March 2014 - STORIES FROM SCHOOL AZ

Growing Lifelong Learners

March 28, 2014Lisa Moberg Assessment, Education, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Mentoring, Parent Involvment, Professional Development, Science, Teacher Leadership

It’s Thursday evening in Casa Grande, Arizona, and I’m sitting in the local Chick-fil-A, decompressing from the freeway trek northward to Phoenix and reflecting on my day in Tucson. I am sunburnt, wind-whipped, and pretty exhausted, but it was a

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My Reply to Our Biggest Failure by Mike Lee

March 27, 2014Sandy Merz Current Affairs, Education Policy

In Our Biggest Failure, Mike Lee wrote in this space that all other problems in education: Pale in comparison to our students’ ultimate inability or unwillingness to think for themselves, to recognize learning and inquiry as enjoyable, identify their own biases

Five Things for Parents and Teachers

March 23, 2014Greg Broberg Uncategorized

Jessica Lahey recently wrote a very intriguing and informative New York Times article entitled, “5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew: Your Children Can Do More Than You Think”. As a classroom teacher it brought back memories of the discussions that

Myths and Lies and Truth and Voice

March 23, 2014Amethyst Hinton Sainz Books, Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Teacher Leadership, Weblogs

I just ordered a book, and I can’t wait to get it. Yesterday, I attended a panel presentation on Tempe’s ASU campus. The authors of 50 Myths and Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools: The Real Crisis in Education presented

All Aboard!

March 21, 2014Manuel Chavez Uncategorized

Every Tuesday, which I call “Trainday”, Dr. Bob Grassi who is a retired school psychologist visits with me and we talk about model railroading. Both of us are Lionel O gauge enthusiasts, which is one of the popular model railroading

Building Teachers Not Cars

March 18, 2014Julie Torres Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Mentoring, Professional Development

Yesterday I had coffee with a teacher that is very concerned with the student teacher she is hosting this semester. It seems that the student teacher is struggling with the basics such as classroom management, lesson planning and understanding child

This Is What Happens When We Stay Quiet

March 13, 2014John Spencer Current Affairs

I wrote a post about how we should change professional development. It had hundreds of tweets and eight thousand page views. People gave it the best possible digital thumbs up they could offer. Talking about professional development is easy, especially

The Yard Sale

March 13, 2014Jen Robinson Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Literacy

I knew it was time, over twenty years of teaching treasures. I was that teacher, the one who bought six copies of a book so I could use it for a small group reading activity or so more than one

A More Perfect Future

March 10, 2014Eve Rifkin Uncategorized

Melissa is one of my seniors. She has been interning all year at Ben's Bells, a local organization whose mission is to spread kindness through awareness and action. For her Senior Impact Project (required of all seniors), Melissa was determined