New York TeacherSeptember 10, 2015
Volume LVII, Number 1
Cover Stories
A league of their own
[[nid:91610; undefined; styleName:large]]
With students on the team clustered in a semi-circle to watch, the coach and one of their teammates demonstrate a technique known as the two-on-one tie-up.
The coach controls the opponents’ arm with two hands, then leverages a leg to get the athlete off-balance and down to the floor.
[[nid:91607; float: right; styleName:nyt_medium]]
For aficionados of high school wrestling, it wouldn’t be surprising that the technique was quick, intense and effective. What many might find surprising, however, is that both the coach and the athletes are female.
“The minute I touch her shoulder, she’s down,” says Sunset Park HS teacher Lisa Mandry, clueing in the girls to an important tip for the takedown on this June day.
Next up: how to reverse the move. Mandry is teaching about leverage, about control, about being in the moment, reacting and not second-guessing oneself.
The girl…
City boosts incentive for waiving health benefits
Are you covered by a New York City health benefits plan but also covered by the non-city health insurance plan of your parent, spouse or domestic partner, or through other employment? The city has just tripled the cash incentive payments it will offer people in this situation for waiving their New York City health benefits plan coverage.
Building self-esteem
The workshop at PS 721, a District 75 school in Gravesend, Brooklyn is humming with activity: Students are focused on hammering, painting and gluing at different work stations. They’re building furniture for their new school library: a couch, stools, footrests, even iPad holders and bookstands. Their materials: sturdy cardboard, brown paper bags, grocery store boxes and plastic.
Latest News
‘Sesame Street’ changes channels
There will be a new way to get to “Sesame Street” starting this fall: Sign up for HBO.
Unionization spreads among new media sites
The news site Vice on Aug. 7 became the fourth new media site to unionize this summer, following in the steps of Gawker, Salon and The Guardian US.
Going hungry to save a Chicago school
Parents and community activists in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Bronzeville on Chicago’s south side, as of Sept. 1, were in the third week of a hunger strike that began on Aug. 17 to demand the reopening of a neighborhood high school as an open-enrollment, district-run school.
Teach for America members can join Detroit union
In a positive sign for other charter-school organizing drives around the country, a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer ruled on July 31 that Teach for America teachers at a Detroit charter school chain are eligible to join the same bargaining unit as other teachers at the chain.
UFT offers low-cost DASA workshops
The UFT offers low-cost workshops that meet the state’s Dignity for All Students Act six-hour training requirement for state certification. DASA seeks to ensure all students attend school in an environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying.
More in News Stories
Feature Stories
Back to school — almost
Betty Walston grew up in Harlem, and even though she’s now living in the Bronx, she returned for the Harlem Week Children’s Festival on Aug. 15 with her 9-year-old daughter, Shyenne-Nakyah.
“I heard about this event, and I came to see it for myself,” Walston said. “And it was wonderful.”
Walston and her daughter were among thousands of families from Harlem and beyond who thronged the PS 175 schoolyard to take in the festival’s live performances, inflatable rides, face-painting, crafts table for kids and vendors selling everything from African-inspired fabrics to jewelry, pocketbooks and food.
The UFT had a table to distribute free school supplies, something Walston said her daughter will make good use of when she enters 4th grade at PS 160 in Co-op City in the Bronx.
Peggy Girtman Atkins, an English language arts teacher at PS/MS 161 in Harlem, helped pack the UFT goody bags with notebooks, pencils and posters.
“It was a pleasure giving out the supplies,” Atkins said. “The …
Art and soul
What are the odds that a group of urban high school students, many of whom had never set foot in an art museum before, would love an avant-garde museum devoted to new and challenging artwork? Yet students from Harlem’s Mott Hall HS were exuberant in their praise after visiting MoMA PS 1 in Long Island City last spring.
DuBois Institute enlightens UFT-sponsored students
Four New York City public school students received UFT scholarships to attend classes at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute in Princeton this summer. “It has opened my perspective on many things,” said one Bronx high school student.
Member Spotlight
What I Do
What I Do: Neil Tolciss, administrative law judge
For 14 years, Neil Tolciss has mediated hearings on possible violations of the city’s quality-of-life laws, such as noise, sanitation and fire codes.
Around the UFT
50th anniversary of the founding of Medicare and Medicaid
UFT nurses, child care providers and retirees joined dozens of other union members and health care advocates for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Medicare and Medicaid.
Playground opening at Bronx campus
The 1.2-acre cracked asphalt lot adjacent to CS 300 in the Tremont section of the Bronx has been transformed into a state-of-the-art playground for the 1,200 students who share the four-school campus.
Teacher memorialized at IS 24, Staten Island
Gina Sorbera was always the first person to arrive each morning at IS 24, Staten Island.
UFT, DOE give new teachers a head start
As summer drew to a close, school was in session for hundreds of new teachers who took part in a New Teacher Week from Aug. 24 to 27, which was organized by the Department of Education and the UFT.
UFT hosts financial literacy summer camp
Pro football player Mike Adams, a safety with the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts, had a roomful of 3rd- to 6th-graders in the palm of his hand.
You Should Know
Secure Your Future
Our pillars of retirement security
With the start of a new school year, we are excited to bring you information you need to secure your future.
Opinions
President's Perspective
A year to celebrate
Here’s the truth that needs to be told: Each and every day, in every classroom in every school building, you are doing amazing work with your students under very challenging circumstances.
VPerspective
Education of English learners finally a priority
Chancellor Carmen Fariña has made the education of English language learners a priority. She wants to restore and expand bilingual education.
Opinion
Meeting the needs of transgender students
The New York State Department of Education took an important step this summer by publishing its first guidelines to help schools uphold the rights and address the needs of transgender students.
Opinion
Hedge fund gift will cost the public
Success Academy routinely raises millions of dollars from ultra-wealthy contributors, on top of the public funds it also receives.
Editorial Cartoons
Teaching Resources
Linking to Learning
Building a better PowerPoint
Many of us are guilty of showing bland and uninspiring PowerPoint presentations to our students. Yet, death by PowerPoint is entirely preventable. Remember what it does well, and maximize its strengths.
Research shows
Bilingual instruction best for ELLs long term
English language learners in dual-language programs or who began instruction in their native language in kindergarten but had transitioned to an English-only class by second grade demonstrated greater academic growth than their peers in English immersion or in developmental bilingual classes that didn’t make the transition to English-only until 5th grade, according to new research.
Teacher to Teacher
Art criticism in the high-needs classroom
To get high-needs students to grow, learn to connect with and appreciate the arts, art teachers need to frontload with materials, vocabulary, sentence starters and time in the museums and galleries of New York City.
Building Your Career
Building Your Career
Annotating assessments
When my students take any kind of assessment, we start by annotating the directions and questions to ensure that everyone understands what they need to do.
New Teacher Articles
Getting to know you — and them
The first six weeks of school are a crucial period for establishing routines and building relationships that become the building blocks for a successful school year.
Retired Teachers News
The new struggles ahead
Thinking about the first column for the new school year while tending a long-neglected garden, I’m reminded of a popular standard I used to hear on radio station WNEW: “Autumn hath a sadness not akin to pain.”
Murphy wins another term as chapter leader
Tom Murphy, the Unity Caucus candidate for chapter leader of the Retired Teachers Chapter, was re-elected to the post with 78.89 percent of the vote following the June 29 vote count by the American Arbitration Association.