It’s been 15 years since the National Research Council revised the standards for science education on a national level. Since then, NASA landed their first successful Mars Rover, measles was eliminated from the U.S. for good, and Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. Times are changing, and it’s time for our outdated science standards to change as well. And that’s exactly what happened. The NRC named these up-and-coming standards the Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS, for short.

8 QUESTIONS is a series of interviews with teachers who have effectively transitioned their classroom skills into new and exciting careers in the field of education. We at Teach.com believe that teaching is a rigorous and diverse classroom in and of itself; the skills learned “in the trenches” can translate into an exciting portfolio of professional options. From education tech to consulting, the only “X factor” is where you want to go — our interviews hope to shine a light on the steps it takes to get there.

Since its inception in 2009, the Common Core State Standards, or CCSS, has accumulated a bad rep from teachers, parents, and students alike. They believe that the standards restrict creativity in education. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the CCSS to find out if it’s as unaccomodating as it’s made out to be.

So far, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core standards. Many teachers who teach around the CCSS have been very vocal. It is surprising to note that they do not have a problem with the standards but rather the supporting assessments to measure whether or not these standards are being achieved.

One source of complaint is math, which has been heavily criticized for the CCSS’s new notoriously roundabout and overly-complex methods of solving math problems. This has been a great source of confus…

Fact: Nearly one third of fourth- and eighth-grade students are reading at or above proficiency levels—putting the majority of students in the category of “struggling reader.”

Fact: The more students read, the better they get.

Fact: There are a variety of tools available to teachers that motivate students to read more at home, where they spend a vast majority of their time.

Whether or not your students have books, reading confidence, or parental support to encourage reading at home, you can still help them spend more time reading with these tools.

Newsela

Non-fiction reading can hook struggling readers—so long as they find something they enjoy reading about. When they do find a subject they like, the…

A reflection of his own experiences of being diagnosed with ADHD and a learning disability, Ronnie Sidney speaks up for underrepresented special ed students in his creative and witty narrative, Nelson Beats the Odds. Entertaining, heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant, Sidney’s comic book sheds light on the difficulties students placed in special education face.

The story revolves around a young boy named Nelson who is starting his first day in middle school. Sidney illustrates Nelson’s behavior in the classroom, aligning with the classic signs of ADHD: inattentiveness, disinterest, and frequent daydreaming. Nelson’s parents are devastated to learn that their son has a learning disability. Nelson quickly learns what it means to be “different,” and begins to hide the recent develop…

Just as every teacher has their own style of teaching, each also has his or her own style when it comes to classroom design.

[caption id="attachment_11172" align="aligncenter" width="300"]An image from the Science of Classroom Design infographic[/caption]

And those choices matter. Remember this infographic?

From posters on the wall to books on the shelves, desk arrangements to desk lamps, teachers make a lot of choices about what their learning spaces look and feel like. It's a quick breakdown of the major ways can have an imp…