Ditch 'i Before e Except After c' Rule: Brits

Teach for America sheds light on two decades of insight

(NEWSER) - Teach for America is opening its books on 20 years of trial and error in figuring out what makes some teachers great and others complete busts. As it screens college applicants, it now pays special attention to two characteristics: perseverance and life satisfaction. By perseverance, it means "not just an attitude, but a track record" on overcoming challenges, writes Amanda Ripley in the Atlantic . If an applicant turned around mediocre grades in the last two years of college, for instance, that's more telling than overall GPA. More»

Would-be teachers should spend more time in the classroom, say experts

(USER SUBMITTED) - In a scathing indictment of current US teacher-training standards, a panel of education experts has called for sweeping changes to teacher preparation programs. In emphasizing the need for a dramatic overhaul, an education expert stated that “we need large, bold, systematic changes”: To wit, the panel, which spent 10 months compiling its report, recommended more hands-on, clinical training for would-be teachers—like the medical school model—along with tougher admissions and graduation standards for teacher-education programs. More»

(NEWSER) - Sarah Fine arrived to teach at an inner-city school 4 years ago, ready to “‘give back’ after spending 22 years in a suburban, Ivy League bubble,” she writes in the Washington Post. Now, like so many other young teachers, she’s leaving—not just because she’s burned out, but also because she’s frustrated with how her profession is seen. In today’s ambitious generation, “it's unfathomable that anyone with real talent would want to stay in the classroom for long.” More»

(NEWSER) - More than two dozen British schoolchildren on a school holiday were booted out of France after some came down with swine flu—but not before they were quarantined by medics in anti-contamination suits and insulted by locals. "It was as if we were dangerous criminals," said one of the visitors, who said one person in the town in Normandy told them, "Go back to your disease-ridden country." More»

(NEWSER) - A British teachers’ group thinks homework for children under 11 is a waste of time for all involved, the Telegraph reports. It can “damage parents and children's relationships when trying to get it all done, and ends in tears all round,” the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said. And homework can be seriously detrimental. “At this stage in their lives homework mitigates against children who already have difficulties,” such as single parent homes or disability. More»