Teacher performance tests, Victoria Beckham, koalas and prom

GRADING THE GRADERS: TEACHER PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

Teachers would be required to collect evidence like student results and feedback to prove they’re meeting education goals under Australia’s first national teacher performance guidelines. The proposal is only in draft stage at the moment, developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and released for consultation today.

Teachers would set performance goals each year and then show what they’re doing to meet them.

“Teachers will have a clear understanding of what they will be expected to achieve every year and a clear understanding of how their performance will be measured,” said School Education Minister Peter Garrett.

“This will allow our many terrific teachers to demonstrate how well they are performing and the positive results they are producing, while also providing opportunities to improve their skills where needed.”

What do you think?

And here’s the other tidbits that have been buzzing around:

1. Wow. Did you see this interview with Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten? It feels like it’s straight out of a comedy sketch. Really, just watch:

2. The Week in Pics. A joker Victoria Beckham, beautiful family photos and a few surprises:

A flight attendent on Cathay-Pacific was rapped on the knuckles for letting Victoria Beckham into a crew jumpseat. Victoria didn't actually make an announcement on the crew phone.

vicbeckham

Is this the most boring birthday cake ever? It's Victoria Beckham's. She tweeted the pic last week. (That's fruit on the plate, in case you didn't realise.)

Valeria Lukyanova decided she wanted to look as much like Barbie the doll as possible. This is the result.

Well, she certainly does look like a doll.

The Victoria's Secret catalogue from 1979

Victoria's Secret catalogue today

Channel 9's The Voice continued to rake in more than 2 million viewers a night.

E! host Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill announced they were expecting their first child via a gestational surrogate.

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley announced they had adopted their second child,

Miranda Kerr posed with her mother Therese and grandmother Ann for an Australian Women's Weekly Mother's Day shoot.

Before she appeared on the cover of next month's Australian Women's Weekly, Kerri-Anne Kennerly reportedly asked editor Helen McCabe if she could Photoshop her. (Photoshopped image).

Federal Speaker Peter Slipper has stood aside this week from offical duties while a criminal investigation into alledged Cabcharge fraud. He is also facing a civil suit relating to allegations he sexually harassed a former advisor.

Police sparked controversy after opening fire on a stolen car driven by teenagers in Sydney's Kings Cross. But the real concern was reserved for the way the youths were arrested after the car was stopped. Video footage showed at least one officer punching a wounded youth.

Matthew Newton was charged with battery after punching a Miami hotel clerk. It's the second time this month, Newtown has run into trouble with the law overseas.

Mark Chopper Reid said he had cancer over Twitter.

Beyonce was named as People's most beautiful woman. (Photoshopped image.)

One Direction band members worried they had contracted chlamydia after they picked up a baby koala which urinated on them. (Around 80 percent of koalas have Chlamydia, but it's rare for it to be passed onto humans)

The Queen celebrated her 86th birthday.

These are confusing. Pants, or jumpsuit?

Another week, another nude photo of Heidi Klum. In this ad for Astor cosmetics, Klum is brightly decorated in body paint. Apparently the shoot took 12 hours to prepare. (Photoshopped image)

Stars flocked to the red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival. Here's Claire Danes.

Emily Blunt at the Tribeca Film Festival

Michelle Williams at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Model Coco Rocha took to Tumblr to express her outrage at this cover for Elle Brazil. She said she had a policy of no nudity and wore a body suit for the photo shoot. But the body suit was Photoshopped out. (Photoshopped image).

48-year-old Elle Macpherson covers Fitness magazine. (Photoshopped image)

If you need an idea of just how much magazines use Photoshop, have a look at this Rihanna Cover from LOOK magazine... Then click to the next image. (Photoshopped image)

Look familiar?

Mariah Carey's post-baby body, according to Shape. (Photoshopped image)

Count the number of people in this image and then the number of arms. Photoshop fail? It's an ad for Target. (Photoshopped image)

The leaked Oreo advertisement is provoking controversy in Korea. Kraft responded to the controversy saying the ad was meant for a forum and never meant to go public. (Photoshopped image).

Johnny Deep's partner Vanessa Paradis covers Interview magazine. (Photoshopped image).

