Thankfulness for 25

Jose – This year our family decided to re-brand thanksgiving “Thankfulness Weekend” by trying to appreciate each other and our lives as much as we can. We spent some time Thursday at the river and cuddled on the couch for a movie after dinner. On this same note, several of my friends have spent the […]

Jose –

This year our family decided to re-brand thanksgiving “Thankfulness Weekend” by trying to appreciate each other and our lives as much as we can. We spent some time Thursday at the river and cuddled on the couch for a movie after dinner.

On this same note, several of my friends have spent the past 25 days writing brief posts on Facebook about what they were thankful for in their lives. These two ideas combined for me as I was inspired to call out 25 people I am thankful for in education. Below is my list. It is not in order, and it is not a complete list of everyone I am thankful for. I have tried to include links to youtube whenever possible.

1. Andy Mashburn for being an important early childhood researcher and architect of Virginia’s Quality Rating System and listening to me as I talked through my dissertation research methodology.
2. Ariel Sacks for keeping it real everyday.
3. Barnett Berry and the entire Teacher Leaders Network for the incredibly long list of opportunities I have been given to develop as a leader.
4. Bill Ivey for being a constant friend focused on the heart of teaching.
5. Bob Pianta for raising the bar for Head Start classrooms with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System by looking at what matters: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support.
6. Diane Ravitch for always pushing children living in poverty to the front of the line.
7. Ella Jenkins for being a living history of African American folk music for children.
8. Fran Sokol Simon for pushing early childhood into the 21st century.
9. Ira Socol for always pushing the counter narrative.
10. James Comer for seeing the need to empower parents living in poverty to help their children succeed.
11. Jennifer Barnett for pushing my thinking every time we talk.
12. John Merrow for always telling the real story about education.
13. John Norton for being a great friend and possible the most important behind the scenes contributor to teacher empowerment in the world.
14. Jon Snyder for focusing on what matters in child development.
15. Jose Vilson for being the best education writing partner I could ever ask for.
16. Kathy Glazer for being a brilliant supporter of early childhood learning in Virginia.
17. Larry Ferlazzo for providing a rushing river of useful content.
18. Lisa Guernsey for the caring and writing so passionately about early childhood education.
19. Pam Moran for being a the most forward thinking and visionary public school superintendent I have ever encountered.
20. Ron Thorpe for realizing that the NBPTS is possibly the most important education reform organization in America.
21. Shannon C’De Baca for challenging me to use technology to build community.
22. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach for giving me so many opportunities over the years and for creating the awesome Powerful Learning Practice community.
23. Steve Hargadon for keeping the future of education on the front burner.
24. Terry Dozier for being a steadfast mentor and friend.
25. They Might be Giants for creating music for teaching that uses humor and a beat.

There are more but, 25 seems like enough for this year. Thanks for listening.