Philippine Teacher Blog

Philippine DOLE extends career coaching for college, high school students

2011-04-05T01:05:00.000-07:00

“The activities, which will be in the form of seminars are meant to inform students on key labor market information, including jobs that are in demand and which will be in demand in the next 10 years,” Baldoz said, as she urged students to plan their future career based on these jobs by attending the seminars. Click here to read more
Related

Guides for Specific Careers

Philippine Career Guide

India Graduates Many, Too Few Fit to Hire (could this be also the Philippines?)

2011-04-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

India projects an image of a nation churning out students who are well educated, a looming threat to the middle-class workers of the West. But in reality, companies are having increasing difficulty finding employees. Problems include overbearing bureaucracy and a focus on rote learning rather than critical thinking and comprehension. The curriculum in most places is outdated and disconnected from the real world. Click here to read complete article

Education Woes in India
Students at SVPM College of Engineering in rural Maharashtra state say their classes got a whole lot more interesting after their professors took a course on how to teach. Click here to read complete article

DENR sets deadline for 2011 `eco-friendly´ schools search

What is the best course to take now? Computer scientists and programmers

2011-04-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

But engineers are in high demand abroad and a good number of OFWs are highly paid skilled engineers. Then again, not all engineers are created equal. There are also some types of engineers more in demand atcertain times than others. It seems that these days, it is all about computer engineering.

As for salaries, NYT reports that “Google is paying computer science majors just out of college $90,000 to $105,000, as much as $20,000 more than it was paying a few months ago. That is so far above the industry average of $80,000 that start-ups cannot match Google salaries.”
The Times continues: “…the shortage of qualified engineers has grown acute in the last six months… Nationwide unemployment among computer scientists and programmers is higher than in other white-collar professions – around five percent… But even with a glut of engineers on the job market, few have the skills that tech companies look for, said Cadir Lee, chief technology officer at Zynga.

“Colleges rarely teach the newer programming languages like PHP, Ruby and Python, which have become more popular at young Web companies than older ones like Java, he said. Other skills, like working with large amounts of data and analytics, can be acquired only at a few companies.”

Philippine Schools take the open road to Free Software for classroom computers

2011-03-11T23:22:00.000-08:00

TAKING advantage of free and open source software, a government program has been bringing computers and the skills to use them to public high schools nationwide in an effort to narrow the digital divide.

all running Edubuntu, a variant of Ubuntu Linux designed for classroom use. “There are significant savings because we chose free and open source software,”

“If you’re a first time user, there is no difference between Ubuntu or Windows. Even among the teachers, first time users are not a problem,” Click this link to read the complete article

Best websites for teacher reference from Larry Ferlazzo’s blog

2011-03-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2007

The Best Places To Get Royalty-Free Music & Sound Effects

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2009

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008

The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers

The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom

The Best Online Learning Games — 2007

The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day

The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners — 2007

The Best Teacher Resources For “Foldables”

The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King

The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween

The Best Sites For Learning About The World Cup

The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa

The Best Online Learning Games — 2008

The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English

The Best Music Websites For Learning English

The Best Online Sources For Images

The Best Ways For Students (And Anyone Else!) To Create Online Content Easily, Quickly & Painlessly

Reference link click here for Larry Ferlazzo’s blog

Top 50 Blogs for e-Learning Tools and Tips & 100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers

2010-08-19T23:40:00.001-07:00

Click the following LINK to read the complete article

Online Universities in the Philippines
Toward kinder, gentler and safer schools
Top 50 Blogs for e-Learning Tools and Tips
100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers
Teacher TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
Top 50 Education Technology Blogs
Seven e-Learning and Teaching Resources
Ten tried and tested internet tools for teachers
100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

How to Find Cheaper College Textbooks & Philippine TESDA gets P700M for scholarships

2010-08-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

To read the articles below, just click the headline to read more

Philippine Teachers wary of 'trial-and-error' 12-year educ program

Fix major education problems first—Nebres

At 84, new high school graduate is volunteer teacher

A teacher's helpful tool

TESDA gets P700M for scholarships

'Teacher lang'

Vegetable patches turn into vital teaching aids for ...

How to Find Cheaper College Textbooks

'Letter to a Young Teacher' & The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

2010-07-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

Click the headline below to read the interesting articles

The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers
'Letter to a Young Teacher'

10 must-dos to improve RP education

2010-06-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

To read the headlines, click the title below to read the complete article

Teach sex education in English, says solon

Lack of teachers, classrooms continue to hound central Visayas

10 must-dos to improve RP education

Philippine Teacher Blog resources & Internet Teacher Lesson Plans

2010-06-13T22:03:00.001-07:00

Click the following headlines to read the complete story article

RP has slipped behind neighbors in education'

The state of education today

DepEd to hire 10,000 additional teachers

More than 11,000 pass licensure exams for teachers

Public school teachers see bleak school year due to lack of resources

Teacher blogs

Just Google It? Developing Internet Search Skills Lesson Plan

Building a Better Teacher

Placement firm must refund $1.8M to Filipino teachers

Learn by Video teaching & make lesson plans

2010-06-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

Learn by video at the Khan Academy free There are 1200+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance

The entire video library is shown below. Just click on a category or video title to start learning from the Khan Academy!

Brain Teasers

Chemistry

Arithmetic

Pre-algebra

Algebra

California Standards Test: Algebra I

California Standards Test: Algebra II

Geometry California Standards Test: Geometry

Biology

Trigonometry

Precalculus

Statistics

Probability

Calculus

Differential Equations

History

Linear Algebra

Physics

Presidential candidate Gordon's promise: P40,000 salary for teachers

2010-01-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak 01/29/2010 MANILA, Philippines - Presidential candidate Richard Gordon claims he's got big perks for students and teachers if he wins in the 2010 election.

In ANC's Youth 2010 presidential forum held at De La Salle University in Taft on Friday, Gordon promised free Kindle e-book readers for public school students and P40,000 in monthly salaries for teachers should he be elected president.

Current teacher's salaries, Gordon explained, are around P12,000 to P15,000 a month, compared to P122,000 a month for teachers in Singapore. Continue reading here http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/29/10/gordons-promise-p40000-salary-teachers

Education Nation launches program to save RP education

2010-01-27T13:58:00.001-08:00

MANILA, Philippines—Education Nation, a coalition of captains of industry and other concerned citizens, launched Wednesday a blueprint for reform to save the Philippine education system from collapse. From the Philippine Inquirer

The coalition presented its 10-Point Education Reform Agenda and offered it to presidential candidates in an effort to make education the No. 1 issue in the May elections.

“We at Education Nation are saying `Enough!’ We cannot simply sit back and watch our education system further deteriorate in the hands of a government that has shown little concern for the plight of millions of Filipino children,” Ramon del Rosario Jr., chairman of the Philippine Business for Education (PBED), said at the launch, held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City.
“With this agenda, we are offering our presidential candidates and their respective teams—all the way down to the mayors—a list of 10 things they can achieve for education over the next three to six years," he said.

Del Rosario said the "10 doable things" could "make a world of difference for learning and achieving in this country.”

The PBED, a major pillar of Education Nation, includes such business heavyweights as Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (Ayala Corp.), Oscar Lopez (First Philippine Holdings Corp.), Manuel V. Pangilinan (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.), Washington Sycip (The SGV Group), Lance Gokongwei (JG Summit Holdings), Tony Tan Caktiong (Jollibee Food Corp.) and Marixi R. Prieto (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Del Rosario said that with Wednesday’s launch, “we serve notice to our candidates that we—parents, teachers, students, business leaders, administrators, civil society representatives and other education stakeholders—shall vote for education come May 2010 and beyond.”
“In unveiling these 10 points, we wish to give fair warning that there should be no more excuses. Our country deserves quality education for all. We demand it. We will watch over it. We shall fight for it,” he said, adding that education should not only be “a priority" but "the priority.”

The "10 doable things" envisioned to reform Philippine education are:
• Increasing the education budget to 4 percent of the gross national product to put it at par with other countries.
• Enhancing basic education by adding two more years to it.
• Promoting academic excellence by developing globally benchmarked standards of excellence.
• Developing community ownership of schools.
• Ensuring universal access to education.
• Strengthening higher education.
• Empowering teachers.
• Building transparency and accountability.
• Supporting private education.
• Maximizing alternative learning.

PBED president Chito Salazar said Education Nation wanted to make education the No. 1 issue and not merely "one of my top 10" because "we also think it is the main route out of poverty.”
He said the 10-point agenda would be presented during a congress of educators next month, and later to vice presidential and senatorial candidates.

“Our objective is to make the entire nation and the education system genuinely functional in order to give everyone the opportunity to better their lives,” Salazar said.

Del Rosario noted that according to the United Nations’ 2010 Education For All Global Monitoring Report, Philippine education indicators were below “what might be expected for a country at its income level,” and that there was “a real danger that the country will fail to achieve universal primary education by 2015.”

The report also said the Philippines was “a particularly striking example of underperformance” worldwide when it came to education reforms.

AIM president Edilberto de Jesus, a former education secretary, said that “in terms of perception," Philippine education has "gone down very many steps” in Southeast Asia.
“After a period when they were sending their students here to get higher education degrees, now our degrees are kind of discounted. It hurts our overseas Filipino workers because [overseas employers] see the degrees from the Philippines and [OFWs] do not get the compensation levels that are given to graduates of other countries,” De Jesus said.

“We need to involve more people because the problems are systemic problems. What we are seeing is that we really need an education president because when push comes to shove, you have to have at the very top somebody who is ready to call the shots and enforce the principles needed if we are to reform education,” he said.

Former Education undersecretary Juan Miguel Luz, now with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, said the claim in the Arroyo administration’s “legacy” ads that the quality of Philippine education has improved could not be easily confirmed.

For example, he said, while there may be "one textbook for every student" according to purchase figures since 2001, "chances are we have not distributed these so that [we can say] the textbooks are in the hands of the students."

“So, if you want to measure whether or not there is a legacy, you really want to measure outputs. Do we have more kids [graduating from school]? The answer is probably not,” Luz said.

Farming 101 taught in Cainta high school in the Philippines

2010-01-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Philippine Daily Inquirer 01/23/2010 IN THIS SCHOOL TUCKED IN the back roads of Metro Manila, the rice field becomes the classroom of a lifetime. Temple Hill International School in Cainta, Rizal province is not quite like your typical agricultural school.

“Although farming is part of the curriculum, they don’t get grades from planting rice. It is an extra subject,” high school principal Mebruhtu Zemui Tesfazghi told Inquirer. “They plant rice as a group, but they raise vegetables individually.”

Among the plants the students grow in the verdant plots are squash, onion, pandan, eggplants, taragon tea, patola (gourd) and sweet potatoes, or kamote.

Continue reading here http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20100123-249083/Farming-101-taught-in-Cainta-high-school

Teacher Resource Links Teach Better today

2010-01-23T13:37:00.001-08:00

Click the links to read more

The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine's Day
The Best Resources For Chinese New Year
Intermediate English Classes
The Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators — 2009
The Best Sites To Learn About The World’s Tallest Buildings
The Best Sites To Learn About The Earthquake In Haiti
The Best Places To Find Free (And Good) Lesson Plans On The Internet
Lesson Plans http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/
The Best Digital Storytelling Resources
The Best Online Learning Games — 2009
The Best Sites For Teachers Of English Language Learners — 2009
The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students — 2009
A mix of K-8 educational technology resources, commentary, lesson ideas and more, for members of my school community and the world.
http://www.ncs-tech.org/
Math TV http://www.mathtrain.tv/: http://mathtv.com/

The Best Science & Math Sites — 2009
Top 20 Science Websites
Top 55 Reference Websites
MUSEUM WEBSITES:
ZOOS & THEIR WEBSITES
EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS
The Best Places To Find Good Education Blogs

Monthly salaries for Filipino Teachers from Jobstreet

2010-01-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

Here are the monthly salaries for Teacher.

You can read the complete report here http://myjobstreet.jobstreet.com/premium/basicSalaryReport.asp?param=%27Teacher%27|000|ph||ph

Also to check out job salaries check here http://myjobstreet.jobstreet.com/premium/basicSalaryReport.asp?param=PICU+%2C+Nurses|000|ph||ph

Position Level	Min (Peso)*	Average (Peso)*	Max (Peso)*
Assistant Manager / Manager	15,000.00	20,000.00	30,000.00
Supervisor / 5 Years & Up Experienced Employee	12,000.00	14,000.00	17,100.00
1-4 Years Experienced Employee	9,000.00	10,933.00	14,000.00
Fresh Grad / < 1 Year Experienced Employee	7,500.00	9,600.00	11,000.00

Philippine Teachers' group to Comelec: Start election training

2010-01-03T14:50:00.001-08:00

GMA News A national advocacy group for teachers called on the Commission on Elections to start training teachers for automated election duty immediately and not wait for February when "we will be busy with school tasks." Teachers will need to be familiar with a new complex system for voting, including multiple-choice ballots and voting machines with computer codes. Continue reading here http://www.gmanews.tv/story/180691/teachers-group-to-comelec-start-election-training

Result of the October 2009 LET - Licensure Examination for Philippine Teachers

2009-12-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

The latest result of the PRC Board Exam for teachers are now available here.

