9 Ways to Keep Students’ Attention
We recently asked educators on the NEA Today Facebook page, “How do you keep your students attention during long periods in class?” Here are just some of the ideas they offered to keep your students...
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Infographic: Weird Things Students Bring to School
Pens, pencils, and paper are often found in school backpacks and desks. And old portraits of great-grandparents and souvenirs make frequent appearances during show and tell days. But when we asked...
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What I’ve Learned: A Career Changer Taps Into His Business Experience
Educators may spend their careers preparing lessons, but often the most memorable are those they learn themselves. With that in mind, NEA Today asked school staff – everyone from classroom teachers and...
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Cameras in the Classroom: Is Big Brother Evaluating You?
In January 2014, sixteen video cameras were delivered to the Washington County School District in Tennessee, one for each school and one for the central office. The district didn’t purchase the...
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What Teachers Really Do On Snow Days
With parts of the country getting slammed with historic snowfalls, a lot of schools have had to shut down. While it’s unlikely students are upset to hear they have a snow day—that is, until they...
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How Engaging Student Resistance Works Better Than Punishment
For many new teachers, success or failure in those crucial first few years often hinges on their classroom management strategies. Those strategies, however, tend to consist of little more than “tired...
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The ‘Moral Value’ of Teaching: The Missing Link in Teacher Preparation?
Being a teacher is an inherently moral endeavor—but do enough educators truly understand the moral value of their work? Richard D. Osguthorpe believes many do not, or at least not to the degree that is...
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The Most Important Skill for Students? Communication, Say Most Americans
Despite fears that U.S. students are behind the international curve in science and math, most Americans think communication skills are more important for long term success, according to a Pew Research...
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Still Don’t Know Much About History? Five Takeaways From the Nation’s Report...
This week, the National Assessment Governing Board and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released data that reveals how well U.S. students understand U.S. history, the fundamentals of...
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Teacher Turnover Is Much Lower Than You Probably Think
New teachers are sticking with the job far longer than previously reported, according to a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). While previous reports estimated that 40 to...
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How Teachers Stay Creative In the High-Stakes Testing Era
What makes a creative teacher? Is it the ability to seamlessly incorporate real-world lessons into the classroom? Is it about blending outside creative interests with the curriculum? Or is the creative...
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The Reading Rush: What Educators Say About Kindergarten Reading Expectations
A student sits at the kitchen table of her Washington, D.C.-area home. She rubs her eyes as she cries. A book lay open in front of her. The six-year-old kindergartener shouts in desperation at her...
View ArticleIn Praise of the Math Person
What makes a “math person?” Research suggests praise for a problem well solved goes a long way. It turns out that students who do well in math need just as much encouragement to develop an affinity for...
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8 Ways Teachers Can Use Summer to Build Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
When classes end for the summer, many of us may lose momentum and develop what boxers and wrestlers call “ring rust” – a deterioration of skills resulting from lack of practice during a hiatus. Public...
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8 Ways to Make Students Feel Welcome on First Day of School
First impressions matter – especially on the first day of school. Students arrive with a mix of emotions. Most, however, are nervous. The reasons vary from child to child, but kids tend to feel anxious...
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Surviving the Teenage Brain: What Educators Should Know
Why are so many of our high school and college students so, so smart, and yet, at the same time so, so… foolish? It turns out they can’t help it. The adolescent brain is a work in progress, “a puzzle...
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Are Letter Grades Failing Our Students?
In Colorado, districts want to get rid of ‘D’s’ in their grading systems. In Virginia, there are efforts to standardize what an ‘F’ signifies. In an Iowa district, letter grades on report cards are...
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Stay Positive and Pace Yourself: A Survival Guide for First-Year Teachers
The 2015-16 school year will be my second year in the classroom. I am looking forward to the start of school with far less trepidation than I did a year ago. My first year in the classroom was hard –...
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Where Are All the Black Male Teachers?
These days, the teaching profession can be a hard sell. It’s a fact made even more apparent as districts nationwide struggle to fill vacancies, and as some look to place Black male and other teachers...
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The Great Homework Debate: What’s Getting Lost in the Hype
Homework – is it an unnecessary evil or a sound and valuable pedagogical practice? The media coverage of the debate often zeroes in on these two seemingly polar opposite views, even though they may not...
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