Aussie actor and star of The Avengers Chris Hemsworth covers OUT magazine. (photoshopped image)

Artist Scott Blake creates these jaw-dropping portraits using nothing but carefully arranged bar codes.

Hundreds of thousands turned out to services across Australia and overseas to mark Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was enjoying the festivities at the Time Magazine Influential 100 launch party. Here she is with supertsar basketballer Jeremy Lin.

And here she is having a chinwag with comedian Louis CK while Amy Poehler looks on.

Photoshop fail? Check out the size of Kim Kardashian's waist in this ad for OPI. (Photoshopped image)

Finnish sculptor Mari Kasurinen transformed My Little Pony dolls into pop icons. Here's Lady Gaga.

My Little Elvis.

And My Little Jack Sparrow.

When photographer Jason Lee's wife was diagnosed with cancer, the kids were unable to visit her right away. So he snapped these incredibly creative photos to send to her and keep her spirits up.

He wanted to keep her up to date, without subjecting her to germs.

jasonlee3.jpg

jasonlee4.jpg

British police have released this photo of what they believe missing Madeleine McCann would look like today, aged 9. They believe she is alive and are renewing investigations into her disappearance from a Portuguese resort.

Photographer David Guttenfelder, from Associated Press, took these grim photos from inside North Korea in 2011. It's a rare insight into life under the oppressive regime.

New old photos of New York? Yes please. In this circa 1890 photo, a pair of girls walk east along 42nd Street in New York. Acker, Merrall and Condit wine shop delivery wagons are on the right and the C.C. Shayne Furrier sign can be seen on the roof overhead.

In this June 5, 1908 photo provided by the New York City Municipal Archives, the superstructure from the Manhattan Bridge rises above Washington Street in New York.

President Obama snapped sitting on the same bus activist Rosa Parks was on when she refused to give up her seat for a white man.

This April 20, 2011 photo of rebel fighting against pro-government soldiers inside a building in Tripoli Street, downtown Misrata, Libya won the Overseas Press Club 'Robert Capa Gold Medal Award' for “photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise'. Photo by Andre Liohn.

Photographer David Guttenfelder won the Overseas Press Photo award for 'best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines or books' for his series of work during the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami. Here, children's school materials lay scattered during a fast evacuation.

Would these products be as appealing without branding? These images are from a Tumbr called Brand Spirit. Here's a coke bottle.

And a packet of fries.

This is for the book lovers. Pictures of the 20 most beautiful bookshops in the world (we've chosen our favoutites.) This is Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This is Shakespeare & Company in Paris, France.

This is Poplar Kid’s Republic, Beijing, China. (The images come via Flavorwire)

3. Tamara Favazza was a 20-year-old college student in 2004 when she was filmed by a camera crew dancing at a party. Someone else lifted her top up as she apparently mouthed the words ‘no’ and the footage made its way to an edition of pornographic video Girls Gone Wild. For the act, she’s now won $5.6 million in compensation.

4. A couple crowdfunded their baby! As in, when they realised they couldn’t afford the IVF procedure they needed for a child after trying for three years without luck, the couple placed their story on crowdfunding website IndieGoGo and raised $8050 from donors. It worked!

5. The Australian Greens have urged Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to list the koala as a ‘vulnerable’ species ahead of his decision on Monday. Greens Senator Larissa Waters said we could see the ‘extinction of koalas in the wild within our lifetime’.

6. This week’s Heartless Muppet Award goes to: Archbishop John Carroll High School in the United States! A teenager there has been barred from her own prom because she doesn’t have a date. Real smooth. Way to make her feel ace! Amanda Dougherty had a date and her tickets and dress, but he pulled out at the last minute.

7. Burger King in the States has decided to make its entire business free from caged eggs and pigs in the next five years. Animal advocates have hailed it as a huge step forward for the American food industry. Not a bad win for the pigs and chickens, too.

Tags: current-affairs , gallery , politics

Daily Buzz: Teachers, it's time to mark you (more).

Your Body My Choice; Women Respond To The US Election Fall Out

Jackie-O [Part 1]: The Addiction That Almost Ended Her