in UEA’s Weekly Newsletter for Educators and Auxiliary Staff

When someone leaves their job, they are naturally concerned about what kind of reference they will get from their employer.

There are companies that will verify the type of reference your former supervisor is providing to those who call. The cost is usually about $100 for their services.

Education, health care, and government are the career fields most likely to give employees a negative reference. Texas, Illinois, and New York are the states with employers who are most likely to malign former employ-ees. In addition, employees who work for smaller companies will be de-famed more often than those who work for larger companies. School em-ployees are particularly impacted because many rely on school principals or assistant principals for their references. Unfortunately, these middle-level administrators do not have the advantages of a large human re-sources staff or attorneys to caution them about relaying bad words against employees, thereby putting the district in the path of a lawsuit.

Before paying for background checks, ask several questions of the compa-ny you choose:

How much will the service cost?

How long will it take to complete the audit?

Is the information reliable enough to use in a court case?

If the documentation reveals that reference comments are unfounded, hire a lawyer to determine if you or your career has been libeled or slan-dered.

about UEA

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www.ueatexas.com

It is a difficult time to be a teacher. With most districts ex-

periencing a decrease of budgets over several years resulting

in fewer teachers, an increase in testing standards, and a

rise of campus expectations including PLCs, RTI, and new

initiatives, you are feeling the pressure of an increased

workload that is much higher than your workload of just two

or three years ago.

Teachers at all levels of experience are feeling attacked,

threatened and devalued. When was the last time you were

praised rather than criticized by your administrator? One

strategy to combat and offset these attacks on you as a pro-

fessional is to increase your value to your students, your

team and your administration.

With summer approaching, this is a great time to plan some

proactive steps you can take to increase your value as an

employee. Personal reading counts in many districts for

SBEC Continuing Education and Staff Development credit.

Here are some books you may want to consider:

Drive, by Daniel Pink. This book discusses motivation and

will enlighten you to reflect on what you have done and

where you can improve your motivational strategies.

Free Agent Nation, by Daniel Pink. A historic examination

of what was successful in society and what has changed in

employment.

iBrain, by Gary Small. The students you teach currently are

vastly different from those you have taught during your ca-

reer. Mr. Small helps you understand why holding attention

and engaging students in dialogue is more challenging.

The Energy Bus, by Jon Gordon. No one affects your outlook

on your performance more than you. Do you allow your en-

vironment to determine your success or do you positively

influence your environment and those with whom you work

and teach?

It’s Not About the Coffee, by Howard Behar. How do you

lead in your classroom? Or do you let the students lead you?

Are you a leader on your campus or a complainer? Self-

reflection allows for growth and change. Small changes can

make a big impact.

There are many sites available to purchase these books at very reasonable prices – www.abebooks.com, Half Price Books www.hpb.com, and used at www.amazon.com.

Be Careful Out There! The end of the school year can be a strange and dangerous time

for employees. Students begin to take advantage of the system

and their teachers. They can see the end of school and begin to

do things they would not normally do throughout the rest of the

year. This is the time to be on your guard. This is the time to

make sure that you are following all of the rules and procedures.

This is also the time to make sure that you don’t do anything silly.

(And yes, we have plenty of folks who do things that put their

jobs in jeopardy that one would think is pretty stupid.) Examples:

No showing of improper films (PG or R rated), no visiting stu-

dents’ parties, and so on.

We don’t want any of you to end up on the front page of the Dal-

las Morning News or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Nor, do we

want any of you to become a TV star on any of the local net-

works. Be careful out there.

After you complete your reading, write a summary and deliver it

to your administrator with your plan to implement ideas during

the next school year.

Each district has a different procedure for obtaining credit for

independent reading – your Training and Development Coordi-

nator can answer your specific questions.

You may have other professional learning recommendations –

email Mike Bowden at bowden@ueatexas.com with these. We

would love to share your input with other members.

Staying proactive and growing your tools, knowledge, skills and

ability is a success strategy that can save you hours of anguish

and concern about your value in your district.

Be in control of your career. No one has more interest in your

success than you.

