Deborah Gatrell, NBCT

Deborah Gatrell is a National Board certified secondary social studies teacher, currently teaching World Geography and AP European History in West Valley City, Utah. She also facilitates NBCT Jump Start training through the Utah Education Association for teachers from three Utah districts and hopes to expand the program statewide in the summer of 2019. As a member of the first cohort of Hope Street Group Utah Teacher Fellows, she also works to amplify Teacher Voice in education policy discussions. Follow her on Twitter via @DeborahGatrell1.

Teacher Leadership is About Relentless Improvement

January 8, 2019

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Too often we distill solutions to challenges into catchy slogans like this misattribution and expect miracles from teachers working in isolation.  This is wrong.  Gandhi actually said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him…We need not wait to see what others do.” This suggests a more interactive process: As we work to improve ourselves, others see us in new ways.  We gain credibility by virtue of experience…

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