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In my last blog post I talked about how excited the conference group was about the teacherpreneur concept. We talked about many different educational leadership roles to take on during our day, while still being able to teach children.
Unfortunately, every silver lining is wrapped up in a dark storm cloud. Even as we dreamed about the roles we would fill, we can also foresaw many pitfalls and hurdles that would be in our way.
Roadblocks and Barriers
Budget, budget, budget! How can we get away from the budget? It seems like every year here in California,...
By Jennifer Barnett
Jennifer Barnett has been teaching English and history for over 20 years. She is a co-author of TEACHING 2030 and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. She blogs at Reflect to Redirect and shares resources and student work on FHS Wolves Den and her professional wiki. This piece was orginially published in...
Ever been to a “prep” rally? It will be hard to top the one at Jennings High School in Jennings, Missouri where earlier this month teachers pumped up their students to take the EOC (End of Course) tests with a hip hop video.
The 4 minutes of rapping educators has gone viral. Check it out:
What do you think: is this brilliant and motivating? Sad misallocation of energy and resources? Harmless fun? Superficial noise? Teachers authentically connecting with students? Something else?
Your comments are welcome.
After the requisite rubber chicken lunch at the Good Teaching Conference hosted by the California Teachers Association last month, I scampered off to where I would be leading my workshop. The session was sparsely attended, with only 20 teachers, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for with energy and vigor.
We talked about the concept of a teacherpreneur. A teacherpreneur is not a new concept; it has been around for a while and is sometimes called a teacher leader, sometimes a hybrid teacher. What we’re talking about is a teacher who spends a...
Sweating my way through a workout the other day, I stumbled across an article titled Getting Principals to Think Like Managers in the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Considering that nearly every expert on the 21st Century principalship would argue that leading schools is about WAY more than "managing," the title caught my eye.
The bit details a supposedly whiz-bang 2-year school leadership program run by the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Apparently there are a TON of districts using Race to the Top cash to put their principals through Darden's paces in an...
By Jessica Hahn
Jessica Hahn has taught elementary grade children for six years in Phoenix and New York City. She has a master’s degree in literacy from Teachers College and began doctoral work in curriculum and teaching there as well. She is a member of the Teacher Leaders Network and currently teaches 1st grade in Brooklyn. This post was originally published on Learning Matters' website, as part of its "Why I Teach" series.
I turned the page of Maya’s...
By Anna L. Martin
Anna L. Martin is a resource teacher at Lee Mathson Middle School and a member of the Bay Area New Millennium Initiative. This piece was originally published in SEEN Magazine.
Like many other husbands, I’m coaxed to watch Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights. I resisted at first, but I’ve actually started to care about the characters at Seattle Grace Mercy Whatever-It’s-Called Hospital. I’ve also learned a thing or two from the show, like how colleges and universities can improve teacher preparation.
Grey’s is set in a teaching hospital, one where interns and visiting doctors can sit behind a glass window and peer into the operating room. They can see the wizardry of top-notch professionals live and discuss it as a group. In one episode, surgeons tweeted the steps of a risky procedure, complete with photo and video links, to teach colleagues worldwide.
Why don’t more university teacher prep...
By Nancy Gardner
A renewed NBCT with over 26 years of experience in grades 7-12, Nancy Gardner currently teaches senior English at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, N.C. She is also chair of the English Department and the Senior Project Coordinator. This post was originally published on Learning Matters' website, as part of its "Why I Teach" series.
Teachers must make somewhere around 5,000 decisions a day — so it’s no wonder I often cannot answer the...
Taylor Mali’s brilliant performance poem “What Teachers Make” has over 3.8 million views on YouTube. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a must-see.
Mali, a former teacher and now full-time globe-trotting poet/advocate/recruiter for the teaching profession, has followed up his most successful poem with a book of the same title. I read it in 2 sittings and it made me feel great— it’s a highly recommended “just-cause” or end-of-year gift for a teacher in your life.
The small, novelty-sized hardcover is broken into 26 vignettes, with several of Mali’s poems...
Blogs
The Implementing Common Core Standards (ICCS) team blogs about best practices for integrating common core standards into the classroom.
The TeacherSolutions 2030 team blogs about improving the teaching profession between now and the year 2030.
Megan M. Allen is a National Board Certified Teacher and the 2010 Florida Teacher of the Year. She is a proud fifth-grade teacher in Tampa and a 2012-13 CTQ teacherpreneur.
Barnett Berry is the Founder and President of the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), Inc., based in Carrboro, NC. CTQ seeks to dramatically improve student learning by advancing teaching as a 21st-century, results-oriented profession. He wrote TEACHING 2030 with 12 accomplished teachers.
Dan Brown is a teacher and the author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle. His writing has also appeared in The Boston Globe, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, and Education Week. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Jessica Cuthbertson is a teacherpreneur who divides her time between teaching 6th-grade literacy in Aurora, CO, and supporting teacher leadership through the Denver New Millennium Initiative.
Bill Ferriter teaches 6th grade language arts in North Carolina, where he was named a Regional Teacher of the Year for 2005-2006.
John Holland is an artist, a teacher, a writer, and an innovator. After 12 years as a preschool teacher, John began working at Early Head Start/Head Start Program as a child development specialist. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Jessica Keigan is a secondary language arts teacher at Horizon High School in Thornton, CO, and a teacher leader for the Denver New Millennium Initiative.
Ryan Kinser is a 6th grade English teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida. After a career in television production, Ryan taught in urban Washington as a D.C. Teaching Fellow. He is a member of the Hillsborough New Millennium Initiative.
Renee Moore has taught English and journalism for 20 years in the Mississippi Delta region at both high school and community college levels. She is National Board Certified, a former state Teacher of the Year, and a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Dave Orphal is a teacher in Oakland, CA. Dave serves as a veteran teacher leader for the Bay Area New Millennium Initiative and works with the California Teachers Association's Institute for Teaching.
Ariel Sacks teaches eighth grade English at a middle school in Brooklyn, NY. She has published articles about her work in Teacher Magazine and is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Mark Sass has taught public high school for 18 years and has been involved in various leadership positions and policy discussions in Colorado. Mark is a member of the inaugural Aspen Teacher Leader Fellows.
In addition to our regular transformED bloggers, we frequently feature guest posts written by teachers involved in CTQ communities. We welcome teachers to share their reflections and expertise on transformED.
Jose Vilson is a math teacher, coach, and data analyst for a middle school in the Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Noah Zeichner is a National Board Certified Teacher in Seattle. He currently serves in a hybrid teaching role, dividing his time between teaching social studies and supporting CTQ's global teacher leadership initiatives.
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