News: Rights Watch
The Supreme Court and Prayer, At Football Games

A Texas case, soon to be decided, could create an important precedent on government and religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision by early July in a major case involving school prayer. What's at stake? Americans United for Separation of Church and State has prepared this summary.

• What's this case all about?
  In fall 1995, hundreds of students and sports fans from Santa Fe, Texas, attended a public high school football game. Before the game, school officials gave the microphone to a student elected by classmates to recite a prayer over the public address system.

  Two students, one Catholic and the other Mormon, recognized that it was not their prayer and thought something was amiss.

  Parents of the two children troubled by the football game prayer, with help from the Texas affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, tried to negotiate with school officials, asking them to stop promoting prayer at school events. When those attempts failed, the parents filed suit in federal court.

  On February 26, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that invocations before football games are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal.

• What's wrong with students praying at a football game?
  Nothing. No one is trying to take away an individual's right to pray. If students want to pray before, during, or after a football game, that's entirely up to them.

  The issue is whether the school can get involved with the religious exercise by turning over the school's public address system for a prayer endorsed by the school--a prayer that everyone is forced to listen to.

• How is the school getting involved with the prayer?
  First, the school facilitates a student election that allows the student body to vote for a classmate to deliver the prayer at the game.

  Then school officials turn over the school's public address system to broadcast a prayer to school students at an official school event. The school is setting the time, place, and length of religious worship.

• Isn't this about free speech?
  Absolutely not. There is a critical difference between private individual speech and speech promoted by the government.

  Consider this analogy: A group of people can go to a public park and exercise their free speech. But once the state decides to help broadcast one person's speech to everyone in the park because it is popular, that address becomes state-sponsored speech.

  Public schools must be neutral on religion to protect the rights of everyone. Students should not be pressured to pray.

• If a majority of the students want a prayer before a game, shouldn't the majority rule?
  Our First Amendment rights are not open to a popularity contest. Prayer is a deeply personal experience, best left to individuals, their families, and conscience. It is not the government's job to encourage prayer.

  School officials and student majorities should never be allowed to bully other children into religious worship. The Bill of Rights provides for individual freedom of conscience, not a tyranny of the majority.

• Doesn't the school want "non-sectarian" and "non-proselytizing" prayer?
  There's no such thing as "non-sectarian" and "non-proselytizing" prayer. Prayer is deeply private and does not exist in a "one size fits all" format. In any community, there are diverse religious communities, with different religious traditions and people who have chosen no spiritual path at all. No prayer would please everyone. In this Santa Fe case, most of the prayers recited ended "in Jesus' name"--hardly non-sectarian.

• How does this controversy affect religious minorities?
  Since the students elect a classmate to deliver a prayer before a game, students of minority faiths are unlikely to get chosen.

  As a result, religious minorities who want to attend their own school events have to endure school-promoted worship that often conflicts with what they are taught at home and at their house of worship.

  If you belong to a minority faith and it's not your prayer the school is broadcasting, the state is effectively telling you, "too bad." Public school students should never be made to feel like second-class citizens at their own school.

• If this is just about prayer at a football game, what is the legal significance of this case?
  A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Santa Fe School District would create a precedent for greater government promotion of religious worship. This would represent a radical departure from Court precedent that has mandated government neutrality.

  If public school students can elect a classmate to lead students in prayer at an official school event, what's to say that the same practice couldn't be applied to homeroom every morning?

  Years ago, supporters of state-sponsored religion would tell dissenters that if they didn't like mandated Christian prayer and Bible reading every morning, they could wait in the hall. This decision could turn back the clock toward those days.

This month's column is adopted from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

For more on this case, go to www.au.org/pr32800.htm or www.au.org/cs1001.htm.

Departments: Resources
Lessons From the Other Side

Researchers go on site visits to see what private schools can teach public schools—and come back with a surprising answer.

Can Public Schools Learn from Private Schools?

By Richard Rothstein, Martin Carnoy, and Luis Benveniste
Economic Policy Institute, 86 pp., $13.95, available at www.epinet.org.

Not so long ago, our public schools were considered engines of democracy and prosperity, churning out citizen-workers equipped with the “know-how” to build our great land.

Today, many commentators claim, our public schools’ chief product is failure. We must look to the private sector, they assert, for lessons on how to prepare the next generation.

Three researchers from the Economic Policy Institute recently set out to find those lessons by visiting 16 schools—public, charter, and private—with rich, middle-income, and poor students. They came back with an eye-opening report.

What can public schools learn from private schools? Their answer is, “Not much.” The researchers found several schools with practices worth emulating, but these schools were just as likely to be public as private.

In fact, the big differences the researchers found were not between public and private schools, but between rich and poor.

EPI tested several common generalizations about the supposed advantages of private schools. One is that private schools are responsive to parents, while public schools thumb their noses at parents.

What the EPI researchers found was that no schools, public or private, want to be accountable to parents for educational decisions.

Schools with high-income students, they discovered, spent considerable energy fending off interference from parents who wanted teachers to change the way they taught. One public school teacher said she got a letter a week from each of her children’s parents.

Private schools resisted interference by telling parents they were free to take their children elsewhere. Public schools just lived with it.

Schools with middle-income parents recruited them to help, by, for example, monitoring homework and limiting TV. Schools with low-income parents also tried to get parents to help, but were less successful—except for one diverse, urban school that put on a particularly vigorous outreach campaign.

Teachers at this school assigned homework that involved the whole family. The school hired parent coordinators. And it cooperated with a neighborhood center to offer child care and courses in parenting and literacy. This was a public school.

The school least receptive to parents was the only for-profit institution in the study. It served mostly middle-class children. The principal described the school’s philosophy as, “Leave them at the gate, we'll educate!”

This school featured a low-paid, inexperienced staff with 40 percent turnover.

The researchers also looked at how public and private school principals dealt with teachers who they felt were sub-par. In public schools, it was rare for an experienced teacher to be fired—and the researchers found this just as true in private schools.

“We found Catholic school procedures to be nearly as cumbersome and bureaucratic as those in public schools,” writes the EPI team.

As a result, Catholic school principals dealt with “unsatisfactory teachers” by either accepting the situation or engaging in subtle harassment and hoping the unsatisfactory teacher would resign.

This short book will help you talk with anyone who thinks that the private sector knows best. Instead of theorizing about how public and private schools might differ, these researchers walked through the school door to see for themselves.

That’s a model private school advocates could learn from.

Excerpt:
"At Tatuna Point, a neighborhood public elementary school in an affluent neighborhood of professionals and executives … parent questioning of school and classroom management has become so extensive that the school established an ombudsman team that organizes and researches parent complaints and publishes summaries in a weekly school bulletin. Complaints typically range from how much protein ... school lunch items contain ... to whether a teacher has progressed far enough in the social studies curriculum ... to whether fractions are properly sequenced in the arithmetic curriculum."

Books by NEA Members

Hawaiian History
Dr. Phil Barnes From the first human landfall through the sovereignty movement of the late 1990s, A Concise History of the Hawaiian Islands provides a close look at Hawaii’s past. Written in an informal style for older children, this book encourages a multicultural perspective in the classroom. $9.95 plus $2.50 s&h from Phil Barnes, RR2 Box 4756, Pahoa, HI 96778, 877/849-8986 or greenhi@interpac.net. On the Web at www.coconutlanding.com/concisehistory.html.

Math Adventures
Nancy Kelly Allen, illustrated by Adam Doyle Once Upon A Dime, A Math Adventure is a picture book for young children that tells the delightful story of a farmer who finds out that money really does grow on trees. $6.50 plus $3.50 s&h, from Charlesbridge Publishing, 85 Main St., Watertown, MA 02472. 617/926-0329.

30 Years by the Chalkboard
John B. Mollan A retired teacher reveals his often humorous thoughts and recollections about a life spent teaching in his new book, 30 Years by the Chalkboard, Some Irreverent Observations on Education. $9.95 plus $3 s&h, from Educational Passport Options Books, PMB 237, 11500 NE 76th St. A3, Vancouver, WA 98662, 360/892-1679, Fax 603/843-5540.

Free the Children!
Susan Fitzell Free the Children! Conflict Education for Strong and Peaceful Minds offers a unique approach to helping children break free from aggression and conflict. This book is designed for both educators and parents, with a focus on children grades pre-K through 12. $14.95 plus $4 s&h, from New Society Publishers, P.O. Box 189 Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada, V0R 1X0. 800/567-6772, Fax 250-247-7471. On the Web at www.newsociety.com/aut.html.

Reading Skill Builder
Bruce and Kathryn Howlett Phonemic Awareness for Sound Reading Success is an instructor’s manual and workbook package designed to help children build essential reading skills. The program uses our sense of speech perception to reach the source of reading difficulties. $16 plus $3 s&h, from ISRP Press, 379 Turkey Hill Road, Ithaca, NY 14850. 800/716-2887.

New from the NEA Professional Library

Classroom Assessment for Student Success
Richard J. Stiggins
NEA Professional Library. 57 pp., $5.95, #2071-5-00-WB

How do we test? Author Richard Stiggins shows you how to help your school use assessment to promote student achievement. Stiggins covers such topics as how to use the assessment process to inspire and energize students and also examines assessment literacy—how to collect reliable information that can help maximize achievement. His book also includes a professional development strategy to help educators fulfill their assessment responsibilities and improve their own assessment literacy.

