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Does religion have a place in public schools?
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe place and importance of religion in school has been debated for years, but perhaps it has never seen so much drama as in recent times. For a diverse nation like the United States, it is inevitable that there will be a lot of debate over religious sentiments, particularly in areas that offer heavy intermingling.
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Teaching writing to ELLs across the curriculum: Strategies for success
Erick Herrmann EducationReading, writing, listening and speaking. Educators know the importance of these essential skills for student success, and a brief review of instructional standards will show an emphasis on these four skills.
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STEM education growing, but still has room for improvement
Suzanne Mason EducationThe revival of interest in STEM education started with the national Educate to Innovate campaign in 2009. Five years later, the revival is still in its infant steps, and it still has room to grow in both diversity and innovation.
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Why do we still use class rank to select graduation speakers?
Brian Stack EducationThe movement of schools across the country from a traditional to a standards-based or competency-based grading model is calling into question the age-old practice of asking the valedictorian and the salutatorian to be the speakers at graduation.
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How should we organize a kindergarten classroom of ELLs?
Alanna Mazzon EducationWhat is the best way to organize a kindergarten classroom — especially one that is full of English language learners? Is the play-based approach that I was taught the best way? Was a more structured schedule with specific times for math, reading and writing better?
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Combating the education gap
Bambi Majumdar EducationWhile there has been modest progress in reading and math in 2013, the statistics show that it is not enough to combat the growing international competition that our students will face in the future. We face the crisis of a growing education gap between students from different economic and racial backgrounds, as well as different regions – not to mention a yawning gap with other countries.
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Say something: Teaching critical response
Eva Sullivan EducationAll of my high school students are recent immigrants to the U.S. These teenagers pick up oral language and slang from their peers fairly quickly, but may lag far behind when it comes to academic language used in an instructional setting.
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School improvement requires more than just a plan
Thomas Van Soelen EducationPlans rule our lives as educational leaders. We spend considerable time building plans for a variety of stakeholders: principals, teachers, federal and state departments of education, governing bodies, even for each other. After that first, often arduous writing of the initial draft, many leaders struggle with how to revise the plan in meaningful, engaging ways.
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Homework 2.0: It’s time to upgrade our approach
Brian Stack EducationFew would argue the importance of homework on academic achievement. But in today's world, the purpose, amount and type of homework that teachers assign looks vastly different than years ago. In the time of the Common Core, quality homework is tied to specific learning goals for a course.
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Open-source software tools for TESOL professionals — Part I
Beth Crumpler EducationOpen-source tools are invaluable for TESOL professionals. There are numerous open-source tools available for educational purposes. Listed below are some practical platforms that TESOL professionals can use for instructional planning, content creation, content sharing and learning management needs.
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