Teacher Awards

Read about awards for teachers, including the National Teacher of the Year award, and the teachers who win them
Professional Development Opinion Let's Be Honest: Professional Bullying in Schools Is a Thing
When a teacher lives in fear of confrontation, ridicule or being talked about, this is professional bullying.
September 14, 2017
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3 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion What Families Really Need From a Teacher's Back-to-School Letter
Now isn't the time for reminders about materials and copying and pasting your district's tardy policy. Now is the time to let parents know what is most important to you as a teacher, what big goals you have for their students, and start forming the team that will get you there.
August 28, 2017
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3 min read
Professional Development Opinion After Charlottesville: Having Tough Conversations in an Age of Extremism
Unlearning to be an extremist is hard. Help students avoid propaganda: When students are exposed to propaganda, misinformation, and fake news it becomes difficult for them to unlearn.
August 23, 2017
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4 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion There Has Never Been a Better Time to Teach Social Justice
As educators, we recognize that cannot stand by and say nothing while acts of racism and hate are perpetrated against our citizens by our citizens. Each of us must decide whether or not we will be a bystander or a resistor, one who condones or one who resists.
August 21, 2017
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3 min read
Professional Development Opinion Teaching, Like Golf, Is 'No Easy Game'
Like learning to golf, when teachers first begin, they also struggle to master complex skills. Most enter the classroom with a basic understanding of pedagogy but very little practical experience. They are drawn to the seemingly green, lush fairways of teaching, but very soon they realize teaching is no easy game.
August 15, 2017
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4 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion Student Trauma Is Real. But Connection Can Heal.
Restorative Practices are flexible and responsive approaches to establishing, developing, and restoring relationships that enable people to develop a shared sense of community in an increasingly disconnected world.
July 11, 2017
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14 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion My Math Tests Didn't Change Me, But a Community Concert Did
When you think back to your own education, what pops up into your mind? Is it that really awesome standardized math test you took in 5th grade or the art project that got to hang in the Anchorage Museum of Art?
July 7, 2017
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4 min read
Professional Development Opinion Nothing Replaces a Caring Adult in the Classroom
Great teachers know the importance of creating and maintaining relationships with students and the positive affect these relationships have on school climate. This report serves as an affirmation of that work and reminds us that while test scores show us something, they can never replace the power of a caring adult.
June 29, 2017
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3 min read
Recruitment & Retention Opinion The Surprising Grief of Teacher Leadership
So much of teaching is reminding students that we see them, that they are special, and they are loved.
June 7, 2017
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5 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion Sometimes Calling Teachers 'Valued Professionals' Just Feels Empty
Teachers are often told that we are "valued professionals," but we are also micromanaged to immobility, not trusted to make the simplest decisions that affect students' learning and well-being.
June 1, 2017
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2 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion What Happens When a Student Is Put Out of Class?
When I leave school to go home, I often see an older man who just sits on the broken part of a guard-rail next to the street. Cars crawl by during rush hour, but he is too tired to even beg for change anymore. He just sits. Put out. Like the trash. I wonder: When was he first put out? Where was he first put out? Will he ever come back? Who will be there for him when he returns?
May 17, 2017
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3 min read
Professional Development Opinion Lessons From an Addict: What Teachers Really Need to Grow
"The researchers in this report did something about as rare as seeking advice from a drug addict: they asked effective teachers. Because of this outside-the-box methodology, the report makes common-sense recommendations that may seem obvious to teachers, but that are often not in place at schools and districts."
May 10, 2017
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5 min read
Recruitment & Retention Opinion What I Want From My Next Teaching Job
My best times as a teacher, as a learner, the best things that have ever happened in and around my room, have happened with groups who were not racially homogenous..As a White teacher, I can say unequivocally that having a classroom that centers the voices of People of Color is crucial to good teaching.
May 3, 2017
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3 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion Fighting for the Dreamers in and Out of the Classroom
There are some moments as a teacher that just never leave you. They remain burned into memory like still photos. These images have stories that all elicit their own emotions, varying widely from invigorating and awe-inspiring to sad and demoralizing. Amid news that a DACA protected student was just deported, I am reminded of one of the single bravest acts performed by one of my students: disclosing his undocumented status to the entire class.
April 19, 2017
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3 min read
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