Member News

Member News -- February 21, 2017

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Love Story

An Homage to Our Profession

During #LoveTeaching week, educators across the country joined the Twitter conversation to express their continued love for their students and our work. Check out the Storify highlights and Twitter Moments.

Josh Parker's (Maryland 2012) valentine to the profession, "Love and Teaching: A Transformational Connection," garnered quite a bit of attention after it was published on the EdWeek and NNSTOY blogs.

An excerpt from Tom Rademacher's (Minnesota 2015) soon-to-be-released book was published on Education Post: " Just Listen to How People Talk About Their Favorite Teacher and You'll See Why I #LoveTeaching. "

Teaching Partners joined the celebration by tweeting about "teacher magic" using this brief clip featuring Jane McMahon (Wisconsin 2014). Shanna Peeples (National and Texas 2015) wrote an interesting blog, "You're Saved By What You Love."

Originally the brainchild of Gary Abud (Michigan 2014) and Sean McComb (National and Maryland 2014), the #LoveTeaching campaign has become a staple of Valentine Week.

New Ways to Engage

Plug into teacher leadership outside of your school.

Support Graduate Research. Joe Craft, a graduate student at Columbia International University, has asked for our help with his study on teacher effectiveness. If you are a State Teacher of the Year from 2009-2017, please consider taking his 38-question survey from now through March 2. Questions? Write to Joe.Craft@mailbox.ciu.edu.

Product Testing. Renaissance Learning is looking for 3rd-8th grade reading and math teachers to participate in a series of two 90-minute in-person research activities. They are seeking your feedback to ensure that their new products are helpful, efficient, and easy to use. For your participation, you will receive up to $200 in Amazon Gift Cards ($100 per session). If interested, complete the following 5-minute survey. Get more information.

Win a $20,000 Grant. The 2017 LRNG Innovators grant competition is now accepting applications to fund projects that "actively help youth discover interests connecting the spheres of their lives, both in and out of school." A team of teachers can apply for the grants. The deadline for applications is March 16, 2017.

Earn Money Moonlighting for edTPA. Pearson is hiring edTPA scorers for work after regular school hours. They are looking for PK-12 educators who teach a wide variety of content areas to work at home scoring edTPA portfolios. Check out the website regarding the scoring positions and qualifications.

Review more strategies to lean into NNSTOY teacher leadership, understand member benefits and engage with the organization.

Teaching at its Core

Washington STOYs and Finalists

State Teachers of the Year and Finalists in Washington have started a new blog to help educators think through some of education's toughest challenges.

Jeffrey Dunn (Finalist 2014) offers insightful observations about educational progress, which he says takes place "one student at a time." Lynn Olmos (Finalist 2012) descibes how integrating art into her teaching has changed her English instruction. And Katie Brown (2014) considers what our students need from us at this moment in history.

Busting School Bureaucracy

Thursday, February 24 - 4:00-5:15 PM ET

Join us at the American Enterprise Institute for AEI's Washington, D.C., release of "The Cage Busting Teacher," an online curriculum to help equip teachers to break through school bureaucracy and make decisions that best serve their students.

The event will be live-streamed. Josh Parker (Maryland 2012) and Peggy Stewart (New Jersey 2005) will serve as panelists. Rick Hess will moderate, and other panelists include Wendy Uptain (Hope Street Group) and Dianna Wentzell (Connecticut State Department of Education).

Register or watch through streaming. Join the conversation on social media using #cagebusting and #teachersleading.

What We Are Reading

Interesting and emerging ideas about education from around the country

"Lessons in using data to improve education: An Australian example," Sarah Lux-Lee, Chiara Lawry, and Tamar Manuelyan Atinc, Brookings

"Education Week survey shows more stable state testing environment nationwide," Tara Garcia Mathewson, Education Dive

"4 things CMS should do right now to help immigrant students," Justin Parmenter, Charlotte News and Observer

"Kirabo Jackson on the Importance of School Spending, 'Soft Skills' and Teacher Quality," The 74

Steep Learning Curve on K-12 as State Leaders Take New Seats," Daarel Burnette II, EdWeek

"How I learned my own value as a black male teacher," Ricky House, PBS NewsHour

"Teacher Leadership under ESSA is Just Good Business," Alicia Serafin, Huffington Post

New & Noteworthy

Tools and opportunities to support #TeachersLeading

Coaching for Impact: Six Pillars to Create Coaching Roles That Achieve Their Potential to Improve Teaching and Learning (Learning Forward)
10 PRINCIPLES FOR SCHOOLS OF MODERN LEARNING (Modern Learners)
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' Prepared Remarks at the Magnet Schools of America 2017 National Policy Training Conference (U.S. Department of Education)
Running in Place: How New Teacher Evaluations Fail to Live Up to Promises (NCTQ)
When Educators Learn, Students Learn (CTAC)
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' Remarks at All-Staff Meeting (U.S. Department of Education)

Kudos, Shout-Outs & Accolades*

News from the NNSTOY community

Check out the video of Brett Bigham (Oregon 2014) singing "It's a Teacher's Life" at the NEA Foundation black tie gala earlier in the month. The video is a hoot, and it includes our own Melissa Collins (Tennessee Finalist 2016) on stage.

Jeanne Muzi's (New Jersey 2009) "Road Tested / Five Ways to Strengthen Student Questioning" was published recently on the ASCD blog. Muzi writes, "All students need to be able to generate purposeful questions, understand that curiosity leads to action, ponder metacognitively, and improve their problem-solving abilities. A significant instructional shift takes place when a classroom culture is transformed from one where the teacher poses the majority of questions to one where a community of curious wonderers offer up their own."

Bob Williams (Alaska 2009) has been appointed the Director of Educator and School Excellence for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED). View his goodbye message to Colony High School and a farewell video message from his students.

Tom Rademacher's (Minnesota 2015) article, " What to do when the next awful thing happens " was published in EdWeek and on the NNSTOY blog . Rademacher writes, "Whatever happened yesterday will be in my classroom, whether or not I talk about it, whether or not I teach about it. It will be there, and ignoring it won't make it better. Awful things are happening, are leading to more awful things. We can't ignore them."

Maddie Fennell (Nebraska 2007) testified recently before the state legislature in support of a proposal to support a master teacher program in Nebraska. Fennell is currently the NSEA Executive Director.

Allison Riddle's (Utah 2014) " Time to Step Up " was published in EdWeek and on the NNSTOY blog . Riddle writes, "We could confront the onslaught of attacks from those who would dismantle traditional public education if more teachers were willing to step out of their comfort zones and speak. Teachers must own their profession. They must lead their profession."

If you didn't see Leigh VandenAkker (Utah 2012) speak about social and emotional learning at Pearson's Conference on Teaching and Learning in Chicago, you can watch her powerful presentation on YouTube (10:21).

*Send us your scoop! If you have professional information to share in Member News,

please connect with laurie@nnstoy.org.

#TeachersLeading