Buena Suerte Wilma, la professora del ano

Today was a surreal day, it is hard to believe that almost a year has passed since I was named the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year but today I was privileged to attend the luncheon honoring the 2011 Teacher of the Year, Floris Wilma Ortiz!
Being Massachusetts Teacher of the Year has been a journey along a road that was sometimes wide and straight, and sometimes narrow and crooked. The road often diverged and I was constantly deciding which one I should take. The well marked road or the dusty unmarked path? This year I chose to follow Ralph Waldo Emerson’s advice, “Do not follow where the path might lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” It takes courage to go off the path but I learned that if you do your voice gets stronger. I have become a better teacher this year.

Wilma, I hope you will treasure every minute of what lies ahead of you. Today as you begin your own journey I hope that you, too, will make a new path because despite all of the stress and pressures placed on teachers, there is still room for imagination, creativity and innovation because you and I believe, as do all teachers of excellence, that each and every child can and will learn and grow. Poverty, hunger, broken families, disabilities, language barriers - all are challenges to learning, but all of these challenges can be overcome by effective teaching. I hope our paths will cross in future travels. Leave your own trail, Wilma, make a new path. Buena suerte!

FTA Annual Meeting - Commit to Just One

After spending almost a year traveling around the state and the country I have been looking forward to the opportunity to speak on my own soil and it was especially fun to have the opportunity to speak with my colleagues at the annual meeting of the Framingham Teachers Association. I have already challenged my colleagues to stand up and be counted, to speak out when they feel strongly and to advocate for their students and our profession but tonight I wanted to challenge them to do even more.

Everyday the chasm between the teachers that integrate technology and those that don’t grows wider. Teachers can do something to stem the tide. Tonight I asked my fellow teachers to join me in a campaign I call Just One. Today I asked Framingham teachers to commit to inviting one colleague who hasn’t yet begun to use technology to join them in a project they are already doing with their students, invite one colleague to learn to use an interactive whiteboard with them, show one colleague how you use a document camera to improve their instruction, share a way technology helped enhance a lesson, or suggest a useful website to just one colleague. I challenged them to partner with a colleague’s class for a webquest, share an article or an interactive game with a colleague, or help just one colleague to build a basic webpage. Imagine the power that could result from every technologically savvy teacher in Framingham mentoring just one colleague for just one thing? This kind of viral campaign could have tremendous impact on our profession and our students.

I have been so proud to represent all my colleagues this year as the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Not as the best but as an ambassador of all the best teachers I have had the pleasure of working with and alongside here in Framingham

Pay it Forward Fernanda!

As Anne Lindbergh once said, "One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay 'in kind' somewhere else in life. Tonight I had the opportunity to participate in the single most gratifying opportunity I have had since becoming the 2010 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. In December I learned that the University of Phoenix was gifting each teacher of the year with the opportunity to help a high school graduate realize their dream of a college degree. The program enabled me to nominate someone who would benefit personally or professionally by earning a bachelors degree of their choice through a program called the Pay it Forward Scholarship.

I asked Mark Goldschmidt at Framingham High School to find me a person who really wanted to go to college. Someone for whom the traditional campus experience wouldn't work and he found me the perfect person, Fernanda Caixeta. He told me that she had worked really hard in school and that this semester her grades were higher than any other.That she took care of her young daughter, came to school every day and worked part time.When I met her I knew Mark was right. Fernanda told me that she wanted to be a psychologist.She knew that if her daughter Keane was to have a better life she would need to have a college education. I was impressed by her maturity and eagerness. Then I had the pleasure of meeting her family. They are all so proud, supportive and loving and they are all anxious to do everything they can to ensure that Fernanda will fulfill her dream - and so am I.

Fernanda, I wish you ,much success as you learn and grow. I know that someday in the future, you too will have the chance to pay your successes forward to someone else.

Apprenticeships and Extensive Mentoring - What a Concept!