Local offices with local staff committed to helping

UEA members

$7 million liability policy for each member in case

of job-related lawsuits

Meaningful workshops to help members in their

careers

Affordable annual dues with the option of payroll

deduction by your district

Working to improve salaries, benefits, and working

conditions

Weekly newsletters that provide timely, pertinent

information

Regular e-mails to update you about what’s

happening in Austin and in your district

Three full-time attorneys on staff

Educational Specialists that can help with issues

such as classroom management

UEA is Right Here, Right Now!!

Whether it’s a desire to learn exciting, new techniques in the classroom, or an opportunity to gain

needed continuing education credit, UEA has outstanding workshops.

All Workshops are FREE and approved for Continuing Education by the State Board of Educator Certification.

Classroom Discipline

Team Approach To Teaching

Effort- Based Testing

How To Do Better On Your Evaluations

Proper Documentation

Teacher Bag ‘O Tricks

Working With Parents

Special Children In The Regular Classroom

Engaging Students

Professional Ethics And Legal Compliance

UEA Offers Workshops Designed Just For You!

Ten Reasons To Join UEA

UEA’s offices and staff, including our attorneys, are all based RIGHT HERE

in the Metroplex.

We know that when you need help, you need it fast. UEA staff work every day to solve mem-bers’ problems. Most of the other associations have NO local staff. Their members are forced to call their association's headquarters in Austin.

Let’s face it: Those other associations don’t know where your school is located, much less anything about your administration, district, or school board. This greatly limits their ability to solve your problems.

Classroom Management and Discipline

Team Learning and Discipline

June 10, 2013

Presented by Gwen Offutt & Linda Hardison

Session 1 9:30 - 11:30 AM

Session 2 1:00 - 3:00 PM

7 Behaviors of Successful Students

Engaging Students

New Teacher Bag o’ Tricks

June 11, 2013

Presented by Gwen Offutt & Linda Hardison

Session 1 9:30 - 11:30 AM

Session 2 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Professional Ethics

Standards of Conduct

Compliance with the Texas Education Code

Compliance with State and Federal Laws

June 12, 2013

Presented by the UEA Legal Team

Session 1 9:30 - 11:30 AM

Session 2 1:00 - 3:00 PM

In order to be in compliance with the Texas Administrative Code, professional educators are required to com-plete a certain number of CPE hours to maintain their teaching certificate. UEA's Summer Academy sessions are designed to help you complete your CPE hours.

ALL UEA WORKSHOPS are approved by the SBOE for CPE hours. Certificates will be given at the end

of the workshops. Listed below are the sessions, including topics covered, that we will be holding this sum-

mer. All Workshops will be held at our Member Center in Fort Worth.

Please note that these workshops are for UEA Members ONLY.

Summer Academy

To register for the Summer Academy, please visit the link below:

http://ueatexas.com/uea-summer-academy

If you are not a member, and would like to join UEA, please follow the link below, or call the

UEA Office at (817)572-1082 or (972)291-7514.

http://ueatexas.com/membership

Teachers Matter

Students need teachers more than ever, educator and author Angela Maiers writes. For teachers who are feeling disillu-sioned with the profession or overly burdened by testing and other issues, she advises them to "choose to matter."

Edutopia

Standardized test questions released ac-

cidentally

The company that runs Texas' standardized school

tests is acknowledging it accidentally released to test

scorers two English essay questions on the exams be-

fore they were given. Officials at the testing firm Pear-

son tell The Dallas Morning News the mistake was

theirs and they regret it. The firm has a $90 million con-

tract with the state. [view article]

Lengths teachers go to prep for STAAR

When Wichita Falls ISD teacher Jamie Morgan began

teaching her Alamo Elementary fourth-graders the test

strategies that would help them pass the State of Texas

Assessment of Academic Readiness reading test this

year, she observed an odd phenomenon. [view article ]

STAAR plays minor role in Texas’ new

teacher evaluation system

As part of the No Child Left Behind waiver process, Texas

is obligated to come up with a new teacher evaluation sys-

tem. Truth to tell, the old one used by most school districts

was pretty much useless in that almost every teacher got

the same rating [view article ]

Response to Greg Abbott’s Gubernatorial

Educational Plan

Greg Abbott's plan lacks a real world understanding of the

current educational landscape and how to truly reach a

smarter Texas. Abbott's latest plan to increase funding for

digital learning is a gross mis-prioritization of public dollars

and will be detrimental to many school districts who al-

ready lack the funding to come up to par with property rich

districts. Ironically, he plans to increase dollars to technol-

ogy when school districts across Texas are still trying to

recover from the budget cuts to public education which he

supported that have caused them to lose teachers and

whole schools. [view article]

Civil rights hero launches ‘American Child’s Education Bill of Rights’ The Education Bill of Rights identifies 12 basic edu-cation rights for every American child, all based on his career as a social activist as well as discussions with thousands of students, parents, teachers and education experts across America.

