Jr. switched careers and now teaches middle school students in New Jersey. Pictured with him are Roselle Park students Danielle DiDonato and George Mundy.

It's late in the afternoon, your classroom feels like an oven, and your head is still spinning from that post-observation conference with your principal. To top things off, your students just can't seem to settle into their seats and focus on your lesson. You find yourself daydreaming that there must be a better way to make a living.

But before you conjure up visions of a corner office and a BMW in the parking lot, stop and ask yourself a simple question: "Do I really believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence?"

Chances are, this question will help snap you back to reality. You'll recognize that, even with all the monetary inducements corporate America may hold, nothing can measure the satisfaction you feel when one (hopefully more!) of your young troops has mastered a lesson.

I didn't always believe this. I spent the first 10 years of my working career struggling up the corporate ladder. I spent countless weekends at the office, worrying about the volume of my work and all the deadlines that had to be met.

Working long hours, with little family life or leisure time, began to take its toll. I found myself second-guessing the worth of my contribution to society. It was time to reassess what was important in life, because the track I was on was not providing any satisfaction.

I had always liked working with children and found their energy contagious. So I started wondering if I could go back and correct my career choice mistake.

Coming from a family of educators, I got lots of guidance and suggestions, not all of them positive. I was even warned that it would be difficult entering a field that frowned upon those who had chosen an alternate route.

But I was not dissuaded. Just because I didn't go the traditional route didn't mean I couldn't teach! I believed the experience of working in corporate America would benefit the students who wanted to learn more about the world around them.

Unfortunately, many prospective school employers didn't want to take a chance on an alternate-route teacher, and it took almost a year to find a public school position.

I finally did obtain my certification and find a job. But then, once on the job, I was shocked at some of the individuals I encountered. You know, the Monday morning complainer who can't face another week with "Johnny," the lunchroom gossips, and educators who were generally just plain negative.

I spent many a morning with my mentor discussing how disappointed I was at the attitudes I was hearing. These teachers were the keys to our country's future, I thought. Surely, they couldn't really feel such despair and contempt for their chosen profession? Why stay in teaching, I wondered, if you are that unhappy?

Over time, I came to realize that teaching isn't any different from working in the corporate world. The same lessons I had learned in business were still true in teaching, just on a different scale.

The politics of the education community are as fierce as the backstabbing and jealousy that I witnessed in the corporate world.

Still, I knew I had made the right choice to become a teacher. The satisfaction of working with the kids far outweighed the negative aspects of working in a profession that has seen more than its share of criticism.

My weekends are more enjoyable now, but I still spend time worrying-worrying about the impact I have on my adolescent charges. The responsibility we have as teachers is simply awesome.

Let's never forget that and let's focus our energies on making things better for all our students.

Frank Verducci, Jr. has taught computer technology and reading to sixth and seventh graders at Roselle Park Middle School in East Hanover, New Jersey for four years. His E-mail address: FVTEACH@aol.com.

Editor's Note

If you haven't yet been on the Web, at www.nea.org/neatoday, to check the online version of NEA Today, you're missing the extra perspective on education that our online site is now delivering.

Online, you'll find access to the entire current issue of NEA Today, and the contents--text and most photos and graphics-- are available within just a few days after the print version goes to press.

But NEA Today Online--NEATO, for short isn't just a mirror reflection of the print version of NEA Today.

"We try to add new material to the site and not just repeat the print version," as NEATO editor Bonnie Gardner puts it.

In one recent issue, for instance, NEA Today ran a cover story about using technology in the classroom.

Space in the print version necessarily limited the length of the story and the number of resource leads we could provide. Online, we faced no such limitation, so we were able to offer considerably more technology help than we could in print.

The online version of NEA Today also offers interactive features that can't be duplicated in print, such as the opportunity to vote on each issue's debate question. Once you cast your vote, you can get an immediate total vote tally.

Finding articles from previous issues is also quick and easy with our online version. Just click on the NEA Today archives and you'll be taken to a searchable collection of the last three year's worth of issues.

Have a great article idea for staff to consider? That's another reason to come visit us online. Our NEATO Web site features a clearly marked space where you can key in your story ideas, and another place where you can E-mail a letter to the editor.

You can also change your address online. And, if you'd like, NEATO will even let you know when new features are added to the site.

—Bill Fischer

Extra! Extra!
Keeping Kids Tobacco-Free

Innovator: Matt Myers

Job: President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Founded in 1995, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is the nation’s largest, non-profit, private organization devoted exclusively to reducing tobacco use among children.

Bright Idea: A robust partnership has emerged between NEA and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to educate young people about the deadly effects of tobacco, spur them into action, and motivate them to keep their lives from going up in smoke. According to Myers, teachers play an absolutely critical role in influencing kids to make a tobacco-free life part of who they are.

“We truly have a crisis with tobacco use among children, although many people believed wesolved the problem long ago,” says Myers. “The truth is that tobacco use rates among adolescents began growing in 1991 and reached near-record proportions by 1996.”

Owing to this increase, he says, is the targeted efforts by tobacco companies to market more effectively to kids in the 1990s, following a drop in price on the brands children smoked most. The result: Smoking rates among children literally skyrocketed between 1993 and 1996.

