TEACHER SOL

I'm happy to be back!

2024-04-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's been ages ago since I last posted...9 years! I'm excited to let you know that I switched from teaching special needs students to teaching multi-lingual learners since last year. It has been an amazing life transforming experience for me. I will share more details in later posts!

Donate to #FirstBook2Philippines on #GivingTuesday

2015-11-24T07:35:00.001-08:00

This year, on December 1st, the world will come together for one of the biggest philanthropic days of the year, #GivingTuesday. We want to celebrate this day by asking you to give to our #FirstBook2Philippines Outreach Project.

Next Tuesday, December 1st, consider giving kids in Hurricane Haiyan affected areas in the Philippines the books they need to succeed in life. Every $40 gives a kid 10 brand new high quality books needed to support literacy skills. SUPPORT, SHARE & DONATE to #FirstBook2Philippines , here's the link to our campaign website https://firstbook.fundly.com/fundraising-for-book-outreach-Philippines

#FirstBook2Philippines Participates in #GivingTuesday

2015-11-15T19:58:00.001-08:00

What is Giving Tuesday?

Often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hashtag activism, it refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create a national day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season.

Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).

SUPPORT, SHARE & DONATE to #FirstBook2Philippines , here's the link to our campaign website https://firstbook.fundly.com/fundraising-for-book-outreach-philippines

#FirstBook2Philippines Memorial Donation

2015-11-11T04:05:00.001-08:00

The reason #WhyIGive is because it gives me a sense of purpose in life, I feel a sense of inner satisfaction as a person and as an educator nurturing the unlimited potential of our kids. I'm excited to start my #FirstBook2Philippines fundraising campaign and I hope you will join me in sending 40,000 books to public schools in Hurricane Haiyan affected areas in the Philippines!

Today is Veteran's Day and I honor the brave men and women who sacrificed their life to protect this country. The fallen will never be forgotten...they are the reason why we are free.

A gift or memorial donation is a fitting tribute to someone special. This #VeteransDay, you have the opportunity to honor a special person by making a memorial donation that will help send 40,000 books to students in Hurricane Haiyan affected public schools in the Philippines. Tell your friends and family about our fundraising campaign #FirstBook2Philippines !

#FirstBook2Philippines on #HurricaneHaiyan 2nd Anniversary

2015-11-08T12:47:00.001-08:00

In the event of #HurricaneHaiyan, people from across the globe have worked in solidarity with Central Philippines & Filipino #charity organizations to rebuild & rehabilitate our communities—not just the brick and mortar but also the cultural institutions, community & non-profit organizations. I am proud to play our part with our recently launched fundraising campaign for #FirstBook2Philippines project, inspired by the progress that we made so far, and excited for what is yet to come! Today is Haiyan's second anniversary and we reflect on the tragedy caused by the strongest hurricane ever.

Make your gift to our students in Tacloban NOW! https://firstbook.fundly.com/fundraising-for-book-outreach-… SHARE!

#FirstBook2Philippines Launching at The Philippine Embassy w @FirstBook

2015-11-08T12:23:00.001-08:00

Listening to the successful projects of our community leaders, I am even more inspired to take action and make a huge impact in the lives of our children in Haiyan affected areas back home.

Initially, in October 2013, when I first talked to Tom Moran, the person who leads the First Book partnership for American Federation of Teachers, after a friend from AFT introduced me to him, I thought of doing this in a depressed area in my hometown in Bicol Region. After the hurricane hit Central Philippines in November 2013, I believe the kids in Tacloban area need us more than ever.

How do we transform this negative experience into a positive one so that these children will end up better, stronger, and resilient persons? How can we help replace hundreds and thousands of damaged books in schools and libraries in Central Philippines?

This is where YOU can come in to help us…

I would like to ask our philanthropists, humanitarians, and all of YOU who wants to help to donate to our fundraising campaign. Your $20 will purchase 5 brand new books for our students, 10 books for $40, and 100 books for $400. We have a fundraising campaign website which Katie & Emily will present to you in a minute, and we also have donation forms for those who would prefer to do it cash. I believe that when we all come together, we can meet a very ambitious goal of $150K in 150 days for 40,000 books to send to our students in Tacloban. Please help us promote our campaign via newspapers, television ads, social networking tools like Facebook, twitter, Instagram, blogs.

I know you are asking, “How do we ship 40,000 books to the Philippines?” ForEx Balikbayan Box agreed to a 40% discount for shipment as part of their charity services, and my good friend, Benjo Basas, who leads the Teachers Dignity Coalition on a National level has been working with us to make the logistics smooth to make sure the books will get to the hands of our students in July 2016 on time for the beginning of a new school year.

