Acting like a highly accomplished teacher---newly appointed President and CEO of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, Ron Thorpe, responded promptly and thoughtfully to an open letter from my TLN colleague and NBCT, John Holland. Both pieces deserve attention for their content, and for what the exchange tells us about how the kinds of dialogue we SHOULD be having in regards to education reform.

What I liked most about this film is its painful honesty. It tears away at myth after myth in a time when misinformation about teaching and learning abounds.

"Instead of introducing readers to interesting web-tools, I introduce readers to specific strategies for teaching students to communicate, collaborate, problem solve and manage information."

...who taught me by example to arrive early and stay late (Hint: That's what good teachers were doing long before TFA). Thank you Mr. Tolliver.

...who well past 60 could still jump desks and bust misbehaving 6th graders.  Thank you Mrs. Tregear.

...who after teaching for 40 years, became the go-to edtech guru for her rural high school. Thank you Mrs. Harris.

...who is part of a group of teachers that designed and runs their own public school based on the Five Core Propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  Thank you Lori Nazareno.

...who has dedicated over 38 years to working with students of poverty.  Thank you Jon Hanbury.

...of teachers who has transformed how we teach writing by reminding us to keep students at the center. Thank you Dixie Goswami.

...who always brings the edreform discussion back to what does this mean for the students. Thank you Susan Graham.

...who keeps helping other teachers [like me] grow in our thinking and use of digital tools with students. Thank you Bill Ferriter.

...who is absolutely fearless about speaking truth to power in defense of students and teachers. Thank you Anthony Cody.

...who pioneered teaching paperless English classes in the 80s and has consistently issues of power and equity in education.  Thank you Ted Nellen.

...who not only does an amazing job working with students who are ELL, but has also authored three important books, is a 24/7 educational resources curator (and the fastest retweeter I know). Thank you Larry Ferlazzo.

...who excels at asking the most challenging questions and pointing out the many glaring contradictions in U.S. education policy. Thank you Nancy Flanagan.

...several dozen, actually, who are former students of mine and now teachers themselves bringing me hope for our profession. Thank you Angela Towers, Ronda Rimmer, Archie Mitchell, Pamela Jones.......

To all the teachers I know personally and know about who every day, year-after-year, do so much, for so many, with so little....

                                                Thank you.

More #IKnowaTeacher celebrations can be found at:

  The Future of Teaching Blog

  IKnowaTeacher Facebook Page

(Thanks to John Holland for this great campaign to change the public narrative about teachers).

I'm thrilled to share with you this thoughtful post from my TLN colleague Ernie Rambo, who picks up on a frequently addressed theme around TLN of hybrid roles for teachers, especially teacher leaders, and how educators could be held accountable for their work in such roles. Please share your questions and responses.

Our school district looks really good on paper. School-improvement plans list interventions such as "school-wide collaboration" and "differentiated learning." In our district, teachers receive professional development from Project Facilitators on "Response to Intervention" (recently amended to "Response to Instruction"). Training for "Depth of Knowledge" complements the application of Bloom's Taxonomy in our lesson plans. They appear to be ahead of the game when it comes to providing professional development for the fifth largest school district in the nation.

Every school has teachers who are capable to lead, but don't want to leave their practice behind.

In truth, our school district is only ahead of the game at first glance. The district's Project Facilitators are prior classroom teachers beginning to move up in the ranks of school district personnel. The district requires them to teach specific strategies for implementation in the classroom. Unfortunately, the project facilitators are no longer in the classroom. Many classroom teachers are just as qualified as Project Facilitators to share recent research and school district policies with their colleagues.

Every school has teachers who might not realize that they can lead without having to leave their students behind.

What if? What if each school had the opportunity to release one or two teachers part time each year to be the education research experts at their school? Based on the needs of students identified by teacher analysis of student data, a teacher could spend half of his or her contracted day researching strategies that apply to those needs. After researching, the education research expert could lead discussions with the rest of the faculty, to seek out the best solutions for their students. The education research teacher might support the action research projects at their school, helping to organize data and finding relevant literature that applies to the action research.

The example described above could be termed as a hybrid teacher – one who spends part of the day in a traditional teaching assignment while performing as a teacher leader during the rest of the day. In a recent publication by Alesha Daughtrey at the Center for Teaching Quality and their Teacher Solutions Teacher Working Conditions Team (of which I am a contributing member), hybrid teaching is discussed as one way in which teachers lead, and share in the accountability of a school's performance. We suggest that putting a priority on encouraging teacher leadership can lead to improving student learning. Teacher leaders are immersed in the unique culture of the school and can improve their practice and student achievement simultaneously at their schools.

My Center for Teaching Quality blogging colleague, Kristoffer Kohl, describes his experience as a hybrid teacher, using his expertise with data analysis as his school's data strategist, in this Teacher Magazine article. When his colleagues noted how Kris used student data to steer instruction in his own classroom, they suggested that Kris might be able to analyze all of the school's data – a task that most teachers do not have the time to do as often and with the level of scrutiny that it needs. Kris took on the role of analyzing data for half the school day while teaching writing skills and providing skills interventions during the other half of the day. Kris and his colleagues showed accountability for their students' academic success by recognizing Kris' specialized skills and suggesting that he teach in a non-traditional way.

Creating hybrid teaching opportunities at a school cannot be done in factory fashion. Each position is dependent upon the student's needs as well as each teacher's expertise. Current school schedules do not always lend themselves to teachers with half the student load of other teachers – another example of why cookie-cutter or assembly line designs for teaching assignments do not work with the needs of today's schools. Yet if we see more opportunities for teachers to lead within their schools, such as in the TAP schools, located across the county, or as in other nations, as Professor Darling-Hammond describes in this Washington Post article, the accountability for student achievement might be reasonable instead of an overwhelming burden. We would not just look good on paper, we'd be accountably good.

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Susan “Ernie” Rambo is a 23-year classroom veteran who currently teaches at Walter Johnson Junior High in the Clark County School District of Las Vegas, Nev. A National Board certified teacher, Rambo is a member of the Teacher Leaders Network and co-author of the 2010 report from the Center for Teaching Quality, “Transforming School Conditions: Building Bridges to the Education System That Students and Teachers Deserve."