Educator Effectiveness

Teachers' Top Three from ESE — January 5, 2017

1. Buzz: Boston EdTalks is seeking applicants
   Boston EdTalks, an annual event sponsored by The Boston Foundation, is looking for five outstanding educators to present on exciting classroom practices or ways educators are addressing challenges at their school. The event will be May 4, 2017, but the application deadline is 8 a.m. January 17, 2017. More information, including examples of past Boston EdTalks, is available online.

2. Get Involved: Tell us what special education PD would be helpful
   The Department's Office of Special Education Planning and Policy wants your opinions about what types of special education professional development activities will help you achieve your goals. Please take our 10-minute survey before February 1 and forward the link to others who might be interested, including general education and special education teachers, administrators, and paraeducators. The findings, which will be available in February at Special Education page, will help inform our programming.

3. What We're Reading: Digital literacy challenges and resources
   In this "Hechinger Report" Tech Smart article, Chris Berdik shows just how far behind teens are when it comes to evaluating bias and truthfulness in online sources and points to the need for greater digital literacy at a time when, fortunately, there is also a renewed interest in civics.
   
   Jonathan Anzalone, assistant director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University in New York, told Berdik, "One of the messages we've tried to stress more and more lately with the rise of fake news is this: Do you want to be fooled?… Wouldn't you rather make up your own mind?"
   
   Here in Massachusetts, digital literacy learning standards are part of the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Curriculum Framework approved last year, and on the civics front, we are planning for our second annual Civics Literacy Conference on May 8 with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston.
   
   Do you have tips on teaching media literacy and digital literacy? Share them with us via Twitter at #top3fromESE or @MAschoolsk12.