Teachers

Rosette Gonzales Three Burbank elementary schools are sending four of their teachers and their principals back to school this week. Emerson, Jefferson and Bret-Harte Elementary schools are three of 12 schools selected for a $5,000 matching grant from the Music Center's Education Division. Teachers and administrators are attending a five-day summer institute for educators, which started Tuesday at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, to teach them how to design a curriculum to implement the arts into the classroom.

Molly Shore Even teachers have to put in some classroom time, learning more about the subjects they teach. About 60 teachers came to Jordan Middle School on Wednesday morning to learn how to better use the district's new language arts books for middle school students. And like students, some took copious notes, others listened intently, while some whispered to friends across the table. Yvette Coleman, representing textbook publisher McDougal Littell, attempted to hold up "The Language of Literature" to show something on the page, but admitted the book was too heavy.

Maya Kukes BURBANK -- Ever since she was a third-grader in Palo Alto helping deaf students at her elementary school, Traci Fellman knew she wanted to be a teacher. For Sharon Snell, the best thing about teaching is the students. "Everyone always says that, but it's true," Snell said. "No one goes into this profession for the money. But the kids are wonderful -- they keep us young." Fellman, an eighth-grade English teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School and Snell, who teaches third grade at Bret Harte Elementary School, were honored Thursday night as outstanding teachers of Burbank Unified School District.

I was one of more than 200 Burbank Unified School District teachers who received a layoff notice. This is personal for me and it is personal for every citizen of Burbank. It is personal for me because of the obvious financial and personal devastation in the loss of a job. It is personal for me because my husband and I have a child in these schools, schools we trusted to provide the best possible education for our son, which is what every parent wants for their children.

Good morning, readers. Today is Monday, September 17. Teachers in Burbank learned that bullying is more than just “kids being kids.” The California Teachers Assn. hosted the first district-wide, anti-bullying training for Burbank Unified School District teachers . Around 700 teachers from kindergarten to high school participated in the training. Burbank Leader An accident involving a motorcycle snarled traffic along the 101 Ventura Freeway near the Reseda Blvd. exit on Saturday . The accident caused the temporary closure of all lanes.

Local students continue to improve on standardized test scores required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and our teachers deserve heaps of credit for enriching students’ education without “teaching to the test.” Standardized Testing and Reporting figures — culled from a series of tests — showed sharp gains in several areas and moderate gains in others by students in the Glendale and Burbank unified school districts. Despite the fact that several teachers and school board members have openly decried No Child Left Behind, which ties school funding to testing performance, they’re obviously doing a fine job working with what they have.

Maya Kukes BURBANK -- They do everything from alleviate first day of school jitters to help students master reading and multiplication tables. And for them, homework never ends. They're teachers, and on Wednesday they were honored locally and throughout the state as part of the "Day of the Teacher." At Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary, principal Linda Acuff waited for her staff in the teacher's lounge just after recess with a surprise. She gave each one a bright pink folder full of dozens of appreciation notes from their students.

This just in: According to the Washington Post, there are some teachers out there with a "dirty little secretTheir horrible secret: They're supposed to be teaching kids English grammar, but they don't know enough about it themselves. Amy Benjamin, who presides over the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar, told the Post: "We have armies of teachers, elementary teachers and English teachers, who don't have the language to talk about language." And now that these teachers have been involuntarily outed, the healing can begin.

In the foyer to the Bret Harte Elementary School auditorium Wednesday night, eight children sat wide-eyed as kindergarten teacher Sue Casella read aloud the book, “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More.” The read-along was a first this year during the annual book fair and family night, which raises funds for school programs while holding activities to get students excited about reading. “The teachers are so fabulous because they’re so eager to do it,” said Mageara Cameron- Spell, executive vice president of the school’s PTA. “And that’s a big draw — children love to come and listen to their teachers.

BURBANK ? Two elementary schools have been selected to test new computer software designed to help teachers better keep track of student information, grades and attendance records, district officials said. Miller and Bret Harte elementary schools are piloting the system, which consists of a software program that was installed on classroom computers for teachers to use, said Rick Vonk, the district's technology services manager. The program, Aeries Browser Interface, is powered by a main server, Vonk said.