Educational Blog

As a new teacher, one word I used to always use was “overwhelmed.” There was always so much to do and so little time. I never felt like I could keep my head above water until the end of the year arrived. My training and instruction manager always says that being overwhelmed “is like you…

I have a weakness- I love TED Talks! I could listen to a TED talk on any topic. The presenters are engaging, knowledgeable and passionate. I can’t take my eyes off of them the entire talk. It motivates me to think on a deeper level about what they are sharing. I want to dive into…

As you all know, I love to read. I often blog about what inspires me about something in particular that I read. I love sharing these “aha” moments with you readers because I think it could make such a positive change in your life and work in education. You also know I am transitioning into…

Recently, I have been doing a lot of reflection on where I want to take my career next. In order to do this I had to assess what value I can offer to others. It can be hard to think about yourself objectively. Someone suggested for me to reach out to family and close friends to…

High expectations is a phrase used often in education. Districts, schools and teachers are required to have such expectations and try hard to outline what those expectations are and what they look like in action. I started thinking about my own work in the classroom for the past decade. I had high expectations of my students…

One day, I was getting things done around the house and listening to my Michael Jackson Pandora station on my iPhone. One of MJ’s famous songs came on called “Man in the Mirror.” In that moment, the chorus just hit me with its powerful message: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking…

I’ve spent the last two years diving in to Twitter chats. It’s provided the best professional development I could have ever had as a teacher and leader- and it’s free! I’ve met some great mentors and colleague buddies along the way too. I’ve seen others share their favorite list of websites, bloggers or even hashtags…

Interview with Adam Mark Bridgers, Husband of an Elementary School Teacher   I was recently working on a project where I had to be very reflective. Part of that process was to reach out to others to find out their opinion of my skill set and attribute descriptors. [See original post here.] That got me…

I came across an interesting article from EdWeek called “A Superintendent’s Perspective on Teacher Leadership” which was written by Jonas Chartock and Chong-Hao Fu who work for “a national non-profit organization that works with schools, districts, and states to advance teachers’ leadership skills and opportunities to ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed in school…

I have been recently reading “The Teacher Wars” by Dana Goldstein that depicts the change of our educational system over decades of time. One fascinating fact that Dana shared in her book was on evaluation systems. How boring of a topic, I know, but to be honest teachers complain the most about how they are…