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

Excerpt
"We are becoming very sophisticated at weaving day-to-day classroom assessment into the teaching and learning process. For example, we can open up the assessment design and development processes and bring students in as full partners, thus turning assessments into powerfully focused and highly motivational learning experiences. We are poised to emerge from counterproductive assessment environments into an array of assessment applications that will be far more constructive for students."

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.

The ’70s
NBC, May. Check local listings. This miniseries explores the politics, pop culture, and music of the ‘70s through the lives of several friends who become closely involved with the major events and movements of the decade, including the National Guard confrontation at Kent State, the feminist movement and ERA, growing environmental awareness, the Watergate scandal, the drug culture, and race tensions. Visit www.nbc.com for more information.

Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure
PBS, Wednesdays, May 3-10, 9-11 pm, ET, check local listings. In this four-part documentary, comedian Michael Palin travels the world visiting locations that were special to Ernest Hemingway and informed his writing. Following the author’s adventurous lifestyle means investigating bullfights in Spain, a big game park in Kenya, World War I battlefields in Italy, and tiny apartments and cafés in Paris. Palin also goes marlin fishing in Cuba, visits several of Hemingway’s homes, and attends a Hemingway look-alike contest in Key West. Visit www.pbs.org for more information.

In Search of Law and Order: Reclaiming America’s Kids
PBS, Thursdays, May 11-25, 10-11 pm, ET, check local listings. This three-part series examines the juvenile justice system and its efficacy in promoting public safety. The programs deal with the scope and causes of youth crime, community-based alternatives to the juvenile justice system, and grassroots efforts that address the root causes of juvenile crime. Viewers hear from professionals working within the system, community members, and young offenders. Visit www.pbs.org/lawandorder for transcripts, community action suggestions, and other resources.

Sahara
PBS, Wednesday, May 24, 9-11 pm ET, check local listings. In this nature documentary, the Sahara region is shown to host a wide variety of life despite its harsh extremes of climate. The program showcases eagles, monitor lizards, foxes, leopards, and other creatures that are uniquely adapted to live in the desert’s searing heat, windstorms, and infrequent rainfall. See www.pbs.org for more information.

The Source: The Story of the Beat Generation
PBS, Wednesday, May 31, 9-10:30 pm, ET, check local listings. This documentary from the “American Masters” series traces the course of the Beat Generation from the meeting of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs in the 1940s through the countercultural movements of the last 50 years. With special attention to the Beats’ influence on art, politics, and popular culture, the program features the music of the period, dramatized readings of important literature, and interviews with Ken Kesey, Norman Mailer, Jerry Garcia, and other cultural figures. See www.thirteen.org for more information.

Choose or Lose
MTV, through November 2000. This voter registration campaign from Music Television is a forum for young people to learn about and discuss the 2000 election. The Choose or Lose Web site offers investigative stories, a searchable database of the candidates’ speeches and debates, and features that allow participants to comment and vote on important issues. In addition, the site provides a schedule of primaries, caucuses, and conventions; transcripts of Choose or Lose news features on MTV; and links to candidate Web sites, news sources, and voting advocacy programs for youth.

Americanos: Latino Life in the United States
HBO, May, check local listings. This documentary airs as part of a multimedia project, led by actor and activist Edward James Olmos, to celebrate and increase awareness of the history and culture of the United States’ large Latino population. The documentary accompanies the Smithsonian photographic exhibition of the same name, a collection of 120 pictures of Latinos of all ages, from all walks of life, and from diverse backgrounds. The program will feature interviews with people from the photos as well as famous Latin-Americans, all of whom offer insight into the fastest-growing culture in the U.S. A companion book is available in stores.

My So-Called Life
Fox Family Channel, Fridays, 8-9 pm, ET. This acclaimed series centers on Angela Chase, an intelligent 15-year-old sophomore at Liberty High for whom adolescence is a series of trials. In addition to the demands of school and family, Angela must negotiate the crushes, rivalries, and pitfalls of her complicated social life while helping her friends through their experiences with drug abuse, violence, and depression. The series has been widely praised for its realistic depiction of contemporary families, lifestyles, and values. Visit www.mscl.com for episode descriptions, character profiles, and essays on the series.

Truth PSAs
Public service announcements on several networks. Presented as commercial parodies, these PSAs depict common products like soda, sneakers, and acne cream that turn out to be lethal. For a popular product to kill its users would be absurd, but as these PSAs point out, tobacco does just that. Truth, the non-profit organization that produces these commercials, offers a teen-oriented Web site using media and research to spread the truth about how tobacco companies work, their advertising and lobbying strategies, and their knowledge of tobacco’s health risks and addictive nature. The site lists numerous resources for getting involved, quitting smoking, and finding other anti-tobacco organizations. See www.thetruth.com for complete information.

The Futures Channel
This new digital content service from the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education offers direct access to educational video, sound, image, and print resources, including all of FASE Productions’ award-winning educational series. The digital format allows educators to preview and download Futures Channel programs for use in their own classrooms. Specializing in math and science curricula, the FASE and Futures Channel resources also include lesson plans and professional development materials for teachers. Visit www.futureschannel.com or www.fasenet.org for more complete information.

Announcements

Dow Jones Teacher Awards
National High School Journalism Teacher Awards Program. This annual competition identifies the National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year who acts as a spokesperson for scholastic journalism, as well as four Distinguished Advisers and several teachers cited as special recognition award winners.

The winning teacher will speak to the fall convention of the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 18. In addition, a student at the high school of the Teacher of the Year will receive a $1,000 college scholarship to study news-editorial journalism. One student at each of the four Distinguished Advisers’ schools will receive $500 college scholarships. Application forms are available from the Newspaper Fund by writing to P.O. Box 300, Princeton, NJ 08543-0300, or by calling 609-452-2820. A form can be downloaded from the Teacher Programs section of the Fund’s Web site.

New Census Info
It’s your future, don’t leave it blank. Don’t be missed in this year’s Census. Censusnetwork.org is a new resource on the Census 2000 initiative that provides direct links to stakeholder organizations, information on the census undercount for states, cities, and other geographic areas, fact sheets, links to the Census Bureau, a Q&A section, and much more.

Operation Day’s Work
Jump-start your school’s community service activities with this student-run national program. Operation Day’s Work empowers young people to show the world that they can be leaders, educates them on global issues, and teaches them the importance of volunteerism. For one day in the spring, students work in their community to raise money to support education in a developing country. They also serve as national committee members, making policy decisions and urging support for the program. For more information call 202-712-4021.

New From Disney
Disney recently launched a new Web site specifically for educators. The Teaching Center offers hundreds of resources including subject-specific Internet tours with links to education Web sites, innovative lesson plans, activity-specific teaching strategies, and message board forums on a range of teaching topics. On the Web at www.DisneyLearning.org.

Scholarships for High Schoolers
Applications for the second annual Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition—a national science, math, and technology research contest for high school students—are now available online. The foundation will award more than $1 million in college scholarships and awards to students, including scholarships for all individual and team runners-up, both on the regional and state level. Apply by October 1, 2000.

Gates’ Grants for Education
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide more than $350 million over three years to education in the form of four grant programs. The State Challenge Grant for Leadership Development will provide more than $100 million to ensure that administrators across the nation have access to quality leadership development. For Educators in Washington State, Teacher Leadership Grants will be used to train teachers on using technology in the classroom and School Grants and District Grants will be used to improve teaching and learning as well as increase technology in the classroom. Twenty districts nationally will also be available for the $150 million in District Grants. For complete info and grant guidelines visit www.gatesfoundation.org.

Multimedia

Crossing Disciplines
Bridgestone Multimedia offers a wide range of videos and CD-Roms for use in the classroom. Instructional videos and CD-Roms cover reading, arithmetic, and writing for children ages 3 to 8, plus documentaries about dinosaurs as seen on the Learning Channel. Other videos for children, ages 6-13, document the lives of famous people: Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Aristotle, and Leonardo da Vinci. Others feature familiar tales told by well-known personalities, including Angelica Huston (Rip Van Winkle), Danny Aiello (Pinocchio), John Candy (Stormalong), Nicholas Cage (Davy rockett), and Denzel Washington (John Henry). For information on prices and ordering, call 480/940-5777, ext. 7906 or fax to 480/940-4484.

Web Winners

Mostly Mars
This NASA Web module covers the discovery of molecules, including the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin and the nature of astromaterials. These topics then lead through the NASA Web site and related outside sources. There are also specific reference sources—including press releases, scientists’ biographies, photographs, and a galaxy of related material. On the Web at http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/marslife.

Dive In
Take a virtual plunge on Extreme 2000 Voyage to the Deep Web site. Climb aboard Alvin and learn about the ocean’s ecology, chemistry, and more!

KremlinKam
Live shots come through this engaging Web site from Moscow. Young students should enjoy seeing scenes from an unfamiliar country. Among the pictures: some of the most beautiful and historical buildings on Earth. See it on the Web at www.kremlinkam.com.

