Posts by Gretchen Schultek Bridgers

One of my favorite past times is snuggling up on the couch and watching a feel-good movie. What is even more exciting is when a movie about education and/or an amazing teacher comes out and I can get re-inspired about my career choice. However, as numerous movies have been created and hit the big screen,…

I used to rack my brain for how I could reach my students better. There were times that I felt no matter what I did I wasn’t effective, or at least I thought. What I learned through much trial and error was that it had less to do with what I was doing and more…

I often get asked, “Gretchen, how do you do it all?” When I respond to this question, the person usually says “hmm…that makes sense.” Their response tells me that what I think is a logical solution or train of thought might not be as obvious to others as it was to me. Let me explain……

As a new teacher coach for TEACH Charlotte this summer, we often give feedback. My fellow coach and I felt like we continued to give the same feedback in the same area of lesson plans. This let us know that our expectations for what must be included in a lesson plan must be unclear to our…

It’s no secret that our nation is in need of quality teachers. We talk a lot about getting teachers, but rarely do we talk about keeping the ones we have. Out of the many years I have been mentoring and coaching new teachers, I always ask “why did you want to become a teacher?” The…

I had a double aha moment today…double! I’ve always said the best professional development for me as a teacher has come from Twitter (specifically Twitter chats). [See my previous posts on Twitter’s influence on teacher development here: Twitter Chat Firstie, Twitter Chat How-To, 5 Twitter Hashtags Worth Following .] I know you might think its…

I love blogging, but I realized I wasn’t able to help lots of teachers because their busy schedules meant less time to read a blog. Since we are constantly rushing to and from our many obligations, having a BLOG ON THE GO (aka a podcast) is a great way to continue to help more teachers.…

As a new teacher coach, I often forget to explain simple ideas because I assume adults know them already. This is often also true of a teacher making assumptions of students’ background knowledge. We realize in the moment that we made a horrible assumption and have to backtrack to fill in the knowledge gap. That…

I recently listened to a TEDx Youth Talk at Brooklyn Free School by Seth Godin called Stop Stealing Dreams. It was on the future of education & what we can do about it. I found it interesting for numerous reasons. But, quickly, let me share some insight Seth shared about “What is School For?” School used to…

The only thing I LOVE more than teaching students is teaching teachers, specifically new teachers. That “aha” moment when students finally get a concept are what teachers live for and it turns out, I live for that same moment when a new teacher finally gets an instructional concept. I confess I never really knew that…