I live my ambition; I am a teacher. My days are spent in a light-filled classroom, opening to a cheery garden, a seagull’s cry from the great Pacific Ocean. Over these many years my students have walked from my classroom out into the great world, creating their own unique imprint with their footprints. As a […]
Implementing meaningful technology in a classroom and throughout a school to provide opportunities for students to communicate, create, collaborate, and/or code, is no easy or cheap task. For Principal Dr. Damita Myers-Miller at Jackie Robinson Academy, this is one of many issues that she, along with other countless administrators, in public schools face in the […]
Huong Dao is a 2010 alumna mentor who teaches third grade at Tamura Elementary School in the Fountain Valley School District. Huong shares her incredible story about fleeing Vietnam in the 70s to immigrate to the US — and along the way—being nudged into teaching by her colleagues and friends. What led you to immigrate to the United States? After April 30, […]
Celia Sosa is a 2016 alumna mentor who teaches third grade at Braddock Drive Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Shortly after finishing the ART of TEACHING Fellowship in 2016, an opportunity to work with Megan Franke, a renowned expert in Cognitively Guided Instruction and a professor of education at UCLA, presented itself. Celia now opens […]
Each year the National Title I Association recognizes and honors Title I school programs across the nation that display a wide array of strengths that make it a “Distinguished School.” This academic year, Alvarado Elementary School, a Cotsen alumni school since 05′, is one of two California schools named a National Title I Distinguished School for […]
The growth and development of technology in the 21st century has rapidly risen to staggering heights. The desire to enhance learning with technology integration is palpable, but like any tool, it can be used poorly and ineffectively. With iPads, Chromebooks, smart boards, projectors, and thousands of educational applications and websites readily available, principals face the […]
Jeffrey Ng, a 2012 alumnus, shares his journey from student teacher to assistant principal of Andrews Elementary School in Whittier City School District and the importance of saying yes to opportunities for growth. Share a little about how you started teaching. I began working with an after-school program called Gear Up (Gaining Early Awareness and […]
The Cotsen Foundation for the ART of TEACHING has awarded over $211,000 in grants to alumni schools and teachers in order to support teacher collaboration, professional learning and parent involvement for the 2017 – 2018 school year. Each year the foundation offers several categories of grants to support its participants’ continued professional growth. The categories include Parent […]
More than sixty Cotsen alumni and current principals, teachers and district office administrators from across Southern California gathered at The Centre at Sycamore Plaza for a working breakfast meeting. The instructional leaders came to explore the wide range of supports available to them as administrators of Cotsen schools. The four-hour breakfast meeting was the first […]
It’s that time of year again… time for sharpened new pencils, fresh unused crayons, and shiny clean mobile devices neatly placed on desks for eager students; time for anxious parents who just want to make sure their child was assigned to the classroom with the best teacher in that grade level, (of course that generally […]