Dana Goodier is a veteran teacher and current middle school administrator with over 18 years of experience teaching World Languages and English. She completed her EdD in Educational Leadership in early 2020. Building off of her own growth as a teacher, she is dedicated to providing schools with techniques to minimize off-task behavior and to increase time on task.
Dana also shares stories of coming out of the trenches as an educator, and how resilience in different educational settings despite challenges have helped her thrive.
Dana's philosophy about teaching is simple. She agrees with Madeline Hunter when she said, “Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” Sometimes the subject matter in our classrooms can’t compete with the “drama” in their lives. The main ingredient missing in a lot of our classrooms today is a “connection with kids.” She also believes teachers don’t need any more theory and new, trendy programs with catchy names.
Dana believes teachers need to be given research based, proven, practical strategies and applications that teachers can start implementing immediately – without throwing anything out that is working in their classroom. Dana also believes educators have the toughest job in America as they are asked every day to wear many different hats – mom, dad, nurse, counselor, teacher, advisor, judge, jury, lawyer – just to name a few.
Dana understands that time is of the essence for teachers and that they want to spend more time planning fun and engaging lessons, and less time dealing with off-task behaviors. She knows the importance of balancing a family life with a busy career in education. Dana has been married for 14 years. They have 3 children and a dog. In her free time, Dana travels, likes to visit new restaurants, sings in a choir, and runs 10Ks and half marathons.
Recently, I came across a graphic on Twitter that put teachers and how they are as learners into 3 categories. Here is my perspective on where I have been throughout my career: When I first started teaching, I definitely fell into the “Unintentional” category, meaning I didn’t read EDU blogs, subscribe to educational journals, and...
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