With Dr. Walt Griffin
We Live In
Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Baird
Chief Academic Officer
Rob Bruno
Technology Officer
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Jon Swan
Creative Director
Rebecca Salem
Senior Marketing Manager
Achieve Magazine is published five times per year by Achieve3000, Inc. It is available free of charge to customers of Achieve3000 as well as interested educators and parents. To start your free subscription, visit http://magazine.achieve3000.com/subscribe. Articles submitted to Achieve Magazine may be edited for style and content prior to publication. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Achieve3000 policies or positions. Please seek permission from the publisher before reproducing articles.
— Charles Dickens,
“A Tale of Two Cities”
We Live In
We Live In
— Charles Dickens,
“A Tale of Two Cities”
cannot remember a more exciting time to be in education. I make this statement in the shadow of the pandemic and during a time of some well-publicized challenges in our nation’s equity. So, why do I say this now?
quity is an easy word to say, a harder concept to achieve. Recently, I had the honor of speaking with educators and parents whose students had taken part in our contest to “Write the Final Episode” of the middle grades’ fiction series “Ben and Ruby: The Final Faceoff.” Each of them told their story of putting equity into action.
t this very moment, changes are happening. There are murmurings of expected worldwide shifts that will bring an end to many current ways of living. Have you read about these impending changes? Predictions about what tomorrow will bring can be both exciting and unsettling. The future will inevitably bring change. Are you experiencing conflicting feelings about what tomorrow will bring? The unknown can be overwhelming.
A Conversation With
Dr. Walt Griffin
or over 37 years, Dr. Walt Griffin has dedicated his professional life to Seminole County Public Schools in Florida. From math teacher to superintendent, Dr. Griffin climbed the rungs of success at SCPS, always giving and always making a difference. Achieve Magazine caught up with the superintendent as he prepares for retirement, to get his views on life, the pandemic, longevity in a career, and more. Enjoy this conversation with one of America’s true education heroes.
All Summer Long!
he tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among others, had a profound effect on everyone in America. Achieve3000 has used those tragic events as a clarion call to rededicate itself to promoting respect, unity, diversity, equity, and social justice.
We Can Do Better.
We Will Do Better.
![[A Case of Achievement:] text](https://cdnachieve.vertiqul.com/assets/2021/04/achieve-vol-1-issue-4-the-immokalee-foundation-case-study.png "[A Case of Achievement:]")
Immokalee
Foundation
Transforming Lives
or 30 years, The Immokalee Foundation has been serving the children of Immokalee, Florida — one of the nation’s largest migrant communities. The Foundation’s after-school program empowers students and changes lives in its design. With a focus on education and development of life skills, it offers students the resources and support they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
for Back to School 2021.
Leonard Cohen
et us suppose you have lived in a house for some time, say a decade. While you are away on vacation, a violent derecho pulverizes the place. You have terrific insurance, so everything will be paid for. You can focus on creating everything exactly as it was, or ask yourself, “Why don’t we take this disaster as an opportunity to make some changes? We’ve always wanted to have more windows in the living room, fewer walls so things weren’t so confined, and … ”
Genius
hen you study the reading sciences and how schools traditionally teach curriculum, skill development is the primary connection. But teaching culturally and historically responsive literacy means going deeper than simply cultivating skills. Literacy has to be connected to action. What is the point of students learning new things in your classroom if they do not go and create social change and action in communities?
Return
toNormalcy
t was 100 years ago when candidate Warren G. Harding entered the 1920 presidential campaign with his slogan, “Return to Normalcy.” It evoked visions of a simpler time, before World War One, the Red Scare and the Spanish Flu.
t was 100 years ago when candidate Warren G. Harding entered the 1920 presidential campaign with his slogan, “Return to Normalcy.” It evoked visions of a simpler time, before World War One, the Red Scare and the Spanish Flu.