August 2013 - STORIES FROM SCHOOL AZ

The Successful Teacher

August 30, 2013Lisa Moberg Assessment, Education, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Mentoring, National Board Certification, Parent Involvment, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership

Starting the new school year for a teacher is like New Year’s Eve. It’s a time to reflect on the past year and create meaningful, attainable goals for the upcoming 180 days. Usually each year I can quickly determine my goals

What’s the Rush?

August 29, 2013Julie Torres Uncategorized

This is my third school year out of the classroom and although I feel as though I am always busy, I’ve noticed something that has never come to my attention before; teachers move at breakneck speeds. It seems that when

(Un)Informed Critical Thinking?

August 27, 2013Mike Lee Uncategorized

Surprise, surprise. In a survey released this week, pollsters found that the American public is uninformed about a host of public policy issues, in particular the Common Core Standards. As educators we gasped at the numbers generated by the

Common Core: Modeling and Real World Scenarios

August 26, 2013Manuel Chavez Uncategorized

During summer break, I attended a Common Core workshop sponsored by my district where I unpacked the standards and developed lesson plans for the upcoming year. As I developed lesson plans, two standards caught my attention. 1. High School: Modeling

Virtually Segregated

August 25, 2013Amethyst Hinton Sainz Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Teacher Leadership, Web/Tech

Teachers must be vigilant that with online tools we do not inadvertently stigmatize groups of students we mean to help.

Data Chats Beware?

August 23, 2013Greg Broberg Uncategorized

It is difficult to participate in any school-based professional development that does not include some conversation about data. This is especially true as teacher teams come together in data chats. An important aspect of collaboration among teacher and school teams,

The Real Advantage of Wealthier Schools

August 19, 2013John Spencer Education Policy

I love my school and I love my school district. I love the people I know and the community that surrounds it. I love the kids I teach and the way they’ve entrusted me with their stories. And yet .

Goal

August 16, 2013Daniela A. Robles Uncategorized

I ended the school year completely deflated with my school’s double digit AIMS score losses in two out of four grade levels. Confident my school would fall from an A to a C or D, I was shocked to

A New Year

August 15, 2013Jen Robinson Education, Elementary

August 2013 I have begun my second year as an elementary principal. Honestly last year was just blurry. So it should be different this year, right? Actually it is. As I prepared for the “first” staff meeting, the “first” parent meeting, the “first” day, I

The World isn’t That Flat

August 14, 2013Eve Rifkin Education, Education Policy

A good friend of mine recently became a special education teacher. It is her second career, so she's a bit older than most rookie teachers. But she's got the optimism and enthusiasm of someone in her early twenties, and it's