East Lansing, MI – Less-experienced teachers are more likely to experience burnout if co-workers feel the same way, suggests a recent study from researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Virginia.

Columbus, OH — One out of five teachers who experiences physical or verbal violence on the job does not report it to school administrators, according to a study led by researchers at Ohio State University.

Atlanta — As a new school year gets underway, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has released two teacher training videos as part of a campaign intended to call attention to the dangers of mercury exposure.

Portland, OR — Episodes of agitated student behavior – including verbal abuse of fellow students and teachers, as well as physical acts such as hitting, weaponizing school supplies, and destroying school or student property – may foster a “disrupted learning environment” that puts teachers’ safety and health at risk, according to a recent report from the Oregon Education Association.

Washington — A third of teachers and nearly 2 out of 5 school administrators have experienced verbal harassment or threats of violence from students during the COVID-19 pandemic, results of a recent American Psychological Association survey show.

London — Although spending time on work-related activities while on vacation can help reduce your anxiety levels when returning to the job, it also impairs recovery from work exhaustion, results of a recent study out of England suggest.

Columbus, OH — Schools that foster a culture of deep engagement in learning – rather than prioritize grades and test scores – may be keeping teachers safe from violence, researchers claim.

Dover, DE — More than half of public school teachers have been the target of verbal aggression or threats by a student in the past three years, according to a recent survey conducted by the Delaware State Education Association.

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The post Key facts about public school teachers in the U.S. was curated by information for practice.

As student absenteeism reaches record highs in schools across the United States, new research finds that student absences are linked to lower teacher job satisfaction, raising concerns that this may exacerbate growing teacher shortages.

; Credit: /Ryan Raphael for NPR

To say Leah Juelke is an award-winning teacher is a bit of an understatement. She was a top 10 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2020; she was North Dakota's Teacher of the Year in 2018; and she was awarded an NEA Foundation award for teaching excellence in 2019.

But Juelke, who teaches high school English learners in Fargo, N.D., says nothing prepared her for teaching during the pandemic.

"The level of stress is exponentially higher. It's like nothing I've experienced before."

It's a sentiment NPR heard from teachers across the country. After a year of uncertainty, long hours and juggling personal and work responsibilities, many told NPR they had reached a breaking point.

Heidi Crumrine, a high school English teacher in Concord, N.H., says this has been the most challenging year she's ever encountered in her two decades of teaching.

"And I say [that] as someone who started her first day of teaching on 9/11 in the Bronx in New York City."

Teaching is one of the most stressful occupations in the U.S., tied only with nurses, a 2013 Gallup poll found. Jennifer Greif Green, an education professor at Boston University, says the additional stress teachers are reporting during the pandemic is worrying because it doesn't only affect educators — it also affects students.

"The mental health and well-being of teachers can have a really important impact on the mental health and well-being of the children who they're spending most of their days with," Green explains. "Having teachers feel safe and supported in their school environments is essential to students learning and being successful."

Lisa Sanetti, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut, says, "Chronically stressed teachers are just less effective in the classroom."

All that stress can also lead to burnout, which leads to teachers leaving the profession, Sanetti says. "And we have a huge teacher turnover problem in our country."

Districts are trying to help — with yoga classes, counseling sessions and webinars on mental health. Some teachers have organized trivia nights or online happy hours where colleagues can just vent. Teachers told NPR they force themselves to take breaks and go for a bike ride or call a friend. Some have started therapy.

But most of the educators NPR spoke with say they're so exhausted, that even self-care feels like one additional thing to do.

"The reality is, when you're living it, you're just trying to get to the end of the day successfully and try again tomorrow," Crumrine says.

"It feels like we're building the plane while we're flying it"

In March 2020, when schools moved online, teachers across the U.S. had to completely reimagine their approach to education, often with no training or time to prepare. For many, it was a rough transition.

Teachers told NPR they've spent the past year experimenting with different methods of online and hybrid teaching, while also providing tech support for their students and families. Many say they routinely work 12-hour days and on weekends, yet struggle to form relationships with children virtually. Answering emails can take two hours a day.

Rashon Briggs, who teaches high school special education in Los Angeles, spent a lot of time worrying about his students during remote learning (his district only recently started offering in-person options). "One of the biggest challenges is knowing that the kids were not getting the same level of service that they were getting in person," he says.

Teachers in districts that opened earlier for in-person learning say they have additional responsibilities now, such as sanitizing desks between classes, making sure children follow school safety protocols and keeping track of students who have had to quarantine.

"I have a calendar and it says who's quarantined, who is cleared to return on what day, who was absent," explains Rosamund Looney, who teaches first grade in Jefferson Parish, La. "Then I follow up with those families to see: 'Are you OK?' So there's just so much space taken up by that monitoring."

