2000-01 School Year

Bambino    Berg    Fedor    Kahl

Deborah Bambino (staff developer)
Philadelphia Public Schools, Philadelphia PA

Background - Deborah Bambino, Teaching & Learning Coordinator

Summer Diaries 2000
#44 - Deb Bambino -- A New Position: A New Chance to Stir the Pot.
#45 - Deb Bambino -- A quick lesson in building a learning community.
#46 - Deb Bambino -- The Zen of facilitation -- and beyond.

The New School Year (2000-01)
#01 -- Deb Bambino -- Home-school partnerships require more than "being like me"
#02 -- Deb Bambino -- Teacher strike: "Which side are you on?"
#03 -- Deb Bambino -- Strike issues divide us, when we desperately need to work together
#04 -- Deb Bambino -- Teachers still talking about their craft and their kids
#05 -- Deb Bambino -- The realities of a new life and new role are really sinking in
#06 -- Deb Bambino -- "Being white means I can still be surprised by racism"
#07 -- Deb Bambino -- "The anti-hands-on faction is quite large"
#08 -- Deb Bambino -- Gaining a foothold with a small core of teachers
#09 -- Deb Bambino -- The question hasn't changed: Will we choose chaos or community?
#10 -- Deb Bambino -- Potential Philadelphia strike another example of 'brutality"
#11 -- Deb Bambino -- We have more time, but how will we use it?
#12 -- Deb Bambino -- We're tour guides, and some kids don't have tickets
#13 -- Deb Bambino -- Building Dreams: Supporting Students' Desire to Learn
#14 -- Deb Bambino -- Looking at kids through a new set of lenses
#15 -- Deb Bambino -- "Where there is possibility, change can occur"
#16 -- Deb Bambino -- When did the message become "enter at your own risk?"
#17 -- Deb Bambino -- An uncomfortable transition from teacher to student
#18 -- Deb Bambino -- A "zero indifference" approach to racial tensions and violence
#19 -- Deb Bambino -- We know who "those" kids are
#20 -- Deb Bambino -- Building strong readers in the middle grades
#21 -- Deb Bambino -- Do we really believe kids are born without the desire to know?
#22 -- Deb Bambino -- I took this job to help kids, not to help folks label them
#23 -- Deb Bambino -- If they're faking reading, are we faking teaching?
#24 -- Deb Bambino -- If students don't see the curriculum connections, who's fault is that?
#25 -- Deb Bambino -- If teachers and schools don't honor women, then who will?
#26 -- Deb Bambino -- Asking all the wrong questions
#27 -- Deb Bambino -- When the suburbs are threatened, suddenly we have a problem
#28 -- Deb Bambino -- Reflective teaching and social equity go hand in hand
#29 -- Deb Bambino -- The myth of the super-predators
#30 -- Deb Bambino -- Students don't need our pity; they need our commitment
#31 -- Deb Bambino -- Tracks Never Meet
#32 -- Deb Bambino -- We Need to Trust Ourselves to Know What Works
#33 -- Deb Bambino -- All Hands on Deck
#34 -- Deb Bambino -- High Stakes Testing: Time to Get Motivated
#35 -- Deb Bambino -- The Sheep and the Goats
#36 -- Deb Bambino -- Resiliency: More Power and More Smarts
#37 -- Deb Bambino -- At the Movies
#38 -- Deb Bambino -- We need districtwide conversations about race and culture
#39 -- Deb Bambino -- The Right to Be Ourselves
#40 -- Deb Bambino -- Endings and Beginnings