Do doctors and accountants operate on patients or prepare their taxes on the day after they receive their degrees?  Thankfully the answer is no.  Doctors must have internships and accountants must work under experienced accountants before they can sit for the CPA exam and yet teachers enter their classrooms alone on day one and are expected to be experts in all the intricacies of teaching students.  No wonder we lose so many gifted teachers in the first few years of their practice.  We put them in jobs with no support.  Thankfully some innovative programs are being developed to stem this tide.
 This afternoon I had the privilege of attending the JET (Journey into Education and Teaching) Award Ceremony at UMass Dartmouth where I was honored along with my friends Tony Mullen, 2009 National TOY and George Watson, MA TOY 2009 for our teaching leadership.  The real honor goes to the men and women in the JET and CUSP programs and the administrators that support them.  This group of outstanding educators has taken the step (as did I) of going from paraprofessionals to full time teachers. It was encouraging to sit with them and hear what they are doing in their placements. More encouraging is the way UMass has taken innovative steps to support these teachers.  Apprenticeships  and three year mentoring programs will help insure that they stay in the profession during their critical first years of teaching.  Kudos to UMass; other schools of higher ed could take their cue from you.

Hope for the Future of Education - A Dignitary’s(?) Point of View

I had my dignitary pass in hand, the valet whisked my car away, I hobnobbed at the president's breakfast alongside the likes of Vicky Kennedy and Arne Duncan and walked on the red (yes red) carpet to special seating.  Can it be just over ten years since my own graduation at Lesley University when I received my M.Ed in the mail? How things have changed for this teacher!

"Teachers are the unsung heroes in America," US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told graduates during his commencement address at Lesley University this morning. Seated with fellow alumni looking out at this group of newbies excited to be finishing their theory and eager to begin their practice I feel hopeful, hopeful that they will have the courage to face what lies in front of them.  Perhaps this will be the class unafraid of challenging policies and procedures that do not make good sense for children.   Perhaps this will be the class that finds their voice and uses it to promote all the goodness in teaching, the class that will transform teachers into heroes admired, respected and valued in America.  Congratulations to the class of 2010 ~ today you join a cadre of over three million professionals with the mission, passion and capability of changing the face of our nation. It may take years to see the impact you will have on your students but you will impact them ~ today you begin the noblest of professions - teaching our future!

MTA - Find Your Norma Rae

"Find your inner Norma Rae, stand up and speak your mind."  Today I was able to bring my message to 1,200 colleagues at the MTA's Annual Meeting in Boston. My message has been evolving over the course of the year and I am starting to feel that I am making an impact.  I feel empowered.  I spent a lovely evening with delegates from my local, the Framingham Teacher's Association, and participated as a delegate at the meeting.  It was an example of democracy in action.  Although frustrating at times when discussion went on for far too long I was impressed by the passion and commitment all delegates had to further excellence in education. Thank you to the MTA and the FTA for honoring me today - nothing feels warmer than recognition from your peers.  http://www.massteacher.org/news/headlines/headlines_2010-05-08.cfm

AFT- Be Informed!

Last week I was able to hear AFT President Randi Weingarten speak at the gala celebration of the Teacher of the Year program in Washington.  She urged us to "support legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and U.S. Rep. George Miller  that would provide $23 billion to help school districts avoid layoffs, and would preserve the quality of education in our schools and on our college campuses."  Randi warned us that the number of educators who might be pink-slipped in the fall is nearly equal to the population of Toledo, Ohio! You can support this effort by wearing a pink heart on May 4.
http://www.pinkheartsnotpinkslips.com/
This morning I had the honor of speaking at the AFT MA Annual Convention.  I thank them for honoring me with a lovely plaque but truth be told I am honored to know that the AFT is unbending in their goal to support only the changes that in the long run will be good for children.
The day was yet another reminder of all the teachers committed to the preservation of quality education.   President Tom Gosnell reminded us that although many allege that collective bargaining agreements and unions impede student achievement, students in Massachusetts  (a state with collective bargaining) scored number one in the nation on the NAEP tests.  So, he asked, How is it that the unions have been accused of getting in the way of progress in closing the achievement gap?"
Be informed!   Speak up!  Use your voice to advocate for your students and colleagues!