Looney also worries about her students' learning. Everyone in her district has to wear masks in class, which she says she completely agrees with. But those masks mean she can't see her first graders' mouths as they learn phonics.

"You are watching your teacher sound out words and then figuring out how to do that. And it's really hard for me to gauge what they are and aren't able to say." She says she's especially concerned about students who are more at risk of falling behind academically, like English learners.

In New Hampshire, Crumrine says quarantines and positive cases among school staff have led to a constant shifting between fully online and hybrid classes. The fluctuations have been exhausting for her. "We started the year remote. Then we went back to school in October, then we were remote again in November, December. We went back to hybrid [in early February]," she says. New Hampshire's governor has now ordered all schools reopen for full-time, in-person classes by this week.

"It feels like we're building the plane while we're flying it and the destination keeps changing on us," Crumrine says.

Balancing work and home life

In addition to worrying about their students, many teachers are also concerned about their own children. Crumrine, whose husband is also a teacher, has three children and says she feels pulled by competing demands.

"I feel this sense of guilt that I'm not a good enough teacher for my students and I'm not a good mother for my own kids. It just feels like a constant wave of never feeling like I can do what I know I'm good at."

Juelke, in North Dakota, is a single mom with a 9- and 3-year-old. "I'm juggling the children and making sure my daughter is in her class and my 3-year-old is entertained. And that is definitely taking a toll."

Many teachers say they are eating and drinking more, and exercising and sleeping less.

Briggs, in L.A., says his sleeping patterns are completely off. "Being awake all hours of the night, going to bed at 2, 3 a.m., drinking coffee late at night and try to finish work so I can be more prepared the next day."

He's stressed, in part, because there are no clear work-life boundaries anymore. "When you're waking up in the same space that you're on Zoom, that you're grading papers, that you're watching Netflix, those lines are blurred very easily."

Others say they're not as active at home, and they're eating more junk food and putting on weight. The tight schedules means they don't always move between classes, or even remember to drink water.

"There are a lot of dehydrated teachers out there," says Looney.

Many, like Juelke, say they miss having personal time. "That time where I could sit in the car and drive to work and just kind of relax a little, or my prep time at school alone. That's gone now. And so I feel like my mental health has struggled in that way."

She says even though it breaks her heart, she's started looking for another profession.

Leonda Archer, a middle school math teacher in Arlington, Va., says she's usually a very upbeat person, but the pandemic — coupled with the racial turmoil in the country — has taken a toll. She's African American, and says reports of Black men and women being killed by police makes her fear for her husband's safety.

"There were some points of lowness that I hadn't experienced before. There are some days where I feel like it's hard to keep going."

Archer says she has had difficulty sleeping, and doesn't have an appetite. "And right when I get into a groove, another traumatic experience happens."

Briggs says it was hard not being able to process events like George Floyd's death and the Black Lives Matter protests with his colleagues. In the past, those conversations informed what he would say in the classroom to help his own students make sense of the news.

"The teachers were not able to talk to each other about 'How do you talk about this? How do you present that?' " he says. "There was a lack of ability for us to communicate a message about social justice and rights and the wrongs."

Crumrine says she misses the social aspect of being with her students, and other teachers. "We're not eating lunch together. We're not popping into each other's classrooms. We're all in our little silos."

The school reopening divide

Teachers told NPR they feel a growing chasm in their communities: Parents want schools to open, but teachers first want to make sure it's safe. Many feel they are not being included in these conversations, and their concerns aren't being taken seriously.

Crumrine says it's been devastating hearing elected officials and parents criticize teachers, insisting that schools need to open, even though teachers are concerned about their own health. She says some community members acted like online classes meant teachers weren't working at all. In fact, she says, they were working harder than ever. "It just makes it feel so much worse when you read these horrible things that people say about us or these assumptions that they make about what we are or are not doing."

She says many states, including her own, didn't prioritize vaccines for teachers, which to her revealed just "how deep that lack of value of educators is."

Sarahi Monterrey, who teaches English learners in Waukesha, Wisc., says she's felt a "huge divide" in the community. "It almost seems like us against them." She was in a Zoom school board meeting where parents and students were present, and a teacher testified that her husband had COVID-19. "And a parent in the room said, 'Who cares?' And I was blown away. Just blown away."

In Virginia, Archer says, at the beginning of the pandemic, "We were seen as angels. Like, 'Oh my God, I've been home with my child for two months, how do teachers do it?' And now the narrative has totally flip-flopped."

She says she also misses "the vibe of school, the energy, all of that. But I don't want people to be sick."