Cryptic Site
The National Security Agency has a history of intrigue dotted with all sorts of secret codes that are revealed in these 13 exhibits on its Web site. The subjects include the Black Chamber, Enigma, and Codetalkers. Here you’ll learn that George Washington, while never a codebreaker himself, recognized the value of military intelligence and used the secret arts—including codebreaking—during the American Revolutionary War. The main topics include the American Civil War, codebreaking in World War II, and entry into the supercomputer era. Truly an insight into the few places to view the secret world of cryptology.

All About Plastics
The American Plastics Council (APC) and the National Middle Level Science Teachers Association have joined forces on a new Web site, www.handsonplastics.com. The site incorporates most of the activities available in a plastics education kit that’s been used around the country. APC says the site is a resource for helping teachers answer some basic chemistry questions about plastics. A CD-ROM of the curriculum unit is also available. To order the materials needed to conduct classroom activities demonstrated on the Web site, call 1/800-243-5790 or fill out the order form that is available at the Web site.

All About America
All you need is a Web-connected computer to gain access to some of the great treasures of America’s history. The National Archives and Records Administration presents a virtual exhibit hall of documents and images.

On the Record
Turn your Web browser into an audio time machine. History and Politics Out Loud provides a searchable archive of politically significant audio materials. Includes speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Watergate scandal recordings.

Space Out
Join the Apollo astronauts on the surface of the moon—virtually. You’ll find stunning 360-degree panoramas at this companion site to the PBS special that chronicles the untold science and engineering story of how we got there. (QuickTime plug-in required.)

Spy Letters
If you think there’s something novel about the Chinese government spying on the U.S., here’s a University of Michigan site that should add some historical perspective: Spy Letters of the American Revolution. The actual letters are reproduced in digital form, along with transcriptions.

Building
What do windmills, one-room schoolhouses, and the Golden Gate Bridge have in common? They’re part of an American Memory exhibit that documents achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the USA.

Women’s History Museum
On the 150th anniversary of the first American women’s rights convention, the new National Museum of Women’s History offers an online tour of the political culture and imagery of American suffrage.

Building Math Skills
Figure This! Math Challenges for Families is a site designed to help students develop problem-solving math skills they need to succeed. Created specifically for middle-school students, the site was created in part by the Learning First Alliance, a group of 12 education organizations designed to improve public education, of which the NEA is a member.

Fun Learning
Fun school.com offers a large quantity of educational games and activities for teachers and students. Sponsored by the Family Education Network, this colorful site makes learning fun for children of all ages.

Online Art
Experience a cyberspace holographic art exhibition with this Web site. The artist uses resources found in the rainforest to create a holographic light forest. The site also contains information about holograms and a glossary that defines key terms.

Aussie Lessons
With the 2000 Olympic Games quickly approaching, don’t miss this opportunity to investigate the wonders of Australia. Two American world history high school teachers have designed four online lesson plans especially for secondary world history classes. The plans are also suggested for use in government, geography, environmental, or global issues classes.

Native American Culture
Bring your Native American culture lessons up to date with this online resource. Indianz.com features the latest news, entertainment guides, and Web links for Native Americans and those who are interested in learning more about them. You’ll also find information about specific tribes and civil rights.

A Quicker Cyber Search
If you’re looking for information on the Internet, get the most out of your time with www.baldey.com. With one click of a button you can use up to 10 search engines at once.

Monica the Monarch
This Byram, New Jersey, eighth grader not only loves monarch butterflies, she raises them… and her Web site shows you how to join the fun. Featured on USA Today’s Hot Web site list, this Web winner is used by over 50 schools nationwide and offers easy to understand directions for finding and raising a monarch butterfly, pictures included. Visitors of all ages can trace the life of a monarch from the caterpillar stage to its migration to Mexico where it dwells during the northern winter months.

Meet the Gorillas
Two gorillas, Koko and Michael, can understand English and communicate with sign language. See them up-close, learn about the interspecies communication project and how to protect and preserve gorillas in the wild on this Web site.

Wacky Science Experiments
Spice up your classroom science class with this museum of classical home science experiments that can be searched by category and alphabetically online. Teach students how to make clouds in a bottle, the mystery behind dancing raisins, and much more.

Web Chess
Everything you wanted to know about chess in one easy to use site. Play with chess masters from around the world, chat about the latest competition winners, and keep up to date with upcoming events. On the Web at www.kasparovchess.com.

OED Online
Touted as the most comprehensive informational source on the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary Online accesses the full text of the 20-volume 2nd edition, as well as three volumes of additions. New entries are added quarterly, including modern slang and specialized terms.

Free or Inexpensive

High School Science
Secondary teachers throughout the U.S. are being mailed a free new physical science unit centered on energy. Energy Transformations in an Automobile includes a 15-minute video, with a 20-page teacher’s guide that presents activities to help students understand the first law of thermodynamics, the conversion of energy, and the transformation of energy from one form to another. If you are a science department chair and have not received your copy, call the National Foundation for Energy Education (NFEE) at 888/860-1222.

Nature Discoveries
Children ages 4-12 will discover the magical world of the butterfly life cycle with Monarch Magic! Butterfly Activities and Nature Discoveries. This colorful book features concise facts about caterpillars and butterflies, along with activity suggestions. It also comes with a free teacher’s guide. $12.95 plus $3.20 s&h, from Williamson Publishing Company, Church Hill Rd., P.O. Box 185, Charlotte, VT 05445. 800/234-8791. On the Web at www.williamsonbooks.com.

ERIC Resources
The Educational Resources Information Center offers many free resources for teachers. For ERIC’s latest annual report or a free pocket guide to the organization, call 800/LET-ERIC (538-3742). ERIC also offers a free Internet-based service that provides education information to educators and parents including lesson plans, info guides, education listserv archives, and more. On the Web at www.askeric.org.

Creative Classrooms
Creativity in the Classroom: An Exploration is the first volume of a new teaching guide and professional development program from the Disney Learning Partnership. The free 45-minute video and educator’s guide demonstrates a wide range of practices employed by teachers today and helps teachers begin a dialogue about creativity in the classroom. For your copy, write to Creativity in the Classroom c/o Disney Learning Partnership, 500 Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521. Include a brief outline of plans for use on school letterhead. On the Web at www.DisneyLearning.org.

Navajo Culture News
Learn the latest Navajo news, from the Rough Rock Community School and the Arizona Community Foundation, via a monthly newspaper about Native Americans called Navajo Culture Today. Subscriptions are available at $12 per year (10 issues). For school bulk sales, contact 520/728-3508 or 520/728-3590. Navajo Culture Today, Rough Rock TP#PTT, HC61 Box 1480, Chinle, AZ 86503.

High School Social Studies
Social studies teachers, are you looking for a free catalog for low-cost books and videotapes? Your search will end when you discover this brochure featuring books on social studies issues past and present. From Close Up Publishing, Dept. R40, 44 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 222314-1592, 800/765-1313. On the Web at www.closeup.org.

Awesome Experiments
The black-and-white illustrations are clever, the experiments varied, in a new book from Michael DiSpezio, a prolific science writer. Awesome Experiments in Electricity & Magnetism is a practical and fun book. $7.95 from bookstores.

Glorious Glue
Learn how to incorporate shape, form, texture, and color into great gluey artworks with this resource for all ages. Each project gives trash a new life by using environmentally safe materials, including string and old newspaper for printmaking, collage, and sculpting. This book offers information on evaluating completed works, and also provides a helpful glossary of definitions to guide new artists. $17.95 plus $3.95 s&h, from J. Weston Walch, Publisher, P.O. Box 658, Portland, ME 04104, 800/341-6094. On the Web at www.walch.com.

Understanding The World
The State of the World Atlas provides a unique visual survey of the economic, political, and social trends of the world as it enters the 21st century. Topics such as information technology, international trade, and war and peace are easily understandable through this book’s full-color maps and graphics. $17.95 plus $2.75 s&h, from Penguin Putnam, Inc., P.O. Box 12289 Newark, NJ 07101 800/788-6262.

Central American Children Speak
This video and study guide duo is designed to help children gain a basic understanding of one another. Stories of Nicaraguan and Guate-malan children express the mutual concerns of all children, including family, play, education, work, and safety to teach young students that they are all members of the same human family. This learning resource, designed for grades 4-12 and adults, includes activities, stories, and background information for educators. $60 plus $5 s&h, from Resource Center of The Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406, 612/276-0801, fax 612/276-0898. On the Web at bookstore@americas.org.

Educators As Learners
This book offers a theoretical framework and practical guidance for renewing the capacity of schools to produce positive results for all children. Described as, “nothing less than a lesson plan for building a learning community,” this book presents lively case studies and activities that show how to build a professional development model that supports educators and families in learning and growing together. (Product no. 100005) $23.95 plus $5 s&h, from ASCD, 1703 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA 22311, 800/933-2723.

Great Beginnings
Thirty-five-year veteran teacher Ira Hayes presents this collection of essays for English language arts teachers, and the people who mentor them.

