Teacher?s Toolbox is designed to provide teachers with useful information, including helpful hints and links to beneficial Web sites.
Educators Take on Money Skills Challenge
Visa U.S.A. and Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) are sponsoring the Practical Money Skills for Life Educator Challenge as part of a joint effort to recognize high school teachers who creatively teach financial literacy lessons in their classrooms. More than 900 teachers have registered to take on the challenge.
The contest?an extension of Visa?s ongoing effort to improve the financial literacy of young people?awards prizes to the teachers and classes that best demonstrate creativity, student participation and improvement in personal finance knowledge.
?We have a long history of working to provide the business leaders of tomorrow with the fundamental skills needed for success,? says President and CEO of FBLA-PBL Jean Buckley. ?We believe that by working with Visa U.S.A. to sponsor this program, we will further make progress toward our shared goal of ensuring that students graduate from high school with an understanding of basic money management skills.?
The winners will be announced in April, and the top educator will receive a personal computer, a yearlong classroom subscription to USA Today, a school or class computer lab, a speaking opportunity at an educational seminar, a position on Visa?s Practical Money Skills Educator Advisory Board, and a $2,500 gift certificate to a leading online merchant that can be used for books and classroom supplies. Two first-place educators will be selected to receive a personal computer, a $1,000 gift certificate and a position on Visa?s Practical Money Skills Educator Advisory Board.
For more information, visit www.practicalmoneyskills.com.
Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award
In honor of the first woman astronomer and first woman astronomy professor in the United States, the Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award has been presented annually since 1998.
According to the Maria Mitchell Association, the award of $10,000 recognizes an individual, program or organization that encourages the advancement of girls and women in the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science and technology. The criteria given by the association states that encouragement for the advancement of girls and women in these fields may take the form of special initiatives designed to foster interest and participation in science, mathematics and technology for school-age girls, college students, graduate students or professional women, and these initiatives should serve as models for other programs.
In 2001, Dr. Suzanne Brainard, executive director of the Center for Workspace Development at the University of Washington, received the award. The 2002 award was presented to Debie McCreedy, the director of Gender and Family Leadership Programs at the Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania.
The Maria Mitchell Association will begin accepting nominations for the Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award after January 15, 2003, and the nomination deadline is April 30, 2003. The winner will be announced by June 30.
For more information, visit www.mmo.org.
Toyota TAPESTRY Grants
The Toyota TAPESTRY Grants are sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and administered by the National Science Teachers Association. All K-12 science teachers residing in the U.S. or its territories or possessions are eligible. ?Science teacher? is defined as anyone who spends at least 50 percent of his or her classroom time teaching science or teaches a minimum of two science classes per day. Elementary teachers who teach science in a self-contained classroom setting or as teaching specialists are eligible.
Grants are awarded in three categories:
? Environmental Science Education
? Physical Science Applications
? Literacy and Science Education
Proposals must describe a project, including its potential impact on students, and a budget of up to $10,000, or up to $2,500 for mini-grants.
Previous winners have included proposals on digital cameras, alternative energy sources and low-water vegetation for landscaping on a Native-American reservation.
Proposals are due by January 16, 2003, and grant recipients will be notified by March 3, 2003. Fifty grants of up to $10,000 each will be awarded, and a minimum of 20 mini-grants of $2,500 each will be awarded.
For more information, visit
www.toyota@nsta.org/programs/tapestry.
Teaching as a Clinical Profession
A new paper from the Carnegie Corporation of New York compares the work of today?s teachers with that of modern clinical professionals and suggests that one answer to teacher training and retention might involve treating teaching more like the modern clinical profession.
Teaching as a Clinical Profession: A New Challenge for Education says that, just as physicians in clinics must assess, diagnose, prescribe and adjust practice to reflect new research, training and experience when they see patients, so must teachers who see students in classrooms.
According to Daniel Fallon, chair of Carnegie Corporation?s Education Division and the architect of an initiative called Teachers for a New Era, not only is it necessary to reform schools of education, but improved teacher preparation and support is necessary to help beginning teachers do a better job. The initiative recommends making schools of education more like schools of modern clinical practice, and that would involve providing teaching residency programs similar to medical residencies. This would provide a new teacher with a system of support that could include college faculty mentors and coaches in teaching methods and academic content.
Teaching as a Clinical Profession: A New Challenge for Education is one of the Carnegie Challenge 2002 papers. For more information, visit www.carnegie.org.
Califone Scholarship Contest
Califone International, Inc., which manufactures audio equipment for educational settings, has announced its 2002-2003 Califone Scholarship Contest for Pre-K through eighth grade students. First-, second- and third-place winners will be chosen from three different grade-based groups and will be awarded U.S. Savings Bonds. The schools of the winning students will receive Califone products.
Pre-K through second grade students will submit the Califone Official Coloring Sheet for a chance to win up to $200 in U.S. Savings Bonds and up to $1,000 worth of Califone products for their schools. Grades three through six will create an original drawing for the chance to win up to $250 in U.S. Savings Bonds and up to $1,000 in Califone products for their schools. Students in grades seven and eight will compose a short story or essay for the chance to win up to $300 in U.S. Savings Bonds and $1,000 worth of Califone products for their schools.
Entries must be submitted by April 30, 2003, and the winners will be announced by May 31, 2003. Application forms are available by calling 800-722-0500, extension 470, or by visiting www.califone.com.
Safe Schools Publications
Online publications on safe and drug-free schools are available from the U.S. Department of Education. Among these publications are:
? Unsafe School Choice Option Draft Non-Regulatory Guidance
? The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States
? Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates
? Progress in Prevention: A Report on the National Study of Local Education Agencies? Activities Under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act
For more information, or to download these and other publications, visit http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS/publications.html.
Sites You Can Use
www.nichcy.org
The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities is the national information center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues with a special focus on children and youth from birth to age 22. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education?s Office of Special Education Programs and is operated by the Academy for Educational Development. Their new Web site was launched in August.
www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading
The Partnership for Reading is a joint effort by the National Institute for Literacy, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the U.S. Department of Education to disseminate information about scientifically based reading research. The Partnership for Reading Web site has information and resources on teaching reading for children, adolescents and adults.
