Laura Bradley has been teaching middle school English in Sonoma County, California since 1988. She credits her National Board Certification in 2005 with launching her pursuit of meaningful professional development, which has included: Teacher Consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project; an M.A. in Educational Technology; Google Innovator Certification; presenting at EdTechTeam, CUE and ISTE conferences; serving as a PBS Digital Innovator All-Star; and first place winner of the Henry Ford Teacher Innovator Award. Laura also teaches a design lab class and a broadcast media class. She lives in Petaluma, California with her husband, Doug, also a middle school teacher.
“Why are you still in the classroom?”
September 20, 2018
My first year of teaching was so traumatic that 30 years later I still shudder at the memories. Not only was I woefully unprepared for the challenges of working with middle school students, but I had no idea how to plan engaging lessons and long-term units. I remember sitting alone at my desk on a staff development day, after our principal told us to work on our year plan. I stared at my blank lesson plan book and thought, “I don’t know what I’m doing next week, let alone next month and the rest of the year!” Of course I…
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