AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK NOVEMBER 12-18, 2000

The theme for 2000 is “Children-Schools-Parents: Helping Students Achieve.”  This theme reflects the cooperation and hard work of all education staff and the many parents, community and business members involved, helping students achieve.
        These collaborative efforts are very important, especially those that bring together parents and professional and support staffers working in America’s public schools.
        This goal, particularly important at the local level where the real action occurs, is to deepen  that involvement among all concerned adults in a given community.
        The theme should remind people that teaching and learning is a home and classroom effort.
        Bob Chase, President, National Education Association,  states “I urge you to ask how you can become involved in your local public schools.  To NEA members, I say reach out to your community if you haven’t already done so.  Helping students achieve at school, as well as in life, is a goal we can all share with pride.”

Fuel Your Mind National
Children’s Book Week
November 13-19, 2000

        You never know where you’ll end up if you have the right books on your plate!
        This year’s theme, Fuel Your Mind, for the 81^st observance of The Children’s Book Council’s National Children’s Book Week reflects the nourishment that kids get from a healthy, balanced diet of reading.
        Since 1919, educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated National Children’s Book Week during the week before Thanksgiving. 
        The Children’s Book Council is a nonprofit trade association that promotes the use and enjoyment of children’s trade books and related literacy materials for young people.  It is also the official sponsor of Young People’s Poetry Week in addition to the National Children’s Book Week.  The Council’s membership is made up of U. S. publishers and packagers of trade books for children and young adults, and producers of related literacy materials.

Engaging Older Students in “Reading for Understanding?”

A new resource helps educators improve the more advanced reading skills needed by middle and high school students
(Taken from November 2000’s NEA Today)

        In middle school or high school, a student who knows only how to read individual words does not meet the definition of a “good reader.”  At the secondary level, a good reader needs to be able to question, summarize, clarify, and predict, based on material that’s been read.  But as many secondary educators know not all students come to their classes equipped with these reading abilities.  That’s why the new book, Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms, is so important.
        In its pages, educators can explore how to help adolescents connect what they need to know with the new information that awaits them in a text.
        The authors, a team of researchers and secondary classroom teachers, explain clearly how educators can help students take control of their reading and become aware of where and why understanding breaks down.
        The basic approach is simple.  Teachers serve as master readers to demonstrate the cognitive strategies of questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting.  Then the tables turn, and students practice these strategies out loud in class exercises.
        Educators who are familiar with the concept of reciprocal teaching will recognize elements of this technique, since both lead students to explore what they know.
      Reading for Understanding  is published by the National Council of Teachers of English, but it offers ideas that can be incorporated into virtually any subject area, without adding new curriculum.
      For additional information on reciprocal teaching and other reading topics, log on to NEA’s reading matters Web site at www.nea.org/readingmatters

Read Across America
Literary Flights in 2001

        More than 25,000 people participated in NEA’s celebration of reading last March 2, and we expect more this coming March.  Dr. Seuss’s book Oh the Places You’ll Go!   Is the new NEA theme for Read Across America 2001.  Oh,  the possibilities!
        Across the country, we’ll challenge readers to visit their favorite places.  We’ll read mile by literary mile!
        And will we succeed?  As Dr. Seuss said, “That’s 98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed!”
        Log on to www.nea.org/readacross for more news and ideas.

Good News about Public Schools in Nevada

v       99% of Nevada public secondary school teachers hold a teaching certificate in their main teaching assignment – one of the highest rates in the country.  National Education Goals Panel.

v     Since 1996, Nevada’s Math SAT college entrance examination score has risen at a rate of more than three times the national average. The College Board

v     Nevada was ranked among the top 15 states in Academic Standards, Assessments, and Accountability according to Education Week.

NEXT QUEST  DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 22, 2000