We Can Do Better Than Just Thanking Teachers With Free Coffee and Donuts

One Teacher Appreciation Week years ago, we each remember being thrilled to find letters from our principal in our school mailboxes thanking us for all…

Teacher Strikes Aren’t Just About Pay, They’re About Better Bosses

This past year, we have witnessed an historic number of teacher strikes across the country. The demands of picketing teachers in Arizona, Denver, Los Angeles,…

Holding Teachers Accountable Without Adequate Teacher Prep Programs Is a Set-Up

One of my resolutions for this new year is to think outside of silos and to start connecting the dots between the wide, disparate, and…

How We Build a Pipeline of Teachers That Know How to Talk About Race and Social Justice

Nearly 60 years ago, our nation’s students watched as leaders of the civil rights movement pushed back against entrenched Jim Crow laws and re-defined American…

No Teacher Should Be an Island

I didn’t quite understand what it meant to be an “island” until I started teaching eight years ago. For years, I was the only United…

Molly Cole on Opening Brooke East Boston Charter School and Becoming One of the Top Schools in the State

Molly Cole, founding principal of Brooke East Boston Charter School, was honored this school year with the Ryan Award for exceptional school leadership, a national…

Bill Gates’ Education Priorities Reflect His Respect for the Field

In the last 17 years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent $3.4 billion dollars to improve public education. Among other things, Gates helped…

How to Manage a Classroom of Students of Color When You’re Not a Black Woman

Classroom management is every teacher’s sword and shield as they embark upon the journey of preparing new students for a year in their class. We…

I Never Thought Gifted and Talented Kids Could Be At-Risk Too, Until My Son Said He Wanted to Drop Out of School

It’s almost the end of the summer and I realize that the professional development I have been in has been pretty fantastic, and pretty awful.…

Lessons I’ve Learned on What Makes Or Breaks a Principal

So many say that the principalship is the hardest job in education…and I couldn’t agree more. Being the inspiration, visionary, coach, sounding board, disciplinarian, advocate,…