Ellen Berg (language arts teacher)
Turner Middle School, St. Louis MO

Background - Ellen Berg, Teacher

#01 -- Ellen Berg -- The "star system" disempowers teachers and kids
#02 -- Ellen Berg -- The temperature rises -- and so does the pressure to perform
#03 -- Ellen Berg -- Am I a bad teacher because I don't do everything I should?
#04 -- Ellen Berg -- "You're just a big, fat, stinky chunk of cheese!"
#05 -- Ellen Berg -- Missing desks, an unhappy parent: opening ourselves to others' "truths"
#06 -- Ellen Berg -- Brad: "I'm frustrated with him, my lack of skills, and the system."
#07 -- Ellen Berg -- Brad II: A new attitude and strategy produce some positive results
#08 -- Ellen Berg -- A violent incident brings a dose of harsh reality
#09 -- Ellen Berg -- "I find myself wanting more."
#10 -- Ellen Berg -- After a joyless year, a reason to hope for better days
#11 -- Ellen Berg -- Middle school kids need a lot of structure
#12 -- Ellen Berg -- New Beginnings: Setting up classroom routines
#13 -- Ellen Berg -- "He was mine . . ."
#14 -- Ellen Berg -- "I have never been quite so excited in my classroom"
#15 -- Ellen Berg -- Creating a "need-to-know" environment
#16 -- Ellen Berg -- "I am ashamed, but I am not ready to fail."
#17 -- Ellen Berg -- Unless we know our students well, nothing else we try to do will matter
#18 -- Ellen Berg -- Building comprehension and reaching reluctant readers
#19 -- Ellen Berg -- We have the test, so let's use it to help our kids
#20 -- Ellen Berg -- We cannot teach what we will not do ourselves
#21 -- Ellen Berg -- Students Lost at Sea - But Not Their Teacher!
#22 -- Ellen Berg -- A weekend of soul-searching, with a little help from some friends
#23 -- Ellen Berg -- We are not teaching our subject matter, we are teaching our kids
#24 -- Ellen Berg -- "I see the truth of Darren now"
#25 -- Ellen Berg -- Darren III: No more disposable kids
#26 -- Ellen Berg -- Maybe we're just adding to the noise
#27 -- Ellen Berg -- "If Mrs. Berg can make mistakes, then we can, too"
#28 -- Ellen Berg -- Abandoning Ship: Sometimes it's the right thing to do
#29 -- Ellen Berg -- The Holy Grail of school is not learning but grades
#30 -- Ellen Berg -- We shared a passion for teaching
#31 -- Ellen Berg -- Searching for authentic teaching and learning
#32 -- Ellen Berg -- "Excited and scared": the poetry unit begins
#33 -- Ellen Berg -- Teachers Anonymous?
#34 -- Ellen Berg -- At the Hiring Fair
#35 -- Ellen Berg -- Uncivil War
#36 -- Ellen Berg -- A Permanent Teacher
#37 -- Ellen Berg -- It's Time to Be the Leaders We Seek
#38 -- Ellen Berg -- Crips and Bloods
#39 -- Ellen Berg -- The Last Days of Our Learning Community
#40 -- Ellen Berg -- The Year of Living Reflectively

Summer Diaries 2001
#01 -- Ellen Berg -- A renewal of hope and possibility
#02 -- Ellen Berg -- We need more time to share our own expertise
#03 -- Ellen Berg -- Idle hands make for a noisy summer
#04 -- Ellen Berg -- Creating a world where good discipline thrives
#05 -- Ellen Berg -- Hands-on learning is for teachers, too!
#06 -- Ellen Berg --Classroom Management: Looking for Answers (overheads)
#07 -- Ellen Berg -- On the Shores of Lake Titicaca

Susan Fedor (principal)
Crossroads Middle School, Columbia SC

Background - Susan Fedor, Principal

#01 -- Susan Fedor -- Only one chance to make a first impression
#02 -- Susan Fedor -- Pick your battles
#03 -- Susan Fedor -- A No-Good, Horrible Very Bad Week
#04 -- Susan Fedor -- The North Star Team: All of Us Finding Our Way
#05 -- Susan Fedor -- Parents as Partners?
#06 -- Susan Fedor -- Everything All At Once
#07 -- Susan Fedor -- My Debts Are Without Number
#08 -- Susan Fedor -- Epiphanies: My First Gift of Christmas
#09 -- Susan Fedor -- What's Good for the Teacher Is Good for the Principal
#10 -- Susan Fedor -- Lessons in the Power of Hope
#11 -- Susan Fedor -- Heart to Heart: An Early Valentine
#12 -- Susan Fedor -- The Teapot Tempest That Produced a Good Brew
#13 -- Susan Fedor -- February is the Cruellest Month
#14 -- Susan Fedor -- Eerie Echoes of Santana
#15 -- Susan Fedor -- The specter of racial prejudice
#16 -- Susan Fedor -- A Kaleidoscope of Spring and Metamorphosis
#17 -- Susan Fedor -- A Trip to Oz: So Much Depends Upon the Teacher
#18 -- Susan Fedor -- We Have Been Tested
#19 -- Susan Fedor -- Final Project Analysis --Year One
#20 -- Susan Fedor -- A Year Examined

Kristi Kahl (first-year principal)
Hill Middle School, Long Beach CA

Background - Kristi Kahl, First-Year Principal

#01 -- Kristi Kahl -- "Hello, my name is Kristi, and I'm a first-year principal...."
#02 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Honeymoon
#03 -- Kristi Kahl -- Listening to the Kids
#04 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Instructional Leader?
#05 -- Kristi Kahl -- Principal for a Day
#06 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Complaint Department
#07 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Leader Needs Training, Too!
#08 -- Kristi Kahl -- Taking Care of Business
#09 -- Kristi Kahl -- Gina and the Bright Yellow Plastic Radio
#10 -- Kristi Kahl -- Put on Some Lipstick and Get Ready for Change
#11 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Crying Moms
#12 -- Kristi Kahl -- On Buddha and Proving Behaviors
#13 -- Kristi Kahl -- Tough Decisions
#14 -- Kristi Kahl -- When It Rains, It Pours
#15 -- Kristi Kahl -- Making the Grade
#16 -- Kristi Kahl -- Discipline
#17 -- Kristi Kahl -- Getting Parents on Your Side
#18 -- Kristi Kahl -- Drastic Action
#19 -- Kristi Kahl -- The Big Gigantic Hole
#20 -- Kristi Kahl -- The First Year Principal's Rules of Survival

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