Educators Say Mental Health Awareness Key to Preventing Gun Violence

By Cindy Long

In January, the nation has marked the second anniversary of the mass shooting in Tucson, listened to the emotional testimony at the court hearing for the Aurora movie theater gunman, and watched brave elementary school students return to their classrooms after the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary last month in Newtown, Connecticut. And then on Friday, January 11, yet another shooting took place at a high school in California, underscoring the urgent need for national action on gun safety.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, President Obama promised to take concrete steps to reduce gun violence and on Wednesday he announced expansive new policies, including background checks for all firearms buyers and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips. He also announced more federal funding for mental health and school safety initiatives, reflecting recommendations NEA submitted to the White House.

6 Classroom Management Tips Every Teacher Can Use

by Dave Foley

Effective teachers are passionate about educating their students. They want to spend their time teaching, not dealing with classroom disruptions.
Here are some classroom management tips to help teachers settle problems, or prevent them from occurring, so that they can spend more of the classroom hour on teaching and learning.

1. Take Charge of Your Class

Get everyone’s attention before beginning class. That means the lesson won’t be started, the lecture won’t begin, and nothing will be written on the overhead until everyone is in his or her seat paying attention. It doesn’t take a shout of “Let’s be quiet” or “I won’t start until everyone is ready” to get them to focus on you. It can be just as effective to walk to the front of the room and engage them with something interesting to them such as “My thermometer said it was zero this morning. It must have been freezing out there waiting for the bus” or “How many of you saw the Hunger Games?” Open with couple attention getting comments and continue until everyone is with you. Remember, don’t start teaching until all eyes are on you and everyone is in their seat.

Out of Touch and Turning Back the Clock: Romney on Education

 Views expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do
not reflect the endorsement of the Learning First Alliance or any of its members.

by Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association (NEA) * EDUCATION WEEK

It was hard not to be taken aback earlier this month when presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his top supporters, including Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, again demonstrated how out of touch they are with ordinary Americans by voicing their desire to cut back on police, firefighters, and teachers. But the 3 million teachers, cafeteria workers, librarians, and other educators I work with weren't surprised.
That's because Mr. Romney has already revealed how little he understands about the issues that are important to the rest of us. Take his education agenda, for example. Today, few topics unite liberals and conservatives, but almost everyone seems to agree that George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law has failed. There's almost unilateral agreement that NCLB's focus on standardized testing and punishing is wrong; it hurts our schools and our children.