Teachers are selling lesson plans through an online marketplace. It seems unlikely vintage lesson plans will be worth more.
A Georgia Kindergarten teacher has earned more than $1 million selling lesson plans to other teachers through a website, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Deanna Jump’s story is unusual, but two teachers have earned more than $300,000 and nearly two dozen have earned more than $100,000.
Since signing on to the site, she has created 93 separate teaching units and sold 161,000 copies for about $8 a pop. “My units usually cover about two weeks’ worth of material,” she says. “So if you want to teach about dinosaurs, you’d buy my dinosaur unit, and it has everything you need from language arts, math, science experiments, and a list of books you can use as resources. So once you print out the unit, you just have to add a few books to read aloud to your class, and everything else is there, ready to go for you.”
But in Orlando schools, custodians are the highest in demand.
This summer, the Orange County school district asked principals which positions they needed help filling.
The top answer across the district? School Custodians.
Orange County schools require candidates to pass a physical fitness test before they can get hired. But about 30 percent of custodial applicants who take the test don’t pass it.
The shortage has forced hiring manager Carol Kindt to get creative.
She’s recruiting parents as they register their kids for class.
“We’re doing anything we can to get more people through the application process to the interview,”she said.
Students will use a Mobile NASA Space Shuttle Flight simulator to bring their experiments to life. The simulator was created by the Florida State University Lab School.
Seven teams with five students each will be selected from the top scorers of the regional qualifier competition.
Jimmy Johnson is a custodian at Dr. Phillips High School in Orange County. School custodians have one of the highest rates of work-related injuries, more than food service workers and teaching assistants who work with severely disabled students. In Orange County, there were 125 custodian injuries in 2011, which cost the district $372,645 in worker’s compensation.
Orange County schools now require candidates to pass a physical fitness test . But many applicants don’t pass it. Schools are short janitors and custodians like Sylvia Moya say they’re working overtime, scrambling to keep schools clean.
Tony Rodriguez is the head custodian at Dr. Phillips High. He says janitor equipment is more than just mops and brooms. School custodians hurt their backs lifting furniture and burn themselves with cleaning chemicals and machines. Rodriguez took the fitness test a couple months ago and thinks it’s a good requirement for the job.
The supply room at Dr. Phillips High School isn’t your stereotypical janitor’s closet. It’s filled with machines the size of small tractors used to empty the dumpsters and wax floors.
This American Life host Ira Glass talks about his experience covering education in the September 14th episode.
StateImpact Florida hit the road for Orlando this week, and so we packed a few podcasts for the trip.
We highly recommend a fascinating piece by This American Life that takes a look at the growing body of research about “non-cognitive skills,” such as resilience, tenacity and self-control. Research shows that the stress from living in a low-income home can inhibit brain development — and the development of these soft skills.
The show looks a how these skills are more useful in helping students complete high school or college. And unlike cognitive ability, experts say these skills can be taught and learned.
Improving education was one of the five points in Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's jobs plan during a Thursday campaign stop in Sarasota.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was in Sarasota Thursday, laying out his ideas for improving the economy.
Romney’s five-point plan included an education plank.
Romney praised former Gov. Jeb Bush and borrowed a key idea. He also pledged to allow federal dollars to follow the student, which would let parents to better choose the best school for their child.
“We’re going to give our workers the skills they need to succeed and make sure our kids are getting the education they need to succeed. For that to happen it’s time for us to put the kids first, the teachers up there with them, the parents and put the teacher’s union behind.
The current application deadline is Thursday, September 27, but the Iowa search firm Ray and Associates recommended an extension because of a lack of highly qualified applicants.
The firm, which helped recruit former Commissioner Gerard Robinson, is conducting the national search for free because Robinson didn’t stay two years.
Robinson walked away from his $275,000 salary after one tumultuous year on the job. His tenure was marred by a drop in the number of students passing the FCAT after the state raised standards and confusion over incorrect school grades. Robinson left at the end of August.
K-12 Chancellor Pam Stewart is serving as interim commissioner until a replacement can be found.
The Broward County school board voted Wednesday to recognize October as LGBT History Month.
Next month is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.
The Broward County School Board voted Wednesday to get behind the designation.
Now the district is being recognized nationally by the advocacy group Equality Forum as the first district in the nation to pass an official resolution in support.
School board member Nora Rupert told the Miami Herald, “We want to promote equality for all of our children.”
Mandi Hawke is the youth programs coordinator for SunServe, an LGBT advocacy group based in Fort Lauderdale.
“This particular resolution is really going to give them the freedom to talk openly, knowing their school board supports them.” Continue Reading →
Gov. Rick Scott’s announcement that education is his priority moving forward got the attention of the Florida Education Association (FEA).
FEA President Andy Ford had dinner with Scott last week and is talking about why he thinks the governor is now so focused on improving education in Florida.
Q: How did your dinner with Gov. Scott come about?
A: The governor reached out. His chief of staff called and asked for a meeting and wanted to do it Friday at the mansion.
He wanted a few local leaders with me, so there were a total of six of us from FEA plus the interim commissioner (Education Commissioner Pam Stewart) and Mrs. Scott.
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