Mobile apps have become “must have” classroom tools, and students are naturally drawn to their interactivity. Whether you’re looking for an app to help with classroom management, exploring different languages, or figuring out tricky geometry problems, there’s an app for anything and everything.
With hundreds of thouands of apps out there, finding the right ones to use can be a challenge. To help you navigate the waters, NEA Member Benefits asked your fellow NEA members for information about apps they find useful in their classrooms. Below are their picks along with some helpful advice.
Don’t miss Educators Appreciation Day at Mystic Seaport Museum on October 20! CEA members and their families (up to four people total with teacher ID) will receive free Mystic Seaport Museum admission.
Don’t miss this special opportunity to explore the museum and learn more about the seaport’s educational programs and classroom connections. Education Department staff will be on hand to discuss program offerings and answer questions. In addition to the museum’s regular activities, there will be a special agenda of activities just for educators and their families.
The first years in a classroom are some of the most exciting and memorable in a teacher’s career—as well as the most challenging.
CEA invites new teachers to gather insights and advice at our annual conference for early-career educators. Participants may choose from 10 timely workshops to help hone their skills—from creating a culturally responsive classroom to managing behavior and acing their evaluation.
The half-day conference is free and includes continental breakfast and lunch.
The Connecticut Education Association today released its first-ever Legislator Report Card that evaluates legislative candidates’ overall support for issues important to students, teachers, and public education. CEA’s new report card recognizes legislators who are committed to giving students more opportunities for success and are working hard to improve public education and the teaching profession in Connecticut.
The report card evaluates legislators’ voting records, as well as their advocacy and efforts to advance CEA priorities over the past two-year legislative cycle. These priorities include funding public education, preserving collective bargaining, enhancing the teaching profession, protecting the pension system, keeping schools safe, upholding teacher certification standards, and supporting sound education policy.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to public education and teachers’ rights, many legislators took actions in the wrong direction and earned less-than-stellar grades,” said CEA President Jeff Leake. “This new report card system is transparent and holds candidates accountable. It informs our members of the candidates’ positions on key issues and highlights those who want to help our students and teachers, and those who are doing harm to them.”
“In the aftermath of teacher demonstrations across the country, there has been a renewed interest in the political process and its direct effect on public education, students, and teachers,” said CEA Executive Director Donald Williams. “Our members are becoming more active—they are using their voice and their vote to make sure the concerns of teachers and students are heard.”
The candidates for all 187 Connecticut General Assembly seats as well as legislators running for another office, receive a grade based on a number of factors. For incumbents seeking reelection, the report card is based on the following:
Voting record on bills that advance or hurt CEA education priorities, and support for students, local schools, and teacher rights
Co-sponsorship of bills critical to advancing CEA’s identified legislative priorities
Advocacy on behalf of or against CEA positions in public hearings, on the chamber floor, in the press, and among peers in the legislative environment
Responsiveness to requests to meet with CEA members and staff
For all candidates, including those without a state legislative history, answers to candidate questionnaires and interview results were included in the report card.
Additionally, significant emphasis is placed on a candidate’s actions involving the rights of teachers to have a voice in the education of their students, the working and learning conditions of their school, and the ability to bargain for fair wages and benefits.
When it comes to summer, reading may not be the first thing—or even in the top ten things—kids have in mind! But reading can be the ideal summer activity. It’s fun, portable, can involve the whole family, and will help children academically.
These resources can help you put good books into kids’ hands and connect them to vibrant summer learning adventures.
SUMMER READING RESOURCES AND ACTIVITY IDEAS (THAT WON’T HAVE YOU SPENDING HALF YOUR SUMMER AT THE CRAFT STORE)
Head to Start with a Book for ideas for fun and meaningful interactions around books and things of kid interest
Sign up for Camp Wonderoplis, the online summer-learning destination that’s full of fun, interactive STEM and literacy-building topics for kids and their families
The Connecticut Education Association does not endorse the idea that teachers should bring guns into the classroom.
Teachers must focus on educating students. Asking teachers to be armed, paramilitary operatives as a result of the inability of Congress to pass gun violence prevention legislation is madness. We place enough mandates on our teachers—Congress needs to take action to keep our schools safe.
After the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook, Connecticut passed historic gun, mental health and school safety laws—some of the toughest in the nation—to help keep our children, our families, our schools, and our communities safe from gun violence. Republicans and Democrats worked together.
Congress must take action to protect all students in every school in America.
CEA is helping to coordinate school activities and early-morning Walk-Ins For Safe Schools on Thursday, March 14. School communities can stand in solidarity, and walk-in to school together to support the changes needed to make every school and every child safe.
by Lesia Winiarskyj for Connecticut Education Association
Bridgeport teacher Greg Furlong shared his firsthand experiences with inadequate resources and support as a witness for CCJEF during the trial in Superior Court.
Yesterday’s State Supreme Court ruling in the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF) v. Rell delivered a mixed verdict—bad for school funding, while rejecting the lower court’s attempt to create burdensome schemes for testing, teacher evaluation, and education policy.
The key issue in the CCJEF case was whether school funding in Connecticut is adequate. On this issue, the Court found that state funding meets the minimally adequate level required. This finding flies in the face of mounting evidence of poorly funded and resourced public schools throughout the state, especially in high poverty communities…
by Nancy Andrews for Connecticut Education Association
Connecticut teachers are urging legislators to take up the critical issue of education funding when they convene for a special session later this month to focus on the draconian cuts devastating the state’s public schools and shortchanging students’ education.
“While we appreciate legislators standing up for our senior citizens, our youngest and most vulnerable citizens are also facing peril with continued school funding cuts that must be addressed,” said CEA President Sheila Cohen. “The time for action is now. Our children can’t wait until next February. Legislators must take up the issue in special session.”
Governor Malloy recently cut an additional $58 million in ECS funding, and more cuts are planned in 2018. As Connecticut’s cities and towns struggle to make up these costs, many are planning to cut school resources, eliminate educational programs, and lay off teachers.
“These funding cuts are creating chaos in our schools and causing disruptions for students, parents, teachers, and communities in the middle of the school year,” said Cohen. “Every day our teachers are being asked to do more with less, and every day our students are being shortchanged by cuts in education funding. Education funding is being strangled in a budget nightmare that has created an economic crisis in our schools.”
Hundreds of teachers have also reached out to legislators. In phone calls and emails, teachers are asking legislators to do the right thing and protect Connecticut’s children.
Cohen stressed, “Without providing critical funding, the state is irreversibly jeopardizing the future of Connecticut’s students and the future of our state. Our children and our public schools are too important to cast aside and just hope for the best. We need to support the education of our children.”
The first years in a classroom are some of the most exciting and memorable in a teacher’s career—as well as the most challenging.
