Teaching Profession Blog

Leading From the Classroom

This blog was written by Patrick Ledesma, a National Board-certified teacher and School Based Technology Specialist in Fairfax, Virginia, where he focused on instructional-technology integration and special education at the middle school level. For the 2010-2011 school year, Patrick served as a Classroom Fellow with the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Ambassador Fellowship Program, as well as working on teacher recruitment and outreach for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teacher leaders.

Education Opinion What Happens After Teacher Leaders Meet?
On Friday, August 3, the US Department of Education hosted Transforming the Teaching Profession: A Teacher Leader Convening. The purpose of the meeting was to gather teacher leaders from various education organizations to identify priorities and develop strategies to move the RESPECT Project vision forward.
Patrick Ledesma, August 5, 2012
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4 min read
Education Opinion Personalized Learning Requires Effective Teaching First,Technology Second
On Tuesday, July 10, the US Department of Education (ED) hosted "What Teachers Need to Know about Personalized Learning" as part of their Teacher Summer Seminars.
Patrick Ledesma, July 15, 2012
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5 min read
Education Opinion Teacher Negotiation Reform: Beating Swords Into Ploughshares
Teacher leadership can take many forms. Some teachers lead within their schools and districts. Others lead within their unions and professional organizations. With the National Education Association Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly occurring this week, Steve Owens, an occasional guest blogger here, writes about his efforts to improve student learning through his union work.
Patrick Ledesma, July 4, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion Access the Real World To Inspire Career Awareness and Readiness
In 2001, Mark Prensky coined the terms "Digital Natives" and "Digital Immigrants" to describe the differences between adults and students in using technology. Educators are the "Digital Immigrants" who have to adapt and learn how to integrate technology into their lives. Students are "Digital Natives" born into a culture and lifestyle where technology immersion is the norm.
Patrick Ledesma, June 23, 2012
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4 min read
Education Opinion How Can Teachers Create a Learner-Centered Environment?
As a classroom teacher, does the idea of a learner centered environment sound new to you?
Patrick Ledesma, June 11, 2012
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5 min read
Education Opinion Why Should Teachers Become Teacher Leaders?
As educators begin to discuss the knowledge, skills, challenges, and opportunities associated with teacher leadership, one question often overlooked is why teachers should aspire to become teacher leaders.
Patrick Ledesma, May 28, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Technology for Online Standardized Testing vs. Technology for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Inquiry
As an educational technology geek, what is more exciting than reading about predictions and rumors if the next iPhone will have a larger screen or if the next Macbook Pros will be sleeker and without a CD/DVD drive?
Patrick Ledesma, May 20, 2012
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5 min read
Education Opinion Teacher Leadership Recap
A blog that's entitled "Leading from the Classroom" should have blog posts about teacher leadership. So, as the application window for the Teacher Leadership Online Community remains open, I've posted various blog articles from the past that explore questions of teacher leadership.
Patrick Ledesma, May 16, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Join the Teacher Leadership Community
Dear Educator,
How do you define teacher leadership? Do you consider yourself or any teachers with whom you work to be teacher leaders? What roles do teacher leaders currently serve within the educational community? How can teacher leaders help to move education forward and provide our students with 21st century skills?
Patrick Ledesma, May 6, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Are School Libraries Becoming Obsolete?
Mrs. Carmenates, school librarian and guest blogger, and I recently had a discussion about Linda Braun's article Next Year's Model in the School Library Journal.
Patrick Ledesma, April 23, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion The Learning Registry: A Better Way to Share Lessons and Resources
How do you share lessons and resources with your colleagues? Do you email lessons back and forth? Or, maybe you share and access lessons and activities on a school server. Perhaps your district has made lessons available on a website or portal.
Patrick Ledesma, April 16, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Three Questions to Begin Transformation to Teacher Leadership
At the Celebration and Teaching and Learning Conference last week, I was part of the panel presentation for Realizing Teacher Leader Roles in the Future of School Transformation...NOW with Barnett Barry, President of the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) and Lori Nazareno, Co-Lead Teacher of the Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy, a teacher-led school in Denver Colorado.
Patrick Ledesma, March 19, 2012
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4 min read
Education Opinion 81% of Teachers are Satisfied with Teaching: Going Beyond the Headlines of the MetLife Teacher Survey
Anyone reading anything about education this week inevitably read about the latest results from The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents, and the Economy.
Patrick Ledesma, March 11, 2012
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4 min read
Education Opinion Video Recording Your Teaching: VHS vs. 21st Century Technologies
How can substantial resources and innovative technologies transform your professional learning?
Patrick Ledesma, February 27, 2012
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6 min read
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