Parent Involvement 2023

The theme of my Ignite talk this past November was “Cringe and Do Better,” and it’s the reason I leave old blog posts up on this dusty old website. Boldly-declared stances from 2009 are almost all obsolete, and some are straight-up embarassing, but...

Bad Teacher

Shuffling through some old journal entries, I found this one from 2012, my 5th year teacher and the first year that I felt like a veteran who was choosing to keep improving. I’m posting it here—unedited—in hopes that someone finds it and can be encouraged....

A Workshop is a Sandwich

In the midst of my day-job in education, I have been speaking at conferences and events for several years. When it goes well, somebody will say as they leave, “great session!“ And there are plenty of ways I can respond to this. Thanks! Thanks! Where do you teach?...

Promotion and Depression

Have we met in real life? I’m usually pretty positive, and holding a positive attitude for a whole-day workshop is energizing for me, not draining. Nearly every day of my five years of meeting with teachers, someone would say, “Wow, you’ve got a lot of energy!” and it...