Pedagogy

Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Advocating for AP Access for All

Mirta Valdés-Bradner is a 27-year veteran Spanish language teacher at North Caroline High School, the 2022-2023 Caroline County Teacher of the Year, and a National Board Certified Teacher. She is a member of the AP Advocates Program, a cadre of AP teachers who make the case for protecting and expanding AP in their schools and […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Communicating with Parents

Cassie Hosler is an award-winning artist and art teacher at Church Hill and Sudlersville elementary schools, a new teacher mentor, and the Queen Anne’s County 2022 Teacher of the Year. She is a presenter at the district, state, and national levels on “Encouraging Communication with Parents in the Elementary Setting.” Hearing the phone ring and […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Authentic Learning and Learning by Doing

Jing Dai is a Chinese teacher at Meade Senior High School. She is the 2021-2022 Anne Arundel County Pub­lic Schools Teacher of the Year, a 2021-2022 Maryland Teacher of the Year finalist, and a 2022 Washington Post Teacher of the Year finalist. Authentic learning is an instruc­tional strategy that connects what students are taught in […]
Pedagogy

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Breakthroughs: An Insight into Essential Questions

Nicholas Amick is the 2021-2022 Allegany County Teacher of the Year. He teaches English language arts to ninth graders, coordinates his high school’s year­book and student government program, and somehow has 80% of his bed taken up by an anxious 18 lb. Pekingese pup. The term “essential question” can elicit more groans than you can […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Checking My Bias

Brent Driessen is an eight-year Marine Corps veteran, 13-year Baltimore County elementary school teacher, and a 2021-2022 teacher of the year finalist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s in supervision and administration. Meeting his students’ academic, social, and emotional needs is his true passion in life. A major concern in […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Improving Math Skills through Math Number Talk

Ibrahim Omar is a third grade teacher and elementary math department chair at Maya Angelou French Immersion IB World School in Prince George’s County. He is a 20-year veteran educator and National Board Certified Teacher who recently renewed his certificate in Mathematics: Early Adolescence. Omar is a graduate of University of Maryland. For almost two […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: Building a Tiger Squad for Elementary Boys

Tamara Thumbtzen is currently a behavior intervention specialist at North Glen ES in Anne Arundel County. She has a bachelor’s in health education, a master’s in family studies, and a post-master’s certification in administration and supervision. In 2017, I became an empty nester when my second child went off to college. I shook things up […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: The Power of Self-Guided Professional Development

Jossie Perry is a National Board Certified teacher in Social Studies-History and a 2022 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow. She teaches contemporary world studies and AP human geography at Rising Sun High School in Cecil County. When we give our students choice in how they learn, we see more engagement and more ownership of their […]
Pedagogy|Professional Practice

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Breakthroughs: When Doodling Becomes Therapy

Gayle Kraus is a veteran middle school visual arts teacher at Piccowaxen Middle School in Charles County. Her mantra is that art stimulates the mind to see new worlds and possibilities and is a pathway to meditation and self-healing. For pandemic recovery and beyond, we are seeking and discovering new ways to de-stress, de-escalate, and […]
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