By Rick Joseph Michigan Teacher of the Year 2015-16 I recently had the honor of presenting at the Teach-In for Freedom in El Paso, Texas. As I gathered with teachers from around the country on President’s Day, I felt an immense sense of gratitude for the opportunity to share the realities of refugee youth who represent the […]
Yvonne Williams wants MEA’s Education Support Professionals to banish a word from their vocabulary: “Justa.” “It would not be unusual to hear one of our colleagues say I am justa bus driver, I’m justa secretary or I’m justa custodian,” the recently retired MEA Northern Zone Director told attendees at the ESP Statewide Conference in Port […]
Three MEA members—a bus driver and two teachers were honored with association awards during the MEA Winter Conference in February and the MEA ESP Statewide Conference in March. Marti Alvarez won the Leon A. Brunner Award for her work on behalf of students and union members in her roles as a bus driver and union […]
In this issue: Who Will Listen to Educators Fear, Mistrust, Frustration: Four Years into Michigan’s Punishing Teacher Evaluation Experiment Helping Students See CTE Possibilities ‘Incubator’ Class Nurtures Entrepreneurs Reading Law Moves Toward Retention Budget Activism: Whitmer Makes Push for Spending Plan Budget Activism: Together We Can Seize this Moment Leading Change: Get a ‘Jump Start’ […]
MEA member Chris Erickson remembers early in his teaching career when he was easily discouraged by defeat, because he didn’t realize change takes time and persistence is a skill. A shift in his thinking happened when he attended NEA’s Teacher Leadership Institute (TLI), a fellowship program creating a national network of teachers to mobilize, advocate, and lead on […]
By Jessica Lumbreras MEA Political Action Organizer When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pitched her budget plan to lawmakers last month, proposing the biggest increase in public education funding in a generation, I know that many of you felt something you hadn’t experienced in a long time. Hope. It might have been just a glimmer. Maybe you worried about letting it […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor One morning last month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sat in a rocking chair to speak with a classroom of fifth graders in Jackson after reading to them from a picture book, What Do You Do with a Chance? The students had conducted research on the governor before her visit, and they asked her questions […]
MEA Vice President Chandra Madafferi on Thursday joined Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a bipartisan group of lawmakers and state business and education leaders in support of House and Senate bills creating the MI Opportunity Scholarship and Michigan Reconnect Program. Opportunities abound for students and adults who complete skills certification training or obtain community college or […]
Incoming third graders next fall will be the first group whose spring test scores will be used to determine if they move on to fourth grade or not, under requirements of the third grade reading law passed by state lawmakers in 2016. Many questions remain about how the law’s mandates will work in practice. One […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor When MEA members Hattie Maguire, Kristin Franchi, and Jodi Forster—along with Assistant Superintendent Dr. RJ Webber—started an innovative new class at Novi High School last fall, they expected to figure things out as they went. They just didn’t know how much they would learn—or how quickly. The educators leading […]
