Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill: Reflecting and Dreaming

On October 30, 2015, Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill suddenly resigned from her teaching position.   Ann Marie Corgill There is a lot to her story. On November 20, 2015, I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to learn of the details behind Corgill’s resignation, and then some. She graciously allowed me to interview her […]

Ann Marie Corgill Says Goodbye to Her Students

  Ann Marie Corgill On October 30, 2015, 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill resigned from teaching after being informed by the Alabama State Department of Education that she would need to complete further certification requirements to teach grades that she had been teaching for decades– including the grade level she was teaching when she […]

Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Relocates to Texas to Make Ends Meet

On July 02, 2017, NPR reported that Shawn Sheehan, Oklahoma’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, has taken a job in Texas for the 2017-18 school year, where he and his wife– also a teacher– will make about $40,000 more per year.   Shawn Sheehan Sheehan tried to remain in Oklahoma, where he ran in 2016 […]

My Blog Is Three Years Old Today :)

I started this blog three years ago today, on January 25, 2013. I thought I’d write a brief, celebratory post. But first of all, a bit of financial disclosure is in order: Here is a comprehensive listing of all of the billionaire-financed, education nonprofits ponying up that luscious, public-ed-annihilating dough to fund my blog: Add […]

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part V

On November 20, 2015, I traveled to Alabama to extensively interview 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill, who had resigned from her fifth grade teaching position with Birmingham City Schools on October 30, 2015.   Ann Marie Corgill It is not as though Corgill decided one day, “I’m tired of this job,” and […]

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part IV

On November 20, 2015, I drove from southern Louisiana to central Alabama in order to interview 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill, whose resignation three weeks prior, on October 30, 2015, made national news.   Ann Marie Corgill I had the privilege of interviewing Corgill for several hours. She detailed an intriguing story […]

Resigned Alabama Teacher of the Year Now in the Running for Alabama Person of the Year!

On the evening of December 07, 2015, I had an email from Ann Marie Corgill, the 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year whose October 2015 resignation made national news. (To read about Corgill’s ordeal in detail based upon my exclusive interview with her, see this post.)   Ann Marie Corgill The subject line of her email read, […]

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part III

On October 30, 2015, the 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill, abruptly resigned from teaching at Birmingham City Schools after a taxing ordeal in the first two months of the 2015-16 school year.   Ann Marie Corgill I had the privilege of interviewing Corgill in person for several hours on November 20, 2015. […]

NCLB, ESSA, and “Highly Qualified”

In this post, I compare language regarding teacher certification in two documents, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and what very likely will be the next Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) reauthorization, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA). I was particularly curious about the fate of the […]

Alabama Teacher of the Year Resigns– The Backstory, Part II

On November 23, 2015, I began a series of posts about Ann Marie Corgill, the 2014-15 Alabama Teacher of the Year who resigned from Birmingham City Public Schools effective October 30, 2015. Corgill’s resignation was prompted by notification from the state department of education that the state did not consider her certified to teach fifth grade. […]