It offers practical advice on subjects ranging from evaluating student writing to creating support systems for beginning teachers. In this book, teachers share their stories of good beginnings to help others become teachers with a “Capital T.” $25.95 plus $2 s&h, from NCTE, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL, 61801-1096, Email: orders@ncte.org.877/369-6283

The Human Body
101 Things Every Kid Should Know About the Human Body introduces students to the wondrous workings of the human body through 101 basic concepts. This book is a tool to educate middle school through high school students about cells, body systems, and more. $ 9.95 plus $5 s&h, from NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group 4255 West Touhy Ave., Lincolnwood, IL 60646-1975. 847/679-5500. Fax 847/679-2494.

SAT Words
A strong vocabulary is key to success on the SAT and PSAT tests. SAT Word Flash features vocabulary lessons with 360 words, quizzes to test word knowledge, and a useful index to all of the words in the book. $7.95 plus $3 s&h, from Peterson’s, Princeton Pike Corporate Center, 2000 Lenox Dr., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. 609/896-1800. Fax 609/ 896-4531. On the Web at www.petersons.com.

Build Character
Character Education Connections for School, Home and Community is a guide for integrating character education into grades pre-k through 12. The book will assist with creating messages for youth that foster thoughtful actions and build a home-school-community partnership. $39.95 plus $4.50 s&h, from National Professional Resources, Inc., 25 South Regent St., Port Chester, NY 10573 800/453-7461 Fax: 914/937-9327. On the Web at www.nprinc.com.

Diversity Calendar

January, 2001
Epiphany, January 6
Epiphany, also called the Twelfth Day, is celebrated 12 days after Christmas. Epiphany means “dawning of light” and commemorates the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus, who would later become Jesus Christ, the Christian’s savior. Epiphany is generally noted in American Christian services, and is celebrated widely in Mexico and Latin-American countries.

Japanese New Year, December 29-January 3
Japanese New Year, also known as Shogatsu or Ganjitsu, is celebrated by many businesses in Japan from December 29 through January 3. At this time, many visit shrines to pray for good fortune and health to come, and Buddhist prayer bells ring out 108 times. The observance of Shogatsu is the most significant and elaborate event in Japan.

February — Black History Month
Race Relations Day, February 14
Race Relations Day is a U.S. Protestant holiday started in 1924 to encourage understanding among all races.

Abu Simbel Festival, February 22
Abu Simbel Festival in Egypt celebrates the two days of the year (the other being October 22) on which the light of the rising sun can reach the 180-foot-deep innermost chambers of Abu Simbel, the great temple of Ramses II.

Brotherhood/Sisterhood Week, February 20-27
Brotherhood/Sisterhood Week is sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The objective of this week is to promote justice, understanding, and cooperation among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, as well as tolerance of all faiths.

March – National Women’s History Month
Carnival, March 4
Carnival is an age-old festival celebrated in several countries including Brazil, Canada, and parts of the U.S., and Portugal. The entire period from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday for Christians is called Carnival and culminates in Mardi Gras. It features much merriment and self-indulgence; businesses often shut down and streets are filled with people celebrating.

International Working Women’s Day, March 8
International Working Women’s Day commemorates an 1857 revolt of American women in New York City protesting conditions in the textile and garment industries. In 1910, the International Conference of Women met in Helsinki, Finland, and established this date as an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution made by women.

Reading
'We've Read All the Books!'

Two Delaware paraprofessionals document their considerable success with Accelerated Reader.

It sounds like a fairy tale. Last year alone, the 400 students at Booker T. Washington Elementary in Dover, Delaware, read more than 20,000 books. Students have actually complained about having nothing to read--because "We've read all the books!"

Title I paraprofessionals Patty Carney and Joy Ferguson have conjured this love of books not with a magic potion, but with Accelerated Reader, a computer-based reading program that encourages reading through self-tests.

The program gives students "instant feedback," says Ferguson, a fourth grade reading and math paraprofessional who first implemented the program at the school. "And its reward system really got the children excited about reading."

With Accelerated Reader, a student reads a book or is read one. The student then logs onto an individual account, selects the appropriate title, and answers 10 multiple choice content questions. The test is then scored.

A failing grade prompts the student to read the book again and take a retest. A passing grade adds points to an account that can be later traded in for reading incentives.

Educators collect valuable information about each student from a printout that details the book read, its reading level, percentage of correct answers, and points assigned.

A cumulative report lists all books read and calculates an average reading level for the student. Educators can generate progress reports for parents to show the reading strengths and weaknesses of each child, indicate which areas need more help, and track each child's progress.

"At first, students would want to read the book real fast, and then they'd fail," says Carney, a second grade paraprofessional. "We tell them to take their time. Unless it's a test the teacher is using for a class grade, they are allowed to go back into the book and find the answer."

The standard program includes up to 1,000 titles and tests, and educators can easily write their own tests for any book used in any classroom.

Washington Elementary, a school where some 93 percent of the student body is economically disadvantaged, still needed more books to feed its ravenous readers. So Ferguson and Carney applied for a grant from the MBNA Education Foundation.

"We knew teachers wrote grants," recalls Carney. "But we had no idea that Title I paras could write grants."

Referencing a copy of a grant submitted by another teacher, the two met after school to craft their request.

They bolstered their proposal with a wealth of data derived from Accelerated Reader statistical reports.

"We were able to document reading scores that jumped one and two grade levels," says Ferguson.

Last year, MBNA awarded the paras a grant large enough to buy 1,275 books, computer equipment, and reading incentives for a district-wide Accelerated Reading competition.

Boosting the reading program "was something that both Patty and I believed in," says Ferguson. "It required a lot of work. But our school needed more resources, so we decided to go for it."

-- Michelle Y. Green

For more:

• Contact Patty Carney and Joy Ferguson at Booker T. Washington Elementary, 901 Forest St., Dover, DE 19904, 302/672-1900.
• For info on Accelerated Reader, contact Advantage Learning Systems, P.O. Box 8036, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495; 888/656-2931. E-mail answers@advlearn.com or log on to www.acceleratedreader.com.

  ---

Reading Resources

• "America's Kindergartners"--a landmark national study on kindergartners, their classrooms, and their families--reports that most children enter kindergarten with beginning reading skills, and nearly all know numbers and shapes. Some key findings:

  • 82 percent of kindergarten kids have print familiarity skills, such as knowing that print is read from left to right.

  • 66 percent recognize letters.

  • 94 percent know their numbers and basic shapes.

  • 4 percent can add or subtract.

  The study will continue to follow the same sample of children through the 5th grade, gathering data on their reading and math achievement, social skills, and school experiences.

  One question the study will address is whether differences among children entering school persist or change over time.

  For a copy of this report, just released by the National Center for Education Statistics, call 877/4ed-pubs. Or visit the Center's Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/index.asp.

• Need help setting up a summer reading program? You'll find help in the America Reads Challenge Resource Kit, free from the U.S. Department of Education at www.ed.gov/americareads/resourcekit/.

• Check out the NEA reading Web page at www.nea.org/readingmatters. It offers classroom ideas, home activities, reading news, advice based on research, and resources for parents and teachers.

Learning: Problems & Solutions
The Bard Isn't Hard

A North Carolina teacher learns how to make Shakespeare--or any lesson--captivating to high school students.

Alas. Hamlet had better luck getting through to Yorick's skull than many teachers who try to reach their students with Shakespeare. Not so for Becky Wheeler and eight other teachers who took part in an interactive arts education program that brings the Bard to life.

And using some of the same techniques as that workshop, teachers of all subjects can achieve dramatic results.

"When I heard about the workshop," says Wheeler, a veteran English teacher at Carver High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, "I thought it would be inspiring and reawaken my approach to Shakespeare. It did all that and more."

Shakespeare Lives!, the workshop developed by the North Carolina School of the Arts in collaboration with the new Globe Theatre in London, selects teachers from nine North Carolina high schools to participate in five, full-day Saturday workshops.

The topic is Shakespeare, but what's really center stage is interactive learning. Teachers, who all receive an in-service stipend, come away reinvigorated with insights on how to make lessons capture students' imaginations.

Wheeler's workshop group literally moved to the beat of Shakespeare's prose. They learned dramatic techniques and breathing exercises. They studied period dress, customs, and music. And they traveled to the International Shakespeare Globe Center in London, where their final exam consisted of a midnight performance of Julius Caesar on the stage of the Globe. Wheeler, a neophyte performer, played Brutus.

"It was a true high," says Wheeler. "As Julius Caesar was holding onto me, there were tears in my eyes. I was totally engrossed."

Wheeler's now off stage, with a new outlook on how interactive learning can grab a student--in any subject area.

In her own classes, rather than having students struggle to memorize large sections of a play, Wheeler now takes a line of a play or sonnet, divides the class into small groups to discuss the line, and has students freeze into a position to act it out.

"This gets kids on their feet, gets them involved and excited," she says.

Instead of having students do small research projects, Wheeler has each student adopt Shakespearean actors and E-mail them five questions.

Previously hesitant to use film versions of Shakespeare's work, Wheeler now shows several movies of the same play and engages her class in comparative discussions.

"It makes great critics out of the students," she says.

