*NEW* at Teachers.Net! Teachers.Net Gazette hosts new column:

Coaching the Urban Educator by Kioni Carter

By Teachers.Net

Urban educators with their unique challenges and needs are the beneficiaries of a new Teachers.Net Gazette advice column for urban teachers, Coaching the Urban Educator by Kioni Carter. Carter’s premier column offered advice on how to manage the first day of school with “known trouble makers,” and how to stay positive when principals aren’t knocking down your door with job offers. In this month's column Kioni’s coaches two NYC school teachers on how to address a negative supervisor and how to build “therapy” into lesson planning in order to help students who have mental and/or emotional issues.

Kioni Carter is a graduate of Cornell University with a major in Human Development and minors in Africana Studies and Dance. She is also a graduate of Long Island University with a Masters of Science in Elementary Education, and a graduate of the Institute for Professional Empowerment Coaching. An active member of the International Coach Federation, Kioni provides coaching and training programs for educators in the NYC Public School System as well as in the education-based, non-profit sector. She says her primary workshop, My Classroom RULES! is her pride and joy.

Habitat Ecology for Educators

By Lauren Messina

Fall Session: October 1- Nov. 17, 2008 Winter Session: February 20 - April 6, 2009

Living things have evolved over millions of years to exist in particular environments. We call those environments habitats, and we say that species are adapted to them. The interrelationships among plants, animals, climate, and seasons of a particular habitat are complex and fragile. Habitat loss is the greatest threat to the world’s biodiversity. Through this course you will gain background knowledge in habitats and wildlife, learn about basic ecology, adaptations, how organisms interact with their environment, and the interactions between organisms in a temperate forests and wetlands. Course members will explore humanity’s influence and interaction with nature and discuss teaching ecology to elementary school.

Cost: $300 ($275 if you register more than 4 weeks before the course begins) Information: bronxzoo.com/educators/online-professional-development.aspx.

Engineer your life ™ sheds light on a top career choice for young women

Young Female Engineers Inspire New Campaign

By Nicole Siswick

Engineer Your Life ™ is an educational outreach campaign that aims to share with college-bound girls, their parents, educators, and counselors the opportunities available to young women in the world of engineering.

Engineering is a vibrant field that offers boundless opportunities to the innovative people who make up its ranks. It is an excellent choice for anyone interested in a rewarding, well-paid career—so why the dearth of women engineers? Research indicates that low enrollment rates of college-bound young women choosing engineering as their major have led to dwindling numbers of females entering the profession, suggesting that women do not perceive engineering as relevant to their educational or professional goals.

Engineer Your Life (www.engineeryourlife.org) is a national campaign that aims to close the gap by enlightening girls about the opportunities available in the world of engineering. The program is built around three key messages—creativity has its rewards, make a world of difference, and explore the possibilities—which aim to change the perceptions high-school girls have about engineering and to encourage them to enroll in undergraduate engineering programs.

Anchored by its interactive multimedia website, Engineer Your Life (engineeryourlife.org) showcases 12 in-depth profiles of young female engineers whose choices embody the campaign’s key messages and provides information on the paths they took to reach their professional goals. Their stories present engineering as a realistic option for young women who are interested in careers that make a difference in the world while being flexible, fun, and creative, and as a goal that is desirable and within their reach.

Through the profiles, visitors to the site get a glimpse of the women who make up the next generation of engineers and enjoy a day-in-the-life look at their dynamic professional lives.

Engineer Your Life(TM) is a production of WGBH Boston and the National Academy of Engineering, in partnership with a coalition of engineering and educational. For more information, visit www.wgbh.org.

NY State Bar Association announces creation of free civics education web site for

Teaching Civic Participation

By NY State Bar Association

The New York State Bar Association has created a Web site designed to help educators instill civic values and participation in young children. A project of the Association’s Committee on Law, Youth & Citizenship and of the New York State Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, the Web site presents a preK-12 civics education online resource for New York’s teachers, supervisors, and curriculum developers. Information and activities on the Web site are available free of charge.

The New York State Consortium for Civic Learning Web site contains several components to assist teachers with preparing civic education activities, including links to important concepts, content understandings, learning objectives, knowledge goals, learning skills and civic dispositions. The information is broken down by grade level in an easy-to-use, teacher- and student-friendly format and is linked to state and national education standards.

Sample learning activities on the Web site that teachers can use in the classroom include:

For students in grades K-2: Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and explaining what it means to them in their own words;

For students in grades 7-8: Reading the Declaration of Independence and defining the key words and terms (ex. unalienable rights, consent of the governed); and

For students in grade 11: Preparing for a hypothetical courtroom trial involving critical issues that are important and interesting to young people.

The Web site was compiled by the Association’s Committee on Law, Youth and Citizenship’s consultant Dr. George Gregory, former Supervisor of Educational Programs and Supervisor of Social Studies at the New York State Education Department, with input from many state and national education partners. The project was funded by the New York Consortium for Civic Education, the Carnegie Foundation, and the New York State Bar Association.

For more information about the various activities and resources offered, visit the Web site at www.nyscms.org. Additional information regarding the national civics education campaign can be found at www.civicmissionofschools.org and the Law, Youth and Citizenship site at www.lycny.org.

The 74,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, the Association’s programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.

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