My first (extant) piece of writing was a story about two princess-sisters who were traveling West in a covered wagon. I was 6 years ago, and my mother was reading Little House on the Prairie to me at bedtime. Go figure!
Throughout high school and college, I continued writing poetry, fiction, and plays, including one poem about a chicken massacre which I am honestly not sure I could top today. In college I was trained as a Writing Tutor to support other students on course-assigned essays. I loved the experience, and have always enjoyed editing just as much as writing itself.
Since then, I have written, edited, and coached others on over 200 pieces of writing, at Education Resource Strategies, BetterLesson, and Relay Graduate School of Education. In the summer of 2011, I participated in News21, a project of the Carnegie-Knight Foundation to promote innovation in journalism, and did an internship with MetroFocus at WNET in New York. My radio journalism from my time at Houston Public Radio can be found on the Audio and Video tab.
I am particularly knowledgeable on education issues, including:
- Teacher policy: Teacher training and professional development; teacher retention; strategic human capital management
- Leadership: Strategic planning; leadership development; data-informed instruction and observation/ feedback
- Funding policy: State and local funding models, especially student-based-budgeting
- Inclusive instruction: Culturally responsive teaching; instruction for multi-lingual learners
I also have interest in and experience with writing about aging, science/ medicine, and history/ culture.
The following are selected publications.
Relay Graduate School of Education
Student Voice and Teacher Voice: 3 Ingredients to Foster Both, Next Generation Learning Challenges blog, April 16, 2024 (Developmental editor for Relay student author)
Go Slow to Go Fast: Change Through Focus, Relay Graduate School of Education and Getting Smarter site, Jan 11, 2024 (Written with/ for Principal LeVar Jenkins)
Stronger Professional Learning as a Path to Exit Turnaround, Relay Graduate School of Education, 21 November 2023 (Case study)
School Turnaround: How One DCPS Principal is Seeing Outstanding Growth Relay Graduate School of Education blog, 23 May 2023
Student Spotlight: Kyla Bivins Relay Graduate School of Education Student Profiles Collection
Teacher Voice: Don’t Say You’re Not a Math Person. Let’s Help Students Develop Positive Math Identities The Hechinger Report, 24 April 2023 (Written with/ for Dr. Kim Melgar)
“NYS Will Need 180,000 Teachers in the Next Decade, Especially Educators of Color. 3 Ways to Draw More Candidates to this Great Profession”, The 74, 10 May 2022 (Served as developmental editor for Relay President Dr. Mayme Hostetter)
Grow-Your-Own page, Relay Graduate School of Education 2022 (Page text and design input; both case studies)
Academic Rigor for All: Leveraging a Playbook to Move All Students to Mastery Relay Graduate School of Education, 5 Dec. 2022 (Developmental editor)
Follow the Leaders
Serve as editor working with the VP of Impact and Innovation and a contract writer
BetterLesson
Why ‘returning to normal’ isn’t the highest path for our schools
District Administration Magazine
Written on behalf of/ with Erin Osborn
How do I Increase Student Engagement in Distance Learning? BetterLesson blog, 15 Sept. 2020 (Developmental editor)
BetterLesson Blog
Managing editor from April 2020 to July 2021
Education Resource Strategies
School Reform is Simpler – And More Complex – Than We Think
Education Next blog, April 2019
Written on behalf of/ with Karen Hawley Miles and Karen Baroody
Yes, Pay Teachers More. But States, Districts, and Schools Must Use Resource Strategically If Educators And Students Are to Thrive
The 74, April 2018
Written on behalf of/ with Karen Hawley Miles
Finding Time for Collaborative Planning
Education Resource Strategies, Jan 2018
With David Rosenberg and Rob Daigneau
Budget Hold’em for Schools Helps Memphis Principals Redesign Their Budgets
Education Resource Strategies blog, Nov 2017
Solo authored
To Drive Change, Realign Your Resources
Educational Leadership Magazine, June 2017
with Karen Hawley Miles
Igniting the Learning Engine: How school systems accelerate teacher effectiveness and student growth through Connected Professional Learning
Education Resource Strategies, April 2017
Primary editor of research report and executive summary; project manager for creating the coordinated suite of tools and resources; helped create the Connected Professional Learning brand concept
Building a Talent Decision Map
Education Resource Strategies report, Oct 2016
with Karen Hawley Miles and Chris Lewis
Widening the View: Proposals to Push California’s LCFF from Revolutionary to Transformational
Education Resource Strategies report, May 2016
with Stephen Frank
School Districts Have the Opportunity to Build Their Dream House
EdSource commentary, July 2015
with Karen Baroody
News21
News21 Website
- Family Caregiving (Wrote text)
- Graying Workplace (Edited audio for Why I Work gallery; some photo credits; contributed reporting)
Forbes.com: Family Caregivers
I wrote the text that accompanied each video in the series, published in Aug. 2011
- Part 1: “I Feel Good I Am Able to Help” (Co-produced video)
- Part 2: “We Haven’t Talked About Plan B”
- Part 3: “I Do as Much as I Can”
- Part 4: “I Can Tell She’s Tired”
- Part 5: “Thank God I’m Still Alive”
The Washington Post
- Graying Workplace (Sept 3, 2011) (Contributed reporting)
MetroFocus/ WNET NYC
- 7 (Not So Easy) Steps to Opening a Charter School (Sept 8, 2011) (Writing and photo credit)
- New York State’s Test Scores Flatline; City’s Creep Up (Aug 8. 2011) (Writing)
- Q and A with New York’s Civil War Re-enactors: The Joys of Wool Suits in Summer (Aug 16, 2011) (Reporting and photo credit)
Creative Writing
Poetry
- 9 Ways of Looking at Attention
- Broken Glass
- Giraffes in Neckties – A Poem About Grief
- Beholding My Hand
- Crime Story: The Grisly Tale of Brown’s Chicken Massacre
Melissa M. Galvez 