When I achieved National Board Certification I declared that I found my voice. For the last six years, I have used my voice with some proficiency to advocate for teaching excellence. Saturday afternoon I found myself representing Arizona educators
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A Third Grader Shares
The majority of us have the opportunity to engage with students on a daily basis. The degree of engagement varies and most often never strays too far from academics, at least not for extended periods of time. Considering that thought
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What If? (#1)
At the Arizona K12 Center’s Teacher Leadership Institute last summer, the phrase of the week was “solutions-oriented.” Strategically, this angle is necessary for teachers to be heard in education reform. The stereotype of the bitter, worn-down, socially stunted school-marm in
Read MoreAnd…..? Part II
In my last post, I posed some questions about the NBC program and all that it purports to achieve. I wondered how or if it made folks better teachers, and how we would go about proving such a claim. I
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Smart or Not Smart
I speak often about the ill effects of our testing culture on our students. My concerns tend to focus on the fact that when you give the “big test” five to six times a year, the significance of a student
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School Happens
We are now just over halfway through the school year and I realize no matter what we try to do, school happens. Although we mindfully schedule monthly fire drills to minimize disruptions, we have no control over those days that
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Time to Move On
I’ll be honest I am in disbelief that it is December. How can it be that the second quarter is quickly coming to a close? How is it possible that the first semester is finished? For that matter where did
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One Thing to Know
Committing your life’s work to educating children is challenging. Educating children in Arizona often takes the idea of challenging to a new depth. Halfway through my 16th year of serving Arizona’s children, I will admit that I wonder if I
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