I originally had blog posts planned, and mostly written, on topics of Prop.123 and ESSA, in the effort to remain current and connected to policy. I was ready to publish one of the above topics and realized that this
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Nobody Puts Teacher Leadership in a Corner!
If you’ve seen the movie, Dirty Dancing, you most likely remember the line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” And if you remember this line, then you most likely remember how determined Patrick Swayze’s character was to place his beloved Baby
Read MoreTrading Bad Behavior for Good Behavior
Years ago, when they were still small, my boys were helping my wife make pot roast. The first thing she did was cut off four inches of good meat and throw it away. “Why’d you cut off that good meat
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The Little Things
As I’ve gotten into my groove as a returning rookie teacher, I’ve rediscovered the joys of finding success in the little things. When I say “little,” I mean things that measure students’ success in ways that are not analyzed as
Read MoreBegin With the End in Mind
I’ll be honest there are days and weeks that simply kick my butt. The past weeks are evident of that. The lines are blurred and Monday flows into Tuesday, into Wednesday, into Thursday and Friday. That leaves me thinking and
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Arguing With Students: It’s All About the Toothpaste
Two classroom management challenges came up recently in my engineering classes. In the first, two friends were horsing around and did some minor, easy to fix damage to their projects. Each claimed the other had started it. In the second,
Read MoreLessons From My Version of MacGyver
As I was dropping my students off at music, I spotted our plant manager, known as Miss Shannon, who was walking a comically tiny bike across the courtyard. As I ran to open the door to the main building, I
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True Teacher Confession #1: Sometimes I wear pajamas to work.
To clarify, my students earned pajama day by making a school fundraiser goal. Did I set up the goals? You bet! I love pajama day! But not just pj day… Occasionally, I wear my “Teacher by day, Jedi by night”
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The Preparation Gap
There are many factors that are impacting education, to include lack of funding, lack of teaching professionals in the classroom, and the lack of support for new professionals during the most crucial years. As a Hope Street Group National Teacher
Read MoreJust. Keep. Calm.
That’s right AZMerit scores are here. We’ll finally know how Arizona students performed taking a first stab at the measure of the new standards. Kind of. Districts have now received embargoed reports that can’t yet be shared with the public
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