Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! (recent election). Now that I have that out of my system, this is a blog post about school choice. Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only person who thinks that “school choice” is a bad idea. Public discourse is
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Connected Educator Month
Did you know that October was “Connected Educator Month”? On Saturday in an effort to avoid the work I initially sat down to complete I decided to look into this Connected Educator thing a bit closer. I initially came across
Read MoreTYLTS Day: One day, many lessons
Last week, I had the incredible privilege of hosting Representative Jonathan Larkin (District 30) at my school for the first annual Take Your Legislator to School Day (TYLTS). TYLTS Day originated under the leadership of Bobbie O’Boyle (Arizona Education Foundation)
Read MoreTime to Grow: To Grade or to Kick Butt?
Today, a student resentfully announced in class that there was no grade in the gradebook for an essay he wrote. A month ago. I couldn’t argue. It has been sitting in the “Speedgrader” of my digital classroom for several weeks.
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Institutional Mindsets and Whether We Stay in Education
Let’s see, there are one, two, three, four, hmm…, five, six, hmmm…, oh right, seven, eight,…, nine colleagues, at least, including me, who have changed their professional context in this last year. I’m not counting those who have had their professional context
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7 Observations About Defining Expert Teachers
My teacherpreneur work includes working on diverse teams tasked to do everything from describing the state of early childhood in Arizona to determining the skills that make a new teacher safe for the classroom to delineating the continuum of growth
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Ed Solutions Are A Breath Away!
It’s natural to think that the answers to today’s education questions lie somewhere on a continuum between two extremes: How much autonomy should students have – all or none? Hmmmm…. probably somewhere in the middle. Where should curriculum decisions be made –
Read MoreMyths and Lies and Truth and Voice
I just ordered a book, and I can’t wait to get it. Yesterday, I attended a panel presentation on Tempe’s ASU campus. The authors of 50 Myths and Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools: The Real Crisis in Education presented
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Balancing The Load With The Brain In Mind
How do you handle your work load when you have unstructured time and many tasks that vary in complexity and duration? In my teacherpreneur role I’m learning to balance more tasks with more variety and complexity than ever. I learned
Read MoreA District, A Salary Schedule, and Decompression: An Interview with Robbie Ramirez
I interview teacher-leader Robbie Ramirez about the effects of salary compression in her district. She provides a personal story which makes it clear why decompressing the salaries of veteran teachers should be a top priority in districts which have made painful budget choices in the past several years.
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