The Wheels Never Stop Turning: Inside the Mind of Lisa Parisi, Teacher Heroine and UDL Pro

Image of Lisa Parisi from TwitterImage of Lisa Parisi

I love Lisa Parisi and just think she is one of the best at what she does. (There are so many great teachers out there — and yes, point to yourself!)  I particularly love what she does with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and learned so much from the portion of her session at NECC that I sat in on.

I was checking in on Lisa's Blog today and I saw a reflection from when she was on vacation in early August.  In her post My Vacation? words reminded me of me:

And now I am settled down for the night. My husband and daughter are watching television. I was watching with them for a while but my mind was churning. You see, as much as I love this vacation, love summer, love hanging out with my family, I can't seem to stop thinking about school. So here I am editing wikis, planning projects, emailing collaborators. And I am wondering what is wrong with me. Why can't I just relax and do nothing?”

You know, my dear friend Lisa… it is because you love your students and you love teaching.  You embody and represent so many of us that long to get away from the school for the summer, only to spend our whole summer thinking about… yes, you guessed it,  school!

This is a calling and a passion and Lisa Parisi is one of those teachers who should be up in front encouraging and sharing with other teachers.  She isn't just good at what she does… she is amazing at what she does and has the test scores to prove it from students with demographics that would have many expecting her not to succeed.

Lisa is a hero of mine… I know I'm embarrassing her, but you know what Lisa.. you deserve it.  I hope you had a great vacation and hope you're getting ready to go.  And also, I hope that when the time comes, you'll help us create an elementary school Flat Classroom project that brings all of these amazing collaboration principles to an elementary level where kids can interact and work together one on one.

This world is full of amazing heroine's like Lisa and I hope that amidst all of this blogging and tweeting that we do about education that we'll all take the time to encourage our heroes!

For more information on UDL, see this great slideshow by Lisa Crockett

Related articles by Zemanta


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Never miss an episode

Get the 10-minute Teacher Show delivered to your inbox.

Powered by ConvertKit
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis is a full-time classroom teacher and IT Director in Georgia, USA. She is Mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world. She hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast which interviews teachers around the world about remarkable classroom practices to inspire and help teachers. Vicki focuses on what unites us -- a quest for truly remarkable life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers that are grounded in the truth and shared with love. Vicki has been teaching since 2002 and blogging since 2005. Vicki has spoken around the world to inspire and help teachers reach their students. She is passionate about helping every child find purpose, passion, and meaning in life with a lifelong commitment to the joy and responsibility of learning. If you talk to Vicki for very long, she will encourage you to "Relate to Educate" or "innovate like a turtle" or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves to talk to teachers who love their students and are trying to do their best. Twitter is her favorite place to share and she loves to make homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and enjoys running half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

All Posts »

3 comments

loonyhiker August 30, 2009 - 3:07 pm

I totally agree! Whenever I talk about inclusion, I am constantly bringing Lisa and Christine’s class up in the conversation. I was so thrilled when they were able to skype with my grad class this summer to talk about inclusion and udl. They were awesome!

andi August 30, 2009 - 7:32 pm

I just say: event the best can be improve. thanks for the info

Cosmopoint Kota Kinabalu January 2, 2011 - 3:36 pm

Hi There!
I like the title of your post.
True. It is so true. So many great teacher out there.
I have one great teacher that I respect him since I was 10-yr old
(although now i’m almost 40) ;p

Comments are closed.

The Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Vicki Davis writes The Cool Cat Teacher Blog for classroom teachers everywhere
-
00:00
00:00
Update Required Flash plugin
-
00:00
00:00