How I taught my high school students to analyze a complex text
Editor’s Note: Ambereen Khan-Baker, NBCT, teaches AP Language and Composition in Rockville, Md. As an Ambassador for the Montgomery Institute, a partnership between NEA and Montgomery County Education Association, she works with teacher leaders across the country on collaborative problem solving to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The views expressed in this blog…
The Lasting Impact of National Board Certification
Editor’s Note: Mark Gardner, NBCT, is a high school English teacher in southwest Washington state working in a hybrid role that also allows him to work on professional development experiences for teachers. The views expressed in this blog are his own. It has now been ten years since my students first got used to the…
A Big Step Forward for ESEA Reauthorization
The last iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), aka No Child Left Behind (NCLB), was slated to be reauthorized in 2007. Everyone agrees that the law needs to be updated, and it seems like the time is ripe. At the beginning of the year, the Senate Education Committee indicated they would take…
Wanted: Creative and Smart People
Editor’s Note: Jane Fung, NBCT, is a first-grade teacher in Los Angeles. The views expressed in this blog are her own. “If you’re a creative, smart young person, I don’t think this is the time to go into teaching unless an independent school would suit you.” When award-winning educator Nancie Atwell recently uttered these…
Am I an NBCT Fanatic?
Editor’s Note: Joanna Schimizzi, NBCT, is a biology teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina. The views expressed in this blog are her own. When the NCAA basketball tournament comes each spring, my husband becomes a March Madness fanatic, but I recently realized that there’s something I’ve become obsessed with: encouraging other teachers to…
The Profession is Ours: Teaching and Learning 2015
Editor’s Note: The following blog is from John M. Holland, an NBCT and speaker at the Teaching & Learning conference that took place in Washington, D.C. on March 13-14. This conference reflection was also published on the Center for Teaching Quality blog and is reprinted with permission. — I heard the sound of a great…
5 Reasons Why Future Teachers Should Attend Teaching and Learning 2015
Editor’s Note: Coming to Teaching & Learning? Check out John at his In-The-Classroom Workshop on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Room 156 on Making the Standards Real in Early Childhood. He will discuss what accomplished teaching looks like to support child development in early childhood classrooms. This blog was also published on the Center for Teaching…
A Sense of Purpose and Direction
This week I was invited by a local community organization to speak at Career Night for a small group of teens. It was a first for me, and quite a different experience from other public speaking I’ve done. When I talk to teens, it’s usually as a teacher or advisor, and when I talk about…
“Dear Cathy, I Quit.”
By now, National Board candidates have read the Standards – their copies full of highlights and sticky notes. They’ve created their word documents and chosen their students (maybe). Now they sit with a blank computer screen staring at them. It all felt so much easier before Christmas when “after the holidays” was far off and…
