Episodes

This week, Anne shares updates and opinions on the ongoing battle of whether to tell or not to tell on Trans kids. Is this trust-busting practice worth fighting about? And she sheds light on the growing academically deadly pandemic affecting our schools, Chronic Absenteeism. To get all the resources and research used to create this episode, head over to TransparencyinTeaching.com. There, you'll find all of our informative episodes and blog posts to give you the information you need to improve yo...

In this episode of EdNews This Week, Anne announces that she and co-host Jen will be featured guests on another podcast called Behind the Mic , out September 1st on the Education Podcast Network . This week's three news stories from the education world share how New Hampshire teachers are getting paid to teach chess, with the state providing funding for training and equipment, how Rhode Island's realignment of graduation requirements created with input from the community ensures all students wil...

The Teacher Workload: Teachers Get Less for More In this episode, Anne, Jen, and their special guest Maria delve into the multifaceted nature of the teacher workload, shedding light on the fact that the profession entails much more than simply standing in front of a classroom and delivering the curriculum. We discuss the term "teachering." Anne found this term in a blog post on teachbetter.com ’s site. The curriculum coordinator for 21st Century Teaching and Learning, Alexy Valencic’s discussed ...

Welcome to another edition of Ed News This Week. This week I’ll share why LAUnifed School District teachers (and a lot of us other teachers) are not happy about mandated discipline changes, What Congress has heard about mental health issues in school (will they finally listen?), and How ChatGPT has a sister AI being born that is supposed to be better for students. This week's question: How does your school or district handle discipline? Is it working? Add your comments below. For links to the so...

Ah, summer vacation! The time when teachers can finally break free from the clutches of students, exams, and endless lesson planning. It's a time to kick back, relax, and forget about school... Or is it? Many teachers count the days until the last bell before summer vacation sounds. At my school, our science teacher begins writing the countdown on the teacher’s lounge whiteboard the day we return from winter break. The end of the school year is incredibly stressful, and anticipation of summer fr...

In this episode of "Transparency in Teaching," host Anne discusses three news stories related to education—the first shares how mastery learning has now been approved in all 50 states in the US. The second story explores why the Carnegie unit, which has defined learning for the past 100 years, is now considered obsolete. And lastly, Anne breaks down how the US spends money on education. Please share any education news stories and links that you'd like to hear covered in the comments section. To ...

The current grading system used in education has been in place for over a century, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it needs reform. In this episode, Jen and Anne discuss the current system's flaws, such as grade inflation, subjectivity, and the lack of standardization. They talk about how students are rewarded for completing assignments or even just showing up rather than demonstrating mastery of the material. They highlight the difficulty of determining what exactly to grade and how ...

It's Anne here with a mini-episode of Transparency and Teaching Podcast, the News Edition. We used to start our episodes with education news, but you know, uh, we got so long-winded as we talked about the main topics that we decided to cut that out. Well, lucky for you, I'm retired, so I have all kinds of time to update you on what's happening in the education world. The News Edition will share news about the current policies and politics that affect our teaching world. So this little in-between...

A recent article in “The 74” caught my attention this week. It discussed how Tennessee and Michigan are currently debating removing the statute requiring third graders who are reading below grade level to be retained. With state testing starting, people are worried about holding back the potentially large number of these students who may not pass the test. You see, aside from the average number of students that struggle with reading at this grade level, this year's batch of third graders were in...

I don't think you'll find too many current student teachers who disagree that student teaching needs a revamp. Most teacher candidates spend at least 14 weeks student teaching consisting of 8 hours a day, teaching, lesson planning, and grading; Most teacher candidates attend staff meetings and parent conferences, too. Wait that sounds like what a regular teacher does. Well, that’s the point, to give candidates an idea of what they are getting into. It allows them to hone their lesson-delivery sk...

Welcome to Season 3 of Transparency in Teaching. Anne, here! Thought it might be nice to start off with a little true story that spurred the topic of this episode: Is it time to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance? I asked myself this question after visiting a high school class I was observing. When the "Please stand for the Pledge" announcement was given over the loudspeaker, I stood up and placed my hand over my heart. To my surprise, I was the only one standing. Not one student, not even the...