There are about 19% of the Elementary LET takers who passed the October examination and 28% passed the secondary PRC Licensure Examination for Teachers or LET.

Click here for the final list for the PRC LET passers for Elementary.

Click here for the final list for the High School PRC LET passers for Oct 2009.

Tags: October 2009 LET - Licensure Examination for Philippine Teachers

New Programs Aim to Lure Young Into Digital Jobs

2009-12-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

From USA NY Times: The nation’s economy is going to need more cool nerds. But not enough young people are embracing computing — often because they are leery of being branded nerds.

Educators and technologists say two things need to change: the image of computing work, and computer science education in high schools. Teacher groups, professional organizations like the Association for Computing Machinery and the National Science Foundation are pushing for these changes, but so are major technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Intel. One step in their campaign came the week of Dec. 7, National Computer Science Education Week, which was celebrated with events in schools and online.

Today, introductory courses in computer science are too often focused merely on teaching students to use software like word processing and spreadsheet programs, said Janice C. Cuny, a program director at the National Science Foundation. The Advanced Placement curriculum, she added, concentrates narrowly on programming. “We’re not showing and teaching kids the magic of computing,” Ms. Cuny said.

The agency is working to change this by developing a new introductory high school course and seeking to overhaul Advanced Placement courses as well. It hopes to train 10,000 high school teachers in the modernized courses by 2015.

One goal, Ms. Cuny and others say, is to explain the steady march and broad reach of computing across the sciences, industries, culture and society. Yes, they say, the computing tools young people see and use every day — e-mail, text-messaging and Facebook — are part of the story. But so are the advances in field after field that are made possible by computing, like gene-sequencing that unlocks the mysteries of life and simulations that model climate change.

That message must resonate with parents and school administrators, they say, if local school districts are to expand their computer science programs.

“We need to gain an understanding in the population that education in computer science is both extraordinarily important and extraordinarily interesting,” said Alfred Spector, vice president for research and special initiatives at Google. “The fear is that if you pursue computer science, you will be stuck in a basement, writing code. That is absolutely not the reality.”

Others choose to make simple computer games.

“It’s much more engaging,” Mr. Landa said. “And the idea is not to have most or all of them go into computer science, but to give kids a chance to try things out. The course is designed to give kids a sense of computational thinking no matter what they do after this.”

A solid grounding in computing, experts say, promises rewards well beyond computer science.
.
“Most of them will not be pure technology jobs, designing computer software and hardware products, but they will involve applying computing and technology-influenced skills to every industry,” Mr. Reich said. “Think Geek Squads in other fields,” he added, referring to a popular tech-support service.
These workers, he said, will be needed in large numbers to install, service, upgrade and use computer technology in sectors like energy and health care.

“These are jobs for what I think of as digital technicians,” Mr. Reich said. “And they are at the core of the new middle-wage middle class.”

Still, the revamped high school courses, educators say, should entice more young people into computer science careers as well.

At South East High School, Mario Calleros, an 18-year-old senior, may be one of them. He took the new course last year, after his interest was piqued by his experience playing computer games. “I really wanted to know how they worked,” he said.

Mr. Calleros picked up a sense of game technology by making his own, an action game with a knights-in-armor motif. Last summer, he won an internship at the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the summer program, Mr. Calleros and a partner built a smartphone application, linking pictures, text descriptions and GPS location data to explain the history, architecture and amenities of individual buildings on the U.C.L.A. campus as users walk by.

Continue reading here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/technology/21nerds.html?_r=2&em=&pagewanted=print

And so many jobs now in computer graphics design but no courses teach it in college sad/

Teacher jobs

2009-12-18T13:34:00.001-08:00

There are many teacher jobs listed here just scroll through this webpage
http://findmeworkinthephilippines.blogspot.com/search/label/TEACHER

Delay in automation training worries Philippine teachers

2009-12-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

Via Philippine Daily Inquirer 12/14/2009 MANILA, Philippines -- “What’s happening with the automation project?” No less than Education Secretary Jesli Lapus raised this question on Monday after the scheduled training of the 400,000 teachers for the automated polling machines was again moved to “March-April” in 2010.

Lapus said that the “last advice” of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal department chief Ferdinand Rafanan was that the training would be held in “March-April.”
Teachers were originally told that the training would be held last November, before it was moved to February, and now to “March-April.”

“They keep on changing their minds about their scheduled target for the training and now, it’s too near the elections,” Lapus said. Continue reading here http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20091214-242026/Delay-in-automation-training-worries-teachers

Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons

2009-12-11T19:55:00.001-08:00

Washington Post, November 27, 2009 WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- Ariana Leonard's high school students shuffled in their seats, eagerly awaiting a cue from their Spanish teacher that the assignment would begin.

"Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish.

The teens pulled out an array of colorful flip phones, iPhones and SideKicks. They divided into groups and Leonard began sending them text messages in Spanish: Find something green. Go to the cafeteria. Take a picture with the school secretary.

Leonard's class at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, a middle-class Florida suburb about 30 miles north of Tampa, is one of a growing number around the country that are abandoning traditional policies of cell phone prohibition and incorporating them into class lessons. Spanish vocabulary becomes a digital scavenger hunt. Notes are copied with a cell phone camera. Text messages serve as homework reminders.

"I can use my cell phone for all these things, why can't I use it for learning purposes?'" Leonard said. "Giving them something, a mobile device, that they use every day for fun, giving them another avenue to learn outside of the classroom with that."

"This is technology that helps us be more productive," he said.

Continue reading here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/27/AR2009112702453_pf.html

Foreign workers like teachers in Canada put on fast track

2009-12-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

Canada Federal ruling on credentials to take one year

From the Winnepegfreepress Under the two-stage plan, the agreement will be implemented for eight occupations by December 2010. Aside from nurses, architects and engineers, the first group will include financial auditors and accountants, medical laboratory technologists, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists.

This means foreign-trained workers who submit an application after that date to be licensed or registered in those fields should be advised within one year whether their credentials will be recognized.

The second stage, to be implemented by the end of 2012, will include physicians, dentists, engineering technicians, licensed practical nurses, medical radiation technologists and teachers for kindergarten to Grade 12.

Continue reading here http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/foreign-workers-put-on-fast-track-78205327.html

Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons

2009-11-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

"Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish.

"This is technology that helps us be more productive," he said.

Continue reading here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/27/AR2009112702453_pf.html

Philippine DepEd: More public schools given access to Knowledge Channel programs

2009-11-21T14:44:00.001-08:00

From The Philippine Star November 22, 2009 MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has expanded the number of public schools with access to educational programs of the Knowledge Channel.

DepEd and the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc., signed a memorandum of agreement that will allow public schools to have access to Knowledge Channel’s educational shows through cable, satellite and the Internet. Continue reading here www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=525650&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Free Classes via iTunes

2009-11-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

Free Classes via iTunes

From NY Times: Open University, a distance-learning institution based in Britain, has delivered 10 million free downloads of lectures via Apple's iTunes U, which is two years old.

“There are still a lot of universities in the world that define the value of their experience as somehow locking up their content and only giving people access to the content when they enroll in the program,” Mr. Bean said. “The courage comes from taking the next leap of faith. Universities no longer define themselves by their content but the overall experience: the concept, the student support, the tutoring and mentoring, the teaching and learning they get and the quality of the assessment.” Continue reading here http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/the-argument-for-free-classes-via-itunes/?ref=technology

Using iTunes U, along with Google’s similar service, YouTube.edu
Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/

From the Apple Website: iTunes U How Apple Makes It Happen From portable computers and mobile devices to software and servers to iTunes U, Apple makes all the technology you need to make mobile learning a reality for your students.

Teachers are using iLife and iWork applications on the Mac to create customized educational materials, such as language lessons that students can listen to on the bus or at home. And with the help of tools like Podcast Producer and Wiki Server — both of which come with Mac OS X Server — IT professionals at your school can help you produce and distribute all kinds of multimedia content on iTunes U or a class wiki. Once your classroom presentations and lectures have been captured and published, students can download them from iTunes. Then they can transfer them to iPod or iPhone and take it all with them. And suddenly, any place — a café, a bus stop — can be a place to learn. http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/

YouTube online education http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400

The Global Health eLearning Center developed by the USAID Bureau of Global Health is a response to repeated requests from field staff for access to technical public health information. We have heard from USAID Population, Health, and Nutrition officers (PHNs) and from Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs) that they want to be current on global health topics, yet find it a challenge to obtain the information because of logistical and time constraints. The Global Health eLearning Center provides Internet-based courses that: http://www.globalhealthlearning.org/login.cfm

eLearning Technology http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/

This might be an interesting blog to explore to learn more about elearing tools and how to. Tony Karrer's eLearning Blog on e-Learning Trends eLearning 2.0, eLearning Solutions Enterprise 2.0. Personal Learning Informal Learning, Corporate eLearning, eLearning Design, Authoring Tools, Rapid e-Learning Tools eLearning (e-Learning), e-Learning Software Blended, e-Learning e-Learning Tools Learning Management Systems (LMS), e-Learning ROI and Metrics

Also check out my blog on elearning (just click through the spam warning as it was auto generated and will be removed shortly in this new blog) http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/

18,837 pass October 2009 teacher PRC licensure exam

2009-11-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

A total of 10,792 hopefuls passed the October 2009 licensure exam for teachers in the secondary level, while 8,045 examinees passed the teacher licensure exam for the elementary level, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said.

Twenty six examinees also passed the L.E.T. - elementary- All Regions.

To see the lists, click below:

LIST OF SUCCESSFUL SECONDARY TEACHER EXAMINEES OCTOBER 2009

LIST OF SUCCESFUL ELEMENTARY TEACHER EXAMINEES OCTOBER 2009

L.E.T. - ELEMENTARY- ALL REGIONS

October 2009 LET (Elementary and Secondary) Topnotchers:

LET Elementary Level
1 Jaylord Sampiano Losabia, University of San Agustin - 89.60%
2 Carina Cabagua Ceñidoza, University of the Philippines-Diliman - 88.20%
3 Michelle Mae Jugasan Olvido, Cebu Normal University - Cebu State College - 88.00%
4 Peter John Delos Santos Magana, Mariano Marcos State University-Laoag-Coll. of Education - 87.20%
5 Noemi Ruth Aguilar Asistio, University of the East-Manila - 87.00%
Julie Ann Papa Villa Carlos, Philippine Normal University-Manila - 87.00%
6 Jinky Basmayor Batalla, Ateneo de Naga - 86.80%
Roxanne Tala Bongco, Bataan Polytechnic State College-Orani - 86.80%
7 Zoila Mae Palmes Panes , West Visayas State University-La Paz - 86.60%
8 Rachel Embile Bantola, UP-Diliman - 86.40%
9 Michael Bobias Cahapay, Mindanao State University-Gen. Santos City - 86.20%
10 June April Diasanta Belonio, Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College-Tacurong - 86.00%
Ma Xerxa Doan Parreño Billones, Colegio de San Jose - 86.00%
Vilma Alcala Hingpit, Central Visayas State C.A.F.T.-Bilar - 86.00%
Leizl Cagalawan Magallanes, Liceo de Cagayan University - 86.00%
Rainerio Baratas Malayas, University of Bohol - 86.00%
Dulcinea Maripaz Casuga Valenciano, UP-Diliman - 86.00%

LET Secondary Level

1 Vivian Dalida David, Ateneo De Manila University-Q.C - 91.20%
2 May Ann Garo Santiago, UP-Diliman - 90.80%
3 Davy Manglicmot Gonzales, Palawan State University-Brooks Point- 90.40%
4 Angelica Lopez Villafuerte, ADMU-QC - 90.20%
5 Marya Laya Cabatingan Delvo , Notre Dame of Dadiangas College - 89.80%
Sheryll Nafarrete Raquipiso, UP-Diliman - 89.80%
6 Rona Atutubo Despabiladeras, Bicol University-Legazpi - 89.40%
7 Rachel Anne Dimayacyac Declaro, UE-Manila - 89.20%
Cheryl Ann Calderon Reyes, University of San Carlos - 89.20%
8 Russell Christian Obnamia Fernandez, Palawan State University-P. Princesa - 89.00%
9 Xerox Nabua Acosta, ADMU-QC - 88.80%
Elvira Calilung David, UP-Angeles City - 88.80%
Kenneth Arkin Pascual Galasinao, Saint Mary's University - 88.80%
Raymond Ceferino lll Toribio Meris, Palawan State University-P. Princesa - 88.80%
Fidelfo Jr Cabasa Moral, University of San Carlos - 88.80%
10 Joyce Leah Martha Reyes Europa, UP-Diliman - 88.60%
Christine Leal Gapuz, UP-DIliman - 88.60%
Arvin Sammy de Vera Rivo , University of Pangasinan - 88.60%
Marjorie Digman Ruiz, Philippine Normal University-Manila - 88.60%

Tags: 2009 Teacher license exam, Filipino secondary teachers exam results, Filipino elementary teacher exam results october 2009, Teachers Professional Regulation Commission Board Exam Results

Nursing, accounting, teaching, dog handling among 'hot jobs' for 2010

2009-11-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

MANILA, Philippines - Nursing, accounting, teaching, and even dog-handling are just a few of the “hot” jobs that Filipinos should apply for next year.

