Articles and Spotlights

Summer Wellness Reset: Helping Teachers Recharge for a Stronger School Year

posted 4 days ago
Summer offers educators something that can feel rare during the school year—time to breathe, reflect, and focus on themselves. After months of lesson planning, grading, meetings, and supporting students, summer provides the perfect opportunity to reset and prioritize personal wellness. As highlighted by Teaching Channel, this season can be a valuable time for teachers to focus on improved sleep, healthy ...

Mentors Need Mentoring Too: Rethinking Support in Education

posted 5 days ago
Mentors Need Mentoring Too: Rethinking Support in Education By: Alexis L. Hamlor By early February, one of my mentees was still carrying the exhaustion she had first named months earlier. She was a first-year teacher in an integrated co-teaching (ICT) classroom, balancing graduate coursework, lesson planning, grading, family responsibilities, and the daily pressure ...

Member Spotlight: Mrs. Lori Andrews

posted 9 days ago
As the Director of a Child Development Center in Wisconsin and one of the newest members of her KDP community, Mrs. Lori Andrews spends her days guiding kids through their most formative years, focusing on the lasting impact a positive early start can have. A Safe Place to Grow Lori’s goal is to create a space where kids can thrive academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. ...

Member Spotlight: Ms. Wilmar Medina De Hoyos

posted 9 days ago
For Wilmar Medina De Hoyos, the classroom has never been a place for passive learning. It is a launching pad for societal transformation. A Puerto Rican educator, former athlete, and recent law graduate, Wilmar has built her journey at the intersection of education and justice, driven by a deep-seated belief in the power of knowledge. "I am inspired by the belief that education is the ...

Being Good Enough in a World That’s Asking for More

posted 10 days ago
Do you ever feel like no matter how much you do, it's never quite enough? Teachers are constantly asked to give more, do more, learn more, and be more. Between classroom responsibilities, student needs, meetings, family life, and the pressure to keep improving, it can feel overwhelming. Even when you are doing your best, the world can make you feel like you should somehow be doing more. ...

You’re Already Amazing: A Reminder for Teachers to Embrace Who They Are

posted 10 days ago
In the effort to do our best, it can be easy to slip into the pressure of perfection. Teachers give so much of themselves every day. You plan, prepare, adjust, encourage, problem-solve, and show up for others in countless ways. But in the middle of striving, it is also easy to compare yourself to others or overlook the unique strengths, gifts, and accomplishments you already bring to your ...

Making Wellness Feel Possible: A Conversation with Lade Akande

posted 10 days ago
Juice cleanses. Fad diets. Intense workout challenges. Strict routines that seem impossible to maintain. At the start of the summer, messages about health and wellness are everywhere. While many of them are meant to motivate us, they can also feel overwhelming, unrealistic, or simply too hard to begin. For teachers, wellness often needs to be practical. It has to fit into full schedules, ...

Strategies for Mitigating Stress in the Elementary Classroom

posted 12 days ago
Strategies for Mitigating Stress in the Elementary Classroom By: Brandy-Lea McCombs Every morning, elementary teachers open their doors to students carrying invisible backpacks. Inside these backpacks aren't just crayons and notebooks, but often the heavy weight of high levels of stress, chaos, or trauma. Research consistently confirms what educators witness ...

Navigating First-Year Fears, Fights, and Feats

posted 19 days ago
Navigating First-Year Fears, Fights, and Feats By: Kayla Layman Picture this: you just arrived at school on the first day of your first year of teaching. You could hardly wait for this moment! You worked relentlessly to graduate, pass the necessary certification exams, and interview for your dream job. All you could think about the last few days while setting up your classroom ...

Member Spotlight: Ms. Sherena Thomas

posted 23 days ago
For Ms. Sherena Thomas , education is about far more than just helping students' complete assignments—it is about shaping their confidence and fostering a lifelong love for learning. As a current Learning Lab Assistant at Helena Park Elementary, Sherena balances her daily work in the classroom with her studies at Grand Canyon University. For her, joining Kappa Delta Pi has been a transformative ...

