ChalkBloggers

An aspiring leader remembers how it felt to be a disconnected and disenfranchised teenager

Alyssa Dodds was a high school dropout at 16. She didn’t feel challenged or motivated, and after an administrator suggested she stay enrolled so as not to ruin the school’s “numbers,” she walked out.

Eventually she earned a GED, working two jobs on the way to a degree from the University of Oregon. She says,  “It was really good to go to college and reinvigorate my love for learning.”

The importance of professional development for educators

Teacher ownership is important in professional development. The process is collaborative and teachers need to have a strong voice in their choices.

Improvement science aligns education solutions to real problems

“When we identify a problem of practice, when we take the time to analyze why there is a problem in the first place, when we engage in a process where everyone feels like their voice has been heard, where everyone is engaged, this is where true change can take place.” — Design Team Member

Choosing leadership and testing personal ability to make a difference

While I was a teacher, I had a principal who commended me on my job although I didn’t believe her at first. After hearing such positive feedback from my principal, I thought: If I’m making a difference with 30 kids, is it possible I could make a difference with 300 kids?

Helping Educators Overcome "Initiative Fatigue"

As first appeared in Education Week March 23, 2015. Reprinted with permission from the author.

  I hear it everywhere I go: "initiative fatigue." The common-core standards are being implemented in more than 40 states, requiring significant shifts in instructional practice. At the same time, major teacher-evaluation reforms are taking hold. Too often, educators experience these changes as discordant at best, contradictory and confusing at worst.