Don’t Settle for Doing ‘Good’
“Dad, I got all A’s!” “Good, but you can do better.” These were the words remembered by Lennox Thompson, a West-Indian American whose parents migrated to the U.S. from Jamaica, bringing with them strict cultural values about education and life. Growing up, Mr. Thompson always knew how important school was and would consistently maintain A […]
Meet Ben Carman: Ewing Marion Kauffman School
While working in Kansas City, I met Ben Carman, the Director of Special Education Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman School. After a couple of hours of working with him, I could tell that he was indeed someone who shared my passion and commitment to educating our children. His determination, focus, humility, drive, and insightfulness […]
Saying What I Mean and Meaning What I Say
What do you do when your principal comes to you and says, “We’re in need of a full-time teacher for 2nd grade yesterday?” If you are Brian Duggan of Congress Heights, in Washington DC, your response is simple. I’ll do it! Brian began developing his skills as a No-Nonsense Nurturer® (NNN) in August 2015 when […]
Meet Katharine Bonasera – the Agent of Change at Allenbrook Elementary
Katharine Bonasera, the principal at Allenbrook Elementary School is a No-Nonsense Nurturer® that holds her school community to high expectations and believes that all students “CAN AND WILL”. In a world where we have amazing, top performing educators and principals, Katharine rates among the elite. Why is she electrifying? Katharine knows that a key lever […]
Ten Beliefs of High-Performing Educators
In the world of education, there are amazing teachers and leaders transforming classrooms and schools every day. On the other hand, there are just as many, if not more, failing at the very same mission, and often times working just as hard! It’s not luck, nor a secret to the success of the aforementioned, but […]
A Paradigm Shift to Transformative Coaching
During my tenure as a special education teacher and district coach, I thought I’d seen almost everything. I was an instructional manager supporting the special education reform in New York City public schools for 1.1 million students. I then supervised the implementation of a coaching credentialing program for over 300 coaches in Broward County Public […]
For What?
When I am brainstorming ideas about how to support educators or youth… one of the questions that is simple, sometimes infuriating, but always important is “For what?” While simple, this question always takes me back to purpose and objective. Why am I doing this? Will it support our associates better at CT3? Can we make […]
The Complexity of Nurturing and Showing We Care
Effective educators profoundly understand that “nurturing” scholars means demonstrating “care.” Many teachers may misunderstand “care” as unconditional praise, downshifting expectations for scholars…
The Power of Positive Narration
Positive Narration is the act of focusing on what students are doing correctly and openly saying those things aloud to help motivate students and provide a more positive classroom culture. Don’t underestimate the role of positive narration and its range of influence on establishing, developing, and maintaining positive and productive classroom culture and climate. Below […]
It’s Not the Students…It’s Us.
It’s not the students. It’s us. The evidence from CT3’s work suggests that educators formulate their cultural responsiveness through connections with the people, places and experiences that reciprocate value. If we do not value the output we are getting from students and our coaches do not push us to own our areas of growth, students can […]
