Speaking of being both generous and ruthless with my time, I realized the third question (in addition to this one and this one) that I get asked all the time is this: “Hey, Maia, I’d love to write a book about school culture, data-driven…
It’s that time of year when many folks are contemplating a change of school, district, or role. I’m receiving weekly phone calls and emails with requests for career-change advice, so I thought it may be helpful to share some of my standard…
The how-not-to-start-a-business post turned out to be very popular, and I am now fielding lots of questions like, “How did you go from being a teacher to leading PD for teachers and leaders?” The headline answer: by accident and also very…
Last week, I had the good fortune to share a train ride from NYC to DC with my friend, fellow educator, and former colleague, Kathleen Porter-Magee. If you don’t know what Kathleen is up to in the world of Catholic education, read more…
At least once a week, I receive a question from someone who wants to start their own training or professional development practice. While I love, love, love chatting with people about achieving their dreams, I feel wholly unqualified to help anyone…
We teachers cannot live without our clipboards. To this day, I cannot teach without a clipboard in hand. It’s like my security blanket; I feel safely wrapped up with my pacing guide, anecdotal notes, and lesson plans. The challenge, of course,…
Today’s Question: All this organization stuff sounds great, but now that I have everything in one place, what happens if I lose my iPhone, clipboard, Flexy Friend, or binder? (insert look of pure horror and devastation here). Today’s Answer:…
It happens to all of us. You have the best intentions to be “Together,” and then, something happens. You get sick, you travel all weekend, a friend pays you a surprise visit, you watch too many episodes of Homeland (ummmm. . ….
My first year of teaching, I had REALLY long (and admittedly, kind of messy) hair. At the end of the day, I would shake out my ponytail and occasionally find at least three pens hanging out up there. Next, I would empty the pockets of my…
So, the dirty little secret here is that organization does take SOME amount of time. And yes, that is time that COULD be spent planning, grading, analyzing, family phone-calling, and more. In fact, we know of a small percentage of people…