Member Spotlight: Dr. Melissa Webb Earnest

posted 23 days ago
Meet Dr. Melissa Webb Earnest , a KDP legacy member , CARE Action Team member, and dedicated educator who has been part of the KDP community for 31 years. Currently serving as an Adjunct Professor at the American College of Education, Dr. Webb Earnest shared her journey from a non-traditional student to a veteran educator, and why peer support matters now more than ever. Finding a ...

Member Spotlight: Dr. Clarissa Gamble Booker

posted 06-04-2026
Meet Dr. Clarissa Gamble Booker, a member of KDP’s esteemed Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter and recipient of The 2026 Dr. Thomas E. Musselman Award for Service Excellence . This award honors an individual whose sustained commitment to service has made a meaningful impact within KDP and the education profession. For Dr. Booker, that spirit of service is not just something she demonstrates—it ...

Member Spotlight: Ms. Vladine Roche

posted 06-04-2026
For Ms. Vladine Roche , KDP has been a source of connection, encouragement, and professional growth. “My KDP family has allowed me to truly flourish in my classroom,” Vladine shared. “They provide purposeful professional development, collaboration, and educational resources.” As a seventh-grade teacher and member of the Alpha Epsilon Gamma Chapter at Grand Canyon University, ...

Turning Anxiety into Resilience: Practical Strategies for Educators

posted 06-04-2026
Turning Anxiety into Resilience: Practical Strategies for Educators By : Kayla Sweet In recent years, anxiety among students has become an increasingly visible trend in schools. Conversations about mental health, mindfulness practices, and even designated mental health days are now common parts of educational discourse. Yet many educators continue to ...

Six Key Strategies for Building and Growing Your Professional Networks as Pre-Service Teachers

posted 05-22-2026
Six Key Strategies for Building and Growing Your Professional Networks as Pre-Service Teachers By: Janet Solis Rodriguez, Carrie Mitchell, Priya V. Prasad, and Carey B. Walls W hen you have a question — about classroom management, lesson planning, or even where to apply for teaching jobs — who do you tend to turn to for advice? The social connections ...

Member Spotlight: Dr. Rick Breault

posted 05-21-2026
Meet Dr. Rick Breault , Faculty Licensing Officer at Ashland University, KDP member of more than 32 years, KDP Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter member , and the 2026 Founders Day Awards recipient of the Dr. Truman L. Kelley Award for Scholarship Excellence . This honor recognizes his sustained, impactful scholarship within KDP and the broader education profession at local, national, and global ...

Member Spotlight: Ms. Kimmy Ma

posted 05-21-2026
Meet KDP teacher member Ms. Kimmy Ma . A high school teacher with 15 years of classroom experience and a member of the Chi Epsilon Chapter at Molloy College. As a doctoral scholar in educational leadership, and a Global Justice Fellow at the Sustainability Institute, Ms. Ma bridges the gap between academic research and everyday classroom practice. A Framework for Belonging At the ...

Mind in Motion: A History of Cursive Writing and Its Resurgence in the School Curriculum

posted 05-19-2026
Title : Mind in Motion: A History of Cursive Writing and I ts Resurgence in the School Curriculum By : Theoni Soublis Think about when a student struggles to take notes, decode a word th ey knew orally , or recall new vocabulary . What if one instructional tool could support all three vital skills? Literacy and neuroscience ...

Five Tips for Developing Positive Math Identities…. For You and Your Students

posted 05-15-2026
Five Tips for Developing Positive Math Identities…. For You and Your Students By : Suzanne Abdelrahim , Margarita Jiménez-Silva, Rachel Restani , Tony Albano, & Robin Martin During a third-grade math lesson on multi-digit subtraction, Ms. Brewer shows the class a word problem she has written on the board. She asks a student to read the problem ...

Igniting Innovation in the STEAM Classroom

posted 05-12-2026
Igniting Innovation in the STEAM C lassroom By Katherine Horlock and Cindy Melton STEAM is the integration of S cience, T echnology, E ngineering, A rt, and M athematics , and has potential to ignite innovation , spark curiosity, and instill a joy for learning in classrooms by allowing students to take ownership over learning. ...