Jayjay Viray, managing director of JobsDB.com, said while they see nurses and accountants again being in demand next year, there are other not so popular but surprisingly high-paying jobs Filipinos should consider as possible careers
.
She said dog-handling and security-related jobs are third on their list of “hot jobs” for 2010.
“Just for the Middle East (Asia), we’re seeing a demand of about 10,000 dog-handlers,” Viray shared.

A dog-handler in the Middle East, Viray said, could get a monthly pay of as much as $2,500.
She said that the continuing global fight against terrorism and increased security consciousness are pushing the demand for dog-handlers, mainly those who handle bomb-sniffing dogs. “In the Middle East, security is a serious concern for many of the well-off people there,” Viray said.

She said even here in the Philippines, there is a demand for dog-handlers. “You see a lot of bomb-sniffing dogs in the malls and in buildings,” Viray said.

Topping their list of “hot jobs,” she said, are information technology (IT) workers, who “will still be the most in-demand locally and overseas.”

Viray said with many Internet businesses being put up and numerous companies going online to do their selling and promotion, the demand for IT employees will continue to be strong.
“Small business, big businesses are going to the Internet to promote their products,” she said.
Viray said the most sought-after IT workers are those skilled in search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

She noted that some of the jobs that are becoming in demand are those that look for skills that could be acquired by taking up short-term or vocational courses.

Viray said one can get a certificate in dog-handling by attending a short course that could last only six months.

For IT workers, one could be a computer technician by taking up a vocational two-year computer technician course.

“I recommend these short courses because they can be a quick path to a high-paying job instead of taking up four-year college courses that lead to jobs that are not in demand in the market,” Viray said. Read the original article here http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=523475&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Read viewer comments
Until such time that we have industries and factories to employ all of our labor force locally, better improve the quality of our education so we can be competitive in the world skills market. Those considering to work abroad can avoid the negative social costs by being practical and not yet marry or beget children. They might find their soul mate in other single compatriots overseas.„

alie_baba (posted on Nov 15, 2009 07:04 AM)
Member since Sep 09, 2009

“I recommend these short courses because they can be a quick path to a high-paying job instead of taking up four-year college courses that lead to jobs that are not in demand in the market, ” Viray said.

Siguro pakawala ito ng mga IT Short Course schools na naglipana nanloloko sa mga kabataan at mga magulang ....walang kuenta ang short IT coursers kung walang Basic Foundation ng Science and Technology... example... IT Accounting applications... pano ka gagawa ng Apps ng di ka marunong ng Accounting ? or Cad kaya sa Mechanical/Electrical or Archi... pano ka gagamit ng wala kang foundation ng Electrical/ Mechanical or Architecture... ganyan ang mga pakawala ng mga IT Schools kuno... Tools lang ang IT or Elective course lang, ang kailangan ang foundation ... at bakit niya naman sasabihin na NURSING na naman ang kailangan e PUNONG PUNO na ang NURSING ... mga ganid na ospital nga ang mga nurses pa ang nagbabayad para magkaroon ng Experience... mag isip ng malalim mga kabataan at mga magulang wag sayangin ang kinabukasan pera, puhunan at panahon.... mag 4 or 5 years courses na lang kayo for long term investment„

Batangsulpok (posted on Nov 15, 2009 03:22 AM)
Member since Feb 24, 2009

Wala na bang naiisip sa Pilipinas kundi mag-trabaho sa overseas ang mga graduates? Paano uunlad ang Pilipinas kung lagi na lang paalisin ang mga trabahador? Dapat ang perang napupunta sa corruption ay malagay sa ayos nang magkaroon ng maraming trabaho, maraming negosyo lalo na sa mga malalayong lugar nang hindi na sila pumunta sa Maynila para makipagsapalaran kaya sobra na ang sikip kasi nagiging squatters. Kaya napakaraming nasisirang pamilya dahil pag ang babae o lalake ang napunta sa abroad, hindi maiwasan ang magkasala sa isa't isa na kung minsan ay napapabayaan ang mga bata na naiwan sa Pilipinas. Sa ngayon, marami kang makikita na maraming single mother, maraming asawa ay iniiwan ang pamilya para makisama sa iba, maraming babae ang anak ay iba't iba ang ama at maraming mga bata ang nalululong sa bisyo gaya ng droga o krimen dahil wala ang magulang.„

Also read my jobs blog news http://employmentlinks.blogspot.com/

And Nursing WHAT'S THE BEST COLLEGE FOR NURSING IN THE PHILIPPPINES? NEWS http://nursingschools100.blogspot.com/

Philippine Teacher News http://teachersphilippines.blogspot.com/

Philippine Colleges and Universities http://philippinecolleges.blogspot.com/

Tags: PHILIPPINE Nursing hot job, Philippine accounting hot job, Philippine teaching hot job, Philippine dog handling hot jobs 2010

Laptop for Teacher (LT4T)

2009-11-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

Last year, the Department of Education (DepEd) signed an agreement with hardware manufacturers to provide affordable laptops for public school teachers, launched as "LT4T". Here's an update.

In a conversation over lunch, a reliable source from DepEd informed our group that the project is on its final stages.

Under the LT4T program, every public school teacher and non-teaching DepEd employee will be entitled to one high-end laptop each, with the following schemes and features:

Part of the total amount of the laptop will be shouldered by the department while the remaining percentage will be at the expense of the teacher-beneficiary, payable in zero-interest monthly installments.
The laptop is powered by a new licensed Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
It has pre-installed open-source software programs harvested from the internet that are compatible to the current curricular offerings of public schools.
It contains interactive teaching guides that can be used to make classroom instruction more interesting and effective. These include a proforma of lesson plans and student grading system among others.

Although it may sound easy to catch, the process isn't. The teacher will have to pass an online examination to be administered by IC3, an independent certification body, to qualify for a laptop.

Nevertheless, if the LT4T program will push through, teachers in the Philippines will have laptops at a 1:1 ratio. It will be the first in Asia.

Teach Your Teachers Well

2009-11-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

USA ARNE DUNCAN, the secretary of education, recently called for sweeping changes to the way we select and train teachers. He’s right. If we really want good schools, we need to create a critical mass of great teachers. And if we want smart, passionate people to become these great educators, we have to attract them with excellent programs and train them properly in the substance and practice of teaching.

Our best universities have, paradoxically, typically looked down their noses at education, as if it were intellectually inferior. The result is that the strongest students are often in colleges that have no interest in education, while the most inspiring professors aren’t working with students who want to teach. This means that comparatively weaker students in less intellectually rigorous programs are the ones preparing to become teachers.

So the first step is to get the best colleges to throw themselves into the fray. If education was a good enough topic for Plato, John Dewey and William James, it should be good enough for 21st-century college professors.

These new teacher programs should be selective, requiring a 3.5 undergraduate grade point average and an intensive application process. But they should also be free of charge, and admission should include a stipend for the first three years of teaching in a public school.

Once we have a better pool of graduate students, we need to train them differently from how we have in the past. Too often, teaching students spend their time studying specific instructional programs and learning how to handle mechanics like making lesson plans. These skills, while useful, are not what will transform a promising student into a good teacher.

First, future teachers should continue studying the subject they hope to teach, with outstanding professors. It makes no sense at all to stop studying the thing you want to teach at the very moment you begin to learn how.

Meanwhile, students should learn their craft the way a surgeon learns to operate: by intense supervision in a real setting with expert mentors. Student-teachers are usually observed only twice during a semester and then given a written evaluation. But young teachers, like young doctors, should work side by side with skilled mentors, getting plenty of feedback, having plenty of opportunities to observe and taking on greater and greater responsibility as they improve.

Teacher training can also learn from family therapy programs. Therapists spend a great deal of time watching videotapes of themselves in action, reflecting on their sessions and discussing the most difficult moments with senior therapists to explore other ways they might have responded. In much the same way, young teachers need to record their daily encounters with their classrooms and then, with mentors and peers, have serious, open-minded conversations about what’s working and what isn’t.

Teachers must also learn far more about children: typically, teaching students are provided with fairly static and superficial overviews of developmental stages, but learn little about how to watch children, using research and theory to understand what they are seeing. As James Comer, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale, has argued for years, if we disregard the developmental needs of our students it’s unlikely we’ll succeed in teaching them.

One more thing is required — give as many public schools as possible the financial incentives to hire these newly prepared teachers in groups of seven or more. This way, talented eager young teachers won’t languish or leave teaching because they felt bored, inept, isolated or marginalized. Instead, they will feel part of a robust community of promising professionals. They will struggle and learn together. Good teachers need good colleagues.

To fix our schools, we need teaching programs that are as rich in resources, interesting, high-reaching and thoughtful as the young people we want to attract to the profession. Show me a school where teachers are smart, well-educated, skilled and happy to be there, and I’ll show you a group of children who are getting a good education. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/opinion/02engel.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=print

3 regions in South to get dictionaries from USAID

2009-10-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd) and National Bookstore Foundation, will distribute 48,000 dictionaries in three regions in Mindanao, officials said.

Tom Crehan, USAID chief in the country, told The STAR that these dictionaries will be given out to 6,000 public elementary schools and community learning centers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Regions 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) and 12 (Central Mindanao).

Crehan bared this as he presided over the distribution of 692 dictionaries to the pupils of the Quevedo Baptista Elementary School in the village of Blingkong in Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat last Friday, which incidentally was World Dictionary Day.

Crehan was assisted by DepEd Central Mindanao regional director Luz Almeda and National Bookstore Foundation project coordinator Bea Torres in the event.

"Thousands more of dictionaries will be distributed in various parts of Central Mindanao and two other regions. It's our way of helping improve the learning of schoolchildren in Mindanao," Crehan said. If you want to inquire more about such help http://philippines.usaid.gov/

Teacher Lesson Plans

2009-10-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

Teacher-Submitted Lessons grouped by subject.

Digitizing History: Exploring Moments in Time Through Web Design
Students create a home page or small Web site based on a theme related to a recent history or social studies lessons.

Creating a Poetry Collection
In this lesson, which encourages students to think about the sounds of poems, students use lip-syncing software to produce an animated talking head.

First- and Third-World Challenges
Students develop an understanding of third-world and first-world problems and discuss issues related to the role of computer games in education.

Chatting With Historical Figures
Students research an historical figure and create a chat bot representing that figure.

Creating a Multimedia Journey
Students take a journey through sound, exploring the sounds of the places they visit. They then research some of those places and write a fictional account of their journey.

Who in the World Is....?
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this lesson in which students scan the newspaper for information. (Grades 3-8)

Sports and Geometry
Debbie Miskiel, who teaches at Workman High School in La Puente, California, submitted this lesson in which students learn how geometry concepts play a role in many sports. (Grades 6-12)

Ball/Barrel Attack
Charles Milliren, who teaches at Owen-Withee Elementary School in Owen, Wisconsin, submitted this lesson, which provides a PE game that will build teamwork skills as students get an excellent workout. (Grades 3-8)

Math Dice Review Game
Kaitlin Kelly, a student at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, submitted this lesson, which can be used to reinforce almost any math computation skill. (Grades 3-12)

Let's Get Along
Kristina Davenport, an education student at the University of Idaho (Coeur d'Alene), submitted this lesson in which students learn valuable lessons about getting along by reading Eve Bunting’s award-winning Smoky Nights. (Grades 3-8)

Geo-Critters (Geometry Critters)
Loretta Greenough, a student at the University of Idaho, submitted this lesson that integrates literature (The Math Curse by Jon Scieszka) and math as students create geometry critters from four shapes. (Grades 2-5)

Following in Their Footsteps
Patti Stephenson, who teaches at Tri-City Christian School in Independence, Missouri, submitted this lesson in which students read a biography and look for the positive character traits they might "follow" in their own lives. (Grades 3-12)

36 Public Policy Questions to Energize Your Government/History Classroom Debates
Michael Boyer, who teaches at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Caroplina, submitted this lesson that offers 36 public policy questions to energize your government/history classroom debates. (Grades 9-12)

Your Five Senses
Miriam Lev, who teaches at The Jewish Institute of Queens in Elmhurst, New York, submitted this lesson in which students learn how each of their five senses help them identify the world around them. (Grades K-12)

Comparing-Contrasting With Cookies
Lesley Roessing, who teaches at Ridley Middle School in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, submitted this lesson that offers a fun compare-and-contrast activity using Girl Scout cookies to ready students to write more complex comparisons of characters, literature… (Grades 3-12)

Art On Trial (A Mock-Court Activity)
Diane Franken, who teaches at Lincoln Academy of Integrated Arts in Davenport, Iowa, submitted this lesson in which students take on different roles as they determine which work of art will be constructed in their community park. (Grades 3-12)

