National Board score releases have come and gone and I was relieved to see the “Congratulations!” banner come across my screen. That was a sweet, sweet moment and I am thankful to all of those who helped and supported
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Caring is the Best Professional Development
Every few years I write that if you pay attention, the best professional development often comes out of nowhere, is free, and lasts only minutes – or even seconds. (You can read the earlier posts here and here.) Here are
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The Other Opportunity Cost of Teaching
I came home in a serious funk, slamming the door behind me, barking at my family, huffing and puffing under the heavy weight of the stack of papers I bring home (optimistically) every evening. I sat down on my bed
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A Holiday Wish List for ELD Equity
It’s that time of year when the child within us develops a dreamy, far-off look, and her eyes begin to gleam. Sugar plums? A Red Ryder BB gun? A new laptop? A roof rack and two kayaks? Creating a holiday
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Scholastic Synergy
For about 7 years I worked for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Working in guest-facing as well as “backstage” roles for the company, I learned countless lessons. While those lessons ranged from frivolous to profound, most of those tales
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A Student of My Students First
The question I had been waiting for… “So, Mrs. Maloney, where are you in terms of the pacing guide?” I knew that it would come during one of our “data chats” in which teachers check in with our administration team
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Riding the #EdWave and Diving Deeper into Teacher Leadership
Last spring, when 70,000 teachers flooded the Capitol to make five demands known, there were as many leaders as followers. Educators flexed the bullhorn, organized a band, wrote initiatives, arranged meetings with lawmakers, trained people to circulate petitions, set up
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Fire in the Hole!
In 2010, the AZ State Legislature ended funding for a program called the Early Childhood Block Grant [ECBG]. The loss of money was a devastating blow to many school organizations. In the district where I worked, the ECBG funds were
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My Advice for Newly Elected Arizona Leaders
I am a proud product of Arizona’s public schools. I am a native born Arizonan who spent her formative years in the Paradise Valley School District. I earned a degree from Northern Arizona University and have worked in schools both
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