Wheeler suggests that teachers give students a little independence and a final product to work toward. In her classes, rather than reading Shakes-peare and telling students what's there, Wheeler now steps in only if they need help deciphering a passage.

"It gives them pride as they discover they can figure him out," she notes. "We did scenes from Julius Caesar with one group opting to perform on stage before a live audience and the other in class," she explains. "If there's a final product, you'll get much more commitment, and a much better end."

Every teacher, Wheeler believes, should take a drama course, to add "to your enthusiasm." Drama "puts a little more oomph into what you're doing."

"I've been teaching a long time," she adds, and taking this workshop "was a revelation for me. It offers a new faith, a new voice, a new incentive for teachers to get involved."

--Michelle Y. Green

For more information, contact Becky Wheeler at 336/727-2987 or Marla Carpenter at the North Carolina School of the Arts, 336/770-3337, E-mail: carpem@ncarts.edu. Visit www.shakespeares-globe.org/education

Dilemma
How Do You Get the Local Media to Cover the Good News in Schools?

The Nogales Unified School District is located on the southern-most border of Arizona. Our small, hometown-type newspaper comes out twice a week, and it doesn't have the staff to cover even a fraction of the various school events.

What our district did was hire an English teacher with journalism experience--me--to write press releases and articles on both district and individual school happenings.

Most times, the paper runs the articles just as they are submitted. Sometimes, a staff member will use the article as the basis of a news story and simply call for a few more quotes. We average three school news events a week, between what I submit and the paper itself covers.

I get paid an addendum, but it works out to a small fee per week. It's far less than the district would pay for a full-time public relations person, yet I'm able to supplement my income while providing a much-needed service.

Kathy Scott
High school English teacher
Nogales, Arizona

Don't wait for the local media to show up. It doesn't work that way. Send the good news to the media!

In Buncombe County, North Carolina, our local TV station shows a tape each morning that features good news from any one of the many schools in the area. WLOS-TV encourages teachers to send in tapes--and, from personal experience, I know how students love being taped, ending with a hearty "Good morning, Carolinas" greeting for viewers to wake up to.

Carol Fabrey
Vocational middle grades teacher
Asheville, North Carolina

I have found several ways that work.

First, I have the E-mail addresses of three local newspaper writers, and I E-mail them directly. This works great, because when they have questions, they can respond and we don't have to play phone tag.

Second, when students do "good works" or have done some really neat research project, I have them write the press release and fax it to the local papers.

Third, our PTSA has created a form that teachers can fill out with pertinent information about a story. Then the parents reach the writers for us. This is great, because parents feel in the loop, and they are also doing a great service for the staff and the students.

Annie Strozyk
Gifted and talented resource teacher
Columbia, Maryland

Recognize that not all school events are newsworthy. We might think that a chorus concert or science fair is worth coverage because the children have worked so hard, but how does that differ from concerts or fairs at other schools?

Choose your calls to the media wisely. Is the event timely--a pet food drive during Be Kind to Animals Week, or a mock election project just before Election Day?

If you have an event scheduled well in advance, send the media a press release. A phone call can be forgotten when news staffs are sent to cover breaking news. A press release will still be there on the desk when things slow down.

Reporters also like to have press releases at events. The more information they have on paper, the more they can focus on what's really happening, rather than just making sure they have the school's name spelled right.

Susan Ayers
Education technician
Bath, Maine

We have students write articles about their recent accomplishments and club activities and send these pieces to the local or city news-papers.

Those articles that are published are then posted where the entire student body and faculty can see them. Students appreciate this acknowledgment of what they've done.

And it's great p.r.!

Myriam Santiago-Esfahani
High school Spanish teacher
Plant City, Florida

Got an Answer?
How do you make life easier for a new teacher?

Send your answer by regular mail, by Fax to 202/822-7206, or by E-mail to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org.

Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

Learning: Problems & Solutions
At-Risk Kids Discover New Frontier

Nebraska educators develop a school-within-a-school to help bright students who just . . . don't . . . care.

Every high school teacher has faced these students. They're not really slow learners. They don't have any particular learning disability, and they're not getting any special ed help.

Sometimes, these students will even say things that reveal a sharp mind and the ability to learn. But, most of the time, their minds just wander in class. Their school careers go nowhere.

In many schools, these students may languish at the back of the classroom--until they decide to drop out.

But at Millard South High School in the suburbs around Omaha, Nebraska, these students get referred to the New Frontier school-within-a-school for their freshman and sophomore years.

The goal of New Frontier is nothing less than to turn these students' lives around.

"These are kids who can do the work, but they don't do the work," says NEA member Jeff Koerten, who teaches science and math in the program. "Maybe they don't turn in assignments. They've been moved along with social advancement. Then they get to high school, and they don't have the habits to be successful.

During the planning for New Frontier, Millard South staff looked at what other school systems were doing for underachieving students. They found mostly programs for juniors and seniors--too late, they decided, to step into a failing student's life.

"We need to get a hold of kids before they drop out and disappear," says Koerten.

The teachers in the New Frontier program are using the multiple intelligences approach because, Koerten explains, student learning styles "just don't line up with the way most education is done."

But mostly, Koerten notes, the program monitors the kids.

"We keep a real close eye on them," he points out. "If the homework isn't handed in, we expect to see it the next day. If it's not, then you come in during lunch and do it."

Parents get progress reports every two weeks, and there's plenty of contact in between--more than 400 phone calls with parents last semester for the 40 New Frontier students.

"The parents are with us," reports Koerten. "Many of them have been kind of lost about what to do with their children."

Koerten, a 21-year teaching veteran, says New Frontier is harder but also more rewarding than the work he's done before.

"You're working with some kids who are defiant," he explains. "They are unwilling to want to do well. You work and work and work, and some kids will battle you every step of the way."

Some kids, Koerten admits, you never reach.

"But then you get kids who've been taking algebra and haven't gotten it for three years, and now they start making headway, and they start smiling," he says. "That's an awesome feeling."

The New Frontier team includes three classroom teachers, including Koerten, who integrate their instruction and align their expectations of the students. A behavioral interventionist, a paraprofessional, and support from a counselor and Millard High staff round out the team.

New Frontier is in its second year, after a year in development. It's been funded by a $250,000 state grant. Koerten is confident the school board will now pick it up, because board members have seen the results.

The New Frontier students will go back into regular classes for their last two years at Millard South, but the school is creating a transition program for them called Next Frontier.

The Omaha World-Herald recently ran a series of critical articles, headlined "Lost in High School," about high school seniors who didn't connect with education. The school superintendent published a reply describing the public schools' efforts to reach these students.

New Frontier was first on his list.

"Most of the kids in the newspaper series were just the kind of kid we teach," said Koerten. "I think they would have been turned around if our program had been there when they were freshmen and sophomores."

--Alain Jehlen

For more information, contact Jeff Koerten or Assistant Principal Kim Saum at Millard South High School, 14905 West Q St., Omaha, NE 68137 (jlkoerte@millard.esu3.k12.ne.us or ksaum@millard.esu3.k12.ne.us).

Dilemma
How Do You Combat Grade Inflation?

I ask the students to "grade" themselves. I create a rubric for projects with descriptions and suggested points for each level of the rubric. Students turn in their self-evaluations with their projects.

At least half the students are very honest in their evaluations, and I may have to grade them higher than they grade themselves. Others, though, just give themselves a perfect score.

Since I made up the rubric and point system in advance, it's easier to grade objectively and not lower my standards once I start grading.

Barbara Loeding
Associate professor of special education
Lakeland, Florida

Perhaps it sounds simplistic, but I make out my rubric before I begin grading. Since I save stuff (sometimes it seems like everything) from year to year, I still have previous rubrics to go by even when I change an old test or project.

It's probably not fool-proof, but I have approximately the same grade distribution over the years, if not a greater number of lower grades.

Lee Berger
High school English and journalism teacher
Franklin, North Carolina

I make three to four versions of tests. The tests are written for children with different abilities and learning styles, yet each test contains questions that require critical thinking. This gives all students the opportunity to receive a fair grade if they have prepared, yet allows me to assign "top" grades only to those who have reached a higher level of learning.

Another method I use is to count spelling on all work. It doesn't count enough to prevent a student from obtaining a good grade on whatever concept the assignment is assessing. But it does allow those with a higher level of skills to receive higher grades.

All students are responsible for turning in assignments. So only those students who make every effort to complete their work receive top grades.

At the beginning of the year, I have both students and parents sign a paper indicating that they understand my grading policy. This doesn't always keep them from protesting later on, but it does serve as a reminder of the standards that were agreed upon.

Tammy Ratcliff
Sixth grade science/reading teacher
Huntington, West Virginia

I'm very clear to students on what they're expected to know. I do not curve tests. The A students will get an A on a difficult test as long as they know what the expectations are.

I give students who have scored below 70 percent an opportunity to raise their grade by retesting on the portions of the test that they did not master. But I allow them to earn only enough points to bring their grade up into the C range. That way, a student cannot get an A or a B by making test corrections or taking retakes.

Claudia Heinrich
High school math teacher
Livonia, Michigan

In my elementary school, and across our district at middle and high school levels, we use a continuum of skills based on chronological age levels, as well as the district-designed "Cornerstone Proficiencies."

