It’s certainly an appropriate season for giving thanks, but research shows increasingly how beneficial gratitude is to our well-being year round. Studies show that the development of gratefulness increases children’s positive emotions, gives more meaning to their lives, helps them learn, and can even decrease risky behaviors in teens. Certain children may already frequently feel…
DetailsMany adults well remember their own years at school, but a lot has changed in the years since most of us left the classroom. What does public education look like from the inside, today? That’s the question a new film, “Go Public,” sets out to answer. The film follows fifty members of the Pasadena Unified School…
DetailsSpeaking to a crowd of more than 500, including fellow educators, family, and friends gathered at the Connecticut Teacher of the Year Celebration at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford tonight, 2014 Connecticut Teacher of the Year John Mastroianni delivered captivating, moving, and inspirational words about the power teachers have to shape and transform the lives…
DetailsThe teachers at Plainville High School were ready for another routine faculty meeting this afternoon when some unfamiliar guests with balloons entered the room. The teachers’ confused expressions quickly gave way to excited applause when they heard the reason for the visit: their school had been selected by NEA auto and home insurance provider California Casualty…
Details“Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.” It’s a phrase that educators everywhere are sick of hearing. UConn Professor Robert M. Thorson calls it “an odious and offensive insult” in today’s Hartford Courant. He calls for the phrase to be banned. Read Thorson’s column here.
DetailsSuccessfully engaging families and communities is one of the most important means schools have of ensuring student success, yet people frequently don’t make community engagement the priority it deserves to be, and that needs to change. That was the message Anne T. Henderson, co-author of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/School Partnerships, had…
DetailsWhat’s considered the biggest shift ever in the structure and substance of Connecticut public education—intense and focused change in the state’s most challenged school districts—is yielding early success. “Our students, teachers, and communities have made extraordinary efforts as they’ve led improvement initiatives and met new requirements connected with Public Act 12-116, sweeping education legislation enacted…
DetailsTeacher Bill Jacobs is known for honoring veterans with an assembly he organizes for his special education students, and this year Jacobs himself is also being honored. Jacobs learned earlier this fall that he’d been selected by the Veterans Council of Greater Bridgeport as the Patriotic Teacher of the Year, and he’s being celebrated today…
DetailsConnecticut’s new teacher evaluation system is a work in progress, and, if it is to succeed, then policymakers must aggressively solicit feedback from teachers, make continuous improvements, and take the time necessary to make meaningful changes. That was the message delivered by public school teachers Lisa Bress of Windsor and Ann Langley of Bridgeport at…
DetailsIn yesterday’s Bridgeport Board of Education election, we could not be prouder of the many teachers who contributed their hands and hearts in electing pro-education candidates. These candidates took on the political establishment, and they won convincingly. A committed, community-based coalition undertook a groundbreaking effort because Bridgeport has become a hub of the national corporate…
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