To combat this growing epidemic, the Campaign is working with NEA to develop a model curriculum to help identify ways in which the tobacco industry manipulates young people and to teach students advocacy skills to fight back. Currently being tested in Connecticut and Maryland, the curriculum helps participating teachers to work with kids in real life anti-tobacco advocacy projects.

“NEA has worked very closely with us to develop a model curriculum for the fourth and sixth grades, which we are now pilot testing and hope will go nationwide,” says Myers. “We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of teachers' giving kids the real facts.”

The curriculum guide includes a host of age-appropriate activities—for example, having kids go out to look at convenience stores so they can see the kinds of tobacco advertising that exist, very often right next to the candy counter.

“We’ve done studies that as convenience stores move closer and closer to elementary schools, you not only find more tobacco ads, but more and more of them are at the three-foot level or lower,” says Meyer. “Once kids begin to recognize what the tobacco industry is doing, they feel energized and empowered to take control of their lives. They become the best advocates.”

Why is it so important for kids to be tobacco free? Consider these shocking statistics compiled from research by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• The average child starts smoking at the age of 13 or 14. By the time they are high school seniors, 34 percent of all children are already smokers.
• Two-thirds of the kids who start smoking want to quit by the time they’re 16 or 17 and can’t because they’re already addicted to nicotine.
• Unless current rates are reversed, more than 5 million children under age 18 alive today will eventually die from smoking-related disease.

“The unfortunate reality is the majority of people who become long-term smokers are addicted long before they’re old enough to purchase tobacco products legally," Myers says. “If we can discourage kids from starting through their teenage years, the odds are that they never will.”

A second initiative that has grown as a result of the Campaign’s partnership with NEA is the number of kids participating in Kick Butts Day, a nationwide event that mobilizes thousands of young people in more than 150 cities to help curb tobacco use and expose the harmful effects of marketing tobacco to America’s youth.

“It’s a terrific success story,” says Myers. “Kids all over the country come together in early April and engage in a series of activities telling the tobacco companies that they no longer are going to be duped by them. Our belief is that if we only give kids the opportunity to be leaders, they themselves will lead their peers.”

The 1999 Kick Butts Day will take place April 5. The Campaign recognizes outstanding young tobacco control activists who are leaders in their communities with its Youth Advocates of the Year Awards, and it has published a manual for youth advocates that teaches kids how to initiate and implement anti-tobacco campaigns in their schools and communities year-round.

“Everybody in the educational process has a vitally important role in reinforcing the positive messages about being smoke-free—from coaches, to bus drivers, to counselors, to teachers, to the people who maintain the buildings themselves," Myers says. "The goal is to deliver a consistent message.”

Impact: Kick Butts Day began in 1996 in only 32 schools. The event now encompasses nearly 1,200 events nationwide, has attracted national media and participation by Vice President Al Gore and other high-level governmental officials, and mobilizes tens of thousands of kids in all 50 states and abroad.

“This is really an opportunity for kids and teachers alike to bring a good health message into the classroom and allow them to engage in direct activities—as part of their educational activities—to take control,” Myers says.

For More: Call 800/284-KIDS or visit www.tobaccofreekids.org or www.kickbutts@tobaccofreekids.org

Letters

Student Rights
I am as appalled as anyone by student violence in schools, and I understand the need for procedures to prevent such violence. However, some of those preventive measures seem to be trampling the First Amendment rights of students (Rights Watch, February).

I'm even more appalled at the reaction of NEA, as expressed in your sidebar on police reaction. How can you encourage school officials to "take action if they believe that a student might commit acts of violence"? Since when can we punish people for what someone believes they might do? Have we flushed the Constitution down the drain?

When students are arrested, jailed, and even convicted for expressing their thoughts in diaries, journals, and student writing, we've crossed the line. The result will be a generation of students who have learned not to put such thoughts on paper, but to keep them to themselves. And then we'll have no clues about what action students are considering.

Isn't it more logical to use such writings as a reason to monitor the behavior of these students? And I make a distinction between monitoring and "taking action."

Frank Witty
Winter Springs, Florida

In Praise of Mentors
I think the Beginning Teacher Network Program that a Missouri district has implemented (Learning, February) is an excellent way to help first-year teachers receive the support and direction they need.

I was involved in a mentorship program my first year of teaching and found it extremely beneficial.

The program gave me the opportunity to share my struggles and joys with a veteran teacher who offered endless tips and tricks that helped me complete my first-year with great success.

Mentorship programs can offer positive growth for first year teachers, veteran teachers, and the school district as a whole.

Jennifer Bolluyt
Fargo, North Dakota

Reading Debate
RE: Margaret Patterson, Ph.D. (February Debate).

I don't get it. How can someone live in today's educational system and claim that there is only one "zippit" who doesn't tap? I want one of those classes. I want to know how anyone who teaches is not a teacher of reading.

Whether it's math or fiction, economics or E-mail, everyone teaches reading. And the more trained we are, the better. It doesn't take a stack of classes, just do a little reading of your own.

What is more important than any subject taught? My take is: If a student doesn't read, the rest is wasted motion.

