Hey Tappsters!
Welcome to the USA Teacher Tapp blog 🎉 Seven weeks in and some teachers are building up impressive streaks…but more on that later!
Teacher Tapp becomes even more valuable as more teachers join! Share the app with your colleagues and help grow the community. The easiest link to spread the word is onelink.to/teachertapp – it takes them straight to the app store! 📲✨
Let’s jump into this week’s roundup of fresh education data insights…
1. New Secretary of Education
This week, President-Elect, Donald Trump has selected Linda McMahon as his future Education Secretary.
This decision is inevitably going to impact schools in every state – so first off it was important to find out how optimistic teachers felt about her tenure.
11% felt either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ optimistic, 7% felt ‘somewhat’ pessimistic, and the majority (58%) felt very pessimistic 🙁.
Teaching experience is not a requirement to hold the post of Secretary of Education – in the case of Linda McMahon, she achieved her teaching certificate while in college and had plans to enter education but never taught.
Does it matter if the person in charge of education hasn’t got any experience writing lesson plans and teaching students? Yes, say 97% of teachers!
What would teachers like Linda McMahon to know?
An amazing 87 teachers answered the question “What would you like to say to Linda McMahon?”. Here is a summary of the responses…
1. Funding and Resources
- Many teachers mentioned the need for proper funding for public education, including IDEA, special education, and Title I programs. Teachers expressed that they wanted equitable funding across districts and states to ensure all students have access to quality education.
- So what should money be spent on? Increasing teacher pay, reducing student loan burdens for educators, and funding resources for marginalized students.
2. Teacher Autonomy and Respect
- Teachers asked that they be respected as professionals, that their expertise is valued and they are given more autonomy in the classroom.
- Although they want more autonomy, they also want less bureaucracy. Teachers asked for less paperwork, and the ability to teach without the constraints of excessive standardized testing or political influence.
3. Equity and Inclusion
- Several responses from teachers highlighted the importance of addressing inequities in education. Teachers wanted Linda McMahon to know they were worried about marginalized groups, such as students with disabilities, English language learners, LGBTQ+ youth, and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Specifically, teachers were worried about the inequity created by “school choice” programs like vouchers is also a concern, as these often divert resources from public schools.
2. What is the purpose of education?
Here is a question the newly formed Department for Education will be asking itself…what is the purpose of education?
Arguments about what schooling is or isn’t for have always been made by different experts – but what do Teacher Tapp users think?
Three commonly cited purposes of school are: preparing children for the world of work, giving them skills for life, and to produce citizens who can make meaningful contributions to society.
Just based on these three, it was creating citizens who can make meaningful contributions to society who came out top with 98% agreeing that this was the purpose of schools.
In fact, the strength of feeling was so strong that no one ‘disagreed’ and only 2% couldn’t pick a side.
As Teacher Tapp grows we will be able to share breakdowns for responses in High school, middle and elementary schools – so be sure to share the app with your friends! The easiest way to do it is to send them the direct link to take them to the app store: onelink.to/teachertapp.
3. Dear Dilemma
This week we posed three tricky teacher dilemmas – although these were imaginary, teachers often find themselves confronted with situations like these, or variations of, at some point in their teaching career.
Situation one – the kid in the candy store with his hand in the jar…
You’re at the local grocery store on a Saturday, and you spot a student who has clearly “borrowed” a candy bar without paying. What do you do?
Just under half (49%) are confronting the student in the store itself, 9% take the indirect route by speaking to the store manager, and then the rest avoid addressing it in the present but 18% will address it with the student on Monday and 25% chalking it up to “not my problem”.
Situation two – the too-good-to-be-true homework…
You receive homework from a child that was clearly completed by their parents. What do you do?
The two most popular answers both involved addressing it with the parents: 40% would get in touch to request the next homework task is done independently, and 38% would be more direct and request the child completes it on their own and re-submits it.
At the other end of the scale, 15% would just accept the homework without question…but 6% would reject the homework without a chance to do it again.
Situation three – the unexpected lesson observation…
You arrive to school only to learn an external visitor will observe your lesson today, and you were planning something more experimental. Do you stick or switch with your lesson plan?
The majority had courage in their convictions and would stick with their plan (75%) but 20% would make a switch for a safer lesson plan.
For some, an unexpected lesson observation is a step too far. 3% would ask for more time to plan, and 2% would refuse to permit the observation.
➕ The streaks are building!
For our early adopters, long streaks will soon become your ultimate bragging rights! But for now, how are streaks shaping up on the app?
The longest streak so far is an impressive 55 days—held by teachers who joined when Teacher Tapp USA launched at the Festival of Education 👏.
Even though the app is still brand new, half of our users already have streaks of 14 days or more!
And talk about dedication—teachers have answered nearly 160 questions in just under two months. Amazing work! 🎉
Remember, if you ever have an issue with your streak or want to suggest a question for the app, we’re just an email away at usa@teachertapp.com.
Daily Reads
We know lots of teachers on Teacher Tapp LOVE the daily reads, if you have ideas of reads we could feature, get in touch by emailing usa@teachertapp.com and we will check it out!
This week our most-read blog was all about updating your ‘think-pair-share’ skills.
