Education Newswatch January 2007

Literacy Coaching Online
The Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse, jointly sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association, is designed to provide information to literacy/reading coaches, educators, administrators and policymakers about factors contributing to the success of literacy coaching programs across the country. Located at www.literacycoachingonline.org, the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse provides access to research and best practice, enhancing the knowledge base coaches rely on as they work within schools and districts. Among the site's features are professional standards for literacy and instructional coaches, issue briefs, a library and a blog.

Literacy coaching can increase teacher capacity to meet the needs of students who are not reading and writing well, those who are English language learners and those who do well but ought to be further engaged and challenged.

"In order to refine their practice and stay abreast of new advances, professionals in all fields engage in new learning opportunities throughout their careers," notes Clearinghouse director Nancy Shanklin. "Literacy coaching is an exciting way to help preK-12 educators move to more effective job-embedded professional development around literacy assessment and instruction. Literacy coaches act as a support bridge between visions for students' literacy learning and making those visions a reality in classrooms."

Keeping Kids Safe
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® and Honeywell have announced the second-annual Got 2B Safe! Awards Program. Designed to recognize those teachers who are helping to keep children safer from abduction and exploitation, the program will reward 100 first prize winners with gift certificates for school supplies worth $500 each and five grand prize winners with free classroom makeovers from a professional designer worth $10,000 each. The Got 2B Safe! program promotes vital child safety skills for teachers, parents and guardians. Log on to www.got2bsafe.com to learn more about the program and to participate in the contest, which runs through January 31, 2007.

Highlights® Fiction Contest
Highlights for Children® magazine is accepting submissions for its annual fiction contest. The contest is open to anyone interested in writing for children, and this year's focus is mystery stories. Any original, previously unpublished story is eligible. The stories should be 800 words or less and stories for beginning readers should not exceed 500 words. Three contest winners will each receive $1,000 and their stories will appear in Highlights magazine. All entries must be postmarked between January 1 and February 28, 2007. For the complete guidelines, write to Fiction Contest, Highlights for Children, 803 Church Street, Honesdale, PA 18431 or go to www.highlights.com, click on the "Highlights Magazine" section and search "Fiction Contest."

Humane Science Education
Animalearn's The Science Bank has recently expanded its free online lending library of humane science education tools. The Science Bank contains over 300 technologically innovative products of interest to K-12 educators who wish to use non-animal methods to teach and study science. These CD-ROMs, videos and realistic models may be borrowed at no charge (a security deposit is required) and technical assistance is available. Animalearn is the education division of the American Anti-Vivisection Society. For more information, visit www.animalearn.org

Wings Over Kansas
A premiere aviation education website is offering a new feature titled "Project Classroom." This series of standardized aviation education lesson plans is offered free to teachers and students and is intended for grades 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Wings Over Kansas has a large following of educational groups nationwide due to the sizeable archived feature pages on aviation history, pioneers and feature articles, and boasts visitors from all 50 states and over 140 countries worldwide. For more information on "Project Classroom," visit www.wingsoverkansas.com and click on Aviation Education from the Menu List.

Student Handwriting Contest
For a fun handwriting experience for your students, enter them in Zaner-Bloser Educational Publishers' 2007 National Handwriting Contest. The contest is open to students in grades 1-8 who use Zaner-Bloser Handwriting as their adopted handwriting text. Finalists will each receive a $500 savings bond, a technology prize and more. One Grand National Champion will receive prizes worth more than $1,500 including a computer with over $150 in Zaner-Bloser software. The entry deadline is March 1, 2007. For more information, visit www.zaner-bloser.com/html/hwcontest.html

Letter P.A.L.S.
The Letter P.A.L.S. (Personalized Adventure Letter Series) program is a free school-to-home reading initiative for grades K-2. The program consists of eight different online Pet Shop Pen Pals letters that are "written" by engaging companion-animal characters and delivered weekly at the Readers Are Winners website. Each three-page, illustrated letter is personalized with the student's name and intended for use in a shared/guided reading environment. The letters also include a page called "Parents Paws for Reading," which includes specific questions and answers for each letter in order to engage parents and caregivers in the program. For more information, visit www.readersarewinners.org The winter session runs from January 15 through March 5, 2007.

January, 2007, Vol.37, No.4