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Retired Educators Eager to Serve
“Knowledge comes in contrast.” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar I attend a weekly breath work and meditation class hosted by a colleague who is...
Meghan Raftery
Oct 23, 2024
Did This Blog Post Cost Me a Job?
On August 21, 2022, my local school division adopted a policy to ban cell phones from classrooms. I had (and still have) strong feelings...
Meghan Raftery
Aug 22, 2024
The NEW Edjacent: Empowering YOU to Make a Difference!
Photo by Rowan Freeman on Unsplash Welcome to the new Edjacent! We’re thrilled to introduce our redesigned website and invite you to join...
Meghan Raftery
Jul 18, 2024
Fostering Gratitude and Thanksgiving: A Guide for Instructional Coaches
The following piece by Donna Spangler appeared recently in SmartBrief. Donna served as coordinator of instructional coaching for Derry...
Donna Spangler
Nov 20, 2023
Who Would Want to Be a Teacher?
Three and one-half years ago, much of the world was on lockdown due to the first global pandemic in over a century. Through fate, good...
Doug Wren
Sep 11, 2023
Take the Limits Off!
Photo by Andre Morales Kalamar on Unsplash This summer, I drove my son to an Old Dominion University (ODU) basketball camp. During the...
Danielle Johnson
Aug 23, 2023
Back to School for Educators: The ABCs for a Healthier School Year
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash Whether you are dreading the return to school or extremely excited about the new school year, these...
Danielle Johnson
Aug 20, 2023
Human Design for Educators: A First Person Experience
Photo by Chi Chen on Unsplash Confession: I check my horoscope daily. When I flip through the digital edition of my local newspaper each...
Meghan Raftery
Aug 16, 2023
What Is the Next Step in a Retired Educator's Journey? Edjacent!
Photo by Nature Uninterrupted Photography Hello, fellow educators and learners! My name is Donna Spangler, and as I sit in my kitchen...
Donna Spangler
Jul 30, 2023
Report Reveals the Sorry State of Public School Instruction
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash Findings from research conducted jointly by the RAND Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public...
Doug Wren
Jul 27, 2023
Gifted Education Should Not Be Zero-Sum
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash One of my favorite books is The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together...
Meghan Raftery
Jul 20, 2023
Prioritizing Sidelined Narratives: Reshaping Education for Equity and Inclusion
Photo by Maheima Kapur on Unsplash Have you ever questioned the content of your textbooks or the narratives shared in classrooms? Did you...
Danielle Johnson
Jul 16, 2023
The Emperor’s New Clothes and the Virginia SOL Tests
My son is scheduled to take two state-mandated, standardized tests this month. He is in fourth grade. This would be the 11th and 12th...
Meghan Raftery
May 23, 2023
Will Old Donation School Ever Be Fully Integrated? Part 3: The Great Equalizer
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash In case you were wondering about the main title of this blog series, Virginia Beach’s Old Donation...
Doug Wren
May 15, 2023
Land Acknowledgements: Honoring Indigenous and Enslaved Peoples
by Melissa Smith Photo by Amber Martin on Unsplash For far too long, the history of Indigenous and Enslaved peoples has been ignored or...
Danielle Johnson
May 1, 2023
Be Seen: Drive Your Scat Pack
Photo by Yoal Desurmont on Unsplash My son and nephew love cars! When we are driving they can tell you what car is next to us. How fast...
Danielle Johnson
Apr 13, 2023
Raising (White Male) Antiracists Part 3: Power and Privilege
The work of antiracism is a lifelong journey. There is no endpoint and for every step forward, there may be steps sideways or backwards....
Meghan Raftery
Apr 9, 2023
Will Old Donation School Ever Be Fully Integrated? Part 2: The Folly of Testing First Graders
In Part 1 of this blog series, I reported some unsettling statistics from the Virginia Department of Education’s 2021 and 2022 Fall...
Doug Wren
Apr 6, 2023
Will Old Donation School Ever Be Fully Integrated? Part 1: Change Is Slow
Photo by Phil Reid on Unsplash If you saw my seven-part blog series last summer or my follow-up post, Two Steps Forward and One Back,...
Doug Wren
Mar 21, 2023
It’s Not a Coincidence
Photo by Tim Mudd on Unsplash This is the first blog post I’ve written in nearly five months. It almost didn’t get written, but not...
Doug Wren
Feb 19, 2023
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