http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-emotional-learning-tips-school-starts

From a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) point of view, the most important consideration at the start of the new school year is to create positive feelings and optimism about school. This has many practical implications for both educators and parents.

Here are seven ideas to keep in mind:

Number One
Make a special effort to greet children in a positive and uplifting way at the start of school. Create a festive atmosphere, not a "get down to business" factory atmosphere.

Number Two
Highlight all the good and exciting things that will be happening at the beginning of the school year, as well as throughout the year.

Number Three
Give students a chance to share good memories about the summer, what they are looking forward to for the new school year, and something about themselves that they would like classmates to know. Time spent helping the students in a class bond in positive ways will bring large dividend later in the year as students work together in pairs, teams, and groups.

Number Four
Allow students to have input into setting the rules for the classroom, in terms of both "do's" and "don'ts."

Number Five
Give students an opportunity each day to reflect on what they are learning. Ask them to keep a journal and write down, at the end of the day, three things they are taking with them from the school day. Have them keep daily journals in one or some or all subject areas where, at the end of a class period or unit or project, they write down three things they are taking away from that unit of work.

Number Six
Parents, the parallel of all these apply to you. Keep the first days of school very positive. Allow time for routines to kick in. Don't get upset if your child is running late, or forgets things. Make it clear that you understand and expect by the end of the first week of school, routines will be set and work well. Ask your child for suggestions about ways to modify the routines that are not going well.

Also, after school, ask your child to share the best parts of the school day. Later, ask your child what they are looking forward to most the next day. Please note the words, "best" and "most." These are relative terms, so there will be a "best" part of a bad day and something to look forward to "most" even where the day is dreaded. In that way, you keep the focus positive. Remember, school is much more than classes. Asking about hallways, announcements, and things other than academic classes may garner special conversations.

Number Seven
Teachers and parents should share what the school is doing around social-emotional and character development, health, and such key areas as prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Parents, if you are not given this information proactively, seek it out. Teachers, your best hope for continuity and reinforcement of school messages out of school is if parents know what it is that their children are being taught!

The essence of SEL is to be sure that the adults dealing with children understand that the gateway to learning is through children's social and emotional skills and experiences. Opening that gateway at the start of the school year will lead to a smoother path during all subsequent days.

By Erik Robelen on August 25, 2010 2:57 PM
Education Week
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2010/08/stem_education_to_get_big_boos.html

The winning states in the federal Race to the Top competition announced yesterday have wide-ranging agendas to improve schooling, and there's lots to examine in their applications, but I wanted to quickly highlight what looks to be a strong emphasis on STEM education.

(For an excellent overview and analysis of the results, check out this EdWeek story.)

Virtually every winning state application (plus the District of Columbia) included substantive plans to advance their work in improving education in the STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—fields.

For example:

• North Carolina will use Race to the Top funding to support the development of a small set of "exemplary high schools, each focused on a STEM theme, such as biotechnology or aerospace, tied to the economic development of the region." These will serve as "anchor schools" in networks of STEM-themed schools, providing exemplary curriculum, serving as residency sites for participants in regional leadership academies, and serving as test beds for innovative practices in STEM education.

• Maryland will use some of its award money to help develop elementary STEM standards and a corresponding elementary STEM teaching certificate. The state department of education will also establish a partnership with the Maryland Business Roundtable to support educator effectiveness and student engagement in delivering STEM instruction. The idea is to link up teachers, principals, and students with industry experts and the resources of their workplaces.

• Ohio, considered one of the leaders in STEM education, aims to expand its work, including by enhancing the capacity of STEM schools to offer support services to low-achieving schools, strengthening and spreading its STEM-oriented early-college high schools, and accelerating the capacity of existing STEM schools to serve as field sites for professional development field sites.