The Washington Post

Power of Social Networking and Homework Can we harness this interest and passion in their online lives for educational purposes? Dr. Green-how not only found an increasing awareness by researchers, but also the potential to complement lessons in more formal educational settings.

Harvard University

Why Professional Development Matters Professional development requires more than just heading into work every day and checking the nec-essary boxes on daily activities. Teachers need to have background information and professional support, and access to industry news, standards,

and trends to make the most out of their time

in the classroom. Edudemic

How Do We Get to a Deeper Level of Learning? As educators across the country continue to examine the best ways of teaching and learning, a new lexicon is beginning to emerge that describes one par-ticular

approach — deeper learning.

KQED

How to bring a summer men-tality to lessons all year long The best teachers transform something that we might not initially want to learn into some-thing we value and end up choosing and wanting to learn.

SmartBrief

Texas teachers to take survey Teachers in Texas are urged to fill out a questionnaire by the end of May, the first statewide effort of its kind to poll educa-tors about teaching and learning conditions in the public school

system. San Antonio News-Express

For more state education news:

www.TexasISD.com

www.ASCD.com

By now, you may have been asked to join a professional educational asso-

ciation. We encourage you to do so. We believe that every educator

should be a member of an association. Professional associations work to

improve the profession and to make life better for all teachers and sup-

port personnel. They work to improve salaries, benefits, and working conditions. They also offer liabil-

ity insurance that covers education-related lawsuits. Most associations provide some type of legal help

if your rights are violated.

Most teachers would not drive their cars without automobile insurance. Neither should they enter a

classroom without the protection of their association. They understand the exposure to liability in

dealing with other people’s children. They know that just one unpopular decision can ruin their jobs,

careers, and lives.

For these reasons, we encourage you to join the professional association of your choice. We hope you

will choose UEA. We encourage you to seek the guidance of others in your building before you join an

association.

Join

Something!

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Fort Worth, TX 76140

Phone: (817)572-1082

Phone: (972)291-7514

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Join UEA

Are You Being Reassigned?

Don’t Know What To Do? WE DO!

Classroom Management, Student Failures, Stu-

dent/Parent Complaints, Administrative Concerns,

Evaluations, Growth Plans, General Questions, and

so much more!

Not a member of UEA and having problems?

Please call your association as soon as possible.

Give them enough time to help you. Don’t wait

until it is too late.

Remember that it only takes one student, one

parent, or one incident to ruin your career.

Tips From Other Teachers...

Children are motivated by incentives. Different from bribes, incentives help children to learn to do the right thing. WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me? When you sense reluctance or resistance, offer a WIIFM that would have occurred anyway. “When you finish your homework, then you may play outside.” Always offer help in your second sentence, which communicates your support and intention of a job well done.

UEA’s yearly dues cost less than one hour of time with most attorneys.

If you would like additional information about UEA, please go to the following link:

http://www.ueatexas.com/membership

If you don’t join UEA, join something. It is that important.

UEA Summer Academy

To register for the Summer

Academy, please visit the link

below:

http://ueatexas.com/uea-

summer-academy

Winner District School

Alba Blanco Fort Worth McRae Elementary

Alona Wilson Arlington Short Elementary

Bobbie Ellingson Granbury Granbury High

Dana Ruge Grapevine-Colleyville Colleyville Heritage High

Denise Acebo Mansfield Worley Middle

John Mackenzie Weatherford Bridge Academy

Karen Lasater White Settlement Brewer Middle

Tiffany Stokes Coppell Cottonwood Creek Elem

Amy Fox Lewisville Lewisville High

Every week, UEA chooses nine newsletter readers to receive $25. These readers have already won.

However, you must call the UEA office to claim your prize. 817-572- 1082 or 972 - 291 -7514.

Weekly Winners