Randall Youngren
Ellensburg, Washington

Librarians And Reading
As a full-time school librarian and a part-time public librarian, I was surprised to see no mention of librarians in your (February) "Read Across America" article. We school librarians are teachers too and an integral part of reading in every school. More than one study has proven the positive link between school librarians and student achievement.

Where do you think classroom teachers and administrators turn to for help in carrying out such reading programs? I think you owe every school librarian an apology for this omission.

Stephanie Bucalo
North Babylon, New York

Wrong Number?
Never have I been so outraged as I am now after reading Lynn Bonsey's article ("Dial T for Teacher," January). I cannot believe that the NEA would feature such an anti-union article.

Since when is it a good idea to work for nothing? Your union should be explaining to you that our time is valuable! We do not work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every activity mentioned in this article, from giving advice to changing due dates on assignments, can and should be accomplished during the school day.

Your lawyer bills you for his time. Your doctor bills you for his time. Your plumber bills you for his time. So it must be for teachers!

If this is the "New Unionism" then we need new leadership at the top of the NEA!

Michael Wyler
Plainview, New York

I teach physics and chemistry at a small high school in DeWitt, Arkansas. I encourage my students to call me at home. Also, I have constructed my own Web page (www.webspinners.futura.net/apurdy) where my students can get daily assignments, grades, and other information.

All of my students do not take advantage of the Web page, but those who do love it. The parents also like it because they have access to grades without having to go through the school, and they can E-mail me any questions they have.

Audrey Purdy
DeWitt, Arkansas

I read with interest Lynn Bonsey's article suggesting benefit from giving out a teacher's home phone number. I can't think of a worse idea. Perhaps her rural Maine setting makes this idea somewhat safer for her. However, I think this raises some very real personal safety issues for many teachers.

If a student doesn't understand problem #3 on page 117, is it really so important that the student call a teacher at home rather than wait until the next day?

I suggest a voice mail system similar to one my PTA has paid for. The parent or student can key a teacher's extension to hear assignments or leave a question.

Mark Heinze
San Diego, California

Vouchers
I can understand the position some take to fight school vouchers with all their might, but we have to be realistic. Home schooling is growing. Vouchers are gathering support from parents. Private schools are becoming state-chartered, and parents are sending kids to them.

We cannot ignore the message these parents are sending us. Every time public school proponents yell about chartered schools, vouchers, and home schooling, they are shooting themselves in the foot and antagonizing the parents we want to bring their kids back into the public schools.

What happened to the very sound principle of "Copy Success"? We have to look at these school alternatives and see why they are succeeding. If public schools don't eat some humble pie soon, they will be eating crow.

Caroline Zimmermann
Indio, California

Teacher Preparation
While I understand the value in having a diversity of opinions expressed in NEA Today, I can't let Leon Botstein's outrageous comments go unanswered (Learning, January 2000).

He strikes me as just one more non-practitioner who presumes to understand--and to prescribe the solution for--the lack of respect teachers get. His answer: more subject matter training.

I would suggest that teachers garner so little respect because the people we work with--children--get so little respect in our society.

How can we recruit more good people into teaching? His solution is yet another version of the answer we hear over and over: Money! What gifted teacher does any us know who is in this for the money?

I would like to postpone hearing from Dr. Botstein until he has spent a month or so in a K-12 classroom, such as with my alternative-ed high schoolers. If he managed to continue for a whole year, I'd actually be interested in what he had to say.

Mark Kennedy
Ontario, California

Teachers of the Millennium
When I became a teacher in 1966, I used to joke with my parents that I planned to be named "Teacher of the Year" by 1970, "Teacher of the Decade" by 1980, and "Teacher of the Century" by the year 2000.

Well, I've never even been declared "Teacher of the Month," but I think it's time (even if it's really a year early) to begin the process of selecting the "Teacher of the Millennium." Here are some nominees:

Annie Sullivan
Horace Mann
John Dewey
Maria Montessori
Mahatma Ghandi
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mary McLeod Bethune
B. F. Skinner
Jaime Escalante
John Holt
Richard Siegelman
East Norwich, New York

Paraprofessionals
To the teacher who responded to complaints of a teacher's aide who wanted more money and prestige (November 1999), I am a tutor at a middle school. As such I am expected to have extensive knowledge on a variety of subjects on tap for whichever grade student might seek my assistance.

I also have a B.A. in history and, until my final semester, was an education major. In fact, the only thing keeping me from my certification is the student teaching requirement. Yet, according to that particular teacher who "spent $40,000" obtaining a B.A., I am not worthy of just compensation for my duties. I wonder how many other "professionals" are working for substandard wages as aides or tutors, either for the love of kids, or scarcity of jobs or both.

Robert Sparks
Canova, South Dakota

Music in the Classroom
I applaud Bill Farmer for having discovered the value of music in regular class procedure (Problems and Solutions, January).

I taught social studies for 30 years in Baltimore County, Maryland. Music was a constant in my classes. Over the years I have accumulated, at my own expense, a library of over 23,000 songs from which to draw.

Hearing a wide variety of music helped open previously closed minds to other kinds of music than what was currently considered "cool."