Archer works 12-hour days, and says people need to remember that teachers are people too. "Our profession is a nurturing one, but we also are humans that need to be poured into. We need to be nurtured, too."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images

New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for college and complete a years-long overhaul of the federal TEACH Grant program — from a bureaucratic bear trap that hobbled thousands of teachers with unfair student loan debts to a program that may actually make good on its foundational promise: to help K-12 educators pay for their own education in exchange for teaching a high-need subject, like math, for four years in a low-income community.

"The changes announced today deliver much-needed improvements to the TEACH Grant," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "Respecting and honoring teachers who serve students with the greatest needs also requires that we ensure these educators receive the support to which they are entitled from this important federal program without having to jump through unnecessary hoops."

In Dec. 2018, the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos committed to overhauling the program and, last summer, posted its more flexible revisions. Among those changes that go into effect today, teachers will no longer have their grants automatically converted to loans if they fail to submit annual certification paperwork. Instead, with eight years to make good on a four-year teaching requirement, teachers won't have their grants converted to loans until completion of the required service is no longer feasible.

The rule changes to the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program were outlined by the U.S. Department of Education nearly a year ago but only go into effect today. And they are the culmination of a story that began several years ago, when the Government Accountability Office, followed by an NPR investigation, revealed that the program's strict paperwork requirements — what Cardona calls "unnecessary hoops" — were tripping up teachers who were keeping their end of the deal.

In accordance with the program's old rules, if a teacher did not submit annual paperwork on time documenting their teaching service in a qualified school, their TEACH Grants were automatically converted into loans that must be paid back with interest. Teachers who tried to appeal this conversion were given little recourse and told the process was not reversible.

Kaitlyn McCollum was teaching high school in Tennessee when her federal TEACH Grants were turned into more than $20,000 in loans simply because she had narrowly missed a paperwork deadline. In the spring of 2019, her debts were erased as part of the department's overhaul.

"We won," she told NPR. "We raised our voices and they finally heard us. Disbelief followed by a relief like I have not felt before."

While the program's flaws date back to its beginning, in 2008, it was the Trump administration that agreed to a remedy and apologized to teachers.

"We've put teachers who didn't deserve this stress, this pressure, this financial burden in a position that is frightening and confusing," the Education Department's then-acting undersecretary and acting assistant secretary, Diane Auer Jones, told NPR in 2019. "It seems like a small thing to do to say, 'I'm sorry,' but I'm very sorry. And we want to work to fix it and correct it."

In Aug. 2020, NPR reported that, since the program's overhaul began, more than 6,500 educators had successfully petitioned to have nearly $44 million in loans turned back into TEACH Grants. For teachers who could prove they had already completed their required service, their debts were simply discharged. For teachers still serving, the conversion meant they could resume the deal they made with the department and work to keep their grant money.

The new regulations also give teachers more options for pausing their service obligation, create a formal reconsideration process for any teacher who believes they've had their grants converted unfairly, and expand the scope of the program to include not only low-income communities but also high-need, rural areas where recruiting and retaining teachers can be difficult.

The Biden Administration says it wants to expand the TEACH Grant, making it more generous. If passed by Congress, the American Families Plan would increase the grant for college juniors, seniors and graduate students from $4,000 a year to $8,000 and would also make it available to many early childhood educators. In a release, the Education Department said it expects these changes would increase the number of TEACH recipients by more than 50 percent, to nearly 40,000 in 2022 — welcome news to school leaders in remote and high-need communities that sometimes struggle to entice new talent to the classroom.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

As researchers’ and teachers’ understanding of how best to learn and teach science evolves and curricula are redesigned, many teachers are left without the experience needed to enhance the science and engineering courses they teach, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds K-12 teachers face new expectations and more demands from policymakers, parents, students, and schools, including addressing changes in curriculum standards, the emergence of more explicit teaching goals, and shifts in what it means to support all students in their development.

Engineering is emerging as an important topic in K-12 education in the U.S., and is being incorporated into education standards, instructional materials, and assessments.

Safety and health pros have been known as teachers, among many roles, for decades and decades. But it’s a touchy subject and the role doesn’t get the attention it serves. Why?

Ongoing professional development is vital for educators to remain effective in their roles. As the educational landscape evolves, teachers must continuously update their skills and knowledge to meet the changing needs of their students. Investing in professional development enhances teaching practices and improves student outcomes, making it an essential component of a successful education system. ... Read more

Honors everyday heroes with free meal and Teacher of the Year award

New guide from Rishikul Yogshala Rishikesh offers expert advice and practical strategies to help novice yoga instructors succeed and grow their teaching careers.