Each of the "Big 4" benchmarks--reading, writing, number sense, and problem solving--includes performance-based focus points. Benchmarks are assessed at second, fifth, eighth, and 12th grades, with validations based on a body of evidence for each student.

The body of evidence includes an actual student performance piece (for example, a friendly letter at grade five), a building-secured assessment for each benchmark level, and copies of scores from state standards.

A district writing assessment is administered in second, fifth, eighth, and 11^th grades. Scores are determined by a 4, 3, 2, 1 rubric score.

Now that we are not using percentages or letter grades, our "grades" are not the product of any teacher's subjectivity.

Barbara Iskra
Fifth grade teacher and
instructional steering committee member
Aurora, Colorado

Got an Answer?
What do you do when you think parents have done a student's assignment?

Send your answer by regular mail, by fax to 202/822-7206, or by E-mail to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org. Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

Got a Dilemma?
Faced with a dilemma at work that you'd like other NEA members to address in this column? Send in your dilemma question to NEA Today by regular mail, by Fax to 202/822-7206, or by E-mail to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org.

How I Did It

Kenn Van Pelt
High school drama and health teacher
Chinle, Arizona

"My arts program has a Native American twist, which has students gaining a new appreciation for drama--and is inspiring a growing number of them to go on to college."

Students today want to know what's in it for them when they take a class. At Chinle High School on the Navajo Nation, I tell my Native American drama students that theater can help them earn college scholarships.

And, they can even make acting a career.

Storytelling is very natural to the Diné, so instead of reading current plays and acting them in traditional style, we rewrite popular stories with a Native American twist. We've retold Jack and the Beanstalk as a tale about a Native American girl and a corn stalk. We've reworked A Midsummer Night's Dream with coyote stories that are told in the Diné culture.

Retelling the plays allows the students to learn all aspects of drama and use their imagination, while passing on cultural traditions to the young children who are often our audience.

This has been extremely successful. Eight years ago, I was asked to teach a theater class that had only four students. Now I teach three full classes, and, this year, 185 students tried out for the Canyon Players Troupe, our after-school drama group.

We compete at local and state competitions, and my students have won thousands of dollars in scholarships for higher education.

One freshman, George Den-zepi, visited my room when he missed the bus one day. I gave him a play that I was thinking about performing and asked him to draw a set, sketch some costumes, and create a director's block and floor plan. Nine days later, he returned with that and more--he wanted to be the director and had a cast!

George went on to win best actor at the Native American Drama and Arts Festival in his junior year and, in his senior year, was the first to win five awards at the festival.

Today, he's being cast in a new Warner Bros. film.

Idea Exchange

'Novel' Life Skills
I've devised a method that incorporates "life skills" (responsibility, integrity, cooperation) into my curriculum and teaches students how they use these same skills in their own lives.

After reading a novel, students write essays describing how a character in a novel uses three life skills. In their summation, students have to think of a challenging situation they currently face and describe some life skills that could help them handle the situation.

I found that this shows students the true utility of life skills.

Rex Scott
Tucson, Arizona

Classroom Reporter
My students take turns being the classroom reporter.

Whenever something newsworthy takes place, a student may take a picture and write about the event on a "reporter sheet." When the film is developed, students place their photos and their reports in a scrapbook.

Toward the end of the school year, students may take the scrapbook home so their parents can see the pictures and read the news events. It's great to have a record of all the wonderful and exciting things that have taken place in the classroom throughout the year.

Jo Elliott
Ortonville, Minnesota

Keyboard Boxers
To encourage my high school keyboarding students to learn good touch keying and not to look at their fingers, I ask them to bring a cute pair of boxer shorts to class.

They put the computer keyboard through the elastic waistband and sit it on their desk. Then they put their hands through the legs and position them correctly on the keyboard. Off they go!

The students think it's cool, and it encourages good keying technique, since they can't see the board and really have to concentrate on their sense of touch.

Bruce Baker
Virginia Beach, Virginia

President's Viewpoint
Are You Ready?

'Celebrating diversity' must be more than happy talk. It is how we prepare young people for the future.

For many of America's best public schools, "Celebrate Diversity" isn't just a slogan, it is a way of life. This is also extremely demanding work. We shouldn't gloss over the challenges of educating a richly diverse student population.

Let's be frank, sometimes diversity can also bring adversity--for example, when a handicapped child suffers a medical emergency in our classroom. Or when a teacher must break up a racially charged dispute in the hallway. Or when several kids in our classroom can't speak English.

And yet--no question about it--we also take enormous pride in the diversity of our public schools. Why? Because our schools refuse to exclude; we insist on including every child, from the most gifted to the most challenging. Because we know that teaching young people to cooperate and excel in a diverse setting is a hugely important lesson in and of itself. And because our public schools are one of the few remaining institutions that bring together Americans of all colors, classes, cultures, and faiths.

My point, simply, is that diversity is not easy. But when it works--when students and educators seize on diversity as a strength--we then have a superior, "real world" learning environment.

A good example is T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac from where I live and work. "T.C."--as everyone calls it--is one of the most respected, comprehensive high schools in the country. And a big reason for the school's success is its rich urban diversity.

At T.C., there is no such thing as a "majority" racial or ethnic group. Black kids, white kids, brown kids, yellow kids--they are all "minorities." Included in the mix are hundreds of immigrant students from more than 50 nations.

Nearly 90 percent of T.C.'s students go on to college or university. The Science Bowl team--a rainbow of native-born and immigrant kids--is the school's special pride. For two years running, T.C. has placed first in the state in the prestigious national Science Bowl competition. When T.C.'s triumphs are announced over the p.a., classrooms throughout the school erupt in cheers. (Hats off to Dr. Manu Patel, team coach and physics teacher--and NEA member since 1976.)

In short, T.C. Williams works. Its terrific teachers and support staff strive every day to build a climate of inclusiveness and respect. As one student told me: "We all get along--all of us. If anyone tried to act racist or to hurt someone, the other kids just wouldn't allow it."

As educators and parents, we ask ourselves: How is the best way to prepare our children for the future? Bear in mind that the United States is rapidly becoming the world's first truly multiethnic, multicultural country. The Census Bureau projects that, by the year 2030, the African-American population will grow by 68 percent, the Asian-American population by 79 percent, and the Hispanic-American population by an amazing 187 percent. America's majority white population soon will be just one more minority.

A new world is emerging--and it is all about diversity.

As Cisco Systems asks in its ubiquitous TV ads: "Are you ready?" Students at T.C. Williams--and at public schools across America--have a proud, hard-earned answer: "Yes we are!"

Comments? You can E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org. If you would like a response, please be sure to include your name and NEA local affiliate.

People
Arty Animals in Ice

Snow sculpture is popular among residents of wintry areas, but one NEA member has taken the art of snow sculpture to new heights, winning a best of show award in the process.

Ellen McKinney (right), a first grade teacher, lives in McCall, a small town in western Idaho. Every winter, for over 60 years, McCall residents have held a winter carnival.

The centerpiece of the carnival: an ice sculpture contest.

McKinney has been a regular contestant in this competition, and this year, after seven tries, McKinney finally won first place--for an 8-foot-high by 14-foot-long sculpture based on Maurice Sendak's book Where the Wild Things Are.

This was no ordinary snow character. McKinney and her helper, Roxanne Hills, brought Sendak's characters vividly to life--in ice.

"It took about 150 hours to finish the sculpture," explains McKinney. "Most of the time was spent getting the figures in rough shape. Then we had to carefully mold the fine detail."

Unlike most ice sculptures, adds McKinney, "ours was built from the ground up, one handful of ice at a time."

More than a graveyard emerged from the underbrush outside Chattanooga. The past came alive.

Although a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, music teacher LaFrederick Thirkhill had never heard of Pleasant Gardens, a 22-acre cemetery only three or four miles from his home.

Then, two years ago, Thirkhill read about the 1906 lynching of a Black man named Ed Johnson by a mob of white vigilantes. He became intrigued by that tragic incident and decided to visit Johnson's gravesite in Pleasant Gardens.

What Thirkhill found was shocking: acres of headstones, many of them overturned, lying on sunken graves covered with weeds and thorny vines.

"Under all the weeds and brush, I could see all of the beauty and history," says Thirkhill. "It was a feeling that I can't explain."

Since then, Thirkhill has started a not-for-profit organization called Friends of Pleasant Gardens. The group has raised money to restore the site and conducted volunteer cleanups every other Saturday. Thirkhill estimates that close to 1,000 volunteers have taken part in the restoration project.

"It's not just a cleanup,'' he notes. "It's deeper than that. It's a way for people to connect with their past.

Adds the music teacher:"Young and old, Black and white, are working hand-in-hand to restore the cemetery. In a way, it's a form of racial reconciliation."

Murder, She Wrote

After 27 years of assigning journal writing to her students, middle school language arts teacher Marlis Day has picked up the pen to fill her own pages. The result? A well-received first novel, Why Johnny Died.

Day, who teaches in southern Indiana, has always loved writing. "Everyone has a story inside," says Day. "If you don't write that story, it will never be told."

