In August, Kentucky Teacher of the Year and Boone County High School teacher Kimberly Shearer was invited to speak to the new teachers in her district. The following is the text of her speech: So, I’ve done a lot of traveling this year. As part of my Teacher of the Year experience, I’ve visited Texas, Washington D.C., Georgia [...]
Recently I was asked to be a part of a discussion panel on teacher leadership, and in an attempt to prepare for the panel, I’ve spent this past week reflecting on the idea of leadership itself. I used to think of leadership as a solitary act – that some stand-out individual must somehow transcend the crowd in [...]
Think about the “Like” button on Facebook. With just one push of a button, people are able to communicate a great deal of information. We are able to express ourselves and our opinions. We are able to share in a community and to make connections with others through the similarities we discover. And we are able to evaluate [...]
When she was named the 2012 National Teacher of the Year by President Obama, California English teacher Rebecca Mieliwocki said, “I am not the best teacher in America — there isn’t one. All across the nation there are millions of teachers who do the work that I do, and many do it better.” She’s right. Those of us [...]
Over the past few months, I’ve grown pretty accustomed to phone interviews. I’ve also discovered an interesting phenomenon that typically occurs during these interviews. While I love discussing my teacher colleagues, our collaboration and the instructional practices we’ve found to be successful, interview dialogue almost always seems to take an individualized slant. “Well, yes, but what do YOU [...]
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the 300s section of my school library. As part of my practicum experience for my Rank I in library science, my supervising librarians gave me an assignment to update some of the career titles in our library. As I went through the many outdated career books from the 1990s this [...]
Dear Commissioner, It’s good to be back in the Bluegrass! I just returned from Dallas, where I participated in the Council of Chief State School Officers’ National Teacher of the Year conference. For five days, I worked alongside the state Teachers of the Year from all across the country. It was a remarkable learning experience for me, as [...]
Something from nothing. It’s a phrase that comes up in my Mythology class whenever my students and I examine the creation myths of the ancient world. Many civilizations began their creation stories in primordial darkness, and from that nothingness, the universe emerged. The word “myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos,” or story, and as teachers, you and [...]
Last month, I was in Frankfort serving as Grand Marshal in Governor Steve Beshear’s inaugural parade. I was honored to represent Kentucky teachers on this historic day and look forward to sharing the message that education is the key to Kentucky’s future. Such discussion of the future is certainly appropriate for this time of year. A new year [...]
A minute per question. That’s the time I was given to answer 120 multiple-choice questions on my Praxis test this morning.