• Florida will hire 20 STEM coordinators who will be "strategically assigned" to persistently low-performing schools and will work with school-site math and science coaches assigned by districts. The state will create a competitive program for rural district consortia to build and implement model high school STEM programs for gifted and talented students. Also, a state advisory group will work to produce a Florida STEM plan by this December that will include strategies to increase enrollment in STEM curricula, increase student-achievement goals in math and science, and boost the percentage of Floridians who are STEM "literate."

• Rhode Island will recruit organizations to support the creation of STEM focused, high-performing charter or in-district schools. Also, it will leverage money from the Race to the Top to help struggling schools through the use of environmental-science programs that involve partnerships with community groups and informal education providers. It will also identify and train "STEM distinguished educators" to help support turnaround teams for low-performing schools and develop master teachers.

To be sure, STEM education has become a high priority in many states. In addition, the issue was identified as a "competitive preference priority" by the U.S. Department of Education in evaluating state applications for the Race to the Top. Despite the fancy title, that priority delivered a state only 15 points, out of a possible 500. In any case, as my quick (and not exhaustive) sampling indicates, the winning state applications include some very concrete plans to boost STEM education.

But don't just take my word for it. Check out the applications for yourself.

Also, here's my quick analysis of the two winners from the first round of the Race to the Top competition in March—Tennessee and Delaware—and their plans for STEM education.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-miller-value-added-scores-20100822,0,5780905.story

Last weekend, the Times launched its "Grading the Teachers" series, which presented the concept of a value-added approach to evaluating teachers. Individual test scores were scrutinized over several years as students moved from one teacher to another. The scores were analyzed to see which teachers consistently raised the test scores of their students and which lowered them. Later this month, the paper will post the data on its website. Times editorial writer Marjorie Miller spoke to a variety of education leaders and professionals about the pluses and minuses of this method of evaluating teachers. Their remarks — or writings — have been edited for clarity and length. In coming days, we'll feature the voices of classroom teachers.

Many of you were contacted last week to assist with a quiet protest at the PSUSD Board meeting. We knew asking for a show of members in the middle of summer was risky but necessary. If you were unable to attend, we would like to share the outcomes of the day with you.

At 1 p.m. the teachers of CV Charter gathered to vote on the agreement we had created with the district. Negotiations were runnng simultaneously with the discussion demonstrating PSTA's focus of protecting our family of members.

Our CTA contact staff, Tomas Martinez, very carefully scrutinized the Memo of Understanding (MOU) which will cover the teachers working at CV Charter. His very careful attention to detail and specific wording helped create an agreement that offers as much protection as possible for these teachers. Mauricio was also in attendance to explain the events from the district point of view and to finalize the negotiations over the MOU. His willingness to continue negotiations evidenced the district's hope of a resolution to this issue.

The MOU was approved with 25 yes votes and 2 no votes. It was an historic moment as we signed the MOU in the presence of the teachers as well as one of the most unique bargaining sessions anyone had ever participated in.

We are grateful for both Tomas' and Mauricio's willingness to work together to finalize a document on which the teacher could vote.

At 5:45 we moved to the board meeting. We would like to thank the over 70 teachers who filled the board room. The PSUSD Board of Education approved the changes that had been an issue with PSTA. These changes include naming PSUSD as the employer allowing PSTA to continue to represent these teachers AND removing the October 1 language that would have made it impossible for new teachers to ever be represented by PSTA.

There are been several lessons learned from this experience.
When members are asked to assist, we come together as family. Our organizing efforts were successful but can always be improved.
Frequent, open communication is vitally important, with members and with the district.
CTA is a fabulous resource for us. Tomas Martinez as primary contact staff worked magic for us.
CTA and NEA Directors offer support when we ask. Mikki Cichocki as CTA Director and Carole Bailey as NEA Director.
PSTA needs to have a plan for dealing with charters as they will continue to be proposed.
We have PSUSD Board members who understand our viewpoint and are willing to support us.
Future candidates for PSUSD Board positions should be chosen very carefully. We need to have our choices win the November 2010 election.

Thank you again.
Together we have strength.
Together we can make a difference.

Stand Up for Schools video - http://www.standupforschools.org/