David Clements
Freeland, Maryland

EZC Reader
You recently printed a portion of the information I sent about a reading tool, the "EZC READER," that I created to help dyslexic children read (Idea Exchange, January). Although I do appreciate the comments, I need to bring a couple of points to your attention. My address is in Michigan, not Missouri.

Also, I am under contract with "Really Good Stuff," a school supply company based in Bosford, Connecticut. Omitting that information, as well as the Web site where this tool can be ordered (www.reallygoodstuff.com), is an infringement to their patent.

Sharon Cannon
Escanaba, Michigan

Editor's note: We regret the error.

Child Labor
To "Out of Place" who took exception to the article on child labor in the November issue: If you honestly wish "the best for all peoples," as you claimed, before you request that we not "apply American standards to other countries," would you propose we teach our children double standards?

Aren't all people entitled to the same freedoms we enjoy, or are we more priviledged than others?

Does having more than our share of the world's wealth entitle us to more than our share of the world's freedom, justice, equality, and human rights?

Who will teach our children to value each other and these principles if American professional educators do not?

Certainly they won't learn it from the American business community, which is relocating more and more facilities to countries with weaker labor protection laws.

In those countries, they can take advantage of cheap labor and are not forced to "apply American standards" by law, only by conscience.

We must look beyond issues that affect us directly, or how can we teach our children to be responsible citizens of the world?

Julie Fitzpatrick
Madison, Wisconsin

Extra! Extra!
The Dimensions of Time

For more than two decades, policymakers and practitioners have wrestled with the many complex issues surrounding education reform. The Dimensions of Time and the Change of School Reform, newly released by SUNY press, raises the issue of time and its role in both the success and failure of school reform as schools experiment with various models.

What is the role that time plays in both learning and instruction? What are the benefits and drawbacks of extending the traditional nine-month school year? How can teachers, students, and administrators think about time in innovative ways? Editor Patricia Gándara, Associate Professor of Education at the University of California, Davis, talks about what’s being tried, what’s working, and the surprising implications for teachers.

What do educators need to understand about time and its relationship to learning?
Educators understand quite well that time is a very important variable that needs to be manipulated—that some children need more time for some things than others. It’s more the problem of trying to make that work in a very rigid school system that doesn’t allow one to make those accommodations for kids.

Several of the book’s contributors advocate extending the nine-month school year. Why, in their opinions, is that such a good idea?
We’re not arguing that everybody should be in school for more than nine months and that all calendars should look alike. But the argument that comes through is that if you want to innovate and maximize the resources you have, it makes sense to rethink the calendar. Some children can go to school for 180 days, but perhaps a different set of 180 days. Other children might be able to attend for more than 180 days where their needs are greater in certain areas.

How does extended time for learning increase teacher satisfaction?
The success of school reform should not be judged just on outcomes for children, but on outcomes for teachers as well. A calendar that allows teachers to innovate more and work more with children who have particular needs allows teachers to see a greater impact on their students. It also provides the opportunity for teachers to have more flexibility in how they do their job.

In one situation in California, teachers who wanted to extend their work year could do so for increased pay. They extended their time teaching in a year by 20 percent in exchange for 20 percent more salary. The teachers were just restored, not only by the increased financial benefits, but also by the new opportunity to do things differently.

We also found that an open calendar allowed teachers new ways to organize their teaching and more opportunities for collaboration and team teaching, which many found to be a tremendous benefit to their effectiveness. Older, more experienced teachers were innovating in ways they never would have, and many teachers found flexible schedules worked better in their personal lives.

Overall, what has been teacher reaction to time reform proposals in schools in which they’ve been implemented?
It’s really quite consistent that there is reluctance at the beginning. But after the second year, not only in our studies but others I have reviewed across the country, teachers have preferred the change and not wanted to return to a traditional schedule. When teachers have been given the opportunity to work out a schedule that works best for them and their communities, reform has been evaluated quite highly once it’s had the opportunity to take hold.

How have students reacted to the idea of extended learning time?
There have been some amazing reactions. In one case, as they began to reform the school, they went to the students, many of whom were migrant students, and asked "What is it that we can do in the school to make learning better?" The students said "If we could make up this work, if we didn’t have to be tied to a schedule where we have to be here nine months of the time, this would work better for us."

The teachers worked with the students to create a more flexible schedule, and there was a great deal of satisfaction—not only because this was a better schedule, but also because the students had participated in creating this change. If you really want to radically change things that work for students, it helps to ask the students.

Are there other time reform strategies that are being tried?
Yes, things such as block scheduling, extending classroom periods, have all been tried with mixed reviews. If schools go in and convert to block scheduling, for example, but don’t give a lot of thought to how they want to do it or to preparing teachers for it, there’s no reason to believe they’ll get achievement increases. But when used thoughtfully around a larger reform program, schools are reporting achievement increases for their students.

What would you say to school systems that might be considering such changes?
Involve your teachers, your students, and your communities from the very beginning instead of foisting change on them. Look at the literature, at what other people have done and what they can tell you works and doesn’t work. And be open to the idea that once you’ve created some sort of a reform doesn’t mean it’s over. It’s an ongoing process.

For More: Contact Gándara at pcgandara@ucdavis.edu.

