Educational Blog

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…

I recently posted about our TEACH Charlotte opening ceremony for our teacher development program this summer. It was a powerful experience, especially when a new teacher shared her “aha’s” from her first year teaching with these new teachers. [See that post here.] Prior to this new teacher inspiring future teachers, Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones from West Charlotte…

We recently began our summer teacher training program at TEACH Charlotte through The New Teacher Project. At opening ceremony, we had a previous participant share insight for new participants on what going through the program is like as well as that first year of teaching in the classroom. Special thanks to Antina Johnson, a 2014…

I recently blogged about two great moments from our TEACH Charlotte opening ceremony. First, a new teacher shared her advice to incoming new teachers [see post here]. Second, a veteran leader in our district shared how we need to approach teaching by focusing on strengthening our BICEPS, an acronym outlining steps we can take to…