North, South, East, or West
Gay Harrod, who teaches at Washington Intermediate School in Piqua, Ohio, submitted this lesson, which is a fun any-time game she created to reinforce geographic directionality. (Grades K-5)

Beat the Clock
Cheryl Rains, who teaches at Kingswood Elementary School in Sacramento, California, submitted this week’s lesson, which offers a fun idea to help teachers manage transitions such as grouping students, end-of-day cleanup, others. (Grades K-12)

Appetizing Adverbs
Laura Graham, who teaches at Tri-City Christian School in Independence, Missouri, submitted this appetizing lesson that teaches the concepts of verbs and adverbs. (Grades K-5)

Vivid Descriptions and Works of Art
Megan Wynne, who teaches at St. Joseph School in Hawthorne, California, submitted this lesson in which students test their vivid-writing skills with an art activity. (Grades 3-12)

Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Michele McKinnon, who is interning at Liberty Elementary School in Frederick, Maryland, submitted this lesson, which uses a popular children’s book about Abe Lincoln to teach the five parts of a letter. (Grades K-5)

Snowy Similes
Cindy Behnke, who teaches at Gateway Pointe Elementary School in Higley, Arizona, submitted this lesson in which students work cooperatively to develop an understanding of similes and how they can be used to improve writing. (Grades 3-8)

Treasured Comments
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this lesson in which students fill treasure chests with positive, self-esteem-building comments about each other. (Grades 2-5)

A "F"able
Linda C. York, who teaches at Wateree Elementary School in Lugoff, South Carolina, submitted this week’s lesson, which uses a fable to teach how to make plurals of words that end in f or fe. (Grades 3-5)

Yours and My Trail of Tears
Marcus Garcia, who teaches at Lincoln School in Stockton, California, submitted this week’s lesson in which a simulation teaches students about the forced relocation of Cherokees along the “Trail of Tears.” (Grades 6-12)

Native Americans of Our Region
Julia Snyder submitted this lesson in which students use a variety of reading strategies to learn about Indian tribes native to their region. (Grades 3-8)

Walk In My Shoes
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson in which students write a story from the viewpoint of a shoe. (Grades 2-8)

Perplexing Puzzles
Melissa Thomas, who teaches at Dacula (Georgia) Middle School, submitted this lesson in which students graph the number of pieces of a puzzle put together at 5-minute intervals. (Grades 3-8)

Preposition House
Colleen Moak, who teaches at Blessed Sacrament School in Washington, D.C., submitted this week's lesson, which helps students visualize how prepositions describe things in relation to one another.

Time Line of the Year
Lynda O'Brien, who teaches at Twin Oaks Home School in Melrose, Florida, submitted this lesson in which students create a timeline of the school year that includes photographs, work samples, much more.

Mr. Mascot's Magical Musical Tour
Melanie E. Shaw, who teaches at Vogelweh Elementary School, a Department of Defense school in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland Pfalz (Germany), submitted this lesson in which a class mascot leaves clues. Where in the U.S. or world is it? (Grades 3-12)

Graph Mole
Sulan Dun of Redmond, Washington, creator of this and other learning games found at FunBasedLearning.com, shares this engaging game that teaches students about, and provides practice in, plotting points on a coordinate plane. (Grades 3-8)

Investigating Volume
Erin Coy, who teaches at Dacusville Elementary School in Easley, South Carolina, submitted this lesson in which students "discover" the concept of volume. (Grades 3-8)

Mi Perro Perdido (My Lost Dog)
Sonya Darnell, who teaches at Pickens (South Carolina) High School, submitted this lesson in which students earn bonus quiz points for following foreign-language directions. (Grades 3-12)

Frisbee® Horseshoes
Molly Schock, who teaches at Casa Grande (Arizona) Middle School, submitted this lesson in which students play a fun game of Frisbee Horseshoes. (Grades 3-12)

Book Buffet
Patti Stephenson, who teaches at Tri-City Christian School in Independence Missouri, submitted this idea that she uses to pique student interest in reading books from a variety of genres. (Grades 3-12)

Listen and Guess Vocabulary Game
Susan Person, who teaches at Piqua (Ohio) Junior High School, submitted this game that builds vocabulary and provides a fun break too. (Grades 3-12)

Whittling Out Haiku
Elizabeth Jackson, who teaches as Sweetwater (Texas) High School, submitted this week's lesson in which pictures inspire haiku writing and sharing. (Grades 3-12)

Animal Diaries
Mary Pat Mahoney, who teaches at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Grapevine, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which students write a diary from an animal's perspective. (Grades 3-12)

Fortune Cookies Motivate Writing
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson in which a fortune cookie motivates student writing. (Grades 3-12)

"The Eyes Have It" Bulletin Board
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson, which uses a unique bulletin board to challenge students' observation skills. (Grades K-5)

Foreign Language Lip-Sync Karaoke Contest
Tina Matic, who teaches at Oxford Academy in Cypress, California, submitted this week's lesson in which a lip-sync contest provides an unforgettable foreign language lesson. (Grades 6-12)

Doubles Plus One
Patti Woodhull, who teaches at Vista Fundamental School in Simi Valley, California, submitted this game in which students practice doubling numbers. Player with the most X's on the gameboard wins! (Grades 1-5)

Button Math (and Button BINGO)
Mindy Martincic, a student at the University of Pittsburgh (Johnstown, Pennsylvania), submitted this lesson in which buttons are used to teach or reinforce the concepts of greater than and less than. Also sets and attributes. (Grades K-2)

Traveling Community Journal Project
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Torbay, Newfoundland (Canada), submitted this week's lesson in which students' traveling journals teach them about communities and cultures. (Grades 2-8)

Our Dinopals With WordArt
Marci McGowan, who teaches at H. W. Mountz Elementary School in Spring Lake, New Jersey, submitted this lesson in which students listen to a Jane Yolen story then create a dinopal of their own. Included: Easy tech integration activity for first graders. (Grades K-3)

Play Battleship on Graph Paper
Peter Heusinger, who teaches at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina, submitted this lesson in which the board game Battleship is adapted to teach coordinate plane algebra. (Grades 3-12)

Beanie Baby Biographies
Mary Pat Mahoney, who teaches at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Grapevine, Texas, submitted this lesson in which students develop a biography for a Beanie Baby. (Grades K-5)

Back-in-Time Travel Brochure
Brett Sidle, who teaches at Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep in Orchard Lake, Michigan, submitted this lesson in which students learn about history by creating back-in-time travel brochures. (Grades 6-12)

Survey Says...
Veronica Davis, who teaches as Hector P. Garcia Elementary School in Temple, Texas, submitted this lesson in which student create and conduct surveys and report the results in graph and letter form. (Grades 3-8)

In the Pumpkin (Dans la Citrouille)
Barbara McLaren, who teaches in Ontario, Canada, submitted this lesson for harvest time; students learn foreign language vocabulary words for a variety of vegetables. (Grades 3-8)

Popcorn Fractions
Diane Meehan, who teaches at Trinity Lutheran School in Freistatt, Missouri, submitted this hands-on lesson that uses popcorn to teach about fractions. (Grades 3-5)

A Seashell Lesson: Writing for Detail and the Scientific Process
Jayme Steighner, who teaches at Gregory Elementary School in Wilmington, North Carolina, submitted this lesson in which seashells are used to teach students about the importance of including detail in their (science) writing. (Grades 3-8)

Puzzling Clue Vocabulary
Elizabeth Eaton, who teaches at Savanna Ridge Elementary School in Fort Pierce, Florida, submitted this lesson in which students "puzzle" over the connection between clues as they review or build vocabulary. (Grades 3-12)

Find the Mean, Median, and Range (A Mathematical Game)
Melba Smithwick, who teaches at Paul R. Haas Middle School in Corpus Christi, Texas, submitted this lesson in which students use playing cards to reinforce finding the mean, median, and range of data. (Grades 3-12)

Hog Dog Writing
Barb Frye, who teaches at Titusville (Pennsylvania) Middle School, submitted this lesson in which a hot dog is used as a metaphor and assessment checklist for good student writing. (Grades 3-8)

Showing and Telling: The "Outburst Writing" Activity
Colin Bridgewater, who teaches at The American School in London (London, England), submitted this lesson in which he stages an elaborate ruse in order to teach kids an important lesson in good writing.

Packing Nouns
Sharlene McIntyre, who teaches at Arthur Williams Middle School in Jesup, Georgia, submitted this lesson, which reinforces students' knowledge of nouns. (Grades 3-8)

Greater Than or Less Than With "Mr. Great"
Yitty Lev, who teaches at Queens Gymnasia in Queens, New York, submitted this lesson, which offers a fun way to help students grasp the concepts greater than and less than. (Grades K-5)

Drawing a "Life Map"
Lindsay Bigham, who teaches at Liberty (South Carolina) Middle School, submitted this lesson in which students create "life maps" of their lives. This can be used as a prewriting activity for writing autobiographies. (Grades 3-12)

Oreo Cookie Writing
Mark A Schneberger, who teaches at Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) Community College, submitted this lesson in which Oreo cookies teach a valuable less about good writing. (Grades 3-12)

Stir Up a Character Analysis Recipe
Mary Pat Mahoney, who teaches at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Grapevine, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which students stir up character analysis "recipes" for characters in literature/history. (Grades 3-12)

Game Board Review
Kris Gazdziak, who teaches at Naperville (Illinois) Central High School, submitted this week's lesson, which provides a great review game for all grades, all subjects. (Grades K-12)

Wall of Peace
Mary E. Noyes (with Barrie Citrowske), who teaches at Minneota (Minnesota) Public School, submitted this week's lesson in which students' essays are used to build a classroom Wall of Peace. (Grades 5-12)

Ball Attack
Charles Milliren, who teaches at Owen-Withee Elementary School in Owen, Wisconsin, submitted this week's lesson in which students play a team game. (Grades 3-8)

My Alphabetical Autobiography
Leah Bivins, who teaches at Colfax Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson, which challenges students to create A to Z autobiographies. (Grades K-12)

Picture a Tarantula
Leigh Lewis, who teaches at Wynne (Arkansas) Junior High School, submitted this week's lesson. Students draw a picture of a spider based on a detailed description. How close will their drawings come? (Grades 3-8)

3R Activity (Reading-Relating-Responding)
Fatih Durmus, who teaches at Ozel Kasýmoglu Coskun Lisesi in Istanbul, Turkey, submitted this week's lesson, which provides a fun cooperative-group reading-comprehension strategy. (Grades 3-12)

Cooperative Group Spelling Game
Jane York, who teaches at Chimneyrock Elementary School in Cordova, Tennessee, submitted this week's lesson, which offers a fun and active game that can be used to reinforce spelling or vocabulary words. (Grades 3-8)

Fear Factor Fun
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this lesson in which students create and write vivid descriptions of new "Fear Factor" stunts they create. (Grades 3-12)

Character in a Bag
Miranda Babin, who teaches at Southdown Elementary School in Houma, Louisiana, created this lesson in which pairs of students use clues from a paper bag to cooperatively develop a mystery character and produce a PowerPoint about the character. (Grades 3-12)

100 Famous Quotes Game
Doug Evans, who teaches at Nagoya International Junior/Senior High School in Nagoya, Aichi (Japan), submitted this lesson in which students compete in teams to learn 100 famous quotes. (Grades 3-12)

Circles, Squares, Triangles and Rectangles In Our World
Ms. K. Berni, who teaches at Faith Lutheran Child Care Center in Pasadena, California, submitted this week's lesson, which offers five days of activities for teaching young students about shapes. (Grades Pre-K-2)

Seven Wonders of the World
Priya Ravikumar, who teaches at DAV Public School in Mumbai, Maharashtra (India), submitted this week's lesson in which students explore the Seven Wonders of the ancient and modern worlds. (Grades 3-12)

Take a Roller Coaster Ride
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska, submitted this lesson in which students design a roller coaster. They will learn about different types of coasters as they design their own and test it for success. (Grades 3-12)

Celebrate Abe Lincoln: A Primary Timeline Activity
Martha Leslie, who teaches at Centennial Elementary School in Graham, Washington, submitted this lesson in which students create simple timelines based on the life of Abe Lincoln. Other projects include painting Lincoln portraits. (Grades K-2)

Interviewing Famous Leaders in History
Lisa Auanger, a teachr at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Virginia, submitted this lesson in which students research famous leaders (e.g., U.S presidents, Roman emperors, English monarchs…) and create a realistic interview based on that research. (Grades 5-12)

Sequencing The Mitten
Nicole Tyminski, who teaches at McKinley Elementary School in Westfield, New Jersey, submitted this week's lesson, which teaches sequencing skills using The Mitten by Jan Brett. (Grades K-2)

Filling in the Holes, 20 Years Later
Glenda Smith, who teaches at Glenpool (Oklahoma) Middle School, submitted this week's lesson in which students draw conclusions about what the main characters in Louis Sachar's Holes will be doing 20 years into the future. (Grades 3-8)

