Category : “Current Affairs”

A Holiday Wish List for ELD Equity

December 7, 2018Amethyst Hinton Sainz Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Literacy, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership

It’s that time of year when the child within us develops a dreamy, far-off look, and her eyes begin to gleam. Sugar plums? A Red Ryder BB gun?  A new laptop? A roof rack and two kayaks? Creating a holiday

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Scholastic Synergy

November 29, 2018James King Current Affairs, Education, Games

For about 7 years I worked for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Working in guest-facing as well as “backstage” roles for the company, I learned countless lessons. While those lessons ranged from frivolous to profound, most of those tales

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Waiting

November 24, 2018Jen Robinson Current Affairs, Education, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership

National Board score release is a week away… I remember this time being filled with anxiety and self-doubt, wondering how I would respond when I opened my score report. I had heard somewhere that scores would be released according to

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A Student of My Students First

November 12, 2018Beth Maloney Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Social Issues, Uncategorized

The question I had been waiting for… “So, Mrs. Maloney, where are you in terms of the pacing guide?”  I knew that it would come during one of our “data chats” in which teachers check in with our administration team

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Riding the #EdWave and Diving Deeper into Teacher Leadership

November 11, 2018Amethyst Hinton Sainz Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized

Last spring, when 70,000 teachers flooded the Capitol to make five demands known, there were as many leaders as followers. Educators flexed the bullhorn, organized a band, wrote initiatives, arranged meetings with lawmakers, trained people to circulate petitions, set up

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Fire in the Hole!

November 9, 2018Jess Ledbetter Current Affairs, Education Policy, Teacher Leadership

In 2010, the AZ State Legislature ended funding for a program called the Early Childhood Block Grant [ECBG]. The loss of money was a devastating blow to many school organizations. In the district where I worked, the ECBG funds were

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My Advice for Newly Elected Arizona Leaders

November 5, 2018Jaime Festa-Daigle Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy

I am a proud product of Arizona’s public schools.  I am a native born Arizonan who spent her formative years in the Paradise Valley School District.  I earned a degree from Northern Arizona University and have worked in schools both

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Partnering with Students with Unique Needs

October 17, 2018Yolanda Wheelington Current Affairs, Education, Life in the Classroom, Social Issues

This article is a reflection on my experiences with my students with unique needs.   “When he comes into your class, he may have a hard time adjusting. He has… …a learning disability …a speech impairment …occupational and executive functioning delays

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The Arizona Leaky STEM Pipeline

October 16, 2018Mike Vargas Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Elementary, Mathematics, Science, Social Issues, Uncategorized

  My wish for the next group of elected state officials is to adopt a growth mindset when you take on your new roles. But even more specifically, my hope is that this new crop will adopt a growth mindset

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Friends Don’t Let Friends Commit Educational Malpractice

October 10, 2018Beth Maloney Current Affairs, Education, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership

My former assistant principal and all-around amazing human being, Molly Garcia, taught me about the importance of teachers undertaking a deep dive into brain research and why teachers need to understand how the brain learns.  She taught me that if

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