TO DONATE, here's the link: https://firstbook.fundly.com/fundraising-for-book-outreach-philippines

I am hoping that these books will provide some comfort and maybe, in some small way, change a life. I can't wait to make this happen! Special thanks to our Ambassador’s wife, Mrs. Cuisia, for her full support of this project, and all of our community partners, maraming maraming salamat po!

#DCPSRising & @anacostiahigh Representing!

2015-10-03T16:51:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday, my Journalism students represented our school, Anacostia SHS, very well during the Conversation with News4 anchor Jim Vance and Chancellor Henderson on State of DC Public Schools. They eloquently interviewed her 15 minutes prior to the event and were given special press seating at the front row! I'm so proud of them!

Here's our class website if you want to see the video clip: http://www.anacostiaindians.org/apps/classes/show_class.jsp?classREC_ID=709916

#Philantropy #Charity #GiveBack

2015-09-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

The continued support of our family, friends, brothers & sisters has been incredible! Please continue to spread the word about our Book Outreach Project, Philippines. Six weeks to go before our launching event! #philanthropy #charity #giveback

I Am a Teacher and #IAmMyUnion

2015-09-06T03:54:00.001-07:00

Humbled & honored to be featured on the front page (with Pope Francis above the fold) of this week's Manila Mail's Special Report.

It's more than just a long weekend. This Labor Day, and everyday, I stand up for my Union! I am a TEACHER and #IAmMyUnion (thanks to my lil guy for taking the photo before I went to the gym!).

*Manila Mail is a Filipino newspaper in Washington DC.*

Ready For A Big Change #NBCTstrong

2015-08-11T17:56:00.001-07:00

It's official, a new job assignment!

I will miss working with such a highly motivated team of educators at Jefferson Academy Middle School, my home for 12 years! The lessons learned from being a new teacher in 2003 to becoming a Founding Team Member in 2011, helping and watching it grow from being a "struggling school" to now a "rising school", are priceless!

I'm extremely excited to move on to the next chapter of my life joining an amazing team of educators at the historic Anacostia High School. I can't wait to meet & greet my students! Special thanks to my Master Educators, Doran Gresham & Bregeneve Ocansey, you're the best!

We Will Soon Be #NBCTstrong

2015-08-07T19:36:00.002-07:00

During one of our sessions at our Back-To-School Union Leadership Institute last Tuesday, I couldn't help sharing my wonderful experiences passionately with my colleagues as a National Board Certified Teacher to encourage more great teacher leaders to go through the process of becoming an accomplished teacher. I was surprised when most of them appeared to not know about it or have not heard about it until I brought up the topic. After my short discussion, the teacher beside me expressed that he has been actively looking for a board exam for teachers, something similar to what his wife has been through to become a professional medical practitioner, and was glad to hear me talk about it.

I was impressed with his persistence and determination when he emailed me first (before I was able to do it as promised) to show his excitement about getting started! I would like to share our correspondence (his name altered) because I believe it is significant, and that I have shared with him information that will be disseminated to teachers soon.

*******************************

Today at 8:52am

Hi Maria!

It was a pleasure meeting you at that PHENOMENAL WTU conference. I am super excited about beginning my NBCT journey. Thank you for your support in advance and I hope we get a chance to discuss the future of my NBCT journey soon.

P.S. Your blog is super amazing!

Today at 8:59pm

Hi Kobi,

Thank you for your kind words!

It was great to know that you are interested in becoming National Board Certified, I can't wait to have our system of supports here in Washington DC started for you and the rest of our future DC NBCTs! We will soon be launching the DC NBCT Network to help our NBC candidates with tools and resources to certify. We will also increase the use of technology: Podcasts, Facebook, blog, webinars, NBCT Link, SKYPE, phone conferences, monthly newsletters with active links, and DC NBCT Network updated website as a means to communicate and support NBCTs and candidates. Additionally, our WTU President and I will be having a meeting with the CEO of our DC Teachers Federal Credit Union on Monday (August 10) at 10am to negotiate for a 0% interest loan/ financial assistance as part of their membership services. There will also be PD grants available for you to take advantage of to help with the costs of NBC application.

These we do in our NBCT Network because we believe in teachers like you, and we know that with the National Board as our tool, and our union as our voice, we can elevate the teaching profession, retain and reward accomplished teachers and be the best school district in the country!

In the meantime, I would like you to look at these resources to give you an idea of the process and supports currently in place:

- http://www.boardcertifiedteachers.org/ where you will find the instructions and information on how to start the process of getting board certified.

