Every week I read about 25 education, evaluation and and social justice newsletters and blogs so that I can stay abreast of what’s happening in the field. I will periodically highlight one of these blogs.
NCTE, the National Council on Teacher of English has an excellent newsletter, the NCTE Inbox, that highlights issues related to literacy, as well as other general education topics. Click here to see this week’s newsletter.
One topic that stood out to me was a study that looked at why students drop out of school. NCTE Inbox summarizes the research report below:
Dropouts Give Reasons
A poll of 500 young adults in Michigan found that fewer students would drop out of high school if they took classes they found relevant and if they had more direction in developing their goals. Detroit Free Press, May 30, 2008
This stood out to me because I think it’s very hard for teachers to teach in a way that makes direct connections to the students life, past, current and future. Often teachers were not taught this way when they were in school, and have little experience learning in this manner. So even when they want to present material in a way that is engaging, they just don’t know how. And considering how overwhelming the first year of teaching can be, crafting excellent lessons can seem like an impossible goal without an excellent and accessible coach or mentor.