Former Teacher, Abdul Wright on Technology in the Educational System today

Brings Expertise in Bringing Listening to a VUCA World

How edYOU is Revolutionizing Modern Education with Innovative Tools and Collaborative Support

The locally respected car wash and service center, Prestige Auto Spa NJ, is now honoring active-duty military, Veterans, first responders, and teachers. The business wishes to recognize these local and national heroes for all their hard work.

Paul Alper shares this horrifying news story by Laura Meckler: Brian Ray has spent the last three decades as one of the nation’s top evangelists for home schooling. As a researcher, he has published studies purporting to show that these … Continue reading →

The first bill filed ahead of the 2025 legislative session would provide workers’ compensation benefits to Alabama’s public school teachers. Senate Bill 1, by Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, would create the…

This English indie rock band formed while studying at the Leeds Conservatoire in 2020. Four years laters, they won the Mercury Prize.

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University of Toronto Engineering, Google and Actua partner on Innovate U, a day-long STEM event for children in grades 3–8, featuring hands-on coding, circuitry and moreToronto, ON – More than 1,400 students from Grades 3–8 will descend on the University of Toronto on Friday, May 13 for Innovate U, a massive day of hands-on activities […]

TORONTO, ON – The government of the Indian State of Punjab is sending 50 of its teachers to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto for an intensive four-week teacher development program from July 28 to August 22, 2014. At OISE, the teachers, will be led by top OISE […]

Mathematics has always played a central role in secondary school curriculum in Denmark. The Danish Ministry of Education continues to emphasize its importance as it mandates reforms and new standards that students are expected to meet in order to graduate. The country’s high standards of mathematics have led to the adoption of Maple in 110 of 160 Denmark high schools. Maple is a software tool from Maplesoft that makes it easy to explore, visualize and solve problems in mathematics.

As an aside from my usual topics about using computers for language education, recently I am involved in a teacher training programme and would like to share an article I am working on to assist new teachers to plan a lesson.

As part of the course, trainees need to present evaluation lessons using a grammar based syllabus prepared with PPP.

I hope this will be interesting to other teacher trainers and helpful to trainees, and I would like to hear your comments and criticisms.

An Illinois, non-profit organisation called Innovations for Learning has released a handheld cosole, like a Game Boy or Nintendo DS designed for education and targeted at kindergarten and elementary students. Despite its simplicity and lack of software, this device has a lot of potential for English language education.

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning provides a list of some of the best iPad apps curated for learning and instructional purposes.

The list is divided into 19 sections with each containing a list of apps for a specific need. The sections include apps that facilitates:

1. presentation
2. screencasting
3. video creation
4. file storage
5. whiteboard
6. PDF annotation
7. audio recording
8. note-taking
9. blogging
10. book creation
11. comic apps
12. digital storytelling apps
13. apps for grading
14. mindmapping apps
15. portfolio apps
16. apps for creating posters
17. apps for creating timelines
18. apps for creating word clouds
19. speech-to-text apps

1. Book Creator
2. Handouts
3. Remind
4. Google Keep
5. ClassDojo
6. Nearpod
7. Socrative Teacher
8. Edmodo
9. Google Classroom
10. Explain Everything

TricorBraun has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s Private Equity Group and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, both of which will acquire a majority interest in the Company.

Recently, we asked, "What's one thing you wish you knew before starting your own private music studio?" Here are some of the comments we received.

Want to have access to an online teaching platform that actually works for music? Online Studio might be the solution for you.

How do you handle the possibility of changing teaching schedules in your music studio during the summer months?

Do you have a set of values that guide your teaching and the way you've set up your studio? Here are some ideas to get you started.

Dozens of National Guard Army and Air Force troops in New Mexico have been stepping in to fill a shortage of teachers in schools

The post National Guard deploys for new emergency: Teacher shortages first appeared on Federal News Network.

Location: Main Media Collection - Video record 42383 DVD

(The Center Square) – A 28-year-old teacher's video announcing he quit his job in Ohio to go work as a manager in Walmart went viral in July and his story landed him on ABC's Good Morning America.

A Maryland teacher has reportedly been suspended after being accused of spreading antisemitic social media posts.

As a general rule, if you start spray-painting Riverfront Park, Riverfront Park gets mad at you…

Some folks like to mockingly say "those who can't do, teach."…

When Ferris teacher Mandy Manning received the National Teacher of the Year award earlier this month, she shook President Donald Trump's hand. Three times…

High School Science teacher for a religious, independent boys high school in Central New Jersey, with classes in the late afternoon into early evening. Small class sizes and a supportive administration. The ideal candidate should have command of Chemistry and Physics and be passionate about sharing that knowledge. Hours are Monday-Thursday, 3:30-5:30, or 4:30-6:30. Classroom experience required.