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…
The Architecture of Accomplished Teaching…of Teachers
Earning my National Board Certification was a professional turning point for me, as it was for many teachers I know. It was early in my career when I submitted my Blue Box (with VHS tapes!), but as soon as I connected with the community of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) here in Washington state, hallways…
National Board Changed My Standards
A group of three, four and five year olds check out books with their teacher. Another small group of three year olds extends their learning from the classroom using the coding robot with a teacher assistant. Meanwhile, I work on a MakerSpace activity that guides students to build their own snowmen from healthy and unhealthy…
Hollywood Got it Wrong…But Washington Gets it Right
When educators take back education legislation Every Student Succeeds Act. The name leads us to wish for a world in which every student experiences a classroom designed specifically to help them overcome every obstacle that they’ve been dealt. As professional educators, we don’t want to be jaded, but it sounds a bit “Hollywood.” Think of…
NOW is the Right Time to Consider National Board Certification
As the next candidate cycle begins on April 1, 2016, many educators around the country will ask themselves, “Is now the right time to consider National Board Certification?” or “Am I ready to become a candidate?” I remember asking similar questions when I saw an information session flyer about Board certification posted on a bulletin…
Reflecting on Teacher Leadership Through a Lens of Stewardship
As a National Board Certified Teacher, I recognize that accomplished teaching practice begins with knowing my students. The National Board’s Architecture of Accomplished Teaching provides guiding questions around knowing our students’ identities: Who are they? Where are they now? What instruction/support do they need and in what order do they need it? Where should I begin?…
It’s time to make the magic happen!
If someone had told me when I was a novice teacher that something truly magical would happen in my career twenty years later, I would have found it hard to believe. It was a perfect storm of sorts; it began with my journey of achieving National Board Certification. This achievement gave me the confidence to…
Every Student Succeeds Act – NBCTs Can Act Now!
No Child Left Behind has been left behind, after 14 years. Students in schools today have had their entire school experience influenced by NCLB. Teachers who have taught for fewer than 14 years have never known anything else, but that’s about to change with authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which has…
Board-Certified Teachers Engage in Dialogue on the Global Stage
At 3:30 am, a few weeks ago, I took a taxi on a whim and asked the driver to take my picture at a popular graffiti art on the partially standing Berlin Wall. The artwork, by Dmitri Vrubel, portrays, “the Death Kiss” of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in brotherly love, which celebrated the 30th…