Learning: ESP on the Team
Counting Everyone

Mesa, Arizona school secretary Alice Swinehart knows the Census count is important to her community.

Education support staff and teachers in Mesa, Arizona, are lending support to efforts to make their local Census 2000 count as accurate as possible.

This March, when tens of millions of households across the country receive seven-question Census 2000 surveys in the mail, education support personnel in Mesa, Arizona, will be ready.

"The Association is more than a job insurance package--that's why we've gotten involved in the Census," says Mesa Education Support Personnel Association President Alice Swinehart.

This Mesa local, which represents 4,000 support staffers, is letting the Census Bureau use its office to orient and test for part-time Census jobs, in effect turning the Association office into a Census hiring hall.

Some 50 or more Mesa support staff will likely end up working for the Census, estimates local UniServ Director Dave Henderson.

Other ESP and teachers in Mesa are participating in sessions to learn more about the Census--and sharing what they've learned with students and their families.

Meanwhile, at the national level, NEA is working with the Census Bureau to encourage widespread "affiliate and member participation in Census 2000 activities."

Why all this Association interest in the Census? Ensuring an accurate count, it turns out, is a vital education issue. Census data determine both funding for federal education programs and state and national legislative districts.

Unfortunately, previous Census counts just haven't been accurate. The 1990 Census missed 8.4 million people, more than half of them children.

The Children's Defense Fund estimates that this Census, if it undercounts by the same amount as the last, will miss 52,000 children in Los Angeles alone.

Counting the people likely to be missed by Census 2000--people disproportionately young, poor, and minority--requires a community-wide effort. That's where support staff come in.

About 75 percent of NEA ESP members in urban areas live in the school districts where they work. And the percentage of rural support staff who work in the same school districts where they live is nearly as high.

"ESP know the community--we know who's afraid to be counted," says NEA Executive Committee member Iona Holloway, a LaPlace, Louisiana, paraeducator. "We know these people, and they're not afraid of us."

Mesa ESP leader Alice Swinehart, a school secretary, notes that many families in Mesa speak only Spanish.

"To them, the Census is associated with other government agencies that they want nothing to do with, like the INS," she explains. "Most of our members live in Mesa--they can be a big help in finding and reassuring these families, so that they can get counted."

And if everyone gets counted, schools and students benefit.

Team Player
Ensuring Safety and Health

As school safety officer, Oscar Vega is responsible for helping to keep more than 38,000 employees and students safe and healthy.

Name: Oscar Vega

Job Title: Safety officer for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Salem, Oregon.

On the side: I am also the President of the Oregon School Safety Officers Association, a group of people that are responsible for safety and health in school districts across the state.

Previous Experience: 20 years in safety inspection positions with GTE WESGO. Five years as a school board member in Redwood City, California.

What I do: My primary responsibility is ensuring the safety and health of the employees and students in Salem's second largest school district.

How I keep the schools safe: I believe it's important to create a positive safety culture in each school. From the principal down to the students, it's everyone's responsibility to help keep themselves and others safe and healthy.

Knowledge is the key to safety. I regularly educate employees on proper procedures, and they incorporate these procedures into their daily routines and classrooms. From playground safety to first aid, I give a variety of presentations to educate co-workers on important safety issues.

I also rely heavily on teams of educators and staff who make up safety committees in each school. I can't be at 55 schools at one time, so I train teams to perform inspections and monitoring injuries. They submit notes from their monthly meetings to me, so that I can monitor the schools for reoccurring problems and know what areas might need more training.

Regular inspections are also important. I accompany state and fire inspectors on visits to the schools to ensure we meet the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations standards as well as fire codes. If something needs to be corrected, I make sure it is done swiftly.

How I see the schools today: I think we've made a major turnaround in the safety culture in our school district, through education and heightened awareness. We've made safety a big part of the educational program in our schools, and, as a result, we have a better learning environment.

Going the Extra Mile

Last winter, two students who slipped under a school bus were saved by the safety practices of Chuck Raviart, a driver for Pennsylvania's Hempfield Area School District.

Here's how Raviart's system works: An older student exits the bus first, stands at the rear of the vehicle, and signals the driver by a hand wave when all the departing passengers are clear.

When two disembarking students slipped on the ice and fell under Raviart's bus, this procedure saved their lives-because Raviart did not receive the all-clear sign and would not move the bus until he got it.

The procedure worked so well, in fact, that Raviart wasn't even aware of the incident until the following morning. Upon learning of the averted tragedy, he was moved to tears.

Parents and children who live at that stop, the Suburban Acres Mobile Home Court, gave Raviart a plaque to express their appreciation for his devotion to kids and their safety.

No sooner did the cheers die down for Chuck Raviart than Michigan's Grand Rapids-Forest Hills school district honored its own heroic driver, 14-year veteran Sue Baker, with a plaque, a watch, and a dozen roses.

Last August, Baker quickly evacuated 42 elementary students from a brand-new bus when her yellow warning lights flashed irregularly and she saw smoke coming from under the hood.

No problem, thought Baker.

"We practice fire drills on the bus three times a year with the children," Baker points out. "The kids really reacted well."

