I am so excited to share that I was recently picked to be in the 2015 cohort of Master Teacher Fellows in Math for America, an organization that prides itself on a sustainable future for math and science teachers in the USA. 

Their vision is simple: An inspiring, expert teacher in front of every student in America. 

Their mission is even better: MfA makes teaching a viable, rewarding, and respected career choice for the best minds in science and mathematics.

The best part of the evening (and the bulkiest in terms of time) was when a veteran fellow came up to explain the idea of an "Open Meeting." This is something I am familiar with from the EdCamp model of the unconference: a bunch of open slots for conversation filled by the participants and anyone can go anywhere at any time to learn more. I quickly decided to set up myself to discuss advocacy in the education policy field and took slot #2 for that topic. I ended up having a great conversation with teachers from all over New York City and even took some notes on new things I should look into.

The night was a great success from my standpoint and I can't wait to get more deeply invested and involved in this community. I am grateful for the opportunity to get this far and hope I can give back as much as they give to me.

For the last few days I have gotten the same question from at least three different people: what do I think about Teachers Pay Teachers. I didn't realize until I looked at my news feeds today that the company recently got some free publicity by having an article written about them in the New York Times. 

As a brief summary of the company functionality: teachers upload lesson plans onto a central server and other people can go online and pay to download them and use them. Essentially, it monetizes the idea of lesson plan creation and distribution.

There are similar repositories that exist across the Internet without a pay-per-use structure: Teach For America used to have one that a friend of mine gave me access to briefly; The American Federation of Teachers has its own called Share My Lesson; and there are a variety of smaller companies and non-profits that offer teachers free options of lessons to use.

My main gripe of this kind of company is similar to the thoughts of one upset blogger who wrote, "I embrace the sharing, the collaboration and the freely giving of resources that the math teachers do on Twitter, their blogs and the internet in general." When someone adds a price tag to something that could foster collaboration, it begins to erode the system that's supposed to be a public good. 

In my opinion, my lessons are and should be shared widely for use; and the same for lessons of other teachers across the country and the world. I have advocated for a platform like that in the School District of Philadelphia as I would in New York City as well. I know that some people have added to their income by selling items on websites like these but in the long run I think it will benefit a few adults and children will pay the cost.

There are two big battles occurring simultaneously in Washington State: one over Charter Schools and one over Evaluation.

Last week the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that Charter Schools were unconstitutional under state law. This is obviously very controversial as there are charter schools across the country now, with many in urban centers like New York City. The law actually passed by a thin margin in 2012 thanks to generous support of Bill Gates and other philanthropists who believe in systems like these. While many of these schools are quite independent and fill a need that other schools would not normally do so, charter networks have erupted en masse that have "no excuses" attitudes toward student infractions and have unfortunate track records with their teaching.

Additionally, the Seattle Education Association had their first strike today since 1985, citing poor wages and ridiculous use of test scores in their evaluations. I remember the Chicago Teacher's Union striking for similar reasons back in 2012. We will see where this goes.

Over the past two years many schools and districts across the US have had growing numbers of parents removing their students from school or refusing permission to allow them to take standardized tests. Regardless of the threatened consequences, the numbers show a story of a movement building quickly and getting more national attention. Back in May 2015 the New York Times showcased districts across the state and how the numbers have increased tremendously over the past three years of data.

In August 2015 we found out that more than 200,000 students in 3-8 grades sat out of the standardized tests of this year with over 20% of all those eligible to be tested opting out. 

In Pennsylvania, where I grew up, the numbers are smaller but growing quickly. The PSSA test opt outs tripled in both Math and English language arts between 2014 to 2015. While the movement grew slowly at first, it is picking up speed.

Unfortunately, the new Education Commissioner of New York State, MaryEllen Elia, has been quoted as saying teachers who support the opt-out movement are "unethical." I find that accusation unfortunate, spurious, and demonstrating a lack of knowledge of what is going on in the classroom of teachers across the country. I would hope that she would eventually take a look at a simply part of the Change the Stakes organization website explaining 8 Reasons to Opt Out.

This growing movement will not stop and despite threats from political leaders, with enough support (which we seem to have) educators may finally be able to change the current situation in education to one we (and parents) know will support our students move.

A recent New York Times article showcased the inevitable rebound of teacher demand due to consistent layoffs and lack of support for educators across the country. One of the major concessions districts are making is the requirement of credentialing before working in a classroom. As the article states:

While this sounds similar to programs like Teacher for America (TfA) or the Teacher Fellows programs in cities like New York and Philadelphia, it is even worse. Back in February 2015 Teach For America reported that the applicant pool for their program has dropped, breaking a 15-year trend. Whether or not you agree with the politics of organizations like TfA, it is telling that the current economic, political, and social climate is not one to entice people into the teaching profession.

Back in 2013 the National Education Policy Center shared research demonstrating that three specific reforms that were being pushed (and still are being pushed) will de-professionalize teaching, causing a dramatic drop in those who want to join the ranks of educators. The reforms mentioned were:

If we want to make sure that our students are getting what they need from their careers in school we need to make sure teaching becomes a professional experience once again and drives those in college to make the switch from sitting in front of the metaphorical "desk" to leading behind it.

As many of my friends know I love Philadelphia and sharing its history and culture. It has had many firsts: the first US capitol, the first hospital, the first botanic garden, etc. One aspect I am particularly proud of given my profession is that it is the location of the founding of the EdCamp Foundation and unconferences. 

The concept is simple: instead of bringing in speakers to the tune of thousands of dollars for fees and renting out enormous conference centers with textbook salespeople running everywhere, just bring together educators for one full day to share and learn from each other. No sessions are organized in advance - just the structure is in place. I have attended two of these in Philadelphia and loved each one of them. I have also advocated for their use in other places in my life as well. I tend to learn quite a lot from others through direct person-to-person sharing as well as the Twitter backchannel and Google Drive storage of all kinds of lessons I can learn.

In August 2015, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a $2 million grant to the EdCamp Foundation to continue and expand its work. While many are skeptical that it means they are "selling out" I think it is important to know how they intend to use it and who are the people running the organization. Based on its track record, I believe that this money will be funneled directly to help more teachers do exactly what they do: be professional in and out of the classroom. 

One of the really cool new aspects that comes from this money, however, is to "provide 'discovery grants' of up to $1,000 for teachers to help them implement ideas they get from Edcamp at their schools." I will be very curious to see how that plan plays out and maybe will apply for one in the future!

I am ecstatic for this organization to grow and learn with its new funding source. Great job, guys!