After teaching for sixteen years, I know teaching is both an art and a science. I practiced the art of teaching this past week leading up to winter break as I kept my students learning and focused with long-anticipated events
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Maintaining the Magic
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
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This Just In
The US Department of Education just release some “good news”. The national graduation rate is at an all-time high and the achievement gap between white students and student of color has narrowed. Arizona educators would be well-advised, however, to take
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Schools = Huge Money Pits
Election season has come and gone. Several Arizona districts were quite happy as their overrides passed. Others were disappointed as their overrides died at the ballots. As a teacher, it’s easy to be furious at these voters. “Why don’t they
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
Read MoreSchool Funding—High Stakes Conversation
Have you noticed that we live in a society that compartmentalizes many aspects of our lives? I think this time of year is a perfect example: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday—it seems like there are catchy
Read MoreIs there really a shortage?
Is there really a teacher shortage? When I looked up the word shortage this is what I found: it is a state or situation in which something needed cannot be obtained in sufficient amounts, and its synonyms are scarcity, dearth, paucity,
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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
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