This was posted in one of the iNACOL forums. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a whole bunch of online teachers participating in the online portions of the town hall event.
“Education Nation” To Gather Teachers From Across the Country For Special Town Hall Event
With just over a week to go until “Education Nation,” we continue to roll out more details behind this exciting event. Just this morning NBC News announced an integral piece of the two-day Summit– the “Teacher Town Hall.” Moderated by NBC’s Brian Williams, this event will convene teachers from across the country, and provide a forum for participants to voice their opinions on the most important challenges and opportunities facing teachers in America today.
While hundreds of teachers will gather in-person at Rockefeller Plaza, teachers from across the country are invited to join the conversation virtually by registering to take part in the conversation at www.educationnation.com. During the meeting, teachers participating online and those at Rockefeller Center will together discuss their priorities, brainstorm new ideas, discuss key issues, and ask questions of each other to advance the conversation about teaching in the United States.
The “Teacher Town Hall,” Sunday, September 26 at 12:00 PM EDT, will air live on MSNBC and streamed online at EducationNation.com, Scholastic.com, iVillage.com and msnbc.com. More information is provided in the full announcement below.
Make sure to check out the new EducationNation.com, with more information and materials related to “Education Nation”– including ways to get involved online, special video messages and a press room with the latest announcements and news.
NBC NEWS CONVENES THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR FIRST NATIONALLY TELEVISED CONVERSATION ABOUT TEACHING AT “EDUCATION NATION”
Brian Williams to Moderate “Teacher Town Hall” Airing Live on MSNBC on Sunday, September 26
New York, NY — September 15, 2010 – NBC News will convene a nationwide gathering of thousands of teachers from across the country for the first-ever televised “Teacher Town Hall” as part of NBC News’ “Education Nation,” Sunday, September 26. Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” will moderate the discussion, which will focus on the most important challenges and opportunities facing teachers in America today.
“You can’t have a conversation about education, let alone a two-day summit and week of broadcasting around these issues, without the participation of teachers, parents and students,” said Steve Capus, President of NBC News. “This two-hour televised conversation will be the perfect way to kick off the week and set the tone for Education Nation.”
While hundreds of teachers will gather in-person at Rockefeller Plaza, teachers from across the country are invited to join the conversation virtually by registering to take part in the conversation at www.educationnation.com. During the meeting, teachers participating online and those at Rockefeller Center will together voice their priorities, brainstorm new ideas, discuss key issues, and ask questions of each other to advance the conversation about teaching in the United States.
The “Teacher Town Hall,” Sunday, September 26 at 12:00 PM EDT, will air live on MSNBC and streamed online at EducationNation.com, Scholastic.com, iVillage.com and msnbc.com.
“I’m very excited to be able to participate in this ground-breaking discussion,” said Kelly Burnette, a science teacher at Hilliard High School in Nassau County, Florida. “Having a dedicated forum for teachers provides a rare opportunity to have a conversation about the issues that are truly important to teachers across the country. I hope this gathering will empower teachers to help their students become globally-minded problem solvers and spur new ideas to enhance student achievement.”
According to a Stanford University Study, teachers have a greater impact on student success than any other factor. As the foremost authorities in conversations about schools, teachers will play a critical role at “Education Nation.” The summit on Rockefeller Plaza convenes the foremost policymakers, elected officials, thought leaders, educators, members of the business community and engaged citizens in a national discussion about the challenges, potential solutions and innovations spanning today’s education landscape.
For more information visit EducationNation.com, or follow on twitter @EducationNation or find “Education Nation” on Facebook at Facebook.com/EducationNation
I am a middle school teacher with 141 students. I’m not sure if there’s any research on class size, but I feel like my students are missing some of my time. Oh, by the way, I’m a great teacher.
Comment by Michelle McCord — September 26, 2010 @ 11:55 am |
Michelle, I’m not an expert in this area, but I can say that the research has been missed. Older research indicated that once you increased a class beyond X students that it didn’t really matter how many students were in the room (and I can’t remember what the X was, but I believe it was below 20). There is more recent research that looks at class size in the K-12 environment that has indicated that it doesn’t make any difference, although much of that research is methodologically flawed because in order to dramatically reduce class sizes you have to hire a bunch of new – often inexperienced – teachers (so it is difficult to say if the reduction of class size had no effect or if the lack of student performance was due to the increase in new and/or inexperienced teachers).
Speaking specifically about this notice, while I want to have a strong representation of online teachers in this event – particularly given that it is partially an online event – I have to be honest and say that NBC are not presenting an unbiased or non-partisan examination of the problems in education. This Education Nation event is similar in theme to the new movie Waiting for Superman, both of which are attacks on public education and strong advocates for the business model of education (or the market choice option). Essentially, both would be perfectly happy if the public education system became very much like the health care system in the United States – where those with economic and social capital get one kind of service and everyone else gets another kind.
Comment by mkbnl — September 26, 2010 @ 1:17 pm |
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