Perfecting My Pal's Poe Paragraph
Kathryn Donlin of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (Pennsylvania) submitted this week's lesson in which students study the opening paragraph of one of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, the use some of the same elements Poe used to create their own great opening paragraphs. (Grades 9-12)

Meaty Words
Angie Morris, who teaches at Bellflower (Missouri) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson, which focuses on choosing the "meaty words" when summarizing a piece of text; a good introductory lesson to note-taking too. (Grades 3-8)

The Life and Poems of Emily Dickinson
Rhiannon Brownlee submitted this week's lesson in which students learn first about the life of Emily Dickinson, then use that information to help them interpret several of her poems. (Grades 9-12)

Santa Claus and Newton's Three Laws of Motion
Leigh O. Cody, who teaches at Needwood Middle School in Brunswick, Georgia, submitted this week's lesson in which students decide which of Newton's Three Laws of Motion applies to each of three Santa scenarios. (Grades 3-8)

Get the Ball Rolling: Fun With English-Language Idioms
Cindy Kimbrell, who teaches at Rusk Elementary School in Midland, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which students think about multiple meanings of some English-language idioms. (Grades 3-12)

The Price Is Right
Christa Broadwater of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (Pennsylvania) submitted this week's lesson in which students use a variation on "The Price Is Right" to learn that different coin combinations can have the same value. (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Fraction Fun With The Doorbell Rang
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Torbay, Newfoundland, submitted this week's lesson in which the children's book The Doorbell Rang (by Pat Hutchins) stimulates fraction learning and fun. (Grades K-4)

The Cowboy Life
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson in which students choose from a wide variety of activities aimed at "spurring" interest in cowboy life and the Old West. (Grades 3-8)

Mad Math Desk Derby
Stephanie Templet, who teaches at Galvez Middle School in Prairieville, Louisiana, submitted this week's lesson in which students review and practice math facts by playing a fun game. (Grades K-8)

Amusing Animal Adaptations
Jeana Carlson, who teaches at Navarro Elementary School in Bryan, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which students write creatively as they use their knowledge of animal adaptations. (Grades K-5)

Fast Facts
Linda Nation, who teaches at Crockett Elementary School in Bryan, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which students play a fun, hands-on game to reinforce basic math-facts skills. (Grades K-8)

Novel Jeopardy
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Torbay, Newfoundland (Canada), submitted this lesson, which presents a Jeopardy-style game that is a great way to review the novel students have just finished studying. (Grades 3-12)

Take Five: Writing a Color-Coded Paragraph
Brenda Armstrong, who teaches at Ann Whitney Elementary School in Hamilton, Texas, submitted this week's lesson in which a traffic light's colors serve as a tool for writing strong paragraphs. (Grades K-4)

Tomie dePaola's Adelita: A Bio Poem
Christopher Lucero, an education student at Long Beach State in Long Beach, California, submitted this week's lesson in which students write a bio poem about the main character in Tomie dePaola's Mexican Cinderella story, Adelita. A nice lesson for Hispanic Heritage Month. (Grades K-2)

A Symbol of Myself
Tammy Buehler, who teaches at Forest Park Elementary School in O'Fallon, Missouri, submitted this week's lesson in which students create a clay "symbol of myself." Nice open house display idea. (Grades 3-8)

The Perfect Teacher
Linda Mauriello, who teaches at Salem High School in Conyers, Georgia, submitted this week's lesson, which offers a fun activity that will help teachers drive home the concepts of mutual respect and high expectations. (Grades 9-12)

Faces Bingo
Laura E. Lambert, who teaches at Marion C. Seltzer Elementary School in Cleveland, Ohio, submitted this week's lesson in which students match classmates' name cards with their pictures on a bulletin board. (Grades K-2)

"Me" Resource
Julianne Z. Cugini, who teaches at St. Louise de Marillac School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson in which students create "Me" entries for a dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, newspaper... (Grades 3-8)

Summer Camp in the Classroom
VaReane C. Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this lesson, in which students team up to create summer camping adventures. (Grades 3-12)

Sports and Hobby Math
Melissa Thomas, who teaches at Dacula (Georgia) Middle School, submitted this lesson, in which students write about ways in which they use math in a favorite sport or hobby. (Grades 3-12)

Invent a Holiday
Katrina Stroup, who teaches at Alcorn Central School in Glen, Mississippi, submitted this lesson, in which students create a new holiday worth celebrating. (Grades 3-12)

Sheep and Wolves
Denis McCarthy, who teaches at Sheng Kung Hui Primary School on Macau, submitted this lesson, in which students release energy in a quick game of "Sheep and Wolves." (Grades K-5)

Mother's Day Trip
Rox-Anne Cox, who teaches at Albia Community School in Albia, Iowa, submitted this lesson in which students send their mothers on a special Mother's Day trip. (Grades 3-8)

Writing a Character Sketch
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Torbay, Newfoundland (Canada), submitted this lesson, in which students use a graphic organizer to learn to write a character sketch about someone they know. (Grades 9-12)

Pizza Biography
Jennie Griffin, who teaches at Rockvale (Tennessee) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson, in which students create pizza box biographies. (Grades 3-8)

What Is in the Water?
Susan Sanders, who teaches at Central Junior High School in Pollok, Texas, submitted this lesson, in which students compare bottled water qualities to water found naturally in a pond habitat. (Grades 6-12)

Poetry Shopping Spree
Kristen Cash Pittman, who teaches at Pickens (South Carolina) High School, submitted this lesson in which students go on a "poetry shopping spree." (Grades 6-12)

Shopping the Sunday Circular
Amy Wheaton, who teaches at Foley Intermediate School in Foley, Alabama, submitted this lesson, in which students figure the cost-per-unit of a variety of items in a grocery store's sale circular. (Grades 3-8)

Bill of Rights
Adam Burkett, a student at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, submitted this lesson, in which students explore the Bill of Rights by identifying the right that relates to each of a dozen scenarios. (Grades 6-12)

In Search Of Wisdom: An Interview With An Elder
Leah-Rae Bivins, who teaches at Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, submitted this lesson, in which students interview an elder, then write and present a narrative in that person's voice. (Grades 6-12)

Go Nuts With Peanuts
Gail Hennessey, who teaches at Harpursville Central School in Harpursville, New York, submitted this week's lesson, in which students learn about peanuts by exploring a variety of Web sites. (Grades 3-8)

At the Dinner Table: A Foreign Language Lesson
Adrien Morel, who teaches at E.W. Stokes School in Washington, D.C., submitted this hand-on activity, in which students learn the foreign language vocabulary for a dinner-table setting. (Grades K-3)

The Power of Mental Images: Visualizing Literature
Stiles X. Simmons, who teaches at Mann Elementary School in Detroit, Michigan, submitted this week's lesson, in which students learn and practice a new reading strategy: visualization. (Grades 3-5)

Number Line Game
Sr. Ann Claire Rhoads, who teaches at Mother Seton Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, submitted this week's lesson, which offers a game that reinforces number line concepts and the addition of positive and negative numbers. (Grades 3-8)

An Experiment in Unfair Treatment/Prejudice
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Torbay, Newfoundland (Canada), submitted this lesson, which offers a simple experiment to help launch a discussion of unfair treatment and prejudice/bias. (Grades 3-12)

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Gail Hennessey, who teaches at Harpursville (New York) Middle School, submitted this lesson, which includes a handful of activities -- including an Internet scavenger hunt -- that teach about Harriet Tubman. (Grades 3-8)

Grab a Story and Go!
Kamese Fogg, an education student at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland, submitted this shared-writing activity emphasizing the importance of continuity in short-story writing. (Grades 3-12)

Picture This!
This lesson, in which students write text for picture books, was developed from ideas presented by teachers Kellie Slaughter of Belmont Hills Elementary in Smryna, Georgia, and Katrina Stroup of Alcorn Central Elementary School in Glen, Mississippi. (Grades K-8)

Outgroup Experiment Reveals Bias, Stereotyping
Marcie Pachter, who teaches at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, Florida, submitted this week's lesson, which includes an activity to let students experience the bias and stereotyping often experienced by people who are different. (Grades 6-12)

Gold Rush California and Its Diverse Population
Roselyn Wang, a student at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, submitted this week's lesson, in which students compare the population of California today and at the start of the Gold Rush in the 1850s. (Grades 6-12)

The ABC Project
Beverly Thomas, who teaches at the Alief Hastings Ninth Grade Center in Houston, Texas, submitted this week's lesson, in which older students create ABC books for younger students. (Grades 3-12)

Happy 100th Birthday, Airplane!
Gail Hennessey, who teaches at Harpursville (New York) Central School, submitted this week's lesson, which offers a handful of ideas for celebrating the Wright brothers' historic flight. (Grades 3-8)

Spell, Shoot, and Score
Cynthia Mackel, who teaches at Rosemont Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, submitted this week's lesson in which students play a fun game to review their spelling word lists. (Grades K-5)

Jump Rope Math
Laurie McGrath, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in St. John's, Newfoundland, submitted this fun-filled math game that can be used to reinforce math skills across the grades. (Grades PreK-12)

Plains Indians Pictographs
Laura Wolfram, who teaches at Horace Mann School in Bronx, New York, submitted this week's lesson, in which students design their own pictograph sentences on scraps of "buffalo hide."

Hands-On Outlining
Jessica Maroney, who teaches at Armstrong Elementary School in Fayetteville, North Carolina, submitted this week's lesson, which offers a fun hands-on activity to engage students as they learn about outlining. (Grades 3-8)

Digital Scavenger Hunt
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson, in which teams of students take photos of a variety of scavenger hunt items -- for example, something that changes shape, something that flashes. (Grades 3-8)

Team Up for Sports Marketing
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska, submitted this week's lesson, in which students create and market their own sports franchises. (Grades 3-12)

Spelling Relay
Caroline Lowther, who teaches at Captain James Cook Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), submitted this week's lesson, in which students participate in a spelling relay contest. (Grades K-12)

Red Square, Red Square, What Do You See?
Susanne Shorday DiMarco, who teaches at Abington Presbyterian Nursery School in Abington, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson, in which students create a book in the style of Eric Carle that reinforces color and shape awareness. (Grades PreK-2)

Writing Descriptions of "My Favorite Place"
Michael Pratley, who teaches at Frankfort (Michigan) High School, submitted this lesson, in which a special exercise helps students focus on imagining and then write excellent descriptions.

Measurement Masterpiece
Laura Graham, who teaches at Tri-City Christian School in Independence, Missouri, submitted this lesson, in which students use their measurement and estimation skills to create a "measurement masterpiece."

Reconstructing Artifacts
Michelle Gay, who teaches at Foley (Alabama) Intermediate School, submitted this fun, hands-on activity, in which students learn about an archaeologist's work.

Equivalent Fraction Bingo
Raymundo V. De Jesus, who teaches at the Harriet Tubman Learning Center (P.S. 154M) in New York City, submitted this lesson in which students play a BINGO-like game to reinforce equivalent fraction skills.

Fuzzy-Feeling Chair
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Inuksuit School in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut (Canada), submitted this lesson, in which a special chair becomes the setting for an activity that builds students' self-esteem and self-confidence.

Talking About Your Name in Math Terms
Paulina Jurkijevic, who teaches at Bakewell Primary School in Palmerston, Northern Territory (Australia), submitted this lesson in which students examine their own names in mathematical terms.

First-Day-of-School Activity: The Kissing Hand
Teachers Amanda Dobson submitted this week's lesson, which uses a popular children's book to help alleviate young students' first-day-of-school jitters.

ABC Book of Tongue Twisters
Marci McGowan, who teaches at H.W. Mountz Elementary School in Spring Lake, New Jersey, submitted this lesson, in which students study alliteration and create a class ABC Book of Tongue Twisters.

Spelling Clue Race
Miriam Arvinger, who teaches at Guilford Middle School in Greensboro, North Carolina, submitted this week's lesson, which provides a motivating way to review spelling words.

Make Quiz Time a Fun Time
Lisa Kwisnek, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson that provides a fun quiz game format you might use to culminate your next science, history, or literature unit.

Money Management: Grocery Shopping for a Family Profile
Shirley Huinink, who teaches at Laurentian Hills Christian School in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada), submitted this week's lesson in which students work in groups to create menus and shopping lists for one of five profiled families.

Our Changing Community
Sharon Hall, who teaches at South Lebanon Elementary School in Maineville, Ohio, submitted this week's lesson, a hands-on project that teaches students how communities change as they grow.

Spelling Review Game
Andrea Hazen, who teaches in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson, in which students play a fast-paced BINGO-like game to review the week's spelling words.

Using Literature to Teach About Bullying
Joanne Hughes, who teaches at Covert Avenue Elementary School in Elmont, New York, submitted this week's lesson, in which students use literature to learn about different types of bullying and different ways of dealing with them.

Aesop's Fables
Michelle Stiglitz, who teaches in Staten Island, New York, submitted this week's lesson, in which students use Aesop's fables as a backdrop for a lesson in citizenship and letter writing.

