States Setting Pace on School Change; Obama Agenda Stalled in Congress

Efforts to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law have failed to yield a bipartisan bill. There is a growing sense on Capitol Hill that the law enacted in 2002 under President George W. Bush will remain at least until next year, even though Obama pledged repeatedly as a candidate in 2008 to revise it. The law, which stresses annual standardized testing, is controversial in part because a third of public schools are now labeled as failing to meet standards. Despite pleas from Duncan and Obama, it also appears increasingly unlikely that the Democratic-led Congress will provide a bailout for schools this summer to prevent teacher layoffs and program cuts related to local budget troubles.

Bedtime Stories from Marines to Children Back Home

Never did the children's books "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," "I Love You Because You're You," and "Goodnight My Duckling" sound so heartfelt as when they were read by Sergeant Chase Sheda at 3/1's headquarters, Forward Operating Base Delhi. Sergeant Sheda was reading the books out loud while looking into the lens of a small video camera, a little nervously at first, but more fluidly once he got used to looking into a camera and not at his children — Chase (who is 4) and Jayden (who is 3).

Young Reader in Indiana Starts Book Club for Peers

As a second-grade student Laura Rodgers set out to read all of the children's books that had been awarded a John Newbery Medal before entering middle school. At age 10, preparing to enter fifth grade at Zionsville West Middle School, she finished all 89 books with time to spare. Laura wants to bring other students along on her journey as she starts the Mock Newbery Award Youth Committee at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library. The idea is for Laura and her peers in third through eighth grades to read books published in 2010 that could qualify, vote for their winner and see if it matches the committee's selection for the 2011 Newbery Award.

Author Eoin Colfer Dishes on Success of his Artemis Fowl Series

Writers of adult fiction have the luxury of being able to write for themselves, or at least for people like them. But children's authors can only succeed by become skillful ventriloquists for their younger selves. How to intuit that you've given this tech-savvy leprechaun a voice that a 12-year-old boy will find convincing? Would a pre-pubescent criminal mastermind really think this?

Opinion: The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

A new study finds that students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more. All else equal, they were making about an extra $100 a year at age 27 for every percentile they had moved up the test-score distribution over the course of kindergarten.

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New Book - Nonfiction Mentor Text

Since I had to go into the city yesterday to work at an Early Childhood conference, I had the opportunity to read the newly released Nonfiction Mentor Texts by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Capelli. Riding the train and ferry gave me ample time to peruse the text. In the same fashion as their first book - Mentor Text, this book is chock full of great ideas, and titles of text to use. I love the resource at the end that listed every text mentioned throughout the book by chapter for ease in finding. This is a must have resource for all who are trying to incorporate more nonfiction reading and writing into their day. The On Your Own section at the end of each chapter gives you a nice starting point for implementing lessons. I can't wait to share the ideas with the teachers in my building. If you have read it let me know your thoughts.

Laura

Nonfiction Mentor Texts is available from Stenhouse publishing.

National Board Certification

Recently Barack Obama discussed the value of National Board Certified Teachers. I am happy to see that he is supporting excellence in teaching. Having gone through the process of National Board certification I can attest to the impact it had on me. National Board certification is an intense and personal journey that many teachers have decided to embark upon. Those that achieve it feel empowered to better meet the needs of their students. So, just what is National Board certification anyway? Here are two links I suggest you visit to get further information on National Board certification -

National Board Council of New York
http://www.teachercenter.org/nbcnys

National Board website
http://www.nbpts.org

I would like to offer support to you as you work toward your certification. I am available to answer questions you may have about the process. I also would love to network with other NBPTS teachers and candidates.

Bike Ride to Support Multiple Sclerosis

Every year my brother George rides with more than 1,000 other people to raise money to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This year the society hope to raise $1.6M. George hopes to raise $1,000. He will ride on September 13th and 14th, 100 miles each day in support of those that can't. As you know all the resources available on my website are free of charge. If you find it a helpful resource I ask that you consider making a donation to this worthy cause. No donation is too small and all are tax deductables. This disease has impacted our family and close friends. Thank you so much for your continued support.

For information, and to make a donation using your debit or credit card go to -

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/georgehess

Have a great day!

Laura

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