The riders out of harm's way, Baker emptied her fire extinguisher on the flames-ignited by an electrical malfunction-and bolted from the bus. In less than five minutes after the driver noticed the light problem and smoke, the bus was engulfed by an inferno.

When the smoke died down, Baker received countless thank-you cards, letters, and flowers from grateful students, parents, and well-wishers. And parents of students riding the flaming bus have given the hero a trip to California to visit her sisters-but not while school is in session.

That's because highly professional ESP like Sue Baker are the best insurance a kid could have.

Illinois ESP leader David Arnold never misses a chance to link people together. That's what makes a good organizer.

In 1998, this Brownstown custodian served on the Illinois Education Association's Communications Committee with IEA-NEA Student Program member Lisa Webber. When Webber graduated college and went on to work as a kindergarten teacher in Shungnak, Alaska, she stayed in touch with Arnold-who is now the committee chair.

"After school started this past fall," Arnold reports, "Lisa E-mailed me and told me a little about Shungnak and her students. I saw there was a good comparison between her class at Shungnak Elementary, which is above the Arctic Circle, and the kindergarten class in my school in south central Illinois."

Arnold linked Webber and her kids with teacher Suzanne Stinebring and her kindergartners at Brownstown Elementary.

The rest is, well, elementary.

Resources

Help with IDEA 97 Training
The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities has produced a comprehensive training manual on the provisions and requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997.

The training package contains a 500-page curriculum binder with background information, resources, handouts, and training scripts and an overhead binder of 145 transparencies, available in English or Spanish. An addendum to the training package, currently being written, will provide information about the Federal IDEA regulations released March 12, 1999.

Nearly all of the materials may be downloaded free, in HTML or PDF formats, from the NICHCY Web site at www.nichcy.org (note that there are a large number of files to download). Printed copies of the training manual can be ordered for $175 a set from NICHCY, P.O. Box 1492, Washington, DC 20013 800/695-0285.

Got My Eye on You
The use of video cameras on school buses was a hot topic recently on NEA's ESP E-mail discussion list. Video cameras have been installed by school districts around the country with the stated purpose of helping maintain student discipline and safety on the buses.

But, based on experiences in their districts, several ESP activists believe that some employers are more interested in using the cameras to monitor the behavior of drivers than students.

As the NEA Resolutions put it, education employees must be guaranteed the rights of privacy, including freedom from audio or video surveillance without the prior written permission of the individual.

The ESP E-mail discussion list is a forum for NEA ESP members and staff to exchange information and opinions about ESP job issues and the issues of ESP within the Association.

Check the box at the right for information on how to subscribe to this free list.

Debate
Should New Teachers Get the Toughest Assignments?

YES
Suzanne Emery is an English teacher at Mira Mesa High School in San Diego. She edits the San Diego Education Association monthly newsletter, The Advocate, and is a member of the NEA Today Local Editor Advisory Board. She has taught for 34 years.

The bright faces of brand new, fully credentialed teachers ought to be in the toughest classrooms. These teachers are young, they're strong, and they have the latest in skills and pedagogy. They are not burned out, aren't about to use the same old worn lesson plans, and still believe that calling home and involving parents is possible.

Placing qualified new teachers in difficult schools is good for all parties. The kids get a fresh attitude, the new teacher gets a challenge, and the experienced teacher gets to use years of valuable resources in another location, still serving youth.

Oops! You say that new teachers are sent into schools that are overcrowded, seething, cultural melting pots--multilingual, discipline-challenged, dilapidated, and full of low-achieving, abused, and transient children with little parental support? Your point?

The school I just described is neither new nor unique. It is the site where I did my 16 weeks of student teaching 34 years ago. I was intimidated, but enthused, even when a "girl fight" broke out while we waited in the office to be introduced to our master teachers, who then escorted us across a dusty, ungrassed yard to our leaky trailer classrooms.

The people with me that day have endured. We have become the backbone of the district, experienced in just about anything that comes our way. We're able to meet challenges ignored in education textbooks, ready to teach the same old subject in as many ways as possible to develop success for the 38 or 40 kids in our classes, on whichever day they happen to attend. And you know what? I expected the challenge. I knew what was coming. I knew that I would be successful and so would my students. And, yes, my NDEA college loan was forgiven at 15 percent for each year I taught in an inner city school.

At the high school where I taught my first three years, the statistics were the same, and the career results are not embarrassing. I have become a teacher leader, and an African American counselor at that school became superintendent. Two months ago, the graduating class of my first year students, the Class of '69, invited me to attend its 30 year reunion as an honored guest. What a blast! I knew then that that battlefield baptism had been worth it.

Make no mistake, under-qualified and emergency credentialed teachers have no place in the toughest schools. Solid training simply must be in place before putting classroom keys into the hands of new teachers.

It is unconscionable that some colleges skip pre-service exposure to inner city realities and disregard training in techniques for helping all students achieve.

As a member of the California Teachers Association's Teacher for the 21st Century workgroup, I've been looking at our state's ability to attract, recruit, and retain teachers. Of course, the best answer is two-pronged: fantastic college prep and dynamic first-year support, in California called BTSA, Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment.

By the way, I am not Pollyanna. I've taught most of my life in urban schools and I do know the problems.