The Great Kapok Tree: Teaching About Conflict in Literature
Karen Garcia, who teaches at Parkview Elementary School in Opa-locka, Florida, submitted this week's lesson, in which students use The Great Kapok Tree and a graphic organizer to illustrate the role of conflict in literature.

Survivor in the Classroom
Mary E. Noyes, who teaches at Minneota Public School in Minneota, Minnesota, submitted this week's lesson, which presents a series of challenges to students. Could your students survive? (All grades)

Discover the Pythagorean Theorem
Narinder Jeet Makkar, who teaches at Salwan Public School in New Delhi, Delhi (India), submitted this week's lesson, in which students discover the Pythagorean Theorem and find a real-world example of it. (Grades 6-12)

Three Healthful Meals: A Practical Food-Guide-Pyramid Activity
Mandy Logue, a teacher at Alcorn Central Elementary School in Glen, Mississippi, submitted this week's lesson in which students create paper plate art showing a day of healthful eating. (Grades 2-6)

A Modern Pandora's Box
Anita Wadhwa, who teaches at Lee High School in Houston, Texas, submitted this lesson, in which students read the story of Pandora's Box and then create modern-day versions of boxes filled with evil and hope. (Grades 6-12)

Using the Senses to Write Descriptively
Joanna Wolanski, who teaches at Evergeen Elementary School in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, submitted this lesson, in which students learn to improve their writing by including information from all five senses. (Grades 3-8)

Iditarod: The 1925 Serum Run from Anchorage to Nome
Patrick Nolden, a biology teacher at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska, submitted this lesson, in which students learn about the history of the Iditarod. (Grades 6-12)

Yummy Gummy Subtraction
Tori Ledlow, who teaches at Pinson (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this week's yummy hands-on lesson, in which gummy bears are used to teach simple subtraction. (Grades PreK-2)

Famous African-American Fabric Portraits
Doris Metcalf, who recently retired from the Florence (Alabama) City Schools, submitted this lesson, in which students create a fabric-portrait exhibit of famous African Americans. (Grades 6-12)

Abraham Lincoln: An Internet Buddy Activity
Peggy Chauncey Cramer, who teaches at Hamilton Elementary School in Kentwood, Michigan, submitted this week's "Internet buddy" lesson in which younger and older students team up to learn about Abraham Lincoln. (Grades K-8)

When A Story Met A Sandwich
Kym Rodriguez, who teaches at Kalles Jr. High School in Puyallup, Washington, submitted this lesson, in which a sandwich serves as a metaphor for good writing! (All Grades)

Human Nature: Good or Evil?
Patricia Rose Pflaumer, who teaches at Abington (Massachusetts) High School, submitted this week's lesson, in which students debate the question Is human nature inherently good or inherently evil? (Grades 6-12)

Fractured Fairy Tales
Linda Bray, who teaches at Alcorn Central Elementary School in Glen, Mississippi, submitted this week's lesson, in which students write their own fractured fairy tales in the style of Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. (Grades 3-8)

Positive and Negative Integers: A Card Game
Pam Harper, who teaches at Rockville (Indiana) Jr/Sr High School, submitted this lesson -- a card game in which black cards have positive values and red cards have negative values. (Grades 6-12)

Striking Out Stress: A "Gallery Walk" Activity
Andrea W. Petho, who teaches at Mahwah (New Jersey) High School, submitted this lesson, which actively involves students in a discussion about stress and how to cope with it. (Grades 6-12)

Shopping Spree
Julie Graves, who teaches at Centre (Alabama) Middle School, submitted this week's lesson. Students go on a shopping spree that requires them to calculate discount amounts and sales tax. (Grades 6-8, 9-12)

"Yarning" About Latitude and Longitude
Sharon Childress, who teaches at Asbury Junior High School in Albertville, Alabama, submitted this week's lesson. The hands-on activity helps students understand the concepts of longitude and latitude. (Grades 3-8)

Paper Bag Book Report
Linda Bray, who teaches at Alcorn Central Elementary School in Glen, Mississippi, submitted this week's lesson. Students promote community literacy by creating "paper bag book reports" and workers at a local grocery store pack customers' groceries in them! (Grades 3-8)

Comparing Cinderella and The Rough-Face Girl
Kellie Replogle, a soon-to-be teacher, submitted this week's lesson. Students use a Venn diagram to compare two popular children's stories -- Cinderella and the native tale The Rough-Face Girl.

Evaluating a Book By Its Cover
Steven Vetter, who teaches in Manatee County Schools in Bradenton, Florida, submitted this week's lesson. Students examine and evaluate book covers, then create their own cover for a favorite book. (Grades 6-8, 9-12)

Acrostic Book Report
Marci McGowan, who teaches at H. W. Mountz Elementary School in Spring Lake, New Jersey, submitted this week's lesson. Students use the letters in a book's title to write an acrostic book report. (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8)

Franchise Opportunity
Amy Derr, who teaches at East Lyme (Connecticut) High School, submitted this week's lesson. Students use a questionnaire to guide them as they explore and evaluate a business franchise opportunity. (Grades 9-12)

Comparing Two Poe Classics
Alexis H. Groah, who teaches at Daniel Morgan Middle School in Winchester, Virginia, submitted this week's lesson. Students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two classic stories of Edgar Allan Poe. (Grades 6-8, 9-12)

Mystery Lessons
VaReane Hesse, who teaches at Springfield (Missouri) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson, which includes a handful of fun ideas for teaching about mysteries. (Grades 3-5, 6-8)

Doughnut Race
Tara Snider, who teaches at Albertville (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson. Students practice math facts as they race around a doughnut in this fast-paced and fun game. (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Writing Takes Shape!
Julie Graves, who teaches in Centre, Alabama, submitted this week's lesson. Students identify geometric solids and where those solids can be found in the world around them. (Grades 3-5, 6-8)

Math Facts Game
Charity Cleveland, who teaches in Oneonta, Alabama, submitted this week's lesson, which provides a fun game for practicing math facts. (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Survival Experts
VaReane Heese, who teaches at Springfield Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska, submitted this week's lesson. Students create educational brochures to educate others about how to survive such natural disasters as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes.
(Grades K-2, 3-5)

Shaving Cream Spelling
Catina Stewart, who teaches at Albertville (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson. Students use shaving cream for hands-on spelling practice. (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Sharing Under the Sea
Danielle Walchesky, who teaches at Meridian Elementary School in Butler, Pennsylvania, submitted this week's lesson. The picture book The Rainbow Fish is the starting point for a lesson in manners and sharing.
(Grades Pre-K-2)

Fraction Spelling
Spring Charles, who teaches at Albertville (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this lesson. Students create fractions to represent the number of vowels and consonants in each of their weekly spelling words.
(Grades K-2, 3-5)

Illustrated Safety Contract
Sister Maureen Fallon, who teaches at Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago, submitted this week's lesson. Students create illustrated contracts that spell out chemistry lab safety rules. (Grades 9-12)

Good Deeds Reap Rewards
Pauline Finlay, who teaches at Holy Trinity Elementary School in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, submitted this week's lesson. Students recognize the good deeds their peers do. (Grades 3-5, 6-8)

Getting-to-Know-You List Poem
Ruth Henck McCreery, who teaches at Visitation School in Kansas City, Missouri, submitted this week's lesson, which involves students in writing poems that will help them get to know one another's likes and dislikes. (Grades 6-8)

Desktop Spelling
Tara Snider, who teaches at Albertville (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this week's lesson. Students have fun while reviewing spelling words. (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Persuasive Writing -- Commercial Style
Tara Snider, who teaches at Albertville (Alabama) Elementary School, submitted this lesson. Students create persuasive TV commercials for common products. (Grades 3-5, 6-8)

Bubbles Galore
Kellie Slaughter, who teaches at Belmont Hills Elementary School in Smyrna, Georgia, submitted this lesson. Students blow bubbles, measure them, and predict their staying power. (Grades 3-5)

View More Lesson Plans

Click this link to go to the original site to read more http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/

Teacher Links

2009-10-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

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OLET (Licensure Examination for Teachers) Results for April 2009

2009-10-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced yesterday that 7,470 out of 26,812 examinees passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) in the elementary level given last April 5. The PRC also said 5,914 of 23,975 examinees succeeded in hurdling the LET in the secondary level.

The figures represent 27.86 percent and 24.67 percent passing rates for elementary and secondary levels, respectively.

Free Books Online that Teachers can use

2009-10-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Genre Pages Free

Because this page is becoming extremely long I have switched the genre sections to their own pages. Please check these separate pages out if you are interested in a particular genre as they have some links that have not been added to this main list as of yet and they also have links to audio books.

Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending

Kate Lambert recalls using her library card just once or twice throughout her childhood. Now, she uses it several times a month.

The lure? Electronic books she can download to her laptop. Beginning earlier this year, Ms. Lambert, a 19-year-old community college student in New Port Richey, Fla., borrowed volumes in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold and a vampire novel by Laurell K. Hamilton, without ever visiting an actual branch.

“I can just go online and type my library card number in and look through all the books that they have,” said Ms. Lambert, who usually downloads from the comfort of her bedroom. And, she added, “It’s all for free.”

Eager to attract digitally savvy patrons and capitalize on the growing popularity of electronic readers, public libraries across the country are expanding collections of books that reside on servers rather than shelves.

The idea is to capture borrowers who might not otherwise use the library, as well as to give existing customers the opportunity to try new formats.

“People still think of libraries as old dusty books on shelves, and it’s a perception we’re always trying to fight,” said Michael Colford, the director of information technology at the Boston Public Library. “If we don’t provide this material for them, they are just going to stop using the library altogether.”

About 5,400 public libraries now offer e-books, as well as digitally downloadable audio books. The collections are still tiny compared with print troves. The New York Public Library, for example, has about 18,300 e-book titles, compared with 860,500 in circulating print titles, and purchases of digital books represent less than 1 percent of the library’s overall acquisition budget. REad the complete original article here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/books/15libraries.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

Pinoy teachers ask for salary upgrade

2009-10-06T00:52:00.001-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - The teachers’ group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said despite the worldwide celebration of World Teachers’ Day yesterday, teachers, especially those in public schools, are still not being fully appreciated because of their inadequate salary and benefits.

Antonio Tinio, ACT national chairperson, said the inadequate pay raise given by the recent enactment of the new Salary Standardization Law (SSL) and their continuing battle against over-deductions and difficulties in obtaining loans with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), make the lives of teachers difficult in the Philippines.
“Sadly, teachers, whether from public or private schools are still not given decent compensation showing a lack of appreciation for their hard work and sacrifices,” Tinio said.

“Our underpaid public school teachers, who resort to loans to make ends meet and support their own families are given a harder time by the GSIS through their claims and loan interdependency program,” he added.
ACT, in observance of World Teachers’ Day, has urged governments all over the world “to provide teachers with the resources and support necessary to attain quality education for all.”

Tinio said that despite the SSL-3, they will continue to fight for a higher salary.
The so-called Salary Standardization Law 3, which upgraded the Teacher I position by one salary grade or from Salary Grade 10 to 11 and provides an increase of P6,500 over four years, was inadequate, according to Tinio, since it did not cover for the lack of pay hike for teachers for several years during which inflation and the cost of living also rose.

“The pay hike granted by SSL3, coming after a six-year moratorium on public sector salary increases, remains inadequate because it fails to restore the purchasing power of teachers’ salaries eroded by the rising cost of living,” ACT said in a statement.

“Furthermore, the SSL3 fails to address the long-standing distortion in standardized salaries whereby teachers are paid lower than other positions with lower qualifications,” ACT noted.
“For these reasons, ACT will continue the struggle for decent remuneration for teachers by campaigning for the upgrading of teachers to a minimum of Salary Grade 15,” ACT said.

Another teachers’ group, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), a federation of public school teachers’ associations all over the country, called off last week a couple of activities they had scheduled to celebrate the event.

TDC canceled a big gathering of about 10,000 teachers at the Rizal Coliseum and a caravan rally they were planning to hold at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to protest against the state workers fund’s alleged anti-public schoolteacher policies.

Meanwhile, militant teachers from Central Luzon celebrated the event with a demand for the upgrading of their salaries to about P25,000 monthly.

Fabian Hallig, secretary-general of ACT-CL, said public teachers want the upgrading of their pay from the current Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15.

He said that under the present salary grade the pay of the teachers range from 14,198 to P16,335, covering the first tranche of the four-year upgrading of their pay under Executive Order No. 811.
The demand of the teachers would be on top of their pay covered by EO 811, as Salary Grade 15’s salary range is from P24,887 to P26,868 monthly.

Hallig said the teachers are also demanding the “acceleration of full implementation of salary increases granted under Executive Order 811 in two years instead of four years.”
“We are also renewing our call for scrapping of anti-teacher policies and practices of the GSIS,” he stressed.
Teachers from various parts of Central Luzon yesterday held a forum at the Dau Elementary School in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and ACT-Philippines National Council member Louie Zabala were guests. –Ding Cervantes. Read the original article here

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=511640&publicationSubCategoryId=63

PLDT-Smart pays tribute to teachers

2009-10-06T00:45:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - On Oct. 10, PLDT and Smart Foundation’s Gabay Guro Program holds a grand celebration of the National Teachers’ Day.

