Hi everyone,
With Thanksgiving season upon us, I've been thinking a lot about gratitude — not in the abstract, but in the very real, very personal ways that people show up for us at pivotal moments in our lives.
If you’ve heard me share the story of the three refrigerators, you know my career began in a converted home economics room with three ovens, three refrigerators, and zero instructional materials. It’s a moment that continues to fuel my commitment to making sure no teacher feels as unanchored as I did in those early days.
But that’s only part of the story.
A few days before I ever saw that classroom, I was a newly relocated, newly licensed teacher trying to navigate an unfamiliar state system. I spent the better part of a morning being bounced from office to office, only to be told I wasn’t eligible to teach after all. As I was being walked out, a retired principal who was temporarily helping the district overheard us.
He could have kept walking. But instead, he stopped, looked at me, and said, “You want to be a teacher?”
Minutes later, he was on the phone telling a school, “I’ve got a live one for you – I’m sending her over.” He drew me a map on a sheet of paper (no smart phone back then…) and by that afternoon, I was meeting with a principal and assistant principal who took a chance on me just days before students arrived.
That’s how I became a teacher (in a kitchen) – and how my career in education began.
When I think about gratitude, I think about him. I think about Rob and Liz, my first administrators who made sure I knew they had my back even on the hardest days. I think about Kelly, my mentor teacher who filled in the gaps, coached me through my insecurities, and helped me grow every single day during that first year.
And when I widen the frame, I think about what their collective support really meant and how it determined the trajectory of my career.
Instructional materials matter. You hear me talk about them all the time, because they are one of the strongest levers we have for equity. But materials only become powerful when they sit in the hands of supported teachers, visionary school leaders, and everyday people who choose to step in and change someone’s path.
That is what I’m thankful for, and I’m so grateful it’s what grounds our work at CEMD.
Every dataset we publish and every landscape report we release is ultimately about people:
- Teachers who deserve to enter their classrooms feeling prepared.
- School leaders whose instructional leadership sets the conditions for teachers to thrive.
- Students whose access to strong, coherent materials should never come down to luck or geography.
- Communities working to give every child a fair chance at learning.
As we close out the year, I want to extend my gratitude to you all – district leaders, educators, partners, and colleagues – who are working relentlessly to improve the instructional experience for students. You are the individuals who “stop in the hallway,” and change the path for someone else.
Thank you for being part of this work and for letting CEMD be your partner in it.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving,
Lora
