Teacher Awards
Read about awards for teachers, including the National Teacher of the Year award, and the teachers who win them
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
When Critics Pounce: How to Survive (& Thrive) When You're Burned as a Teacher Leader
Most of us spend part of our day teaching young people how to get along, and be empathetic toward one another. And when we begin to speak out in broader ways, we do it hoping to make a positive impact and bring people together. As a result, we often find ourselves unprepared to be on the receiving end of someone else's harsh, personal criticism.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Come Back Better
The end of each school year is the beginning of the next fresh start for all of us. It is our chance to begin anew, to re-write the playbook, and to get it more right next time. In this way, commencement is for teachers too.
Recruitment & Retention
Opinion
Feeling Stuck in the 'Right Field' of Teaching? How Teachers Can Get 'Unstuck' This Summer
Your worth as a baseball player doesn't come from your position; it comes from how you play it. It's true, you can stand out there for 18 innings and put in your time and think the world is unfair. Or you can move. You can back up third or second, you can gauge the batter and you can encourage your teammates. Standing is a choice. Moving is a choice.