The program supports and uplifts the professional development of teachers through scholarship grants, English proficiency and computer literacy trainings. PLDT, this year’s recipient of the Philippine Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) Employer of the Year award, through this endeavor goes side by side with the Department of Education’s commitment to improve the quality of education in the country. It is PLDT’s way of giving back and giving more to those who give unconditionally.

From a small beginning of just having 15 scholars in PNU, the Gabay Guro Program has grown into having over 100 scholars nationwide. The scholars include the best from various state universities.

For its second year, the PLDT-Smart Foundation with the Managers’ Club Incorporated (PLDT MCI) and its supportive partners again commemorate teachers’ unflinching dedication and hard work through the Gabay Guro Teacher’s Day on Oct. 10. Chaye Cabal, PLDT finance head and spokesperson of the Gabay Guro Program said selected teachers/partners from different provinces will be flown in to Manila to enjoy special treatment and attend various special PLDT-conducted seminars and activities tomorrow, Oct. 7.

This year, PLDT continues to change lives as it gives scholarships to deserving students, and to open partnerships with LGUs, government institutions and other non-government organizations to continue helping our public school teachers. Plans include housing projects for teachers, micro-financing and other livelihood projects to augment the teachers’ income.

For details, log on to www.gabayguro.com.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=511526&publicationSubCategoryId=70

Build the future; invest in teachers now

2009-10-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

TODAY, October 5, we salute and say “Thank you” to all the teachers of the world as we celebrate World Teachers’ Day.

This annual tribute to teachers was enunciated by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Education International, the recognized organization of 30 million teachers worldwide, in 1994 to commemorate the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the Unesco/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers.

That joint recommendation has been the foundation of a number of global initiatives meant to enhance the welfare and ensure the dignity of teachers as the bedrock of educational reforms. Since then the three organizations have joined hands in ensuring that the world takes stock of the status of teachers and the teaching profession as the centerpiece of such reforms and the attainment of the UN-sponsored Education for All (EFA) agenda.

The 2009 theme
It is fitting that this year’s theme—“Build the Future, Invest in Teachers Now”—takes note of the possible impact of the global economic crisis on the avowed goal of governments worldwide to achieve the EFA goals by 2015. That agenda puts critical emphasis on, nay, guarantees the full and proper recruitment, training and professional development of teachers.

More than that, in an unprecedented move, the global educational sector has included other school workers, i.e., nonacademic personnel and community-based educational assistants in their broadened agenda of support.

These are welcome, albeit belated, moves. Nonetheless, we join the international community in celebrating this day and, thus, focus on the plight of teachers worldwide. We have said before and will say it again—societal reform can best, and will probably, happen mainly via educational reform.
By upgrading the quality and access to education, we ensure the enhancement of our quality of life and the sustainable future of the global community. That can only be assured as teachers get their just due, work and live in an atmosphere of peace and stability and with full dignity. Like second moms (or pops), teachers have very distinct and critical roles to play in shaping and moving societies.

In enunciating this year’s theme, the three organizations advised “the need for ongoing development of teachers from the pre-service or Initial Professional Education of Teachers to the in-service or Continuing Professional Teacher Development, levels.”

They also called upon governments to “invest in education by availing [themselves] of more financial resources with the ultimate goal of, among other things, improving the quality of human resources and their conditions of service.”

It is noted that sustained investment to develop a well-trained and motivated teaching force at this critical juncture is required more than ever. The organizations noted that an estimated 10.3 million new teachers must be recruited worldwide by 2015 just to meet the goal of universal primary education.

They noted that “in our rapidly changing and interdependent world, teachers not only have to ensure that students acquire solid skills in basic subjects, but also that they become responsible local and global citizens, at ease with new technologies and able to make informed decisions about health, the environment and other challenges.”

Indeed, the challenges for governments, is such that to falter in their resolve is to set back the progress and development of their societies in more ways than one.

We note that there is a shortage of teachers worldwide if we are to achieve universal primary education, and an even greater number needed for the provision of secondary, higher, technical and vocational or nonformal education, including alternative systems.

The teaching profession faces other challenges, as well, such as economic, social and technological issues, to name just three of the more pervasive ones, impacting on the profession. These challenges get even more serious in countries such as the Philippines, which are increasingly becoming the target of international migration as quality teachers get “poached” for jobs overseas. Innovative approaches to accelerate the development of a pool of quality teachers for our own requirements and that of other countries will be a big challenge for our educational managers now and in the future.

RP on the ball
It is worth noting that the Philippines has been at the forefront of enhancing the quality and access to basic education and, more critically, the upgrading of the status and dignity of our teaching force. The education budget has been increasing on a full amount and even on the basis of percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).

Although we have yet to reach the ideal percentage of at least 5 percent to 7 percent of GDP, we are almost or may already be there if we combine all the funds dispersed in other agencies within the education and social-services sector committed to education. We note, in particular, those allocated for capital outlay, feeding programs and the like which also run in the billions of pesos.
The active and overwhelming participation of the private sector, especially at the tertiary levels, as well as endowments from other sources committed to education and training, should already enroll us among the world’s most “education-oriented” governments and societies. Which is why it is not surprising at all that every Filipino family is heavily committed to education and training as the principal, perhaps even the only, means for future advancement and social mobility.

We are aware that government funding will always fall short of our desired goals. Which is why we have to be creative in our approaches to teacher enhancement and in the provision of quality education. We note the deliberate and focused use of the additional funds for teacher training which Congress is poised to provide through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on a multiyear basis.

To put this to good use, the CHED, Department of Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, the Commission on Early Child Education and Development, and the private sector will have to work together and pinpoint the “gaps” in the provision of quality, motivated and sustained teaching professionals.
Indeed, as we celebrate World Teachers Day, today we are reminded of the need to nurse our limited resources for the benefit of our teachers, the better to get more people interested and stay for life, if possible, in the profession.

This is particularly acute in the Philippines since we have become a prime target of teacher recruitment for other countries, especially in the critical positions, and, if we don’t watch out, the transfer of our teachers to other professions. There has to be a proper and comprehensive approach to stem the tide and enlarge and enhance the pool of professionals who are going to accelerate the molding of the responsible and patriotic citizens of a future progressive, united and dignified Philippines.

So, as we say “Thank you” to our teachers and salute them for their sacrifices, we can only promise to continue advocating the enhancement of their welfare and dignity as we monitor the implementation of programs and projects meant to synchronize intentions with real, active and positive implementation.

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/16842-build-the-future-invest-in-teachers-now.html

Telco to offer training program for CV public school teachers

2009-09-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

TELECOMMUNICATIONS firm Globe Telecom Inc. will pilot an information and communication technology (ICT) training program for public high school teachers in Central Visayas to support its Internet in Schools Program (ISP).

The parallel capacity building module for teachers called the Global Filipino Teachers program is also aimed at improving the teachers’ global competitiveness by integrating the use of the Internet as part of classroom methodologies.

Read all about the program here in the original newspaper posting

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/telco-offer-training-program-cv-public-school-teachers

P1.1B set to hook up Philippine public schools to Net

2009-09-28T00:26:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines—A total of P1.1 billion has been allotted to provide Internet connectivity to a total of 9,048 public elementary and high schools countrywide, Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, said Sunday.

Santiago said the fresh funding, contained in the proposed P1.541-trillion national budget for next year, would also cover the acquisition of additional computer sets for 577 public high schools.

"Technology and the Internet are definitely taking on bigger roles in basic education—in providing essential instructional support. Our public schools cannot afford to be left farther behind," Santiago said.

"It has become absolutely imperative for us to provide students and teachers alike greater access to the wealth of knowledge and information on the Internet," he added.

As of April this year, with the support of private and non-government partners, Santiago said the Department of Education had managed to install computer laboratories in 4,019 public high schools.
More than half of these schools are now hooked up to the Internet, according to Santiago, former chief of the National Telecommunications Commission.

"We are now living in a world where Internet access is increasingly becoming a necessity, not a luxury. We have to ensure that every public high school graduate has ample computer literacy," Santiago said.

Without counting the new P1.1-billion allocation for 2010, Santiago said the government intends to provide a total of 6,650 public high schools nationwide with computers and Internet connectivity by the end of this year.

Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (Gilas) has been the largest private contributor to the push to improve the public school system’s access to computers and the World Wide Web.
Led by the Ayala Foundation Inc., Gilas is a program driven mainly by corporations and non-profit institutions "that realize the need to invest in bridging the digital divide among the nation's public high school students."

Read the complete original article here http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090906-223822/P11B-set-to-hook-up-public-schools-to-Net

October 5 is Happy Teachers Day

2009-09-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

By Presidential Proclamation No. 479 [10] to honor more than 500,000 teachers nationwide. However, (Tagalog:Araw ng mga Guro) in the Philippines (Teacher's Day) is actually celebrated in schools between the months of September and October (mainly elementary and secondary levels).

Teachers are presented with orchid corsages by students. Groups of students representing various grade levels perform short skits or song and dance numbers, or read poetry for their teachers in front of fellow schoolmates in school-wide activities. These activities are planned by senior students in the Student Council who coordinate the activities well in advance. For Filipino-Chinese schools, a program is usually organized by students for teachers on September 27, while September 28, considered as the actual Teacher's Day, is a school holiday where both teachers and students are allowed to rest. September 28 was chosen because it is known as the birthday of famous Chinese philosopher Confucius

For some universities in the Metro Manila area, Catholic Teachers' Day is celebrated on the second week of February.

"eBay for teachers" makes its debut

2009-09-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

A new startup thinks it can help fix the USA's under-funded andovertaxed education system.

EduFire fancies itself as an eBay for teachers. The one-year-old site has recruited and attracted more than 5,000 teachers, who offer 150 to 200 online classes a day to some 30,000 students. The courses typically are in language, test preparation and technology training. Most classes are free, but teachers have the option of charging for others, and pocketing 85% of the fee. A SuperPass of $30 per month gives students unlimited access to all courses.

All start-ups face tough challenges, especially in a difficult economy. But EduFire might get lucky. The Obama administration has put a renewed focus on education, and a Department of Education-SRI International study concluded that online learning has better outcomes than face-to-face, classroom learning. And the growth of broadband has vastly improved video streaming, interactive presentations and other teaching tools

http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2009/09/ebay-for-teachers-makes-its-debut.html

USA Schools Look Abroad to Hire Teachers

2009-09-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Some American school districts have turned increasingly to overseas recruiting to find teachers willing to work in their hard-to-staff schools, according to a new report by a national teachers union.
The report used government data to estimate that 19,000 foreign teachers were working in the United States on temporary visas in 2007, and that the number was rising steadily. There are more than three million teachers in American public schools.

“Overseas-trained teachers are being recruited from nearly all corners of the globe and are being placed primarily in hard-to-staff inner-city or very rural schools teaching the hard-to-fill disciplines of math, science and special education,” said the report, by the American Federation of Teachers. Click this link to read the original article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/education/15teach.html

Teachers oppose shortened class hours

2009-09-25T22:12:00.001-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - A national teachers’ organization has opposed the Department of Education’s move to shorten class hours in public elementary schools in a bid to add more class shifts.

The Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (ASSERT) said reducing the learning time of students to add more class shifts in public schools would result to heavier loads for teachers and raise the possibility of institutionalizing three shifts or even four shifts of classes in public schools from the current two-shift system.

ASSERT secretary general Fidel Fababier said adding a third shift in public schools was some sort of punishment for teachers who would be made to shoulder the burden caused by DepEd’s failure to secure more funding for more classrooms and school buildings.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus issued last Aug. 25 an order reducing the “teaching and learning time” in the elementary level.

In DepEd Order 90 series of 2009, Lapus decreed that classes for Grades 1 to 2 will be four hours, Grade 3 will have four hours and 30 minutes, and Grades 4 to 6 will have five hours. Click this link to read complete article http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=507252&publicationSubCategoryId=63

ReadWriteWeb's List of Kid-Friendly Online Resources for teachers

2009-09-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

In an age when gross-out sites like goatse are just a click away, a number of services offer parents the information they need to find quality online entertainment. While past generations were raised on unfiltered television and video games, today's parent take a more active role in the process of media consumption.

AOL's PlaySavvy: PlaySavvy is another site that offers parents a chance to check out age-appropriate kids games. Similar to What They Play, this site lists the ESRB ratings next to games and information is categorized by topic and gaming system. Products for console favorites like Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are often featured on the site. AOL also offers parents daily articles and a section to view the most popular games.

Parents' Choice: Established in 1978, this site is run by the Parents' Choice Foundation - a nonprofit organization that offers awards to the top children's media and toys. Some of the award categories include websites, video games, DVDs, software, television programming and toys. This site definitely skews towards narrative-based educational materials. If your kid has a shorter attention span, you might want to visit PBS Kids instead.

Common Sense Media: Common Sense media is a nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering parents reviews and suggestions on appropriate content. The group produces movie, website, TV, game, book and music ratings as well as a number of educational tools for classroom use. The site can be personalized for kids between the ages of 2-17-years-old and it's available in English and Spanish. This site tends to weigh the benefits of mainstream media sites.

