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 As I went through the many outdated career books from the 1990s this [...]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 [...]
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.
I just spent the past hour looking for zombie movie clips on YouTube. My English III students are studying allegory, and I found an interesting article that discusses the relationship between allegory and zombie films. The whole notion behind allegories — that a story can have one meaning on the surface and an entirely different meaning below the surface — [...]
Preparing students to cucceed in college and the workplace is critically important, says Kentucky Teacher of the Year.
The Elementary School Teacher of the Year Elizabeth Ann Fuller, Kentucky Teacher of the Year Kimberly Shearer, and the Middle School Teacher of the Year Jenni Lou Jackson pose with their awards during the 2012 Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Awards. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 18, 2011 Kimberly Shearer, an English teacher at Boone County High School, has [...]