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
Read MoreArizona gets a blue ribbon for its euphemisation of political dialogue. In order not to appear like a Common Core State Standards state, they named them the Arizona Career and College Readiness Standards. The difference between the CCSS and the
Read More
I swore I would never teach junior high. Junior high, two swirling years of what, as a student, I experienced as daily hell. I owe all my patient and forgiving junior high teachers a debt of gratitude. By the time
Read More
We have all seen the challenges posted on social media or overheard a colleague who is on a 30-day challenge. Maybe they are changing what they eat for 30 days or doing the 30-day push-up challenge. Either way you know
Read MoreI’m a traditional public school teacher (and union rep), and I support school choice. As a right-leaning independent with a high concentration of libertarianism running through my veins, I default to political positions that tilt the balance of power toward
Read More
This past fall our district passed an override adding 50 new teaching positions and upgrading technology. This was a great victory for our community and schools. It showed a partnership, commitment and trust had been built and a promise moving
Read More
As a special education teacher, I’m constantly on the look out for time savers that help me accomplish my massive workload in less time. There are so many things to do in special education! (Regular ed teachers, I know you’ve
Read More
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 MoreA bombshell study published this week by a team of meta-researchers who reviewed the data on everything by everybody ever studied in education, suggests that the answer to field’s woes is much more simplistic than ever imagined. The culprit? Cursive.
Read More
As I sort through my endless number of email messages, I am reminded that this is the time of year when most school districts will have a special end-of-year ceremony to honor their teachers. My district has an award ceremony
Read More