Cast your vote | Forum

NO
Wendy Patterson is a full-time mentor in the Peer Assistance and Review program in Mt. Diablo, a suburb east of San Francisco. The program is a collaborative effort between the school district and the Mt. Diablo Education Association. She has taught for 27 years.

Absolutely not! As professionals, we must never lose sight of our responsibility to provide for the academic, social, and emotional growth of all of our students.

With research showing that the critical predictor of student success is the quality of the teacher, we cannot ignore the need to support new teachers as they broaden their experiences and continue to develop their competencies.

How many potentially outstanding teachers do we lose when committed new teachers no longer view the challenges they face as a mountain they can navigate, but a deep pit from which they cannot escape?

Over 50 years ago, my father was certified to teach in New York City. He was immediately placed in one of the most difficult high schools in Harlem. His experience was not the exception, but the rule. Many new teachers did not make it. They chose to move to another school system where the climb was not so steep, or to leave the profession entirely.

My father did remain for five years, before moving to California. He retired at age 70 from a California high school.

My first five years of teaching were quite different. I started my career at a middle-class suburban elementary school with supportive parents, staff, and administrators and with students who were, for the most part, well-behaved and eager to learn.

Those first years of my career were not without struggle, but I was able to focus my energy on developing my assessment and planning skills, learning curriculum, creating materials, exploring schedules and strategies, and focusing on my students.

My next teaching placement, returning after a maternity leave, was a lower-achieving middle school with some rather complex racial and socio-economic issues. I was to teach three different classes, none of which I had ever taught before. Two of the classes contained students with serious behavior issues.

I was the fifth teacher assigned to these classesand it was only October. I struggled to find a way to connect with my sometimes angry, often distrusting students. The first few months were painful. By the end of the day, I sometimes found myself holding back tears of frustration.

I survived--actually I began to understand and appreciate my students. I broadened my skills. I learned--and so did my students. I relied on other teachers and support people for guidance and gave thanks every day for the five years of successful teaching that gave me the confidence and the tools to make this new assignment work.

Because of the desperate need for more teachers in our schools, many districts have hired people with little or no teaching experience or preparation. These hires create difficult, though unfortunately not unusual, circumstances--and serve to reinforce the need to limit our expectations for new teachers and provide them extra support during these early years.

Asking our beginning teachers to confront unreasonable challenges promotes an endless cycle of teachers who cannot succeed and students who cannot learn. We must collectively commit to find workable answers because the price, for all of us, is too high.

Who's the Mentor? | Unprepared New Hires ...
Tips for New Teachers
Tips for Experienced Teachers | Rx for Teacher Isolation ... |

Cover Story
Who's the Mentor?

Everyone knows veteran educators have a lot to offer new teachers. But new teachers, despite their lack of experience, often have ideas that even the most veteran teacher can put to good use. Just ask these NEA members.

NEA member Karen Jensen knows her craft so well she coaches other teachers.

Karen Jensen is about as veteran a teacher as you can be. She's taught for 28 years.

But Jensen, a French teacher in Bellevue, Washington, feels she's still learning her craft--and probably always will be. And she's not afraid to admit that she's learning a lot from a source many veteran teachers would never think of seriously tapping: her younger colleagues.

Allison Dan is just one of the new teachers who've impressed Jensen with their fresh approaches. Dan showed Jensen a technique she learned at college in Wisconsin.

The technique, called "Total Physical Response," aims to help students learn a foreign language by associating words with physical action. To learn the word for "walk," a student says the word, then takes a step. For "elephant," a student might wave an arm like a trunk.

"Sometimes it looks a bit cornball," smiles Jensen, "but it's very effective." Over the next 10 years, the U.S. Department of Education estimates, 2 million new teachers will be entering classrooms. Many of these teachers--like Allison Dan--will enter their new profession well prepared and knowledgeable. They'll have a lot to offer.

Will these new teachers get a chance to share what they've learned? Or will they be advised to forget everything they learned in school about teaching because they're now in the "real world"?

The answer will probably vary by district. In many schools, veterans are quite willing to credit new teachers with enthusiasm--and maybe some computer smarts. But, beyond that, a lot of veterans simply assume that most new teachers don't have a clue.

This assumption, experienced teachers like Karen Jensen believe, can short-circuit some valuable learning opportunities. Many new teachers, she notes, come out of excellent preparation programs and arrive with good, practical ideas.

Jensen's new colleague, Allison Dan, is a case in point. Her training included a year of immersion in France, followed by two years of an intensive teacher prep program. In each of the two years, Dan had a semester of coursework combined with classroom observation, followed by a semester of full-time student teaching. While student-teaching, Dan also took night courses. All along, she got plenty of help from skillful, cooperating teachers.

Not all teacher education experiences, of course, come close to matching the rigor of Allison Dan's program, one reason why NEA is working closely with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education to upgrade teacher education. (See FYI)

This NEA-backed effort is making a difference. Kelly Sedgley, a graduate from an NCATE-accredited program at the University of New Hampshire, is living proof. Last year, her first, Sedgley won the prestigious Sallie Mae award for beginning teachers, an honor given to only one teacher per state.

