Language is a Bridge Not a Barrier in Math

November 2, 2023 | Vidya Jayakumar

As a high school mathematics teacher, I often heard the same refrain from students and educators: “I thought math does not need language.” Mathematics, after all, is a universal language of its own – a realm of absolutes...

Not One Strategy Works for All Students

November 2, 2023 | Eva Beleche

Every year I work to get my students to meet the standards for 4th grade.  This year,  I focused on working with my students on writing with evidence. Their writing would let me know how well they understood...

Explorations in Tier II Vocabulary Instruction

June 6, 2023 | Shelley Goulder

As an English Language Development teacher, I want to empower students to understand how English works. In service of this goal, my students and I embarked on a year-long prefix-based vocabulary study to increase their Tier...

Creating Space for Focal Student Partnerships

May 14, 2023 | Andrea Prichett

It was a cycle I had been through before; choose focal students and watch them slip like water through my fingers.  In a school district that has become predominantly White in recent years, I felt it...

Leading From Behind: Reflections from the District

April 17, 2023 | Vernon Walton

In the fall of 2021, I was appointed to my first district-level position as a Director of Secondary Education. After fourteen years of experience as a site administrator; seven years as a high school assistant principal and seven...

Data Can Be Anything!

February 10, 2023 | Carmela Golden-Reyna

This school year, I learned something even *more* valuable than excellent organizational skills or awe-inspiring unit plans. This year I learned something new about data. Up until the 2021-22 school year, I...

Literacy Over Mastery: Adjusting my Priorities as a Leader

December 8, 2022 | Nathan Nugent

An Uncertain Return Summer readings for professional development always appear exciting at first — there is so much hope and promise for change and innovation in that nascent stage of planning. And throughout our extended year of distance...