PBS Kids Play Island: This site offers parents reading resources, videos and games in English and Spanish. While the majority of the content is best queued up by a parent or teacher, the videos are particularly high quality and completely commercial free.

National Geographic for Kids: This site offers kid-friendly games, videos, stories and activities for nature lovers. The same photography that has made National Geographic a hit with grownups is likely to please kids. Not surprisingly, the video content is equally compelling. Discovery Kids offers a similar experience and is a great site for visual learners.

Totlol: Totlol is a parent-moderated version of YouTube. The site offers video options specifically designed for children and even offers "age optimized interfaces" to ensure that kids of different ages get the most appropriate content. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb covered Totlol's beta launch. As of today the site charges a $3 per month subscription fee or $54 until your child grows up.

original link here http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2009/09/24/24readwriteweb-readwritewebs-list-of-kid-friendly-online-r-47945.html

English skills remain a plus for Cebuanos

2009-09-14T23:00:00.001-07:00

CEBU, Philippines - The English proficiency of Filipinos, particularly the Cebuanos, is one good advantage emphasized by a company engaged in inviting more investors to the city. Click this link to read the complete original article

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=504213&publicationSubCategoryId=108

P1B set to retool teachers in Math, Science

2009-09-14T22:59:00.001-07:00

MANILA, Philippines—A total of P1 billion in fresh funding has been set aside to polish the abilities of public school teachers in the core competencies of English, Science, and Math, Cotabato Representative Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said in a statement Sunday.

The amount, included in the proposed P1.541-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2010, would be spent for the "in-service retraining" of 276,534 teachers who are non-majors in English, Science, and Math, according to Taliño-Mendoza.

She said the teachers "without the required specialization" would undergo three weeks of intensive university-based workshops. Click the link here to read the original posting

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090913-224996/P1B-set-to-retool-teachers-in-Math-Science

Students Get New Assignment: Pick Books You Like

2009-08-29T19:38:00.001-07:00

The experimental approach is part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in U.S. schools. Click the following link to read the complete original article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?hp

Free books bring fun, hope to Sulu teachers

2009-08-29T19:37:00.001-07:00

PATIKUL, Sulu -- The array of colorful, hardbound books excited Nurshida Pantasan, teacher-in-charge of the Licupun Elementary School in Omar town in Sulu.

She could not help but just guess the number of reading materials laid before her. After doing a mental count, she still could not say how much the books might be worth.
“I guess those books are really expensive, I wanted to get more of that,” Pantasan said, pointing to the row of Mathematics books.

Learning English
Hadja Evelyn Salih, principal of the Julkanain Taup Central Elementary School in North Laud in Siasi town, said in jest that her hands were already itching to get hold of the Reading and English books.

“You know what? We really need those books for our pupils because the majority of our school children are very poor in Reading and English. With a copy of that with those beautiful and colorful pictures, I am sure our students will be delighted to read and learn more English,” Salih said.

Muhain, Pantasan and Salih were among the 500 teachers and principals from six Sulu towns who participated in the Sulu Book Fair held in Patukul on August 17. The event was sponsored by the US-funded Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (Equalls2) Project.
The teachers who came needed no money to get the books. Click the following link to read the complete original article
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090830-222654/Free-books-bring-fun-hope-to-Sulu-teachers

Teachers' Month Campaign Launched

2009-08-27T00:42:00.001-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - Our country’s teachers are some of the most important, yet underappreciated members of the community. This is why leading members of the business, academe, media and NGO sectors have gotten together to start the Teachers’ Month Campaign (TMC), which will kick off on Sept. 6 and culminate on Oct. 5, World Teachers’ Day. The group’s goal is to turn World Teachers’ Day into a major nationwide celebration, similar to Mothers’ Day or Fathers’ Day.

The Teachers’ Month Campaign participants include Metrobank Foundation, Dela Salle University, Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, GMA-7, SM Supermalls, National Book Store, Anvil Publishing, Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, League of Cities of the Philippines, Local Government Academy, Synergeia Foundation, Bato-Balani Foundation, Philippine Business for Education, Foundation for Worldwide People Power, and Museo Pambata, among others. Other companies, socio-civic groups, retailers and partners are invited to come up with their own Teachers’ Day activities to help make the celebration bigger and more meaningful for teachers, students and the public.

CARES is teacher empowerment

2009-08-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - The Computer-Aided Resources for Educators and Students or CARES program is a parallel program of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers in the USA. Teachers are trained on to make use technology in designing, implementing, and assessing learning experiences to engage students and improve learning while enriching professional practice.

In our present time, it’s an enormous challenge to excite the creativity of the students who have become accustomed to passive learning. Through intensified Teacher Empowerment training, teachers are given tools to promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking by helping students solve authentic real world problems using digital tools and resources.

Teachers would be delighted that there are portable digital tools that would aid their classes any time, any day. These are called science-box, a science laboratory inside a box. With this teaching tool, they can explain temperature, renewable energy, and much more.

Most of the language learning solutions now have a built-in speech laboratory and guided writing laboratory. With a lot of intercultural model texts, videos and audio, students get well rounded experience in learning the language that in use to give them fright. Learning the language with the use of a digital solution will allow more repetition and privacy for the learner. Computers will never get tired of and will not laugh listening to the students’ tireless charades of broken English grammar, mispronounced words and questionable intonation.

These are just samples of what digital resources that teachers could be using in their classrooms. For free trainings and orientation on more of these kinds of digital resources for teachers, they can call Genetic Computer Institute at tel. no. 7254383. They can also check-out technology integration programs at www.geneticschools.net.

MORE countries now want their citizens to learn English.

2009-08-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

Associate professor Phyllis Chew of Nanyang University in Singapore made the observation during the Cebu International ESL (English as a Second Language) Conference at Diplomat Hotel, Cebu City last Saturday.

She said that the trend is the result of the change in the status of women in society, increase in migration and transmigration, knowledge explosion and information technology, the writing revolution, and the rise of a global language.

“Teachers need to know these changes. English, it seems, has raced ahead of its competitors. For the last 20 years, so many want to learn it,” she said.

Chew said Singapore, for one, is attracting many Koreans who want to learn to speak English.
The Philippines, India and Malaysia are among the Asian nations that are known as good English teachers because they have been using the language as their medium of instruction, she noted.
“The fast way of mastering English now is through content. And speed is crucial in the process. Many learn English quickly because this has been used as a medium of instruction when they started school. They have been immersed in an English acquisition-rich environment since they were young,” Chew said.

Being known as a nation with a pool of good English speakers, she added, will boost the influx of international students who want to learn English.

The Koreans made up 27.83 percent of Cebu’s tourist market from January to June 2009. According to the Department of Tourism, most of them come to Cebu to study English.
Meanwhile, the knowledge explosion and information technology (IT) across the globe also signaled the need for teachers to incorporate IT in their methodology for learners, especially the young, to easily cope and “survive” in their studies, Chew said.

The IT aspect of learning is characterized by digitization of learning materials, production of e-books (electronic books) and creation of Ebraries (electronic libraries), she said.
“Integration of IT also makes online education possible and enables learners to do many things (while on the Internet),” said Chew.

She pointed out that a good method of teaching English will depend on existing variables—such as time, type of students, place and culture—that teachers have to assess before conducting their lessons. Tuesday, August 11, 2009 http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/more-nations-want-english-language-skills

As Classrooms Go Digital, Textbooks Are History

2009-08-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

At Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., students use computers provided by the school to get their lessons, do their homework and hear podcasts of their teachers’ science lectures.

Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for “digital sections” of several English, history and science classes. And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create — and share — lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites.

Around the world, hundreds of universities, including M.I.T. and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, now use and share open-source courses. Connexions, a Rice University nonprofit organization devoted to open-source learning, submitted an algebra text to California. 8/8/09 NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/education/09textbook.html?_r=1&hp

Writing your employment letter hints:

2009-08-16T03:04:00.000-07:00

1. Write a comprehensive introductory letter that clearly explains why you are qualified for the job. Don’t just put in a resume, especially one that looks like it was edited three years ago.

2. Spell check! It gives a very bad impression to have wrong spelling or grammar in your application.

3. Be careful when putting attachments that cannot be opened. Case in point: Be careful not to save it in Microsoft Word 2007 format as this is a new format and cannot be opened by companies that are still using Word 2003 or Word 2000.

4. Don’t use an e-mail address with a weird or goofy name.

5. Don’t ask a friend to send or e-mail your application.

6. Specify the job you are applying for. Don’t make the company evaluate what job suits you best.

2009-08-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

“Around 20 to 30 years ago, even our taxi drivers could speak straight English. Now, many of them have a problem speaking the language clearly,” Gullas said.

Gullas pointed out that in India’s recent economic boom, their citizens with English skills were the ones who benefitted from it. “This is because they are the ones cornering the good-paying jobs,” noted the educator-turned-lawmaker. He said those without the skills were left behind. “Without access to gainful employment, they remain mired in poverty, amid the economic boom there,” he further stated.

Congressman Gullas, Cebu

Fame, fortune for Web tutors in education-crazy South Korea

2009-07-03T22:27:00.001-07:00

SEOUL (Reuters) - For a teacher who never sees his students and instructs only online, South Korean Woo Hyeong-cheol makes a lot of money, $4 million a year to be exact.

Woo is not affiliated with any institution that is part of the official school system, but the 46-year-old math instructor is considered one of the best cram school tutors in education-obsessed South Korea, with his Web-based classes as well-known among test-taking teens as top-rated TV dramas.

"School teachers are concerned about creating moral people. We focus more on getting the students better grades in a short amount of time. That's why we are needed and popular," said Woo, who commands a salary higher than almost all of the top baseball players in the country's professional league.

Woo is among a group of about a dozen instructors raking it in because they are thought to be the best at raising scores.

Click here to read the complete article 7/2/09 Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070200983_pf.html

Male teachers an endangered species?

2009-07-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus said male teachers were a vanishing breed, accounting for only a very small portion of the entire teacher population in the country at present.

IN THE LAST Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET), a total of 26,812 took the elementary level test while 23,975 took the secondary level exam.

Only one male examinee -- Gian Carlo Auxilian, a graduate of St. $Anthony’s College in Antique—made it to the top 10 in the elementary level.

In the secondary level, 11 of the 25 topnotchers were men, including Benedict Barayuga of Central Luzon University and Gerard Vincent Mendoza of the University of the Philippines-Diliman who tied for first place.

Out of the total 50,787 who took the April LET, 3,458 men passed the test or 25.8 percent of the total passers of 13,384.

More men passed the high school te2,194 or 37.09 percent of the total passers in that level -- compared to the 1,264 or 16.9 percent of total passers in the elementary level.

Professional Regulation Commissioner Nilo L. Rosas believes “male teachers can be as nurturing, caring and competent as their female counterparts.”

Click here to read the complete article 6/28/09 Philippine Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/learning/view/20090628-212873/Male-teachers-an-endangered-species

2009-03-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

Check this blog for teacher job listings regularly, click the link below

Teacher Jobs in Australia, USA and New Zealand

2009-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

TEACHERS PRE SCHOOL NEEDED Cebu Sunstar Classified 3/15/09

CEBU LAHUG KIDS WORD EMAIL TO careers@kidsworld.com.ph

TEACHERS MATH, SCIENCE AND MAPEH NEEDED Cebu Sunstar Classified 3/15/09

MIXED GOBAL LEADERS SCHOOL CEBU EMAIL TO jobs@nglschool.com

TEACHERS NEEDED FOR ONLINE TEACHING FEMALE Cebu Sunstar Classified 3/15/09

CONTACT CEBU 233 6092 EMAIL hhk63@hanafos.com

TEACHERS WANTED PRE SCHOOL, HIGH SCHOOL, ELEM SCHOOL Cebu Sunstar Classified 3/15/09

CONTACT MANDAUE ST ANNE LEARNING CENTER PHONE 032 344 5794 DR ROSITA A ABELLA

TEACHERS ESL INSTRUCTORS Cebu Sunstar Classified 3/15/09

CONTACT CLES FIRST CENTER FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE CEBU 253 2726 OR 255 6361

2009-03-10T19:30:00.003-07:00

TEACHERS WANTED TEACH TOEFL/ESL Talamban, Cebu Cebu Sunstar Clasified 3/8/09

Phone 032 344 0881 or email english_fella2@yahoo.com or fellacebu@yahoo.co.kr

2009-03-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

TEACHERS WANTED TEACH IN TALISAY CEBU Cebu Sunstar Clasified 3/11/09

Major in Filipino, Social Studies, Pre-Elem for St Thomas Aquinas School, South Road Linao, Talisay, Pardo Campus please apply weekdays at school

2009-03-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

TEACHERS WANTED LEYTE Cebu Sunstar classified 3/6/09

High school AP, MAPEH & English (subsitute), Grade School English, Science Makabayan & Filipino (subsitute) email documents to eude_carlos@yahoo.com.ph or call (053) 337-6513