Category Archives: Teachers

Teachers: Turn your professional development dreams into reality

Garden Oaks Montessori teacher Shana Steinhardt milks a camel (or a yak) while on a trip to Mongolia this summer. The trip was underwritten by a grant from Fund for Teachers.

If you could design your ideal professional development opportunity, what might that look like?

Would you be studying volcanoes in Iceland, exploring nomadic life on the steppes of Mongolia, steeping yourself in the art of Salvador Dalí in Spain, or visiting the Children’s Peace Memorial in Japan that inspired a beloved children’s book?

Whatever your interest or passion might be, now is the time to flesh out your fantasy, as the Fund For Teachers is in the business of turning dream professional development opportunities into reality, and time is running out to make your dream come true. Continue reading →

Teacher attributes his own ‘value-added’ growth to principal’s guidance

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When Tiffany Chenier became the new principal of McNamara Elementary School back in 2006, one of the first things she did was analyze her student data. That led to a series of “serious conversations” with teacher Pang-Cheng Liu, whose student passing rate at the time was only around 50 percent. Continue reading →

Teaching language arts helps one educator publish his first book

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When Mark Dostert was hired as a “children’s attendant” at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center back in 1997, he didn’t realize that meant he would actually be serving as an unarmed guard of the facility’s inmates.

But the seventh-grade English language arts teacher, now in his eleventh year at HISD’s Johnston Middle School, said the year-long experience in Chicago taught him some valuable lessons about working with at-risk youth—and now he is sharing those lessons with other educators. Continue reading →

Effective Teacher Fellowship looking for new recruits

Deadline to apply is Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015

Have you or someone you know ever thought about becoming a teacher? If you want to positively impact and influence a child’s life, then HISD’s Effective Teacher Fellowship (ETF) could be the program for you.

ETF is the district’s alternative certification program, which provides non-education majors with a different pathway to state certification and becoming a teacher. Recruitment is in full force, and ETF plans to accept at least 300 teachers for the 2015–2016 school year. Continue reading →

Fund for Teachers helps Garden Oaks educator renew her adventurous spirit

Deadline to apply for next year’s Fund for Teacher grants is Thursday, Jan. 29

When Shana Steinhardt applied for a Fund for Teachers grant earlier this year, she did so for a very specific reason.

Garden Oaks Montessori teacher Shana Steinhardt milks a yak while on a trip to Mongolia this summer. The trip was underwritten by a grant from Fund for Teachers.

“After 15 years of teaching, I risked becoming stagnant,” said the Garden Oaks Montessori social studies teacher. So to expand her knowledge of Asian culture, history, and ecology, Steinhardt traveled to the steppes of Mongolia, where she met with six different herding families living a nomadic lifestyle.

Continue reading →

North Carolina teachers finding growth opportunities in HISD

Six months ago, Lauren Paquette was teaching in North Carolina and living at the poverty level with her husband and son. Now, that’s all changed.

“We started realizing, ‘We can’t afford to live here anymore,’” explains the Hobby Elementary School fourth-grade teacher. “I saw that HISD was coming back to Charlotte, and I said, ‘You know what, let’s just go and see what happens.’”

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That was this past July, and within weeks of meeting with HISD’s Teacher Recruitment team, Paquette had packed up her classroom and headed to Houston.

“For me, it was a $20,000 raise, and that’s huge,” said Paquette. “It’s almost a whole other salary.”
Continue reading →

Want to teach in HISD? Attend an information session

Are you interested in joining Team HISD as a teacher? We have an information session Tuesday for you to learn about the district’s teacher selection process.

The session will be held at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18^th St., from 5-6 p.m. tomorrow. Candidates may register online and check-in begins at 4:30 p.m., as the session will begin promptly at 5 p.m.

The teacher recruitment team will explain what happens after a teacher has been approved for the district’s “teacher pool” and answer your questions. Candidates are encouraged to bring copies of their resumes.

First-year HISD teachers say support makes the difference in Alternative Certification Program

Early on a Saturday morning, a group of 168 first-year teachers have gathered together at Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center for fellowship and support while learning practices to make them effective first-year HISD teachers.

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This is a key part of support for these first-year teachers who are interns in HISD’s alternative certification program — the Effective Teacher Fellowship (ETF).

ETF acknowledges the challenging work of teachers in urban school districts such as HISD and equips interns with appropriate skills to thrive in the classroom environment. ETF has partnered with FuelEd, a unique training program that equips teachers with the social and emotional competencies necessary to establish high-quality relationships in schools. Continue reading →

Celebration of Francis Marcile Hollingsworth’s life set for Saturday

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The retired educator who contributed so much to HISD’s science department that the district named its resource center after her has died. (Francis) Marcile Hollingsworth passed away on Sept. 26, 2014, at the age of 90.

Hollingsworth, who joined Team HISD as a science instructor in 1951, devoted 36 years to Houston’s children as a teacher and later as the director of science for all grades. She wrote HISD’s curriculum guides and laboratory manuals for chemistry and physical science, and it was because of her efforts that HISD created its Oceanography Department, which grew into the Living Resource Center. Continue reading →

Professional Educators Compensation and Support Committee meets for the first time

Group to explore where HISD is as a district, where it’s going, and what needs to be done to get there

In 2010, HISD launched the Effective Teachers Initiative to provide targeted support for teachers to better meet the needs of their students and ultimately to improve student achievement.

This year, the district is continuing to prioritize instructional practices to ensure effective teaching and excellent school leadership by convening an advisory group that will strengthen the way teachers are supported and to reward practices that promote student achievement.