Last Monday in Coolidge, I was coaching a cohort of teachers who are pursuing the National Board Certificates. Ben Barth, a massage therapy teacher at the Central Arizona Valley Institute of Technology (CAVIT), was in the zone. He planned to
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My friends tease me about my stash of office supplies that I constantly carry, sticky notes raining in my wake as I walk and highlighters filling every pocket. My house looks like Mission Control as binders bristling with sticky flags
Read MoreAre teacher leaders wizards or masons? The mason throws the mortar and trowels it smooth, lays the brick and taps it level. Each brick contributes incrementally to the wall, which defines the room, and room-by-room the house is built. The mason stands
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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
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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
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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 MoreDo you get on or do you get left behind? Well, it depends on who is driving the bus? Have you ever sat in a professional development and thought “Why on earth am I here?” or “Could the rest of
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Now that I’ve returned to the classroom, people keep asking: “How is it going?” And my answer has been pretty consistent: it’s wonderful, but it’s also kicking my proverbial rear end! It’s not like I forgot how complicated teaching was,
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Year 6 of 7 in Kindergarten, and the PRESSURE is on. Not the pressure of change, mandates, or parents rather the pressure that consumes me, is the pressure imposed by my students. The pressure to be better than I was the
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