And Why Johnny Died is certainly a story to tell. The novel incorporates the true-life experiences of Day and her students. When Johnny, who symbolizes neglected and abused children, dies, his teacher Margo Brown suspects foul play.

"A child's death seems so pointless and unfair," says Day. "It's our job to look after the Johnnies of this world."

Day never expected her message to affect readers from Maine to California, as it has. But success as a novelist isn't going to derail her teaching career. For Day, teaching is a family legacy: Her father, four siblings, and husband all teach.

Music to His Ears

Come this July 4, Montana music teacher Craig Naylor's Symphony #2 will ring across the rolling farmlands of Osceola, Wisconsin.

Naylor is one of just 50 composers, chosen from over 900 applicants across the country, to have his symphonic work accepted for the Continental Harmony Project.

On July 4, towns in all 50 states will premiere works by Naylor and the 49 other composers to celebrate America's community heritage.

But Naylor, an elementary and high school music instructor, isn't resting on his laurels. In the works is a piece commissioned by a consortium of university and high school wind ensembles that includes UCLA and the University of Georgia.

In all, Naylor has about 60 compositions in his portfolio, everything from elementary band and choir pieces to film scores.

"One minute of music for orchestra equals about 20 hours of notation work on the computer," notes Naylor.

Naylor often gets up at 5 a.m. to fit in a couple of hours composing before school. After a full day teaching public school, he's off to more teaching at the local junior college.

Naylor says he enjoys the challenge of teaching at both the elementary and college levels.

"It satisfies," he explains, "different parts of my love for teaching."

Celebs Show History Matters

When Tom Jordan's high school history class polled celebrities to find what historical figure they would like to have met, they got some amazing answers. Tom Hanks chose Jacques Cousteau. Rosie O'Donnell picked Rosa Parks. And the Beastie Boys joined Jesse Jackson and Dan Castellaneta--the voice behind Homer Simpson--in choosing Gandhi.

Jordan, who teaches U.S. history at Haverhill High School in western Massachusetts, began his "People We Respect" project four years ago as a way of showing that history matters and that "it isn't boring after all."

"History is not something that happens 45 minutes a day," says Jordan. "The letter-writing project gives students a tangible piece of information, something they can research later on."

Each year, Jordan's students pose a question and identify a list of people to contact. This school year, about 300 letters were mailed.

"Not everyone that students wrote to was a celebrity," stresses Jordan. "The concept is that you need to respect the person, and so we also wrote to people like the minister who ran the local shelter for battered women.''

Nearly 200 responses were received this year. Many were reported in the March issue of American Heritage and also in USA Today.

News
Little Steps to a Big IDEA

Starting with IDEA '97 and some draft state standards, a group of paraeducators work to improve training and communications.

Despite minimal pay and a minimum of formal training, paraeducators in Rutland, Vermont, are making classroom inclusion a reality--be it through tutoring struggling students, helping kids with physical therapy, or integrating special ed students into a general ed setting.

"It's a good job with lots of hard work, and it's steadily becoming a career choice," says Carolyn Godbout, a paraeducator at Rutland High.

Rutland isn't a high-wealth district, but it's rich in para talent and dedication. Fortunately, these paraeducators are Vermonters, no-nonsense pragmatists who aren't afraid to implement big ideas. In this case, it's the big IDEA, the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1997.

IDEA '97 recognizes the role that paras play in providing services to students with disabilities. The IDEA legislation also highlights the need for state standards on the training and supervision of paraeducators and supports the involvement of paras as part of the educational team.

Last year, leaders of the 80-member Rutland School Staff Association decided to "model" IDEA '97 right in their own backyard.

"We got started," says Godbout, "when paraeducator Regina Sears put our NEA state affiliate in touch with our superintendent at the time. Both that superintendent and his successor strongly supported this process."

With the help of Vermont NEA, Rutland paras formed a nine-member STEP committee--short for Standards, Education, and Training for Paraeducators--and started to analyze the role and needs of paraducators in the district's five schools.

For a benchmark, the STEP committee followed draft standards developed by Vermont NEA's Paraeducator Standards Task Force.

These draft standards have been submitted to the State Board of Education. The board must adopt statewide paraeducator standards by December 2000.

Among other things, the draft Vermont NEA standards call for pre-service education and post-hire orientation for paraeducators, 15 hours of continuing education, and accurate job descriptions.

These draft standards also call for ongoing para supervision and feedback from licensed educators, "consultative" evaluations of paras, and teacher training on how to work with paraeducators.

The STEP committee, chaired by Carolyn Godbout, used this draft to set similar goals for Rutland schools. With strong central office support, the committee surveyed paras, teachers, and administrators to prioritize their goals.

The committee then started a drive to realize these goals--through bargaining, administrative changes, and just plain old Vermont problem solving.

"We went right down the priority list," says Godbout. "We asked ourselves, 'Where do we stand, what do we have control over now, and how do we get to where we're going?'"

The Rutland campaign is still a work in progress, but it's already starting to yield results in areas like:

• Continuing education. During a make-up day at the end of the last school year, 80 Rutland paras attended a for-credit workshop on "behavior management of difficult children." They received course credit for it to help them move up the salary scale. The district is increasingly funding para training, be it at district-run technology workshops or professional sessions offered at Vermont NEA conferences.

• Pre-service education. The director of Rutland High School's Stafford Technical Center has interviewed the STEP committee about courses needed to prepare students for a paraeducator career, background that will guide administrators in the curriculum planning process.

• Staff communications. Paraeducators at the Grade 3-6 Rutland Intermediate School and the district's two elementary schools now have monthly meetings with building administrators "to discuss concerns and educational opportunities," reports Godbout.

  "And if a para is invited to a child's IEP meeting," she adds, "that's supported by administrators through paid duty time. When there's communication, when everybody's on the same page, the child will get the best of what we offer."

• Personal growth. Through self-organization and a collaborative relationship with Superintendent Mary Moran and site administrators, Rutland paraeducators are exhibiting more self-confidence.

  "People are more willing to ask more questions," points out Godbout, "and step out of their comfort zone."

  Paras in other states may not yet have draft standards to work from, but they do have IDEA '97, the federal law.

  "This is the first law that recognizes the important role that paras play," stresses NEA staffer Nesa Chappelle. "This is the vehicle that will provide paras with necessary training for the job. I encourage all paras to ensure that their states and districts are providing the supervision and training required by IDEA '97."

  Chappelle leads the 20-member NEA Paraeducator Task Force, which has formed a national cadre to do presentations and training on the impact of IDEA '97.

  At NEA Today press time, the task force was releasing a series of IDEA '97 informational materials, including a question-and-answer brochure with a companion video, a handbook--with models--on paraeducator standards and professional development, and an action guide on using IDEA '97.

For more on the NEA Paraeducator Task Force training cadre and informational materials, contact Nesa Chappelle at Nchappelle@nea.org. To reach Carolyn Godbout, send an E-mail message to Cgodbout@rutlandhs.k12.vt.us.

Kudos To ...
ESP Grievance Rights Saved in Idaho

. . . A flood of messages from members of the Idaho Education Association--plus powerful testimony by 16 ESP and teacher members--has persuaded the state House Education Committee to "hold" a bill gutting ESP grievance rights, killing the measure for this session. IEA members effectively recounted situations in their districts that called for use of the grievance process.

. . . Poplar (Montana) Education Association has won the reinstatement of nontenured special ed teacher Lynne Rhoades. At an arbitration hearing, six colleagues testified that Rhoades is a caring, effective educator, while the union pointed out that administrators failed to follow evaluation procedures specified in the contract--and secretly loaded Rhoades's personnel file with negative memos.

. . . Grassroots lobbyists from the Georgia Association of Educators have persuaded legislators to boost the ESP pension benefit--from $10.50 to $12 for each year of service.

Basics For Beginners
IDEAs to Get Started

Paraeducators don't have to wait on other people to start implementing IDEA '97 in their own district. "Assess where you are now, and then set goals and priorities," advises Carolyn Godbout, a para in Rutland, Vermont. "Then ask, 'What can we do now, and what won't cost a lot?'"

The next steps, adds Rutland para Regina Sears, are to:

• Get the support and involvement of administrators, and form a committed team of paraeducators representing each campus in your district.

• Select a strong facilitator/chairperson, a reliable recorder and timekeeper, and a central meeting place.

• Hold regular committee meetings year 'round--with refreshments--and don't be afraid to ask your district for paid time and mileage.

• Contact your NEA state affiliate for help and guidance, and get to work.

"Finally, don't forget to work with parents," stresses Godbout. "They are the best advocates you'll find for the needs of kids."

News
A Governor's Challenge: 'Raise the Raises'

Backed by the NEA state affiliate, Maryland's governor proposes a unique way to attract and retain quality teachers.

When educators in Maryland's Carroll County school district say they're "crossing the line" to bring in needed income, they're not talking about stealing cars. They're talking about stealing away to districts in neighboring Pennsylvania, where starting and mid-range teachers' salaries can be as much as $5,000 more than those at home.

Increasingly, Maryland public school teachers are being forced to cross some line to pay the bills--be it by switching districts, leaving the state, moving to private sector employment, or plain old moonlighting.

