Teacher Awards

Read about awards for teachers, including the National Teacher of the Year award, and the teachers who win them
Recruitment & Retention Opinion Teacher-Prep Regulations: A Short Primer for Educators
If educators want to ensure that our new colleagues are actually prepared to work with us, they need to be involved in the accountability systems that are being built now in every state.
November 15, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion 5 Great (Short!) Videos for School Leaders
I offer five leadership-themed videos (each under four minutes) that you can use to keep yourself and your team inspired to start, continue or reflect upon the important work you do together.
October 20, 2016
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2 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Beyond the Binders: How Seeing Teachers as Learners Creates Meaningful PD That Sticks
However hard and unsettling this work might be for everyone, providing steady, stable support for our teachers' learning is THE MOST IMPORTANT work we can do.
October 18, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Video Oklahoma Teacher of the Year: Why He Would Leave Job He Loves
Shawn Sheehan admits it: he is a math nerd. He loves math, and loves teaching it to 9th graders at Norman High School outside Oklahoma City. Sheehan is Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year, and has spent the last year visiting schools all over the state. This top teacher says he saw schools struggling to make do; reduced budgets have led to overcrowded classrooms, teacher layoffs and in some districts, four day school weeks. So Sheehan has joined dozens of other educators running for the Oklahoma legislature, hoping to boost education funding in the state. He explains why he is willing to leave the job he loves.
October 11, 2016
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2:39
Teaching Profession Opinion Hello From the Other Side
Policy is written by people who have a specific point of view. Though they may have read research that you haven't, they do not know more about any of the challenges in education than you do.
September 15, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Leave Summer Vacation Alone
Forcing our children to go to school for more days is not the answer. There other solutions available to supplement a child's education while still providing them time to explore the outside world.
September 8, 2016
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3 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Time to Rethink Our PD Paradigms
School wide meetings are presented in the abstract, using concepts and numbers that aren't connected to real kids or real situations happening in our classrooms. It is time for administrators to acknowledge teachers as learners and to use the auditorium as a classroom full of the same obstacles and opportunities faced by teachers every day.
September 1, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Mission-Minded Teaching
As with effective lesson planning, we have to begin with the end in mind. We have to set our sights on an intended greater purpose. We have to know what we hope to achieve. This is the fundamental difference between being a "missionary teacher" or a "mission-minded teacher."
August 30, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Another Year, Another Principal: How to Manage Your Relationship with a New Principal for the Good of Your School
Just as a new teacher forms their impressions about students and teaching based on their first few years in the classroom, a principal is forming their initial impressions of the school based on what they see and hear in their first few months. So don't sit back and wait for the principal to figure out what you're working on.
August 22, 2016
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4 min read
Recruitment & Retention Opinion The Lifeline Every Teacher Leader Needs
If you find yourself entering the uncharted territory of being a teacher leader, chances are you're writing your job description as you go. In this wonderful new frontier where teachers lead teachers, much is new and much is unknown. What I do know is that without the support of leadership, and their commitment to guiding my development, I would be just getting by, not getting ahead.
August 17, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Changing Professional Development From the Inside Out
Why is it that when teachers become the learners, they are the worst students? How often during PD do teachers arrive late, leave early, talk above the speaker, scroll through Facebook, answer emails, and mindlessly doodle--anything to resist engagement? Many even exhibit overtly negative responses: eye-rolling, sighing, arm crossing, and flat out refusing requests by the presenter to participate. So often in professional development, it seems like no one is happy, no one is engaged, no one is learning.
August 3, 2016
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4 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion No App Can Replace Mastery for Students or Teachers
A quick licensing route perpetuates the misconception that "Anyone can teach." Lessening the requirements for an entry-level license degrades the professionalism of teaching and disrespects the rigor required to obtain a professional license. Instead of seeking temporary fixes, individual states should seriously investigate solutions that offer teaching as a sustainable career choice and do the hard work to keep skilled teachers on the job.
July 23, 2016
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3 min read
Professional Development Opinion Teachers, I'll See You on Twitter
About a year ago I participated in something that has me rethinking this: my first Twitter chat. With a beginner's trepidation, I was at first determined to simply dip my toe in the water and lurk on the periphery of the conversation. Yet, I soon found myself hitting that like button while vigorously nodding my head in agreement.
July 18, 2016
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3 min read
Teaching Profession Opinion Even in Virtual Classrooms, Teachers Build Bonds that Help Students Learn
Twelve years of teaching in a brick-and-mortar school has proven to me that building relationships with my students is critical to their learning. Now, in a virtual school, I struggle to build a meaningful student-teacher relationship reaching the same impact in digital environment.
July 6, 2016
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2 min read
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