Passive to Active, Philosophy to Action, Novice to NBCT
For many years, I’ve worked both formally and informally with teachers pursuing National Board Certification. I coach them on their written commentaries, probing their thinking to bring to the surface key details that establish clear, consistent and convincing connections between their practice and their impact on student learning. Now, in my current role as a…
#TeachStrong
As a National Board Certified Teacher, though you may not know it, you are already a TeachStrong Advocate. As an Advocate, you should know that TeachStrong is releasing its first policy proposal tomorrow (May 24th)—on the importance of identifying and recruiting high-achieving, diverse teacher candidates—in Denver, Colorado. Tomorrow night, we will also be hosting our…
Why More Teachers Should Use Podcasts
When we started the third of four quarters in February, I gave up on getting my students to read outside of class. Despite the fact that the approaching ACT and an AP English Language test were a couple months away, I said, “No more reading Atlantic articles for homework. Now,” I told them, “I need…
How is candidate support connected to a teacher’s professional learning?
What value does candidate support provide to our students, candidates, candidate support providers, and National Board? How will candidate support improve the teaching profession? At our session at the March Teaching and Learning conference, titled Getting Board-certified – New resources for Candidate Support Providers, our panelists (listed at the end) discussed the structure and values…
What About Authentic Appreciation All Year Long?
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. That one week a year when social media explodes with gratitude for educators across the country as we collectively #ThankATeacher. A week when we pause to appreciate the profession that makes all others possible. On Tuesday, May 3, the official Teacher Appreciation Day, I joined five other National Board Certified Teachers…
A Gift for Teacher Appreciation Week in the Form of Two Questions
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! In 1985, the National Parent-Teacher Association declared the first week of May as a time to appreciate the work of educators throughout the United States. Since then, Teacher Appreciation week has become an annual tradition in American life. I myself have enjoyed basking in the love that my colleagues and I…
Making Instructional Shifts with Video Cases
We’ve all been there. In the current education environment, we’ve all faced the challenge of figuring out how to translate instructional shifts from theory to practice. Is this even feasible in a real classroom? How will that work with my students? Variations of these questions are coming up frequently, I suspect, for educators all over…
A Math Teacher Goes to the Capitol…And Why You Need To Do the Same
If you had asked me six months ago if I would be requesting meetings with legislators and sharing my experiences as an educator with them, I would have laughed at you. But that is exactly what I did this month and will be doing in the future. If you are an educator you need to…