At UNH, Sedgley learned to combine science with the rest of the primary curriculum, a background that enabled her to make a big contribution last year to the work of veteran New Hampshire teacher Sue Mason.

Mason and Sedgley worked as a team at the Epsom Central School near Concord. Sedgley, says Mason, helped the team integrate dinosaurs, beavers, and reptiles with math, reading, and poetry.

"Our minds were always feeding off one another," says Mason. "Kelly helped us get a fresh start on everything."

When partnerships between new and veteran teachers click, it can be hard to remember where good ideas come from. In Glendale, Arizona, high school teacher Bart Bondeson started his career with an orientation toward keeping objectives clear, something he learned at Florida International, an NCATE-accredited institution.

Bondeson begins each lesson with a short activity that students work on as soon as the class bell rings, which gets them straight into the topic of the day. Each lesson has one objective.

"If you have eight objectives," he notes, "you're likely not to reach any."

Bondeson says his mentor, veteran teacher Donnis Deever, strongly reinforced this approach.

For her part, Deever, a 30-year teaching veteran, says she has learned a great deal from her younger colleague about the importance of seeing each lesson through the eyes of the students.

But Bondeson insists he learned that from his experienced colleague.

Who's right? It really doesn't matter. Add a well-trained new teacher to a school where veterans are eager to share what they know--and learn what they don't--and good things happen.

Unprepared New Hires An Unacceptable Reality

NEA Today this month is featuring some great new teachers who received excellent preparation from their teacher education programs.

Not all beginners in the profession are so fortunate.

Some 50,000 individuals who lack appropriate training enter the teaching force annually on emergency or substandard licenses, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.

These unprepared teachers make up more than a quarter of newly hired teachers. About 15 percent are hired with emergency, temporary, or provisional licenses, and another 12 percent are hired with no license at all.

These unprepared teachers are not distributed evenly across the country. High-poverty schools are much more likely to have unprepared teachers in front of their classrooms than schools in more affluent areas.

The pressure to hire still more unprepared teachers is growing, as student enrollments rise and enormous numbers of experienced teachers reach retirement age. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley estimates that America will need more than 2 million new teachers over the next decade.

Also adding to the growing demand for new teachers: the growing realization that children learn better in small classes. California needed 20,000 additional teachers to meet its goals for reducing class size in grades K-3.

Currently, according to Education Week, 30,000 out of California's 270,000 teachers are working with emergency permits.

NEA and NEA affiliates are working on many fronts to promote high standards for teacher preparation and to help new teachers through the difficult first few years.

Here's one innovative approach: The Texas State Teachers Association recently won passage of a state law that requires school districts to tell parents when their children are taught for more than 30 days by someone who lacks full teaching credentials.

Tips for new teachers

How can you get respect for your ideas without making everybody think you're incredibly arrogant? We asked NEA members who won the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award for beginning teachers in 1999. The award goes to one teacher in each state.

Demonstrate your ideas instead of talking about them. As a first year or new teacher, your actions speak louder than being vocal.

Lisa Wilson
Smyrna High School
Smyrna, Delaware

Don't go in thinking you're better than everybody. Take suggestions and constructive criticism. Don't take criticism personally. Even after 30 years, you'll still be learning.

If you hear teachers talking about something they're doing in class and you have something to suggest, you might say, "I did this in college. If you want to try it, I have information." Leave it to them to come to you.

Jennifer Renda
Macopin Middle School
West Milford, New Jersey

Have an open mind to see what veteran teachers are doing already. Ask questions. Say, "What do you think of this idea?" You can get benefit of their experience. They'll feel valued and you'll be sharing your ideas.

Kelly Sedgley
Epsom Central School
Epsom, New Hampshire

Tips for experienced teachers

NEA member Susan Walters, a former English teacher, coordinates the work of University of Southern Maine faculty, mentor-teachers, and student-teachers at Wells Junior High School near Concord, New Hampshire. Here's her advice to experienced teachers on how to get the most from the good ideas of newcomers to the profession:

• Approach your work with new teachers from a position of curiosity, not with an attitude of knowing all the answers.

• Build trust through active, empathic listening and questioning.

• Invite new teachers to observe you and give you feedback.

• Explain what you do and why. Or ask a new teacher to tell you why they think you did something. Talking about it will help both of you.

• Be willing to support and experiment with a new teacher's ideas.

• Recognize new teachers' areas of expertise. Many have useful career experience or interests.

• If you are going to be a formal mentor, enroll in a course designed for that role. Being a good teacher of children doesn't always translate into working well with adult learners.

• As teachers work with new teachers, they gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of what they do. Value your expertise and be proud of the contributions you are making.

Rx for Teacher Isolation:
The Professional Development School

In what kind of institution can you see university professors going on rounds with aspiring young professionals, teaching them how to handle real-world situations?

One answer is the teaching hospital, the site where almost all young doctors truly learn their craft.

Another answer, considerably less familiar, is the "professional development school"--or PDS for short. Professional development schools are high-quality public schools that feature a teacher education program modeled on the notion of a teaching hospital.

In a PDS, advocates of professional development schools believe, everyone learns better--student-teachers, beginning teachers, veteran teachers, university faculty, and, certainly, school children.

The main idea behind the PDS model: Student-teachers can and should do