Tag: Instruction

Improving Physical Literacy

By David Mills, NBCT – Owensboro, Kentucky As a physical education teacher, I aim to develop physically literate students. A physically literate student possesses the knowledge, competence, confidence, and motivation to participate in various physical activities to improve their overall health and wellness. Physical literacy is about more than just fundamental motor skills. It also…

Geography Deserves a Place in Every Classroom

By: Carol Hofer, NBCT It’s one of my “ha, ha” photos – a snapshot of a package addressed to me, who lives in Indianapolis, with a prominent stamped notice in all caps “MISSENT TO INDIA.” A stamp for this actually exists – it lead me to wonder how often it’s needed. Under Indianapolis it did…

Be an NBCT to a T (as in Traveler, not Tourist)

    By: Carol Hofer, NBCT If you bet that seeing themselves on video is what most terrifies candidates pursuing National Board Certification, pay up. It’s the editing. But it’s a double whammy- trimming both the video AND the writing!  First, it’s “How am I going to fill up all those pages?” then it becomes,…

When Schools and Pixar Collide: The Value of a Postmortem

By: Danny Hollweg, NBCT I picked up Ed Catmull’s 2014 book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Catmull, who is the President and CEO of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, uses stories of Pixar projects to reveal what he’s learned about managing a company, and its creative…

Tales from the Pandemic: Lessons learned as an administrator during COVID-19

Starting the School Year. As a school-based administrator entering my 3rd year in a building, I have experienced very little “normal.” I thought this year would be different.  Er, rather, I hoped. Here we are on the Friday before teachers return.  COVID-19 numbers are surging.  Mask wars are on full-scale. Staff members are stressed already.…

Why administrators should consider National Board Certification

Is NBCT for me?  Of course! In the year 2000 when I achieved National Board certification, nobody in my district had attempted nor had achieved certification. So I decided to take that plunge! I initially sought National Board certification because I wanted to continue to build my mastery of teaching and I thought going through…

Seeing Dyslexia through three sets of lenses

By: Chris Murray, NBCT From as early as I can remember in elementary school, I had difficulties with words, spelling, and sounds. That difficulty was diagnosed when I was in fourth grade (currently the majority of cases of dyslexia are not identified until at least third grade), but I truly did not begin to understand…