I was both grateful and honored to have the opportunity to participate in NBC’s 2011 Education Nation Teacher Town Hall and Summit. I cannot possibly summarize all the topics covered during the event, nor do I find the value of such an exercise in this...
My son said to me last night that he didn’t want to go to school tomorrow. As he is 11 and just started middle school, I ran the myriad of thoughts that any normal mom would – maybe it’s the new schedule, perhaps it’s a...
What, as a teacher, am I trying to be effective at? Last week I visited a former student of mine in the hospital. He had just woken up from a week-long coma. Several of his friends, also my former students, claimed that his head and brain...
After using an “all hands on deck approach,” the White House Rural Council was able to produce a package of new job initiatives that were announced at the White House Rural Economic Forum. The Council’s recommendations, which leverage existing programs and funding, include making HHS...
So, what’s the big deal with retaining teachers? Recently, I found myself skimming through the oh-so-trendy but undeniably fascinating Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The excerpt I found most intriguing proposed the following: becoming great at something takes a significant amount of time, which Gladwell frames in...
In this high-stakes culture in which we operate, why should teachers strive to build solid relationships with their students? I have taught in segregated special education schools. My students had been removed from their feeder schools, usually due to behavioral issues. The urban high school students...