- https://public.nbpts.org/pilot/ where you can apply for a pilot/ test drive of the certification in your content area so you know how it works before getting into the actual process, no cost to you (free), and you earn your PLU credits.

- https://www.youtube.com/user/nbptsstaff/videos?shelf_id=2&view=0&sort=dd NBPTS videos that show what people say about National Board Certification to inspire you and to give you additional information from the experts and other educators.

You will soon receive an NBCT Needs Survey, which will be sent to other teachers too, to get a feel what DC teachers need to get certified successfully. Please let me know what else I can do to assist you, keep me posted and I will do the same! Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Maria Angala, NBCT

NBPTS Academy 2015 in Phoenix AZ #NBCTstrong

2015-07-25T11:55:00.001-07:00

I felt so energetic with a new sense of direction after I came back from the recent NBPTS Academy in Phoenix AZ which was attended by more than 170 network leaders from 30 states in the US. The most valuable aspect of the NBPTS Academy was the inspiration created from meaningful collaboration and sharing of successful work from network leaders in other states/ school districts.

I started the DC NBCT Network with a small group of NBCTs here in DC in 2010 and because of the political and organizational barriers, our plans of launching the network, organizing and mobilizing was halted. After I saw the unbelievable NBCT data for Washington DC a few months ago (we have 51 NBCTs, which is 1% of 4,000 DC teachers and only 1 certified last year) I knew I had to do something. Together with our allies, we can increase the number of our National Board Certified Teachers because I strongly believe that we have more than 1% great teachers in DC who can help elevate our teaching profession. This is our profession and it is time for our teachers to be in charge of it!

I went to the NBPTS Academy in Phoenix, AZ last July 19 without a clue if we were moving to the right direction with all the efforts that we have already done to encourage other Washington DC teachers to pursue accomplished teaching and enact the mission & vision of NBPTS.

At the NBPTS Academy, I not only connected with wonderful like-minded NBCTs and teacher leaders who are having the same challenges. I also learned about different ways and strategies on how they were able to overcome them and succeed! I left Phoenix AZ on July 21 with a feeling of great accomplishment for our baby steps, an action plan that I strongly believe will work, and a group of amazing educators who are giving me the strength to carry on no matter what.

Here are some of the highlights of my stay:

Remembering Ron

2015-07-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

Flowers freshly picked from my garden invigorates our home. Thinking about Ron Thorpe, the visionary leader of the National Board since 2011, whose passion for accomplished teaching is beyond contagious. Reflecting on the extraordinary work he has initiated to elevate our profession, he has touched and inspired many of us! A great man...

Happy Easter, everyone!

2015-04-05T08:27:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone 's enjoying this beautiful weather with family and friends, Happy Easter! Just dropping by to let you know that I "cleaned up my store" and did some updates too! I will be posting more soon, it's always great to receive your wonderful comments and feedback. Thank you and all the best!!

National Board resources & supports in DC

2014-12-18T19:36:00.003-08:00

WTU/AFT Teacher Leaders amplifying our voice during a productive education policy conversation with State Superintendent of Education Jesus Aguirre on Saturday, 12.13.2014 at the WTU Headquarters.

Dear Superintendent Jesus Aguirre,

Thank you for a very engaging discussion with us, the WTU Teacher Leaders, last Saturday at the WTU Office. Your support of the National Board Certification means a lot for our students, teachers and the future of the education profession in the District of Columbia.

We all know that NBC has a positive impact on student achievement, teacher retention and professional development, and as evidence, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies published a comprehensive review of the studies to date in 2008 (please see attachment). I have also attached the DC state profile and other state rankings for your perusal. This year, only one teacher in DC achieved certification and we owe to our students and our profession to make it the majority...with your help.

To help increase the number of NBCT's in DC in the future, we need to have the right resources and supports for those who are going through the process of certification. In the past, there were supports given by OSSE- Educator Licensure and Accreditation unit in the form of financial supports, six recertification units/ 90 clock hours, and other grants. We recently checked the OSSE website and we have not found any supports for our national board candidates. Every student in America deserves to be taught by accomplished, Board-certified teachers. We hope that you can help make this happen.

Wishing you and your family a Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Maria Angala, NBCT

You're Invited to T&L2015!

2014-12-15T20:09:00.001-08:00

As a member of the advisory board of this exciting event, I am helping promote this conference and I hope you can share this to our colleagues as well.

Please join us in celebrating our teaching profession on March 13-14 at the 2015 Teaching & Learning Conference here in Washington DC. For more details please check out the website: http://teachingandlearning2015.org .

See you there!

Congratulations, Share My Lesson!

