
Teacher’s Choice spending deadline is fast approaching
Jan. 15 is the deadline for spending your Teacher’s Choice funds.
The holidays came early for the 150 children who gathered at UFT headquarters on Dec. 10 for the annual holiday party organized by the UFT in concert with the Coalition for the Homeless.
Buses delivered children from shelters across the city to the party site, and as they lined up in the foyer outside Shanker Hall, they peered inside to get a glimpse of the gaily decorated room awaiting them. The first thing the children saw was a beautiful balloon archway at the room’s entrance. With eyes widened, many started to hop around gleefully. Each child received a bag of goodies, including small stuffed animals and snacks, on entering the room; Santa Claus and a wrapped gift awaited each child when the party was over. Schools and UFT members donated about 1,000 toys for the occasion.
“It’s something we do for our kids that goes to the heart of what our union is about,” said UFT V…
For two days in November, students at PS 151 in Bushwick, Brooklyn traveled the world without leaving their building.
Tom Murphy, the leader of the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter, called on the union’s most recent retirees assembled for its annual New Retiree Luncheon on Nov. 22 to stay active and united in the face of “the post-election tough days ahead.”
The importance of nurses as advocates for their patients and their profession was a prominent theme of the 37nd annual Professional Issues Conference of the Federation of Nurses/UFT held on Nov. 18 and 19.
There is an old-world courtliness to J. Machelle Sweeting. She speaks of being “reared in the village of Harlem.” She pays formal visits to former elementary school teachers, now old and frail, and mentors teenagers she decides will benefit from her tutelage. Beneath her perfect manners — and confident manner — lie lessons imparted and learned decades ago in elementary school. She credits her parents, of course, but the teachers of Harlem’s PS 46 took it from there. They melded sky-high expectations with tough love. The combination transformed a shy, smart child from the Polo Grounds, the public housing project where she lived, into the Hon. J. Machelle Sweeting, a Civil Court judge assigned to Family Court. And Sweeting won’t allow anyone to forget it: “I called the new principal recently to let her know the legacy of PS 46 and the success stories that came out of that awesome school,” the Harlem resident says, laughing cheekily. “I also said I was here if she needed anything.”
My mother is a third-generation Harlemite and my father, who died two years ago, was a former policeman in the Bahamas who worked as an accountant here. There were always books in the house. In those days, you could order the Enc…
Two paraprofessionals have developed a variety of clubs focused on math, engineering and technology to help English language learners and students with disabilities at PS 314 in the Bronx.
The culmination of a recent lesson at PS 294 in the Bronx was making and eating healthy, vegetarian tacos. Hugo ate his taco in one big bite.
More than 50 UFT family child care providers took a step back in time when they visited the Brooklyn Historical Society on Dec. 3.
Hanging on a wall in Eloise Zeller’s home is a plaque that reads “To the mother I never had,” a tribute to a woman who has spent 45 years working with children as a paraprofessional.
Many breast cancer survivors and their loved ones were among a capacity crowd on Dec. 15 for a presentation on breast cancer research and treatment, part of the UFT Welfare Fund’s Medical Learning Series.
Jan. 15 is the deadline for spending your Teacher’s Choice funds.
On Nov. 7, 2017, New York voters will be asked to weigh in on a question of vital importance: “Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?” The answer is NO!
The Teachers’ Retirement System is approaching a historic milestone: It will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.
New York voters will be asked in November 2017 if they want to hold a constitutional convention to revise our state constitution. What’s at stake? Everything. The rights now enshrined in the constitution will all be fair game.
With homelessness at records high in NYC, public school educators are finding creative ways to help students in need without making them feel marginalized.
How can we help students learn the differences between reliable sources of information and those with ulterior motives?
Positioning myself as both a teacher and a learner creates a climate of respect and risk-taking, where my students and I can all feel free to take that extra leap and not be afraid to fall.
About the time her body began whispering its complaints against her, ballet dancer Elizabeth Supan was ready to step off the stage and onto solid ground. That’s how she found herself at PS 133 in Harlem after earning her master’s degree in dance education with the help of the Lincoln Center Scholars Program.
Of the many dark clouds we will face this coming year, one that affects you and me directly is the prospect of a New York State Constitutional Convention.