When I moved from Pennsylvania to Flagstaff, I spent a good deal of time explaining to my friends and family that yes, it does indeed snow in Arizona. As we gear up for winter in the mountains, my thoughts have
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A New Declaration of Independence
Growing up, most denominations of currency had the face of someone I recognized. I do not mean that I had learned who these men were from history class; rather, that the men featured were similar to me (white men, of
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Helping Students With Reading Disabilities Become Proficient Readers
With so much research and information on how to best support students with learning disabilities it can be incredibly difficult to figure out what path is the best. You may be lucky enough to have access to a reading intervention
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The Arizona Leaky STEM Pipeline
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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And Today’s Word is …?
Based on how often the Arizona K12 Center features topics related to the stress of teaching on it’s 3P’s in a Pod podcast and its Homeroom page, I thought I might share a new self-care technique I discovered a while
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Frantic or Calm? Make It Your CHOICE
Do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed and frantic? If you are an educator, my guess is you said YES! Sadly, these feelings have become “normal” in our profession. We race around each day with little time to eat or
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Let’s Talk about Teacher Gossip
Last week, I was listening to the latest 3Ps in a Pod episode, “Experienced Teachers’ Passions” and got that freaky lining-up-of-the-universe feeling. I had been chewing on the topic of teacher gossip for some time, but every one of my
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Public Schools as Infrastructure: Literally Rescuing Our Communities
Taking off out of Sky Harbor a couple of weeks ago on an early morning flight, I was struck by the clarity of the morning, and the beauty of the valley. Normally, I do not think of Phoenix as being
Read MoreSupporting Students With Behavioral Challenges
“If a child doesn’t know how to read, we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to write a complete sentence, we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to multiply, we teach. If a child doesn’t know how to
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Sink or Swim – The First Years of Teaching
It’s not a secret, we need teachers in Arizona. There are thousands of positions that are either unfilled or filled with someone who hasn’t completed any formal teacher training. We need new teachers to continue to join this profession and
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