"When I was at a high school meeting recently, several people left early to go to their second jobs," laments Cindy Cummings, president of the 1,500- member Carroll County Education Association. "It's pathetic that professional people have to do this, and it has to have an impact on their classes and students. One of my members, who has a brand new baby, works a paper route and only gets three to four hours of sleep a night."

Facing rising teacher turnover--7.5 percent as of last summer--and an impending wave of retirements, Carroll County desperately needs to boost salaries to attract replacements.

With starting teacher pay of only $28,410--for a district in which homes list from $125,000 to $400,000--district recruiters must now reach as far afield as Georgia.

Fortunately, Maryland has a governor who recognizes his state's problem with recruiting and retaining quality educators, and this governor, Parris Glen-dening, is willing to try something new.

For Fiscal Year 2001, Glendening has proposed an initiative called the Governor's Teacher Salary Challenge Grants, a plan to raise the salary of every Maryland teacher by 10 percent over two years.

The grant concept is simple: If a school district and its union negotiate a minimum salary increase of 4 percent a year over two years, the state will kick in another 1 percent in each of those years. And hard-pressed Maryland districts will also receive a direct state subsidy to reach these targets.

The state contribution will come out of a $100 million fund replenished by Maryland's tobacco lawsuit settlement--$4 billion over 25 years.

The Maryland State Teachers Association, the NEA state affiliate that helped Glendening draft the grant proposal, is working with the governor to pass the program without amendments that would water it down.

"Some counties wanted to be able to use this $100 million for any district need," notes MSTA government relations director Diana Saquella, "but the governor insisted that this money be dedicated exclusively to supplementing, not supplanting, locally negotiated teacher raises."

At press time, the governor's salary grant program stood a very strong chance of being passed by the state legislature. Some reasons why:

• The public realizes the need to boost teacher salaries. In a recent poll, the public supported Glendening's grant proposal by a 71-19 percent margin.

• The Maryland State Teachers Association has helped organize a coalition to support this plan. Cindy Cummings and other MSTA leaders weren't alone when they testified in favor of the governor's proposal before the state Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. They were joined by allies from the state school superintendents, school boards, superintendents, and principals.

  "The Cecil County school superintendent actually begged the committee to pass this bill," recalls Cummings. "He said so many teachers live in his county, yet 'cross the line' to teach for better pay in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey."

• The salary challenge grants foster local initiative. MSTA President Karl Pence, who persuaded Governor Glendening to put this plan on the table, calls the challenge grants "a brilliant way to enhance local contract bargaining, and a chance for districts to say 'We can do a little bit more than we planned to do.'"

  MSTA prefers local bargaining to "annual begging for state raises," Pence stresses.

  "Collective bargaining meets local conditions and has more immediacy for our members," he points out. "It gives them a sense of ownership in compensation issues and encourages experimentation at the local level."

• The concept is working already. Pence says the whole idea of the governor's challenge grant program is to convince local school boards to "raise the raises." And even before Maryland legislators voted on the final FY 2001 budget, that's what happened in Carroll County.

  As contract talks got underway in March, the Carroll school board insisted it didn't have the money to fund the challenge grant's 4 percent threshold raise. But "several hundred" CCEA members attended a March 13 school board meeting.

  "Some 30 of our members made articulate, eloquent, and sincere appeals for a decent raise," says local leader Cindy Cummings, "and the board finally 'found' enough money for a 4 percent raise this year, for both teachers and support staff. Our next job is to get this grant proposal through the legislature, and our raise through the county commissioners."

• The time to raise educators' salaries is now. "When you give a teacher a salary comparable to that of other professions that require the same education, you're saying the teacher is worthy, a professional," Cummings concludes. "Teachers' self-esteem would improve greatly if they did not have to scrounge for every dollar or 'cross the line' to other states."

For more information, go to the Maryland State Teachers Association Web site at www.msta.nea.org.

In Their Own Words

"Our teachers need more than our respect. . .they need a pay raise. If we are serious about our commitment to teachers, and if we really want to attract and retain the best and the brightest in our classrooms, we must come together and help our teachers with a family-supporting, professional salary."

--Maryland Governor Parris Glendening in his State of the State Address, January 19, 2000.

Your Dues Did It

• Chase Speaks Out: Critics of teachers' fair dismissal laws claim they protect the incompetent. In a recent hard-hitting press commentary, NEA President Bob Chase talks back. "The idea that K-12 teachers have a job for life--something called 'tenure'--is preposterous," says Chase. "What they have are fair dismissal rights, the right to a fair hearing, and an appeal." For more, go to www.nea.org/publiced/chase/bc000312.html.

• Attention RA and armchair delegates: Information on this year's NEA Representative Assembly is online at www.nea.org/ra. There you'll find updates on RA conference schedules, issues, caucuses, logistics, and special events. And for more on the Chicago meeting site, go to www.ieanea.org/features/Chicago/chicago.htm.

Testimony Too Profound to Ignore

Through the words of a teacher and in-depth research, NEA exposes lawmakers to the urgent need for school modernization.

Brick by brick, NEA's campaign to modernize America's public schools is helping build a new consciousness on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are learning that unmet infrastructure and technology needs are greater than they ever imagined.

A modernization campaign update:

• In testimony this March before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, California NEA member Jeffrey Chin pointed out that, even in schools where technology is available, "software, hardware, and Internet connections often go unused because teachers lack the skills and knowledge necessary to integrate them into daily classroom activities."

  Chin, a computer literacy teacher at the Elliott Alternative Education Center in Modesto, noted that many of his colleagues must still teach themselves how to run a computer.

  "It's like teaching yourself how to drive," he lamented.

  "We must ensure," Chin told Con-gress, "that all students have access to the latest technology and that all teachers receive training that enables an effective integration of technology into the curriculum."

  The stakes for learning, concluded Chin, are too high to do otherwise.

  "I have seen how technology has enhanced the educational experience for students, introducing them to new ideas, and spurring their creativity and enthusiasm in new and different ways," he said.

• NEA has examined teacher technology training and technical support in a comprehensive, state-by-state assessment of unmet school modernization needs. The results from that assessment have been shown to members of Congress and White House staff and are opening eyes--very, very wide.

  Total unmet modernization needs, for everything from school renovations to technology maintenance and repair, amount to $307.6 billion. Of that sum, $253.9 billion is needed for infrastructure and $53.7 billion for technology.

  "Nobody doubts these numbers," says NEA researcher Faith Crampton.

  That's because the NEA researchers who collaborated on this study worked with NEA state affiliates to unearth state-by-state data.

  "We asked our affiliates not to come up with their own data," Crampton stresses. "They had to work with state agencies to find comprehensive, timely, and accurate information on infrastructure and technology needs."

  Where state data yielded insufficient information, the NEA researchers consulted independent sources, including policy literature, government Web sites, and online databases of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments.

  Dig this deeply, and you'll find some surprises.

  "We learned that the enrollment-related cost of constructing new buildings and deferring maintenance is far greater than previously documented," notes NEA staffer Jan Hagey. "The need is huge."

  "And we discovered that three-quarters of the state technology plans have no cost estimates!" adds NEA researcher Crampton.

• NEA's school modernization assessment, which began in March 1999, is part of the three-year NEA Legislative Change Project. The goal of this groundbreaking initiative: Help NEA affiliates in states with the greatest infrastructure and technology needs develop school modernization action plans.

  "At an initial meeting this summer," says Crampton, "we hope to match state affiliates that need legislation with states that have passed meaningful school modernization legislation within the last two years--and are now experienced in the implementation of those new laws."

  "The goal," she explains, "is for 'mentor' and 'target' NEA state affiliates to develop an ongoing relationship of networking and assistance, through face-to-face meetings and electronic networking."

  The NEA assessment data will be an invaluable lobbying tool in these "target" states.

  "This is information that was not previously available," notes Hagey. "Legislators crave state-by-state information to make comparisons--and now no state policymaker can say, 'School modernization doesn't concern us.'"

• At the federal level, NEA's school modernization data "really makes our point that the scope of the problem is so great that the federal government needs to form a partnership with states and local school districts to help subsidize some of these costs," says NEA lobbyist Joel Packer.

  The NEA data, Packer adds, have "already been been pretty widely used on Capitol Hill"--from a Democratic lawmaker press conference on a proposed $1.3 billion loan and grant program for emergency school repairs in high-needs districts (H.R. 3705, S. 2124) to a Republican briefing for co-sponsors of zero-interest school modernization bond legislation (H.R. 4094 and S. 1454).

  "Having this information on both the national and state-by-state level really helps hammer NEA's point home," concludes Packer, "and really helps crystallize the stakes for each member of Congress. Our schools and kids need help now."

For more information on NEA's school modernization campaign, go to www.nea.org/lac/modern.

Fifteen-Minute Activist

• The goal: Build support in Congress for legislation to modernize America's public schools.

• Your assignments: Urge your senators and your representative to co-sponsor bills that would make interest-free school modernization bonds available to states and school districts (H.R. 4094 and S. 1454) and make $1.3 billion in grants and loans available for emergency school repairs in high-needs districts (H.R. 3705 and S. 2124).

• Here's how to get started: Go to www.nea.org/lac/modern.