2013-08-16T07:43:00.004-07:00

Congratulations, SML!! I shared 75 classroom resources here, and grabbing awesome free resources from other teachers across the country. This is a great way for us to make a difference to more than just the students in our classroom!

Check it out! http://sharemylesson.com

HR 5 (Student Success Act) Follow Up

2013-07-24T20:19:00.004-07:00

Here's the latest message from the Council for Exceptional Children to everyone working with students with special needs about the Student Success Act (HR5):

This bill contains loopholes for students with disabilities so large you can drive a bus through them.

-- Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) during the HR 5 debate, July 19, 2013

Dear CEC Members:

Loopholes. Low expectations. Exclusion from accountability and assessments. Significant step backwards.

These were just some of the concerns for students with disabilities raised by Members of Congress during the debate last week about the Student Success Act (HR 5), legislation that rewrites the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). (See related Policy Insider Blog story here)

Thank you for answering our call to contact your Representative to oppose HR 5! In just three days leading up to the vote, hundreds of offices on Capitol Hill heard from CEC members!

Unfortunately, HR 5 passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 221-207.

Fortunately, President Obama has said that he will veto this bill if it comes to his desk.

While this was not our desired outcome, members of Congress from both political parties raised significant concerns about HR 5’s negative impact on students with disabilities, which resulted in a commitment from Chairman Kline – the bill’s lead negotiator – to work to better address these issues as the bill progresses through the legislative process, which has a long road ahead. Read CEC’s list of concerns about HR 5 here.

HR 5 represents a very different vision from the Senate’s version of the bill, which has passed the Senate Education Committee but has not been considered by the full Senate. To become law, the many differences between the two bills will have to be worked out once the Senate acts. Read CEC’s full recap of the HR 5 debate and CEC’s letter about the Senate bill.

In the coming weeks, we will need more voices and more outreach! Be on the lookout for future CEC Action Alerts, and in the meantime, keep informed by reading CEC’s Policy Insider Blog and follow us on twitter @CECAdvocacy.

Thank you again – your outreach brought students with disabilities into the HR 5 debate!

-- CEC’s Policy and Advocacy Team

Using Instagram in the Classroom

2013-07-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I truly love about summer vacations, it allows us teachers to catch up with technology tools and learn how to integrate them in the classroom. I just joined Instagram last week after a friend of mine encouraged me to try it out and post my vacation photos there. You guessed it right! I was uploading, was trying different kinds of editing tools to enhance my photos, and learning all of these cool features in just a matter of minutes. I immediately saw the artistic use of Instagram, and knowing that many of my middle school students are using this app on their phones my ideas on how to use this in the classroom went wild!

Here's my proof, click on this widget:

How can we incorporate Instagram in the classroom? Education Rethink suggests Ten Ideas for using Instagram in the Classroom.

1. Digital Storytelling: I started doing Show and Tell awhile ago, after Tom suggested that it could be a powerful way for students to share their stories. I'm going to do that this year. However, I'm also going to give students the option of taking pictures from their neighborhood. They can tell their story visually, annotating it through their comments on each picture.

2. Grammar Practice: Photography can be a great place to practice grammatical structures. It can be something as simple as writing a functional text (I had been walking down the street when I saw . . .) Or it could be a way to practice, sequentially, the grammatical structure using their world as the context.

3. Photojournalism: Similar to digital storytelling, this would allow students to explore issues in their world through a visual medium. I want them to engage in citizen journalism. Whether it's a school sporting event or an immigration sweep, a classroom community service activity or a local election, students can use the mobile devices to express their social voice.

4. Photo Prompts: Last year, I found photographs and created writing prompts. Sometimes, they were geared toward poetry or narrative while other times they were persuasive or informational. I will encourage students to develop their own photo prompts using Instagram.

5. Metaphors: I will give students concepts from any of the subject areas and ask students to find a metaphor that fits the concept. They will use Instagram to find the metaphor and then describe it in the comments section.

6. Photos for Blogs: This is pretty simple, but I want students to start adding their own photographs to some of their blog posts. There's something powerful about looking at a post and realizing that the photograph and the writing both originated from the same author. (Below: at some point I want to write a post on the upside of being distracted)

7. Find the Context: I want my students to document math that they see in their world. I'm thinking Instagram can be a great place to document things like linear relationships, data, fractions, etc.

8. Ethnographic Study: I've done this before in social studies in writing. I'm thinking it might work as a blended activity of writing and pictures. I'd love to see them take photographs of the spaces they inhabit and then analyze the cultural, political, social and economic elements that define the space.

9. Sharing Art: I love to sketch. I love to doodle. And yet, I've rarely posted my drawings to Instagram. I'm wondering what it would look like to blend the art of photography with pencil and paper or with painting.

