"It appears that the most important difference between the most and the least effective classrooms is the teacher, but the most important variable appears to be what they do, rather than what they know."
Dylan Wiliam Ahead of the Curve, 2009
|
|
The writing shared in these two volumes is insightful, reflective, and thought-provoking. These teachers have made valuable contributions to our profession. Click on an image to view Teachers' Voices.
They arrived much as they have for any other ProCert meeting. Someone plops down an opened box of Oreos, others make last minute cell-phone calls. They sign in with signatures that reflect the joys or frustrations of their teaching day. A new mom rushes out to pump for breast-milk one more time before the session begins just as the volleyball coach rushes in from practice. Two single teachers flirt a bit as others use sub-sandwich bags and water bottles to define personal space in the room. Candidates quickly organize the assignments they had intended to organize yesterday and set their piles of evidence and notebook materials under chairs. Everything seems familiar and routine. Read more »
As other college students learned to play racket ball or joined a sorority, I was driven by a need to leave campus and get into the city, that city being Philadelphia. Part of the pull to the people was probably a longing to make up for lost time, a longing to understand who America was, to know the people I had been so loosely connected to living as an ex-patriot in Europe for most of my childhood. And so I made daily treks my junior and senior years of college from my nice little women's college in Bryn Mawr to the University of Pennsylvania located in the heart of downtown Philadelphia. From there, I often continued on to a church in the heart of one of the worst ghettoes in North Philadelphia or one of several schools. Read more »
I didn't appreciate all the things my parents had imparted to me until I began to have my own children. Suddenly it was important to think about what I wanted them to know and be able to do. There were other things I wanted them to avoid like the plague. With my first son, we were careful to talk to him in the womb and read to him regularly, everything from children's books to passages from the Bible. Growing up, language acquisition was a critical skill. My parents read to us as small children. They read for hours to themselves and encouraged us to do the same. To be honest, as one son became a toddler and the other was born, I could think of no skill greater than that of communication in both the written and spoken word. Read more »
Our family is headed to a party to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the liberation of the Republic of Liberia. As my daughter heads out the door, I call her back, "What are you wearing?" I ask with a note of frustration in my voice. She has on a bright orange pair of men's basketball shorts, a blue t-shirt, a black headband with skulls-and-crossbones and a green pair of flip-flops. I think she's covered just about every color of the rainbow. Read more »
Educator and author, David Funk (2002), asks a question critical for all teachers to answer: Read more »
Teachers wonder why they're so drained at day's end. Perhaps, they're thinking not only for themselves all day, but for 25 others, as well.
As a Speech Language Pathologist in a high needs elementary school, I was challenged with finding ways to connect with the families of our low income and English Language Learners- particularly families of my preschool and kindergarten students with language delays. Parent education and home participation is a critical part of our early childhood language development program. Traditionally, these families are difficult to reach by telephone, and frequently there is no response from printed material sent home. Our families do not have computers, or email addresses. Many of our student's parents do not own a car, and they often work more than one job, which makes scheduling meetings challenging. In our developmental preschool it is not uncommon that our only direct communication with individual families happens at their child's yearly IEP meeting. Read more »
Visit the Research & Data center to view CSTP resources by topic.
This will be the second annual Exceptional Educator Night the Mariners will use to honor the work of accomplished teachers across Washington State. Read more »
Seeking time to write that journal article? Eager to get your professional thoughts published? Apply to attend....
