Here’s What Keeps Teachers on the Job
In the past few years, there have been countless reports of teachers considering leaving the profession, fed up with the stress, pay, and other challenges. But what keeps them in it? Education Week asked teachers from across the country what keeps them in the classroom, and what has improved in the profession since they began…
Creative Writing Centers Cultivate Students’ Voices — But Need Funding to Pay Tutors
Corey Bass sits curled over a desk in the back of the room as a writing specialist guides him and a handful of other teenagers through a series of exercises. A few jot down ideas. Others look at their phones, headphones in ear, scrolling through social media. When it’s time to share, Corey answers just…
How to Apply SEL to Social Media Use
Social media, generative artificial intelligence and other advances in digital technology are already dramatically influencing how kids develop social-emotional skills, according to Education Week. This development comes as the share of teenagers who say they’re online “almost constantly” has roughly doubled since 2014-15, according to the Pew Research Center. A growing number of studies have…
Teacher Use of AI Detection Grows — So Does Disciplinary Action
Student discipline in response to plagiarism rose from 48% to 64% over the last school year, according to the Center for Democracy & Technology, as reported in K-12 Dive. The CDT found: Nearly twice as many teachers said their schools are implementing policies that allow the use of generative artificial intelligence for classwork, with 31% reporting so in…
What Type of Recognition Do Teachers Really Want?
For educators, specific feedback is more valuable than general compliments. Public shoutouts of good work can be polarizing. And free food ranks low on the list of meaningful acknowledgments, according to Education Week. A nationally representative survey from the EdWeek Research Center of 239 district leaders, 161 school leaders, and 553 teachers asked educators to…
How to Unlock Student Curiosity and Critical Thinking
Education doesn’t have to be guided by rigid definitions and practices, according to eSchool News. Educators can make four simple shifts towards deeper inquiry: Curiosity: If we want to foster student curiosity, teachers first need to step away from the idea that our job is to tell students how they are “supposed” to do something….
Classroom Discipline Problems on the Rise: Another Sign of Pandemic’s Toll
Incidents of student misconduct have risen in New York City since pandemic disruptions, though serious crimes in schools have decreased, according to the New York Times. New York City schools are grappling with a spike in discipline problems among children, evidence that the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic are having lingering effects, educators and…
How to Teach Past the Fear of “Getting in Trouble”
Education Week opinion contributor Justin Minkel teaches 2nd and 3rd grades at Jones Elementary in Springdale, Ark., a high-performing, high-poverty school where 85 percent of the students are English-language learners. He is focused on bringing advanced learning opportunities to immigrant and at-risk students. “I have always been a teacher who fears the mallet. I worry…
Traditional Measures Show Teens Are Thriving. Teens Report Their Mental Health is Spiraling.
By traditional measures of well-being, America’s children and teens should be doing well, according to the Hechinger Report. Consider that: Over the past two decades, high school graduation rates have gone up. Fewer teens are taking up smoking. The birth rate among 15-to-19 year olds is at a record low. Arrest rates among teens are…
Teachers Are More Wary of AI than Administrators
A new study from the Michigan Virtual found that K-12 teachers are generally more hesitant, concerned, and feel negatively about using artificial intelligence, while administrators and curriculum designers have more positive views about the technology, according to Education Week. The study echoes a recent EdWeek Research Center survey that found two-thirds of teachers said they…
