Leading From the Classroom
This blog was written by Patrick Ledesma, a National Board-certified teacher and School Based Technology Specialist in Fairfax, Virginia, where he focused on instructional-technology integration and special education at the middle school level. For the 2010-2011 school year, Patrick served as a Classroom Fellow with the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Ambassador Fellowship Program, as well as working on teacher recruitment and outreach for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teacher leaders.
Education
Opinion
Waiting for Superman & Blaming Batman
With all the national attention and controversy surrounding the recently released movie Waiting for Superman, it's odd that those of us in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area who weren't part of any special early showing must wait for October 1 to see this film.
Education
Opinion
Schooled on my iPad
The atmosphere is tense. I'm at Dulles International Airport and all flights are delayed due to afternoon thunderstorms. People are pacing back and forth, checking the flights status on their phones and airport monitors. Others resign themselves to the delay; power up their laptops, and bury themselves in screens of Word and Excel. Obviously, there are a lot of upset business travelers.
Education
Opinion
When Will You Phone Home?
You know it's going to happen.
Yes, you're enjoying the first week of school. Your classroom of new students is a strange combination of shyness, excitement, curiosity, and nervous energy. You're reviewing your rules and procedures, everything is going as planned, or at least you think it is. You know the students are at their best behavior because you are a novelty to them, but you also know that some might be watching you very closely and quietly planning how to test that limit. You look around your classroom, and you realize it's the cleanest it will ever be for the rest the year.
Yes, you're enjoying the first week of school. Your classroom of new students is a strange combination of shyness, excitement, curiosity, and nervous energy. You're reviewing your rules and procedures, everything is going as planned, or at least you think it is. You know the students are at their best behavior because you are a novelty to them, but you also know that some might be watching you very closely and quietly planning how to test that limit. You look around your classroom, and you realize it's the cleanest it will ever be for the rest the year.