10.Just Let Them Take Pictures: I'm thinking of letting kids take pictures for the sake of taking pictures. Let a few of them fall in love with photography. Let them find the beauty in their world and share it with others and then see what kind of conversations occur afterward.

Can you add some more ideas in this list?

WTU Run-Off Election Results

2013-07-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our new WTU Officers!

@WTULocal6 President Cancels Debate

2013-06-19T21:41:00.002-07:00

People need cues to sort good from bad and to find order so that they can make decisions. In many different aspects of our daily life, we are giving off cues that can be positive or negative. Today's debate could have been a great event that would have given us an informed decision on who is the best presidential candidate to vote for in the 2013 WTU Elections. Unfortunately, it was cancelled by the WTU President Saunders himself. I took a screenshot of his email "Alert" message to the teachers about the said event organized by several teachers from different schools which he allegedly called a "fake" debate. I also posted here the statement from Elizabeth Davis sharing her disappointment about the cancellation of the debate and her response to the president's threatening message:

Dear WTU Members,

You received a communication this morning from Erich Martel announcin a debate between President Saunders and myself to take place at McKinley HS today. Subsequently you received an "Alert" from Nathan Saunders indicating that no debate would be happening. It is true that because only one candidate was willing to debate, the debate will not happen. But let me correct factual errors in Mr. Saunders "Alert" email.

The debate was an initiative of the school WTU Representatives at Wilson and McKinley High Schools and Lafayette Elementary. They had reserved the space at McKinley. Mr. David Pinder’, the principal at McKinley, sent me the email below confirming use of the auditorium. The email is also copied to Mr. Bruce Stevens, his head custodian. No one ever represented the debate as being formerly sponsored by the WTU leadership, the election committee, or inappropriately used the WTU
logo. They had reached out to both candidates and thought the debate was on. It is also not true that private insurance must be posted to hold any and all meetings in school facilities. These are scare tactics are simply being used to inhibit the democratic process.

I am disappointed that in the end Mr. Saunders didn't see it as in his interest to come to the debate. I hope that in the future we can rise above political gamesmanship and make debates a regular feature of WTU elections. The members and the health of our union demand it.

Please don't forget to vote. Vote for the Elizabeth Davis slate. The WTU can be better!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Davis, Candidate for President of the WTU

Email Message from Nathan Saunders About Today's Debate

Get Tough #DCteachers

2013-06-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I was about to call it a night when someone who needed to hide behind fictitious names tagged me of a link on Facebook and Twitter attacking each and everyone of Elizabeth Davis's Slate supporters. I would like to share my two cents worth on this.

We are professional educators and our character and credibility can stand on its own to get us to where we are destined to be without needing to hide behind comical names to degrade, lie about or demean anybody.

Manipulation of information and malicious accusations thrown at me and the candidates that I am supporting in this WTU election make me believe even more that we need to keep the faith, stay united, and get tough.

Tough means that we are willing to stand tall and persevere. Even when our mind and body signal perfectly good reasons for giving up, we go on. This tough is obvious. But tough can also be standing up to cynics and skeptics who mock our faith. Many times it will be tough to be kind. Be kind anyway.

This is our teacher's union and we are more than 3,000 strong. I am confident that our WTU Members will stand firm by teacher leaders who can give them respect, who will not tarnish and put a shame on the WTU, and who will carry the name for our teacher's union with pride. Let us use our common sense and make informed decisions about our candidates when we vote in this 2013 WTU Elections. I will stay by Elizabeth Davis's side and elect her for WTU President because this is the right thing to do. We need to regain what was once ours, now is the right time. This is a call to action.

@WTULocal6 Presidential candidate's Debate

2013-06-18T22:30:00.001-07:00

SHARE! WTU Members: Here's to help us make informed decisions about who to vote for this 2013 WTU Elections. What are their stand on key education issues and what are they going to do about it? Be there tomorrow to watch this WTU Presidential Candidate's Debate!

#DCteachers Endorsing Elizabeth Davis

2013-06-12T19:23:00.003-07:00

In this coming WTU run-off election, I am supporting my colleague and friend Elizabeth Davis. Liz and I worked together for almost 8 years as Teacher Consultants of the DC Area Writing Project. We are both well respected in our circle and are active members of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society for Key Women Educators. Ballots will be mailed on June 17. GET OUT THE VOTE!

A Message To #DCteachers

2013-06-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

I thank each and everyone of you for being hopeful and for working hard in this campaign. Let us be more involved and vigilant in advocating for the future of our profession and the children we serve. Please continue to hold the candle from which others can light their candles.